LONDON — Hey, look at Tottenham, doing as good a job as anyone in months of shutting down Mohamed Salah. Who would have thought? Not me.
After all, this remains so far short of prime Spurs on the defensive end. This ground had seen the damage that Salah and company could wreak on what was four-fifths of the same backline that had run six past them just before Christmas. The presence of debutant Antonin Kinsky would help no end, particularly when Tottenham had possession, but it seemed hard to believe that this patched-up Spurs could do something it hadn’t achieved against domestic opposition since the second week of August, keep a clean sheet. Winning in the process too? Scarcely credible.
The best player in the world would surely be too much. Not, Tottenham concluded, if they kept the ball from getting to him. That is just what transpired. Liverpool did what Liverpool do, their build-up cleaving towards the right even in the absence of Trent Alexander-Arnold. That gave Spurs a target. Whenever the ball went to Conor Bradley, the white shirts snapped at his heels. His heels in particular. Heung-min Son, Djed Spence, occasionally Yves Bissouma: they all seemed to have one goal, make Liverpool go the long way round to Salah.
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Barely a third of Bradley’s 45 attempted passes went forward. Eight of his 10 incompletions came when he tried to push Liverpool’s possession up the pitch. Send the ball infield, force it through the left flank and see if Cody Gakpo and Kostas Tsimikas could force a chance.
Sometimes that came off. Liverpool are quite good after all. Midway through the first half, Salah drifted a long way in from the left to drive at Kinsky’s goal. The second-half introduction of Alexander-Arnold also ensured that more possession went in the direction of Liverpool’s No. 11. Naturally, it is a lot tougher for a tiring Son and Spence to shut down the best possession fullback in the sport.
Funnily enough, the 32 touches he had were the same Salah had registered on his last trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. This time, however, he had to go wide to give Bradley an angle to work with, staying there as Bissouma blocked his path infield. When the ball did come into the final third Spurs were much more effective at collapsing to a low block that shut down avenues to Liverpool’s best finisher. This time, 32 touches became two shots worth 0.15 xG and one chance created. That beats two assists and as many goals by a fair margin.
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Salah wasn’t the only forward to have a quiet night. Bissouma, booked early on, remained fearless when sticking a boot in on the edge of his box. Radu Dragusin has his detractors and he does not scream Postecoglou center back but he does have the old-fashioned instincts that mean when Alexander-Arnold absolutely leathers a shot, he is on the line to block it.
It was one of the rare moments when Kinsky wasn’t on hand. It is remarkable how widely the assurance of a solid ball-playing goalkeeper can spread. No longer did the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium hide behind their seats like they might have when Fraser Forster had the ball at his feet. Spurs could get moving. Darwin Nunez or Diogo Jota hurtling in his direction was no concern for the debutant.
“I got the sense before we signed him that he had a bit about him in terms of a real assuredness that belied his years,” said Postecoglou. “I threw him a mammoth task to play against arguably the best team in the world in a big game, a semifinal. He handled it awfully well.” Much like nigh on every cross and shot sent his way.
The best of the lot was apparently an 18-year-old central midfielder repurposed as a center back on his debut season in the Premier League. There is something about Archie Gray. More than the abundant technique, he has the character to drive through a press on the edge of his box as the stadium begged him to get rid of, sending Tottenham flying up the field.
If there has been. These players delivered again in trying circumstances. A worrying early injury to Rodrigo Bentancur forced a change in personnel and system but Spurs’ resolve did not waver when their minds could have been elsewhere. Gray and Bergvall typified a fearless response. If Tottenham needed leaders, they got them in two teens.
“I’m so happy they’re at our football club,” said Postecoglou. “In two or three years’ time, I just pray to God I’m the beneficiary of their talent. If someone else is getting it, I won’t be happy.”
Fortune was on Tottenham’s side at the death, Bergvall avoiding a second booking for a clear foul on Tsimikas that forced the left back off the pitch. Down to 10 men when it might have been their opponents, Liverpool had no answer to the late-game muscularity of Dominic Solanke, who bumped Ibrahima Konate away and squared for Bergvall. On a night that saw the first in-stadium announcement of a VAR decision to the crowd, Arne Slot wanted Stuart Attwell to explain something other than an offside against Solanke earlier on.
“It would be more interesting for everyone if he explained why he didn’t give the second yellow card,” he said, “rather than explaining why he canceled the goal.”
Good fortune at the last for Spurs but when you get to the 86th minute without a goal conceded, you open the game up to such breaks. Two and a half weeks ago, it would have been unimaginable that Tottenham could have taken this game so late with a largely unchanged defense. They learned from their humiliation though. It didn’t happen again.
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