The Guardian

For Dejan Kulusevski and Tottenham, there were a good few moments during Sunday’s 6-3 home defeat against Liverpool when the nerves jangled, when their faith in who they are under Ange Postecoglou had to have been tested. Most obviously on 61 minutes when Mohamed Salah scored for 5-1.

A few minutes before that, the Liverpool goalkeeper, Alisson, had played a long straight ball upfield and suddenly the outstanding Dominik Szoboszlai had a one-on-one with the Spurs goalkeeper, Fraser Forster, which he could not take. Trent Alexander-Arnold would work Forster from distance a little bit later. Luis Díaz then had a chance.

Liverpool were rampant. They had torn through all game from all angles and, at that point, it was easy to think they were hellbent on something more than victory – on ending Postecoglou’s project as a going concern. Maybe, just maybe, it was a time for Spurs to close ranks, to shut down the spaces, to be secure in defence. What must it be like to wear the club’s white shirt and live this white-knuckle ride?

“I said to myself [at 5-1]: ‘If you want to play, play now,’” Kulusevski said. “It’s easy to play when you’re winning. It’s easy to play when everything is going good. If you want to be a man, step up now and do your best. And that’s what we did.”

In other words – no, it was not a time to take a backwards step. For Postecoglou, it is not a part of the deal. It’s who we are, mate. Credit to Kulusevski, who is having such a fine season. He drove his team, fashioning a couple of openings, then making it 5-2 with a nice volley. Díaz would blow another one-on-one at the other end before Dominc Solanke scored for 5-3.

“Honestly, at 5-3, I said that we’re going to do it,” Kulusevski said. “It was so frustrating to see the ball go in [from Díaz] for 6-3 and after that the game is over. I really thought that it could happen, something special.”

Spurs is the only place in world football where a 5-1 deficit does not mean the players lose hope. In Ange-ball they trust. On one level, it is a beautiful thing. It is why Spurs are among the most watchable teams in England. And yet on another, it can come to feel ludicrous. When can one have too much Ange-ball?

Maybe after the 41st minute of Sunday’s game, when James Maddison had made it 2-1 in a grievous affront to the run of play? Spurs had to get to half-time with no further damage. What they simply had to avoid was getting sucked upfield, leaving gaps and letting Liverpool run through for 3-1. No prizes for guessing what happened, Szoboszolai the gleeful beneficiary.

Kulusevski knows there have to be moments when Spurs are more solid, more savvy, when they consider the broader context. It would not be a betrayal. In this case, it took in how they were stretched in the absence of eight players – nine if you included Destiny Udogie, the first-choice left-back, who was fit enough only for the bench and did not come on.

Postecoglou relied on the XI that he started against Manchester United in Thursday’s 4-3 Carabao Cup quarter-final win. Arne Slot, by contrast, had heavily rotated his Liverpool team for their victory at Southampton in the same competition 24 hours earlier. Liverpool are carrying only two injuries. They were always going to be fresher and sharper.

It was put to Kulusevski that control during matches was something Spurs ought to seek. “If you want to get a result, maybe yeah,” he said. “You have to think about how are we physically? Who’s playing? How many games have we played the last week? Who are we playing? Have they rested for one week or something? You have to put everything in because it is like life – it’s not just black and white. It’s a lot of factors going into it.”

In the end, it is about whether Spurs’s approach is sustainable. “No, maybe not,” Kulusevski said. “But you have to improve, you have to find ways. Maybe we should have let them have the ball more but that’s not how we play. We went out, we gave everything. It didn’t work. Maybe we learn for the next time.”

It is also about compromise. “Of course, we have to do it,” Kulusevski said. “We have to learn because we conceded six goals. I can’t sit here and say that we’re doing something perfectly. We’re not. We have to change a little bit for the better, always try to change for the better.”

Spurs were surely fortunate that Liverpool eased off from the 65th minute. At 5-3, it was as if Slot’s team decided to push again because a two-goal victory margin would have been scant reward for such a powerhouse performance. They really did call the tune to that extent.

Next up for Spurs is the trip to Nottingham Forest on Boxing Day; a meeting with their former manager Nuno Espírito Santo, which will be rich in narrative strands. Top of the bill will be the clash of styles.

Arne Slot urged his players to keep their foot on the accelerator after Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points with a wild 6-3 victory against Tottenham. Although the manager felt his team produced their best attacking performance in an away game under him, he was not happy with a drop in intensity at 5-1 that gave Spurs brief hope of a comeback. The score was pulled back to 5-3 and Liverpool, who ended up capitalising on Chelsea’s draw with Everton earlier in the day, were reminded that they must maintain their focus if they are to win the league.

Arne Slot warns against complacency despite Liverpool’s six-goal display

Ange Postecoglou’s unserious Spurs exposed by serious Liverpool

Liverpool are serious about this. They’re not in London for souvenirs or sightseeing. They had a game four days earlier, they’ve got another in four days’ time, and so all they really want for Christmas is to get in, get the points and get out. They’d rather do it clean. But they’ll do it dirty if they have to.

Above all, they know exactly what they want. Luis Díaz wants to spin off his man and run from deep, and Ryan Gravenberch wants to plug the gaps and get the ball moving, Dominik Szoboszlai wants you to commit, but not until he’s put you half a step off balance first, and Mo Salah wants to be Mo Salah. They can go short or long, hit you from every angle, hurt you from every bit of the pitch. Nine Liverpool players made a key pass in this game, including the goalkeeper and both full-backs.

Tottenham are not serious about this. They win spectacularly, and then they lose spectacularly, and it doesn’t really matter because over the past couple of years they have engendered a culture in which progress is basically divorced from outcomes. League positions are of no consequence. Champions League qualification is not a target, because the entire success of this multibillion-pound operation is geared around whether a middle-aged Australian man feels his ideas have taken root this week or not.

There are clear and tangible advantages to this approach. Most importantly, it’s a lot of fun. This is expressive football with no compromises, a young and essential energy, and occasionally the ultimate rush. When it destroys the quadruple champions or puts seven past Manchester United in two games, it feels like total vindication, and who doesn’t love one of those? This is the entertainment business, there are Tunnel Club packages to be sold, and being the Premier League’s top scorers is a pretty persuasive pitch if you’re not really fussed about who wins.

But there are also disadvantages to being an unserious team, and perhaps you glimpse them most sharply when you come up against a serious team. A team that don’t take a weird solace in denying their rivals the league, or entertain bizarre superstitions about maybe winning the FA Cup when the year ends in a one. A coach who believes his job is to make his players look good, rather than the other way around.

Let’s take, by way of illustration, the last five minutes of the first half. James Maddison’s goal against the run of play has just threatened to transform the complexion of the game. Liverpool only lead 2-1 despite subjecting Fraser Forster to a 40-minute HIIT workout. They wanted this clean. Now, if they can only get to half-time and regroup, a tiring Tottenham have the chance to make things dirty.

At this point, the ball rolls towards Trent Alexander-Arnold in the right-back position. Obviously Djed Spence doesn’t know that three passes later the ball will be in the Tottenham net, otherwise he probably wouldn’t have sprinted 50 yards up the left wing in a futile attempt to press him. Obviously Radu Dragusin – who here looked more like a boy band member playing centre-half in a Soccer Aid game – thinks he’s going to win the low-percentage header against Szoboszlai. Otherwise he wouldn’t charge towards the ball and leave a huge space behind him for Salah to attack.

The real question is: why do they think these things? How have Tottenham been so unlucky as to end up with so many international footballers who seem to make terrible decisions at key moments? Are they just bad players, incapable of reading a situation? Or have they been slowly stewed in a culture where total commitment is an acceptable substitute for judgment? Where the acid test of your quality is not what you did, or what actually happened, but how loyally you stuck to the ideology?

The last 20 minutes, as Tottenham fought their way back from 5-1 to 5-3, felt the most instructive of all. Spurs kept trying to raid the Liverpool area. Liverpool kept clearing it, except when you’re playing Spurs every clearance is also a through ball. And amid the carnage of the second half, there was also an immense and ominous coolness to them, the unerring ability to execute under pressure the thing that is required, and to keep doing it over and over. This is the difference between a serious and an unserious team.

And there is nothing inevitable about this. Tottenham and Liverpool may feel gulfs apart, but in reality they are the eighth- and seventh-richest clubs in the world, fishing in the same water. Tottenham could have had Arne Slot in 2023. Tottenham could have had Díaz in 2022. Tottenham could have assembled a proper backroom structure years ago, instead of leaving their fate in the hands of a spiralling succession of celebrity managers.

But none of this happened, and so what we get instead is salesmanship, the same pot of stasis relaunched in new, more addictive flavours. It’s all going to click soon. At least they didn’t do Arsenal a favour. Ange always wins a trophy in his second season. Europa League, you never know. If you don’t rate his methods, you’re probably racist against Australians. Mikey Moore is going to be one hell of a player. And best of all: only six more years until the year ends in a one again.

Arne Slot urged his players to keep their foot on the accelerator after Liverpool extended their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points with a wild 6-3 victory against Tottenham.

Although the manager felt his team produced their best attacking performance in an away game, he was not happy with how a drop in intensity at 5-1 gave Spurs brief hope of a comeback.

The score was pulled back to 5-3 and Liverpool, who ended up capitalising on Chelsea’s draw with Everton earlier in the day, saw that they must maintain their focus if they are to win the league.

“Until 60 to 65 minutes, I really, really, really enjoyed what I saw,” Slot said. “But then you also saw that no matter how much quality players have, if they think they don’t have to run any more in this league, especially against Tottenham, they immediately start to create and they scored two goals. I was happy when the sixth one went in.

“Maybe it is human when you are 5-1 up. You think: ‘OK’. But Tottenham always keep on going and they have the ability to create. You have to be on top of your game every second of the game and if you’re not 100% then it hurts you.”

Liverpool will be top on Christmas Day after destroying a feeble Spurs defence with doubles from Luis Díaz and Mohamed Salah, plus strikes from Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister. “It means something,” Slot said.

“You know as well as I know how hard it is to stay at the top. You have to be on top of your game for every minute. It is not easy to show up every three or four days. I didn’t expect Chelsea to drop points today. It can happen in any game and that’s what makes the league so special.”

Salah, who also collected two assists, became the fourth-highest goalscorer in Liverpool’s history. “Apart from him being a good footballer, he is very likable as a person,” Slot said. “He is always there to help his teammates, always down to earth. He understands what it takes to be at this level every three days. That’s what impresses me; that as a top player, he understands how hard he has to work for the quality he shows.”

The Egypt forward, who said that Liverpool must improve defensively, is out of contract at the end of the season and he offered no update on his future. “Wherever I am going to end my career I am happy about it,” Salah said.

The outlook was less positive for Spurs, who remained 11th after two wins in their past seven games. The captain, Son Heung-min, said it was painful to concede six but Ange Postecoglou vowed to stick with his gung-ho style. The Spurs manager pointed to injuries and said his team lacked energy.

“I think I’ve been really, really patient the last 18 months, sitting up here answering the same questions over and over again,” he said.

“If people want me to change my approach, it’s not going to change. We’re doing it because we think it will help us be successful. I get the idea that people think that I should just flip the switch and change and somehow that would miraculously make us a different team. But it is what it is.”

Postecoglou was asked whether he was under growing pressure because of Spurs’ position in the table. “I’m not happy with where we are in the table,” he said. “I’m not sure what pressure is. I think I’m getting judged on that. I don’t think people are throwing platitudes at me.”

The Australian considered whether Spurs could use the January transfer window to increase the size of their squad. “If the right players are there I guess we can bring players in,” he said. “It’s about making sure it’s something that’s going to help us continue to build what we’re doing.”

Well done, boys, good process. Liverpool stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points, having played one game fewer than second-placed Chelsea, with the latest illustration of their remorseless cut and thrust under Arne Slot.

It was an occasion when Tottenham, playing their way, the Ange Postecoglou way, with zero compromises, were taken to pieces. They conceded six but it could and should have been double figures. Time and again, Liverpool sliced through and a prominent detail at the end of a wild occasion was the glaring nature of some of their misses.

In the corresponding fixture last season, Luis Díaz had a goal incorrectly disallowed in the 34th minute at 0-0 for offside even though he was clearly on. It was a monumental muck-up between the officials and the VAR team in a game that Spurs would win 2-1. Here, Díaz had his revenge, scoring two and running amok. He was not the only star in red. Mohamed Salah got two goals of his own and he seemed to have the freedom of the pitch at times. Liverpool’s other scorers were Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.

Spurs were staring at an historic drubbing when Salah scored his second for 5-1 just after the hour and perhaps they will say that they continued to fight. They were able to keep the margin of defeat relatively tight in the context of the yawning chasm that was on display between the teams. James Maddison had scored for 2-1 in the first-half. Dejan Kulusevski, who never stopped, and Dominik Solanke got them back to 5-3 before Díaz’s late second. Do not be fooled. This was a humbling for Postecoglou.

Slot, who might have gone to Spurs from Feyenoord in May 2023 only for the clubs to fail to agree a compensation package, had been so effusive about Postecoglou and his approach on Friday as to have people wondering why. One interpretation: carry on attacking, please, and leave those big spaces at the back.

Liverpool’s domination was almost total. Their press was suffocating. Whenever a Spurs player had the ball, which was not very often, he invariably felt the heat. Slot started Díaz in the No 9 role partly because of his remorseless energy, the tone that he sets out of possession.

It was also about what Liverpool did with the ball. They repeatedly threatened to open Spurs up, to get in around the sides with overlaps. Or through more central areas on the transition. Basically, from any angle.

Díaz’s header for the breakthrough was a beauty; he was coiled like a spring, almost side-on, the power and precision on the release too much for Fraser Forster. The vicious delivery from Trent Alexander-Arnold was not bad, either. It was far from being his only wonderful pass. After what happened last season, Díaz was forgiven for stealing a glance across at the assistant referee. He was onside. Then again ….

Liverpool could have scored a couple of goals by then. Salah had a clutch of chances, seeing Djed Spence get in the way once and then again on one of them, hitting the crossbar with another after a bewitching piece of footwork. There was also the moment at the very start when Forster shanked a pass straight at Salah, who dragged wide.

The second goal was of a piece with everything that had gone before, Liverpool with men over on the left. It was Andy Robertson who hung up the cross and Szoboszlai got a break when he went up with Archie Gray and Spence, the ball looping kindly for Mac Allister. He rose to nod home.

It was a shock when Spurs pulled one back. Kulusevski won possession high up off Mac Allister – Liverpool’s cries for a foul were in vain – and Maddison curled in from the edge of the area. The resumption of the natural order was no surprise, Spurs so open after Szoboszlai won a header from Alexander-Arnold’s ball forward. He kept on running. Salah played the pass. Szoboszlai was never going to miss.

Postecoglou did not change his starting XI from the Carabao Cup win over Manchester United on Thursday despite the availability of Destiny Udogie; Spence continued at left-back, a huge vote of confidence for him.

Slot, by contrast, had rotated expertly on Wednesday in the Carabao Cup at Southampton, leaving seven key men on Merseyside and winning. He recalled six of them to the starting XI – Curtis Jones was the exception. Liverpool looked sharper, fresher. In Postecoglou’s defence, he was still without eight players.

The game had been framed to an extent by a protest against the Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, on the High Road in the countdown to kick-off; a couple of hundred diehards set out some banners and chanted aggressively. Inside the ground, the Spurs support watched through their fingers.

Spurs stayed high, caution to the chill wind. Liverpool simply ran through them. It was easy to fear for Postecoglou’s team when Salah made it four after good work by Cody Gakpo. Salah’s second shone a further light on Spurs’s recklessness. Why was Radu Dragusin drawn so far up the pitch to Díaz? Liverpool worked it quickly in behind, Szoboszlai playing the decisive pass.

Moments earlier, Szoboszlai had run through unopposed from halfway on to a long ball from the goalkeeper, Alisson. It was too easy. Szoboszlai fluffed that opening. As would Díaz when he was clean through, lobbing high. By then Kulusevki had volleyed in from Solanke’s chipped pass and Solanke’s goal was similarly nice to watch, a fine volley on the spin. Salah made Díaz’s second goal and, crazily, it would have ended 6-4 had Alisson not saved smartly from the Spurs substitute, Brennan Johnson.

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

Premier League latest

Everton 0-0 Chelsea

Fulham 0-0 Southampton

Leicester 0-3 Wolves

Man Utd 0-3 Bournemouth

Ineos’s decision to bully Ruben Amorim into taking the job mid-season, rather than wait until next summer, looks more short-sighted by the week.

Share

Team news

Ange Postecoglou sticks with the side that beat Manchester United in the Carabao Cup. Liverpool, who picked a specialist Milk Cup side in midweek, make one change from last weekend’s 2-2 draw with Fulham. Alexis Mac Allister comes into midfield in place of Curtis Jones.

Tottenham (4-3-3) Forster; Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence; Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison; Kulusevski, Solanke, Son.

Substitutes: Austin, Reguilon, Udogie, Dorrington, Bergvall, Olusesi, Werner, Johnson, Lankshear.

Liverpool (4-3-3) Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Szoboszlai, Gravenberch, Mac Allister; Salah, Diaz, Gakpo.

Substitutes: Kelleher, Endo, Nunez, Jones, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Quansah, Nyoni.

Share

Updated at 16.30 CET

Half-time scores

There are four 2pm kick-offs in the Premier League. This is how they’re going.

Everton 0-0 Chelsea

Fulham 0-0 Southampton

Leicester 0-3 Wolves

Man Utd 0-1 Bournemouth

As things stand Bournemouth are fifth in the table, above Manchester City and in a different postcode to Manchester United. Andoni Iraola is the real deal isn’t he?

Share

“And it came to Molby…”

There’s more than one way to win a title, as Liverpool showed throughout the 1970s and 1980s. They often set a blistering pace that nobody could live with (1978-79, 1982-83 and 1987-88 come to mind, not to mention 2019-20). But there was also a few seasons in which they started slowly and were written off, only to come through the field like The Terminator.

One such example was in 1985-86, when a dramatic victory in a televised game at Spurs was the catalyst for them to reel in the champions Everton.

Share

Updated at 15.51 CET

Preamble

Hello and welcome to live coverage of the final Premier League game before Christmas, the one that may determine who is top at Christmas. Liverpool return to Spurs, scene of the definitive VAR fiasco last season, knowing a win* will keep them above Chelsea. Being top at Christmas doesn’t always result in the title, but it beats being 13th and it would be an apt reflection of an almost unimaginably brilliant start under Arne Slot.

Spurs, meanwhile, have become the Premier League’s answer to the Pakistan cricket team. They’re mercurial to a fault, they use the sublime and the ridiculous as starting points from which to go further west and east. And they couldn’t be involved in a dull game if they tried, which they’re not going to by the way. Spurs’ 13 home games this season have produced 49 goals. For the neutral, this should be loads of fun.

Kick off 4.30pm.

* This is if Chelsea win at Everton in their 2pm kick-off. If they don’t, Liverpool will be top regardless.

Share

Updated at 15.40 CET

Luis Díaz rarely needs a reminder that relying on others can be a futile experience but a return to Tottenham on Sunday offers the opportunity to right a glaring injustice. In north London in September last year, the winger thought he had given Liverpool the lead, only for the assistant to flag incorrectly for offside before the video assistant referee failed to overturn the mistake through incompetent communication in a match Liverpool went on to lose 2-1.

The officials made the headlines that day but Díaz has taken plenty of the limelight since. With a competitive cohort, Arne Slot has shown faith in Díaz, starting the Colombian in key fixtures with Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and Aston Villa to help Liverpool reach the top of the table and ensure they fear no one.

Although the goal was not allowed 15 months ago, it was a sign of how Tottenham’s high line can be troubled with pace. Others, as exemplified by Manchester United on Thursday, have caused problems by relentlessly pressing Spurs in their defensive third as they attempted to get out of their own penalty area, at a cost of two goals in that Carabao Cup quarter-final. Díaz could exploit both these flaws with his speed and stamina, so Tottenham will be wary.

When asked if Liverpool require a high-energy performance, Slot said: “Not because they bring the ball out from the back but because if there’s one team that comes to my mind when I talk about intensity, it’s definitely Tottenham.

“What an incredible aggressive style of play and pressing, and the strikers work incredibly hard without the ball. So for that reason we have to be really, really intense if we want to have any chance of getting a good result. Because they just told me that we didn’t start the game that well. Now they do and they are first 15 to 20 minutes, they’re crazy when it comes to intensity.”

Five goals in as many Premier League games at the start of the season set the benchmark for Díaz but he has not found the net for the past 10 matches in the competition, since beating Bournemouth on 21 September, although a Champions League hat-trick against Bayer Leverkusen in early November and scoring in a Carabao Cup win at Brighton show there has not been a complete drop-off in form.

Against the German champions, Slot deployed Díaz as a No 9, knowing his movement and runs are problematic for defences, and was rewarded with an influential performance. The head coach is contemplating using him again in the role, potentially against Spurs.

Considering Liverpool have 31 goals in 15 matches, it seems somewhat contrary that a forward who has played in every match has a mere two assists. Díaz is a provocateur on the wing, making life difficult for full-backs, but is yet to create a goal from a wide area in the league. A through ball to Mohamed Salah and a near-post flick from a corner are the only residents in the A column.

Salah is the focus of praise at Liverpool, having scored 13 and assisted another nine to lead Slot’s team to the Premier League summit after 15 games. The Egyptian has, however, had help from his teammates. Many will want greater consistency but even the best accept when one player is struggling, others need to step up.

Amid Díaz’s dry spell, Cody Gakpo has scored seven in 11 to alleviate the pressure on Salah. Slot needs greater consistency from these wide areas but without a prolific central striker, and this is where the threat is created with Salah and Gakpo often providing the firepower alongside Díaz. Darwin Núñez, meanwhile, down the middle has four goals in 21 after ending a six-game drought against Southampton in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. Diogo Jota returned from almost two months out to score the equaliser against Fulham and, like Federico Chiesa, was afforded more minutes in midweek as Díaz and Salah were rested.

It has been a rarity that Slot has had a full bullpen of attackers to choose from, making it a daunting match for Tottenham against the league leaders. It is made a more enticing prospect for Liverpool, however, as Ange Postecoglou has a defensive injury crisis to deal with; Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero are missing, making Tottenham vulnerable.

Even with the duo in situ, Postecoglou’s high line has caused problems and Liverpool will be eager to take advantage. Radu Dragusin and Archie Gray have formed a makeshift centre-back partnership in the past two games as the head coach desperately sought a solution that can give a platform for their ferocious workrate.

Almost a season and a half has passed since Ange Postecoglou was appointed Tottenham manager and that means he is entering dangerous territory. He has led Spurs in 65 games. Antonio Conte got 77, André Villas-Boas 80 and José Mourinho 86. Until Thursday’s chaotic Carabao Cup win over Manchester United, he had a lower win percentage than all three, but he has now snuck past Mourinho. Sooner or later simply being not as grumpy as the bloke who came before is not going to be enough.

Since Postecoglou took 26 points from his first 10 Premier League games, that statistical quirk is particularly troublesome. There is little sense of him slowly dragging the club in the right direction, of the trend being to the better. Rather, since those first 10 games, he is averaging 1.43 points per Premier League game – enough to finish ninth or 10th most seasons. Does the fact the football is exciting – something that couldn’t be said under his three permanent predecessors – make up for what, given resources and stadium, would be a significant underachievement?

Given his comments this week about football management being a harder job than prime minister, it’s fair to say Postecoglou is feeling the pressure. Not for him calculations that will materially affect the lives of millions for years to come; no, he has to work out a way to try to get a result at home to Liverpool on Sunday. And yet, counterintuitively, it is Postecoglou who is the one more likely to stick to his principles.

It’s perhaps a result of the messianic qualities still ascribed to managers that so much of the discourse around them is at least quasi-religious. To acknowledge that, within narrow boundaries of possibility, football is governed by structures of economic power is to destroy much of the magic; far more palatable to speak of glory and inspiration, genius and mastery of the hidden mechanics of the game. Half a century ago, it was enough to focus on motivation, to believe what mattered most of all was how a manager generated a burning passion within his players; more recently, attention has shifted to tactics and planning.

What is preferred is a manager with a clearly defined philosophy. Ideally, he will be progressive – although the occasional dark lord, such as Diego Simeone or peak-era Mourinho, adds to the tapestry. Those who adapt to their squad and circumstance are regarded with a degree of suspicion; what do they represent? If they’re not prepared to stand by their high line and man-oriented press, how can they possibly be trusted?

And so, weirdly, there is a feeling that good management is sticking by your principles. Fundamentalism is praised. Does it really make sense for Ruben Amorim to insist on his 3-4-3 even with a United squad unsuited to it, rather than beginning to instil the basic principles behind it and working incrementally towards the implementation of the shape next season? Perhaps it does, but to accept that is essentially to write off the rest of this campaign.

The truth is that given the nature of the squad, whatever Russell Martin had done at Southampton probably would have ended in relegation, but perhaps with a little more flexibility it wouldn’t have seemed quite so inevitable. It was maybe fitting that his last stand came against Postecoglou, the other great refuser of compromise. Spurs have been unreliable enough this season but when two managers determinedly playing open games meet, unmediated by guile or attempts to thwart the opposition, the one with the better squad will almost invariably prevail. As they did, 5-0.

Which took Tottenham to 10th in the table. Their goal difference is now +17, only one fewer than Liverpool’s and Chelsea’s. The win probably boosted morale – certainly it staved off an intensification of the discontent that was apparent after the defeats by Ipswich and Bournemouth. But it did little to answer the doubts that have grown around Postecoglou; when the going is good and the opposition complaisant, his Tottenham are excellent. It’s just that when games get tough, Tottenham struggle.

Their results this season fall very obviously into two categories. They have won seven league games: none by a single goal and only one by two goals. All seven of their league defeats have been by a single goal. There have been only two draws. Essentially, Spurs either win easily, or they don’t win at all. The notion of a hard-fought Tottenham win – at least in the league – doesn’t exist, which might be a definition of Spursiness.

That is a trait that stretches back generations; it is not a specific Postecoglou problem. And yet there are times when it feels that Postecoglou really isn’t helping. It’s not that he doesn’t make changes: he does, as did Martin. It’s just that they tend to be fairly minor tweaks on a theme. His side is capable, having taken the lead, of controlling the game and picking off a wounded opponent chasing an equaliser on the break, as they did in the second half at Manchester City. Yet on other occasions, as when 2-0 up against Chelsea, they are stubbornly determined to ignore the state of the game and not to amend their approach accordingly.

Postecoglou has been keen to point out Spurs’ injuries, which is not unreasonable, but it could be argued that is even more reason to make tactical changes. And given the history of Tottenham over the past 40 years, it makes little sense to offload Postecoglou and go through the same cycle again, hoping that if you buy enough tickets the raffle will eventually turn up the prize of a true visionary.

But equally, hammering sides who suit your style of play and losing to everybody else isn’t sustainable either. Although there has been sporadic booing, as well as the words exchanged between Postecoglou and some of the away support at Bournemouth, there is none of the widespread dissatisfaction that characterised the end of Mourinho or Conte. There is no sense of crisis or a boil that needs lancing. But without greater consistency, a crunch will come soon enough.

At least part of good management is making the best use of the resources available, not just doggedly doing the same thing over and over.

Liverpool appeared unusually vulnerable as they made the visit to White Hart Lane on 2 March 1986. After losing 2-0 to Everton at Anfield the week before, Kenny Dalglish’s team were grimly trying to stay in the title race, trailing their Merseyside rivals by eight points with 12 matches remaining.

With Everton extending their lead by a further three points the day before Liverpool’s match in north London, Dalglish’s men could see the last chance saloon nearing over the horizon. Victory was imperative at a ground where Liverpool had not won a league match since 1975.

The glimmer of hope for the visitors was the form of their opponents. Under their new manager, Peter Shreeves, Tottenham had been contenders in the league during the previous campaign. But second season syndrome well and truly kicked in, as Tottenham’s fortunes slumped in 1985-86.

Locked firmly in mid-table, Shreeves’ team had lost 13 out of the 29 league matches, including six defeats at White Hart Lane. With gates dropping – 13,135 had recently attended the match against Coventry – and Shreeves’ past signings Chris Waddle, Paul and Clive Allen, and John Chiedozie all struggling, the pressure was mounting on Tottenham’s manager.

Another man under scrutiny was the Liverpool goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar. His recent performance against Everton was a microcosm of his time at the club; stunning saves with the occasional clanger thrown in. Allowing Kevin Ratcliffe’s 35-yard shot to somehow squirm through his body, Grobbelaar had seemingly hammered a nail in Liverpool’s coffin.

“The fact is, when he’s at his best, he’s unbeatable,” Nigel Clarke wrote in the Daily Mirror. “But too often these days his concentration cracks and errors stud his game.” There would be no hiding place at White Hart Lane for Grobbelaar, with the match being shown live on BBC One. As Arctic conditions continued to sweep across the UK, the heat was definitely on Liverpool’s keeper.

Unfortunately for Grobbelaar, another error did little to silence the critics. Palming a Glenn Hoddle corner straight up in the air underneath his crossbar, Grobbelaar could only look on in horror as Waddle prodded the ball over the line. Hands on hips, staring at the ground, Liverpool’s keeper cut a dejected figure as he contemplated his latest mistake.

“I have had a week of publicity and to start the game like I did today was a poor show,” Grobbelaar said. A goal behind after just two minutes, Liverpool’s title credentials were now being tested. Dropping points would surely spell the end of any championship hopes.

It would take a half-time ear bashing from Dalglish to kickstart Liverpool’s surge to the title. “Sometimes a lot of noise works wonders,” Grobbelaar said. “Kenny is a hard man and you have to go and play for him.” Whatever was said in the dressing room obviously had an impact. In the second half, Liverpool were a different beast.

Swarming over Tottenham, there was an inevitability that the equaliser would arrive, the only surprise being that it took until the 66th minute for the goal to come. Before then, the Tottenham keeper Ray Clemence did well to thwart Steve McMahon and Craig Johnston before Jan Molby hit the bar, as the red machine worked through the gears.

It would take a Molby drive from the edge of the box to level matters, and the momentum was firmly behind the visitors as Liverpool searched for the winner. McMahon struck the woodwork and Clemence saved superbly from Ian Rush, yet as the clock ticked down, Grobbelaar’s error looked like it had cost Liverpool dearly.

However, before you could say “never write off Liverpool”, Rush struck a pivotal goal in the 1985-86 campaign. As Steve Perryman misjudged the bounce of the ball on the halfway line of the rock hard pitch, Ronnie Whelan swept forward before playing a delicious through ball to Rush. The Welshman poked the ball past Clemence to send the travelling supporters wild as the television pictures cut to a jubilant Dalglish.

“Bruce was the most relieved man in the ground when I scored the goal,” Rush revealed. “I’m glad for him that I got the winner.” Grobbelaar blew a sigh of relief. “Fortunately the lads were able to pull it out for me.”

If Liverpool were ecstatic, the agony for Tottenham continued. Losing their fourth home league match in a row, Shreeves was struggling to find answers to Tottenham’s problems. When Everton ended Tottenham’s last chance of silverware just two days later in the FA Cup at White Hart Lane, Shreeves was on borrowed time.

The end would come on 13 May, the Tottenham board acting due to their disappointing 10th place finish. Three days earlier, Liverpool had completed a remarkable Double, the result at Tottenham the start of something special that saw Dalglish’s men recover from the brink at half-time to somehow overhaul their city rivals.

Alan Hansen recalled the 1985-86 title triumph with fond memories on Match of the 80s. “Looking back that was probably one of the best ones of the championships of my eight, because at no stage until quarter to five on the Saturday that we played Chelsea did I think that we would win that championship.”

Including the Tottenham match, Liverpool took 34 points from a possible 36, taking advantage of an unexpected Everton slip-up against Oxford to win the first part of their Double. Dalglish’s team talk, followed by Rush’s injury-time winner, proved a significant turning point for Liverpool’s season and history.

Ange Postecoglou has said some of the criticism he receives is offensive, personal and disrespectful. The Tottenham manager, whose attack-minded tactics have been questioned – most recently after Thursday’s 4-3 Carabao Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United – ­wonders whether this is influenced by his ­Australian accent or the disdain he shows for established practices.

Postecoglou said he saw the same thing happen to Unai Emery at ­Arsenal and Nuno Espírito Santo when the Portuguese was in charge of Spurs. Emery, now at Aston Villa, was ­ridiculed at times for his ­difficulties with English ­pronunciation. Nuno is doing well at Nottingham Forest after an unhappy 17-game spell at Spurs in 2021.

The current Tottenham manager took aim at the Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher, who said after the United tie that Spurs needed to change their approach; they almost blew a 3-0 lead with shaky ­defending. Carragher was not mentioned by name but Postecoglou knew who the questioner was talking about.

“Jamie Carragher, mate … you can name him, he’ll enjoy that,” he said. “People tell me he likes me so that’s a good thing. They say: ‘Did you hear what he said? But he likes you as a person.’ So that’s important to me.”

Postecoglou accepts that pundits such as Carragher are there to offer opinions and “it is healthy if it’s ­coming from the right sort of place”. The trouble is – and Postecoglou was not referring to Carragher here – that it is not always the case.

“Some of the other stuff, I kind of don’t understand because it’s just about getting headlines,” he said. “There is some stuff out there which I find … and at the appropriate time I’ll call it out … just offensive towards me. I don’t know … I’m up here with a silly accent and maybe I don’t take things as seriously as people want me to and I’m fairly dismissive of them. But that’s all right. I love my life and I’ll keep doing what I’m doing.

“It’s not the first time in my career. You feel that 26 years of hard graft [as a manager] should get you a ­little more respect and I’m not the only one – I have seen it happen to other managers. I saw it happen to Unai. I saw it happen to Nuno when he was here.

“I said last week that we have crossed the Rubicon in terms of how we treat people sometimes. I get that not everyone will be a fan of the way I do things and even the way I play. People will have different opinions – that’s normal, that’s healthy. But some of it has been pretty dismissive.”

The style debate continues to rage, sparked in part by ­Postecoglou’s ­comment immediately after the United game. “Are you not ­entertained?” he said, echoing the famous line from Russell Crowe’s Maximus in Gladiator.

“Top film, top actor and a ­fellow Aussie,” Postecoglou said. “I ­genuinely believe that a big part of our game is … maybe entertainment is the wrong word, but you go to the game to feel emotions that in your day-to-day existence you don’t get the opportunity to – both ­exhilarating and anxious. That’s what we love about it. There’s a lot of suffering in there but if you come out on the right side it’s an exhilarating feeling.”

Postecoglou had another film reference at the ready when asked whether he saw himself as some sort of messiah for the game. “I don’t think I’m an evangelist; to quote Monty Python, I’m just a naughty ­little boy,” he said, with a nod to Life of Brian. “It’s what I love about football. There has got to be ­differences, people who are prepared to do things a little bit differently. That allows opinion and emotion.

“We all want to leave a little bit of a footprint on our journeys. I want that to be my footprint – that I was successful in a different way because that stays in people’s consciousness longer than doing things normally.

“It’s a bit of human nature but I don’t think we know what we want. We get something and we want ­something more. Whatever makes you happy, hold on to it, ­cherish it and embrace it. We’ve all got that uncle who, even on the best day, says it’s raining outside. Even though we’ve just won the lottery, we have to share it with someone because two people won it.”

Postecoglou was without 10 ­players against United but he hopes to welcome back Destiny Udogie from injury and Timo Werner from illness at home to Liverpool on Sunday.

“For the Carabao Cup semi-final [also against Liverpool], we’ve got Pape Sarr and James ­Maddison ­suspended [for the first leg after ­getting yellow cards against United],” ­Postecoglou said. “If I lose ­anyone else between now and then, I’ll go nuts.”