The referee’s whistle has sounded for the final time in North London, indicating the end of the contest between Spurs and Liverpool. Let’s take a look at our Tottenham vs Liverpool player ratings.
Postecoglou named an unchanged eleven from Spurs’ midweek quarter-final victory over fellow north-west reds Manchester United, which meant Djed Spence made his third successive start in a Tottenham shirt, while Archie Gray continued to partner Dragusin as a centre-half.
The absence of Spurs’ spine in Vicario, Romero, and van de Ven have led to an unorthodox Tottenham lineup for the past month or so, and it’s certainly been a month of ups and downs. There have been famous victories, but also uninspiring defeats, with Postecoglou’s side being labelled inconsistent and unpredictable.
Before today, Spurs had only beaten Liverpool twice since 2013. One of the wins came last season, as the Lilywhites overcame 9-man Liverpool to win 2-1 courtesy of a last-minute Matip own-goal.
Fraser Forster: It was a messy display from Forster, to say the least. Liverpool were toying with him throughout the match, and they found the back of the net too easily six times. With that being said, he did make a couple of big saves to stop it from reaching double-digits. 2.
Djed Spence: Djed had a tough task in handling Mo Salah on only his third Tottenham start, but he kept the Egyptian at bay for most of the first half, delivering a double-block to deny the Liverpool talisman. In the second though, Spurs capitulated, and I think Djed is the only Tottenham defender who didn’t deserve to be a part of today’s result. 5.
Archie Gray: Liverpool exploited Gray’s inexperience at centre-back as they carved Spurs apart time and time again. Archie was definitely the better of the two centre-halves, and he actually looked more competent than Dragusin for most of the match, but then again, the bar is low. 2.
Radu Dragusin: Spurs’ only fit centre-back looked all at sea throughout the match, letting Liverpool through on goal so many times. As soon as you think you’ve seen Dragusin’s worst performance in a Spurs shirt, he proves you wrong. Honestly, not many words can describe how bad he was today, so I’ll let the rating tell the story for you. 0.
Pedro Porro: Porro seemed to be in another postcode when Tottenham needed him defensively, as his positioning cost Spurs time and time again. He offered almost nothing going forward, and defensively he was woeful, as per. 1.
Yves Bissouma: Biss was rash in possession, and struggled to deal with any fast counters that Liverpool developed. He started with energy, but that energy quickly faded as Liverpool ran riot. The lack of midfield presence from Spurs no doubt assisted in that. 1.
Pape Sarr: Sarr was non-existent in the midfield before being subbed off for Bergvall. An unusually poor display from the Senegalese international. 2.
James Maddison: Maddison gave Spurs a glimmer of hope as he found the back of the net minutes before Szoboszlai restored the visitor’s two-goal advantage. Outside of the goal, Maddison was quiet, and was hooked for Johnson not long into the second half. 4.5.
Dejan Kulusevski: Kulusevski was Spurs’ brightest player throughout the ninety, and he took his goal really nicely. It was a powerful left-footed volley that beat Allison for Spurs’ second and it was a goal that his performance warranted. 7.
Dominic Solanke: Solanke was decent today and got his name on the scoresheet with what was quite a difficult finish. He caused problems for Liverpool in and around the box with some trickery and neat passes but obviously it wasn’t enough. That’s four goals and an assist in his last four matches now. 6.
Heung-Min Son: Sonny was really poor today, and he never looked threatening or promising on the ball. In fact, it looked like the ball was running away from him in possession, and his dribbling was near futile. For a captain’s performance, Son was incredibly disappointing and his decline is really beginning to show itself. 2.
Substitutes:
Lucas Bergvall: Bergvall replaced Sarr. He showed flashes of promise but the game was already out of reach by the time he came on. It was his floated cross that was headed into Solanke’s path for Spurs’ third. 4.
Timo Werner: Werner was subbed on for Son. N/A.
Brennan Johnson: Brennan came on for Maddison and picked up an assist out of almost nothing. He also had an opportunity to get his name on the scoresheet but his shot was parried by Allison. 5.
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