Spurs taken to the cleaners by rampant Liverpool

Picture by @YTJourno

Tottenham (1) 3 Maddison 36, Kulusevski 72, Solanke 83

Liverpool (3) 6 Diaz 23, 85, Mac Allister 36, Szoboszlai 46, Salah 54, 61

Are we not being entertained?

We certainly are. But Spurs fans may not take too kindly to shows of this kind.

A crazy nine-goal bonanza made it 16 goals in two games at this bastion of fun, but unfortunately for Ange Postecoglou, most of the ones today were at the wrong end.

The Spurs boss invoked that famous Gladiator movie refrain about entertainment after the 4-3 win over Man United in midweek and once again it was delivered in spades, but in truth Tottenham made it way too easy for the league leaders, who also happen to be in sumptuous, unforgiving mood.

Spurs were carved open at will and it is no exaggeration to say they were lucky not to ship 10. The final scoreline seriously flattered the hosts.

One thing is for sure, a champagne performance from Liverpool meeting another suicidal high-line display from Spurs provided the perfect ingredients for another memorable Tottenham Hotspur Stadium afternoon.

The start was all about Fraser Forster. Would his colossal midweek mistakes in the Carabao Cup win over Man United affect him today? Almost immediately he played a lackadaisical pass straight out to Mo Salah and was fortunate the Egyptian did not profit. But there would be much more to come from Salah.

Forster atoned for the early blunder with a good reflex stop to deny Salah, after a delicious chip in from the right by Trent Alexander-Arnold had found the striker alone in front of him.

The crossbar then came to the rescue after Salah had danced around a clutch of defenders before firing a rising shot from inside the box. That came after Djed Spence had done well to block a shot from the all-action striker.

It always looked like when, rather than if, and when Alexander-Arnold angled in another of those beautifully judged crosses from the right, Luis Diaz was on the end of it to head firmly across Forster.

The Spurs keeper was soon in action again, getting down low to a Diaz effort as the one-way traffic continued.

When Andy Robertson swung a ball in from the left, Dominik Szoboszlai rose to get a touch and the ball fell nicely for Alexis Mac Allister to nod past Forster and it was 2-0.

Dominic Solanke was feeding on scraps during this one-sided onslaught but relief came by way of a crunching Dejan Kulusevski tackle on Mac Allister which sent the ball on to James Maddison and the midfielder pinged it home smartly from 18 yards to half the deficit.

But the hope was quickly snuffed out with a swift Liverpool breaking ending with Szoboszlai tucking home after nodding forward before racing on to take a return pass from Salah which left him in a one v one.

With Tottenham's penchant to keep attacking it was always likely there would be further punishment inflicted by the men in red and Salah added a fourth after the break with a toe-poke home after Archie Gray had twice blocked goalbound shots from a prone position.

Spurs' defence had been left at sixes and sevens after another incisive breakaway ended with a low Cody Gakpo cross into the danger zone.

Moments later and Liverpool had a fifth through Salah. Gakpo and Szoboszai were again the ones carving Spurs apart.

Forster sprang to his right to keep out an Alexander-Arnold effort from distance as more pain looked on the way.

At least Spurs managed to get on the scoresheet again, when Kulusevski volleyed home a scooped up pass from Solanke. His class lifted some of the gloom and he was still battling for the cause to the very end and the scoreline took an even more unlikely turn when Solanke turned in a header from Brennan Johnson.

Liverpool had to have the last word though. This had been their game. And when Salah slipped the ball through to an overlapping Diaz, the Colombian drilled into the far bottom corner. Six and out.

Spurs: (4-2-3-1) Forster - Porro, Dragusin, Gray, Spence - Sarr (Bergvall 58), Bissouma - Kulusevski, Maddison (Johnson 58), Son (Werner 82) - Solanke

Reds: (4-3-3) Alisson - Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, van Dijk, Robertson - Mac Allister (Jones 68), Gravenberch, Szoboszlai - Salah (Elliott 86), Gapko (Jota 68), Diaz (Nunez 86)

Attendance: 61,439