LONDON – Manager Ange Postecoglou refused to accept his Tottenham Hotspur team have a mentality issue as they slumped to a 4-2 defeat by Liverpool on May 5 – their fourth English Premier League loss in a row.
It is the first time in 20 years that Tottenham have lost four consecutive league games and a season that was so full of promise is petering out disappointingly.
While Spurs avoided humiliation at Anfield by battling back from 4-0 down to make the scoreline respectable, it was still a humbling afternoon for the north London club. It also dented their hopes of a top-four finish, which would secure qualification for the Champions League next season.
Tottenham are seven points adrift of fourth-placed Aston Villa and realistically need to win all of their three remaining games, including at home to title-chasing Manchester City, to have any hope of reeling in Villa, who have two games left.
They have now lost to Newcastle United 4-0, Arsenal 3-2, Chelsea 2-0 and Liverpool 4-2 in those games – results which have asked questions of Tottenham’s resilience.
However, Postecoglou said he was impressed with his side’s approach on May 5.
“It’s got nothing to do (with mentality). If you come to Anfield and don’t try and play, maybe that shows you don’t have the mentality,” he said. “We definitely tried to play, so I don’t think it’s a mentality issue at all. In fact, it’s the polar opposite of that.
“The mentality at least tonight was there for us to go out and try and be a version of ourselves. We’re short absolutely, but it gives me something to work with.”
Postecoglou said their display was far better than the defeats by Newcastle and Chelsea.
“At 4-0, we’ve got a mountain to climb. But again, when we play like ourselves we always finish strong because we put pressure on the opposition and it eventually takes its toll,” he said.
“We got a couple of goals and we maybe could have had a couple more. It’s disappointing, but at least we tried to play and looked like a version of ourselves.
“I don’t think we were playing badly, I know we were losing 4-0 and against Arsenal I don’t think we were playing badly. The difference was in the two boxes, we kind of lacked a cutting edge and the opposition were good opposition.”
The introduction off the bench of Richarlison had a positive impact on Tottenham, with the Brazilian scoring to start a mini fightback by the visitors.
“It’s fair to say before he came on, we never looked threatening at all whenever we got into those areas. Him coming on, I thought Sonny (Son Heung-min) improved on the left and Brennan (Johnson) improved on the right. Just gave us a bit more of a presence,” Postecoglou said.
Strikes from Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott secured a much-needed victory for manager Jurgen Klopp in what was his penultimate game at Anfield.
While still mathematically in with a chance of finishing top of the pile, they are five points off leaders Arsenal in the table with two games remaining and four points behind holders City, who have a game in hand over both.
“I would say three points is enough and the boys thought that. Anfield was a special place today. Mo was outstanding, he played a really good game. Mo showed what he is capable of,” Klopp said.
Only a few weeks ago, there was talk of Liverpool hoisting several trophies in Klopp’s final season after they won the League Cup and were in the thick of the Premier League title race.
However, they were eliminated from the FA Cup and Europa League, leaving the Premier League as the final title left before the German manager leaves after nine years with the club.Klopp did his traditional post-victory fist pumps with the festive Anfield crowd after the final whistle.
“I have said it before, I love absolutely everything about this club,” he said.
“We will see how this game (their season finale on May 19 at Anfield, against Wolverhampton Wanderers) will be. Maybe it’s pouring down and we cannot stay outside for long. There’s a good chance it’ll be raining, by the way.” REUTERS, AFP
