Tottenham 3-6 Liverpool (Maddison 41′, Kulusevski 72′, Solanke 83′ | Diaz 23′, 85′, Mac Allister 36′, Szoboszlai 45+1′, Salah 54′, 61′)
TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR STADIUM — People dressed in red overalls, hoods up, faces hidden by black masks with white shapes on them, could be seen roaming the concourses before and during Tottenham’s 6-3 defeat to Liverpool.
The stunt was part of a dynamic marketing campaign with Netflix to promote the upcoming release of Squid Game 2 – the hit South Korean show also flashing up frequently on the pitch side hoardings.
A dystopian deadly competition in which participants are willing to take huge risks for a massive cash prize, has been a bit like supporting Spurs this season: the players always 90 minutes away from murdering the competition or being murdered, with barely anything in between.
The stunt went down badly in some quarters, probably not helped by the result – one fan complaining that Tottenham are an entertainment venue first, a football club second.
Which isn’t a bad summary of what they have become under Ange Postecoglou, the brilliantly stubborn football purist.
“It’s got all the hallmarks of a 0-0, mate,” Postecoglou had said in his pre-match interview with deadpan sarcasm, a barely disguised nod to his burgeoning reputation as an all-or-nothing coach.
He had asked “Are you not entertained?” after that thrillingly bizarre Carabao Cup quarter-final victory against Manchester United three days before.
We’re all entertained, mate, but maybe not in the way most Spurs fans had hoped they would be at this stage.
Giving Mohamed Salah that much of a loose leash, allowing one of deadliest finishers the league has ever seen – now with 172 Premier League goals to his name – to have five shots in the opening 18 minutes, is entertaining.
A goalkeeper, who three days before had gifted the opposition two goals with poor ball-work, trying again and passing straight to Salah, who uncharacteristically dragged a shot wide, is entertaining.
Fraser Forster is only standing in for the injured Guglielmo Vicario but it feels almost cruel to force him to play that way.
Spurs gave the ball away again trying to pass out from the back, Salah beating three players and firing onto the crossbar.
There’s nothing not entertaining about watching Liverpool score six goals away from home. Just not for a Spurs fan.
Postecoglou is the most entertaining manager in the Premier League bar none. This season alone he has presided over 4-3 thrillers against Manchester United and Chelsea, 3-2 nail-biters v Galatasaray and Brighton.
They’ve scored three-plus goals in a staggering 10 games. Beaten Manchester City twice (which, admittedly, is becoming less of an accomplishment as hindsight unfurls).
But there’s also this. It began as a game that felt like it could go either way before kick-off, because Spurs are that unpredictable. But it ended with a somewhat predictable dismantling by the leading team in the Premier League.
“They are so intense, and not afraid to take risks so when they take the ball off you they are an immediate threat,” Liverpool manager Arne Slot said.
And there was a genuine “can-they-do-it” sense around the stadium when, after having barely a shot on goal, they pressured Alexis Mac Allister into losing the ball on the edge of his own area and James Maddison curled in to make it 2-1 with four minutes remaining of the first half.
It lasted all of five minutes before they were two behind again before the half was out.
The BBC described “Spursy” as “shorthand to describe Tottenham’s wildly inconsistent form, an ability to snatch draws or defeats from the jaws of victory, and put their supporters through the wringer” and Postecoglou has somehow, since taking over, become the personification of that philosophy on a grander scale. The highs that bit higher, the lows that much lower.
It was very “Ange” for them to score a wonderful goal – Dominic Solanke clipping a ball over for Dejan Kulusevski to volley in – at 5-1 down with only 15 minutes left.
And then also pretty “Ange” for them to score again, Solanke converting with seven minutes remaining.
“Could they do it?” you wondered. You kind of thought they might.
For all of the two minutes it took Liverpool to add a sixth.
The prize can be so marvellous for Spurs when it works. The football is maybe too deadly to last.