Tottenham are not the first group of players to stumble blindly from the green acres of Anfield feeling like this, not the only ones to be stripped of purpose, belief, hope and dignity. Nor will they be the last if Arne Slot and his team continue to play like this.
This was supposed to be a cup semi-final in the balance, a meeting of minds and styles, a contest. But it was not remotely that. It was an evisceration of white by red. It was a dismantling, a disrobing, a humbling. It was four but it could have been six or seven.
Tottenham were simply never in it – their hopes of a season-saving cup final torn from them without mercy – as Liverpool produced a performance that was almost without defect.
Maybe it was perfect. Is there such a thing in sport? Perhaps not. But this was as good as it needed to be and perhaps almost as good as it ever can be on an occasion as important as this.
Liverpool didn’t just reach the first cup final of the Slot era, they did so in classical Anfield style. Four goals, 26 shots, ten of them on target. Tottenham? They didn’t work Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimihn Kelleher all night.
Ange Postecoglou’s players did their best. In the first half, they played sensibly as they tried to protect their slender first leg lead and keep Liverpool at arm’s length. They compromised their manager’s attacking principles, sat in, compressed space and worked hard. They did the same at Brentford at the weekend and won 2-0. But this was different.
Mohamed Salah lead Liverpool to a 4-0 victory over Tottenham in their second-leg clash
The Reds will now face Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final after their 4-1 aggregate win
Ange Postecoglou looked lost on the touchline as his Spurs side were ripped to pieces
This was not Brentford but the best team in England and maybe in Europe. So here Tottenham’s resistance lasted only 34 minutes and once one goal – from Cody Gakpo – skewered them they were done for. From that point on, Liverpool tore them apart like wild dogs. When full-time came, they were still hunting.
In the second half in particular, Liverpool were irresistible. Their third goal – created by Conor Bradley and scored by Dominik Szoboszlai – should be hung in a gallery by the Albert Dock. It was a thing of spellbinding beauty.
Early on in the evening, there was a little spice. Within the first ten minutes Tottenham forward Richarlison – once of Everton – fell under a flailing arm from Virgil van Dijk and though the Brazilian made the most of it, there was clearly contact to the throat. The Liverpool captain was lucky to escape sanction.
Not long after, the pair clashed again. This time Van Dijk offered his hand as if to help his opponent up, only to withdraw it as Richarlison reached out. All very childish.
In terms of the football, Liverpool were dominant. Slot had rested some players while Postecoglou fielded a new defender – the Austrian Kevin Danson – and had his exciting teenage loan forward Mathys Tel on the bench. As it happened, Tel was on just before half time as Richarlison fell victim to a muscle strain. He left the field accompanied by some histrionics.
Salah converted from the penalty spot to double Liverpool’s advantage on the night
The Egyptian wore a big grin on his face afterwards as he was hugged by Virgil van Dijk
Cody Gakpo opened the scoring on a rampant night for the hosts and title defenders
Dominik Szoboszlai was in fine form and burnished a standout performance with the third goal
Captain Van Dijk will lead his side back to Anfield as they go hunting for a live Quadruple
Liverpool didn’t swarm all over Tottenham early on. It was more of a probing than a full blown assault. Half chances came and went while Szoboszlai scored but was offside. And then, ten minutes before half-time, Liverpool did score.
Tottenham lost possession in midfield, Mo Salah crossed low from the right, Darwin Nunez kicked and missed only for Gakpo to volley low into the corner. It was a nice finish from a player off balance but Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky should have saved it. It was a very bad time to make a mistake.
Salah struck the bar with a volley before half-time and Tottenham were still in it, mathematically at least. But Liverpool’s start to the second half was spellbinding an decisive.
Three times they threatened the Spurs goal in the first 90 seconds, with Kinsky saving the second effort, a header from a corner from Szoboszlai.
Then, from a penalty, Liverpool scored. Salah’s ball behind the Tottenham central defenders was stunning. It was inch perfect and as Nunez galloped on to it you could see the penalty coming a mile off. Kinsky duly brought the Liverpool striker down and Salah converted the kick high to the keeper’s right at the Kop end.
Now Spurs had to gamble. They had to get in the game. Postecoglou sent on two subs and Spurs suddenly came out to play, pressing their opponents high up the field in a style more associated with their manager.
Pressure is growing on Postecoglou now that his side have been knocked out the cup
Mathys Tel made his Spurs debut on the night after coming off the bench in the first-half
Another new recruit, Kevin Danso, made his manager’s starting line-up but was unable to see out a debut win
Arne Slot has stressed that trophies should not define his maiden season – but they may yet
That left them vulnerable at the back of course and from that Liverpool started to create overloads on the counter. From one, in the 63rd minute, Salah and Curtis Jones fed Gakpo who struck the far post shooting across goal. Then came the decisive goal in the 75th minute and it was magnificent.
Substitute Alexis MacAllister carried the ball into the Spurs half, spotted Bradley’s inverted run and fed him the ball. Bradley looked set to control and assess his options but instead the young Irish international played the ball first time into Szoboszlai’s path and he finished beneath Kinsky from ten yards. Just fabulous.
Van Dijk’s late header from a corner served as garnish and the scoreline didn’t lie. But that third goal had encapsulated this performance and indeed this Liverpool team. In unison, in tune, in the final.
Newcastle will have to play well to beat them at Wembley, Aston Villa maybe less so to overcome this troubled Tottenham team in the FA Cup on Sunday.