Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou picked up the famous line from the movie Gladiator after the wild victory over Manchester United when he asked: “Aren’t you entertained?”
It was Postecoglou’s way of answering questions about his cavalier approach, after Spurs threatened to concede a 3-0 lead in Thursday’s Carabao Cup quarter-final before winning 4-3.
The problem is that Postecoglou’s idea of entertainment works in two ways, as he and Spurs discovered to their cost when they were brutally punished by Liverpool in front of their own fans.
Liverpool certainly found Spurs very entertaining in a 6-3 victory that was nowhere near an accurate reflection of their superiority. It showed why Arne Slot’s side are in control of the title race with a four-point lead over Chelsea at Christmas, with a game in hand, while Spurs languish in 11th place, eight points adrift of fourth.
Entertainment is never a problem for the Spurs under Postecoglou. But the pleasure is mixed with an element of sporting torture when exposed to a team with Liverpool’s world-class attacking quality.
There have been 30 goals in Spurs’ last five games. Entertaining, yes, but 10 of them have been scored against Postecoglou’s team in successive league defeats at home to Chelsea and Liverpool. In the latter case, the only question was how Liverpool only scored six and somehow conceded three.
Liverpool’s total expected goals was 4.6 compared to 1.2 for Spurs. Slot’s team, as measured by Opta statistics, had nine big chances, testament to their dominance and the defensive vulnerability that Postecoglou shows little sign of addressing with extra pragmatism.
It would be unfair to Postecoglou and Spurs not to point out that they are missing first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario, as well as central defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven. These are big absences for a team that plays such an open style, especially Van de Ven, whose pace is crucial for Postecoglou’s favored high line.
Postecoglou was also unable to turn to the influential Rodrigo Bentancur, who was suspended. The Uruguayan would have at least offered a greater degree of difficulty in getting through to Spurs, something that is currently too easy.
Spurs are at the limit of numbers, meaning Postecoglou fielded an unchanged team from the one that faced Manchester United on Thursday.
However, there are no such problems for Liverpool, who have already won 12 and drawn three of their 16 league games this season. They also have the highest goal difference of plus 21.
