It was always going to be so much harder writing one of these blog posts after a humbling defeat, but in many ways today’s performance has given me so much more to analyse and pick apart than our demolition of QPR last week. So let’s attempt to unpick what went wrong today as objectively as possible, without being overly critical of the manager’s strategy (there’s nothing worse than a social media keyboard warrior telling professionals how to do their jobs!).

I’ve spoken previously here about the philosophy of the manager to play with a high press, which requires massive tactical discipline, light legs and a fair amount of courage. The main problem for Spurs today was that they were pitted against a side even more determined to win the ball back high up the pitch; and with Sterling, Allen and Henderson, formed a mobile midfield unit able to get on top of our players and win the key battles. Those three players, along with Gerrard marshalling the centre from deeper, were able to create a much stronger base from which Liverpool were able to build their attacks than Spurs found possible, as the defensive players found themselves cut off from the attacking unit. Too often in the first half, Bentaleb and Capoue found themselves engulfed in red shirts with no clear outlet ahead of them, forcing side-ways and backwards passes, as opposed to the vertical passing we’d become accustomed to during the QPR game. It’s no surprise therefore that all three goals came as a result of Spurs losing the ball in exposed areas under pressure.

That significant difference in the mobility of the two teams helped Liverpool get close to the outlets for Spurs at full back and centre midfield (where technically we had a spare man) and win the ball quickly, as well as enabling them to regain their shape before we could coordinate counter attacks. All of these aspects gave Liverpool great solidity and from there, gave them the confidence to commit to one-on-one battles all over the pitch and come out on top.

The high line and solid base employed by Liverpool gave their full-backs much stronger confidence to move forward on either side (often within the same attack) and create overloads for Liverpool down the flanks with clever movement into the channels by both strikers. Pochettino’s front line midfield unit didn’t do enough to protect the full backs today, which ultimately led to sustained periods of pressure. That clever movement from both strikers into the channels was also in stark contrast to Spurs. Whereas Sturridge and Balotelli move to the flanks and took the centre backs with them, to create gaps for Sterling to run into; Adebayor failed to either hold up the ball or run in behind, and when he did keep the ball with movement to the channels, the midfielders behind him failed to use the space effectively.

One key aspect of Liverpool’s game plan is to ‘shut down’ during 5 minute windows to allow players to regroup and restore energy ready for the next spell of pressing. It was here that Spurs needed to up the tempo and strike back, but were frustrated as Liverpool dropped back to form a solid wall of defence, with Chadli’s effort hit poorly at the keeper before half-time our only real chance. In moments like these are games decided. One fantastic statistic from the game was that Liverpool made 45 successful clearances to Spurs’ 16 successful clearances. They also made 28 tackles to Spurs 15, and although that could be justified by Spurs have the lion share of possession, it was a telling indicator for anyone not at the game that the base Liverpool had created gave them confidence to win the 50/50s and ultimately come out on top. The summary of it all is that this was an incredibly adventurous line-up from Liverpool today, built around a core of discipline and commitment to get back behind the ball quickly when it was lost.

If I was to be overly critical of our setup it would be the need for more pragmatism from the manager early in the season as the players adapt and especially against the big sides (who turned us over heavily last season remember). The continual selection of Danny Rose again caused us a defensive headache which we failed to recover from. Whilst he may see himself as some kind of freeform Roberto Carlos able to roam forward into attacking midfield positions whenever he sees fit, he needs to curb his attacking instincts and be more considered when to go forward and how he can best help the side in attack, which generally will mean providing width, as opposed to joining Adebayor as a second striker. I grimaced watching the first goal back earlier, searching for where our left-back was as Liverpool strode into his position, only to notice him at the bottom of the replay casually getting back in position after another aimless wander up field. Pochettino obviously appreciates the attacking tendancies of Rose, but in these big matches Spurs need to create a solid platform from which to attack, just as Liverpool did in the centre today, and Rose is definitely not that man.

Spurs must also learn to mix up their use of the ball more frequently. It’s great to see Spurs trying to build productively from the back, but today against Liverpool’s extreme press Lloris was trying to pass the ball short to players under pressure which ended up putting Spurs further on the back-foot. Considering the high-line imposed by Liverpool, altering the attack to go longer earlier and trying to turn the Liverpool defence around would have been preferable. Again, Spurs can take tips from how Brenden Rodgers, after a so-so first season, altered Liverpool’s style from a dyed in the wool tiki-taka to a more effective and direct passing strategy which blew away teams with quick movements.

All is not lost for Spurs this early into Pochettino’s reign however and in-fact Spurs should end up learning more from today than at any time this season. Liverpool’s high press and fast counter-attacking style is undoubtedly similar to how the new manager wishes for us to play. Liverpool have the advantage of being two years ahead of us in terms of managerial cycle and have created a perfect balance and personnel to cope with the high demands of the style. As the window closes we may see 1 or 2 new faces arrive and certainly expect to see a couple leave, yet it will surely be another 12 months before the manager has the personnel he truly wishes for at his disposal. Liverpool are the team we must attempt to mimic if we are to be successful under Pochettino.

I should really end by acknowledging full credit to Liverpool for their performance today. They played with guile and intelligence in attack, balanced by a real defensive resilience and mind-set to kill out the game once they’d score early in the second half. It would appear that the newly revived Liverpool are here to stay, and it may take us some time to catch them up.