Everyone loves a goalfest but now Ange Postecoglou needs reinforcements to rescue his patched-up Spurs, writes MATT BARLOW
Multi-goal thrillers are all very well when you're on the right end. Seven goals in a Thursday cup tie and this patch of North London had been bouncing. Nine goals on a Sunday had quite the opposite effect.
The place was virtually empty as Ange Postecoglou trudged around dutifully at the end, offering his festive appreciation for the support. It had been subdued long before that. Many of the Tottenham fans made for the exits when the fifth went in.
They should probably have known that would not be the end of it. There were another three goals to come and after Dominic Solanke slammed in the third for Spurs it came with a brief whiff of one of football's least likely comebacks.
It did not last long though, chased away when Luis Diaz scored Liverpool's sixth to give the visitors an emphatic victory. One they deserved for the control they exerted through the first hour of the game.
Arne Slot's side drew the chaos out of a Spurs game and that is no mean feat. They were excellent.
There was not a hint of the chaos that usually surrounded Postecoglou's team and that was the most sobering factor. That was the cold hard truth of the gap between these teams.
One at the top, fully formed, and one is thrashing about in midtable, in a bit of a mess.
When asked at the end of October about being 10th in the Premier League, the Spurs boss replied to say he expected the heat to be on if his team were still in the same position at Christmas but that he didn't intend to be 10th.
They are 11th and it is difficult to see how any changes significantly until he gets some of his key players back to fitness.
At the back, they are without four-fifths of his strongest defensive. Archie Gray is 18 years old and not a centre half despite performing ably in the role but the proposition was different against a team with title aspirations and confidence soaring.
'We've had shorter turnarounds than just about every opponent we've played so far,' grumbled Postecoglou, whose options were so limited he went in with the same team as started against United.
This meant a third start in eight days for Djed Spence, a misfit who waited two and a half years for his first start.
Sure enough, Spurs were flat, low on energy from the outset and forced into early mistakes at the back. Liverpool barely gave them room to move until they were 2-0 up.
Two headers, the result of constant pressure but soft goals from Tottenham's angle. No pressure on the cross for the first and no challenge on the header by Luis Diaz. Two players, neither of them natural defenders, trying and failing to take command of a cross for the second.
The only time they produced what we have come to recognise as the true spirit of a Postecoglou team was for five minutes in the first half around the goal by James Maddison.
Then Dominik Szoboszlai scored Liverpool's third as they sliced Spurs open with a long pass, a flick on, a jinking dribble and a return pass, and the reticence to throw caution to the wind made sense.
Solanke has been excellent in recent weeks, holding up the ball, carrying his team up the pitch and making Spurs tick. Here he was dominated by Virgil van Dijk.
Dejan Kulusevski, Tottenham's best player by some distance this season, scored the second and his fifth in five games, but the going was tough until the contest was effectively over.
He could usually be found barrelling around on his own, trying his utmost to force something out of nothing.
Heung-min Son out wide on the left was the player Postecoglou might have hoped would do damage in the areas behind Trent Alexander-Arnold, but Liverpool's right back gave him very few opportunities and still managed to be creative going forward.
There was little menace up front for Spurs in the first hour and barely any resistance at the back and this did not change until Liverpool declared at 5-1 and coasted home to the annoyance of Arne Slot.
The last half-hour was more akin to the usual Tottenham end-to-end mayhem but until then they looked for all the world what they are: patched-up, low on fuel and playing a brand of football too open for their own good against the strongest team in the Premier League.
Great fun for the neutral. 'Are you not entertained?' as Postecoglou quipped after winning 4-3 in the Carabao Cup quarter final against Manchester United on Thursday.
True enough, it is terrific fun. And perhaps, as Postecoglou insists, it will have its benefits in the long run, when they have strengthened the squad be that with returning players of new recruits.
'We're still in all the competitions so it's not going to get any easier,' he said. 'The schedule is not going to change.'
The manager needs something to help his team cope. Against a serious team like Liverpool, it looked like a mismatch, and Slot's team will be back soon in the Carabao Cup semi-finals.
