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Those fine margins

Football is a game of fine margins.

This was one of those encounters which could have ended in a completely different way for Mauricio Pochettino's men and in a way it was like stepping back in time.

Last season at Anfield Moussa Sissoko skied an effort late on which could have won Tottenham the game and instead Liverpool went up the other end and scored the winner instead.

This time, following Harry Kane's goal after just 47 seconds, it was Son Heung-min who struck the crossbar after rounding Alisson Becker, missing the chance to make it 2-0 in the second half which would have made it very hard for the hosts to find a way back.

Instead, once again, the Reds took the momentum, scored an equaliser through Jordan Henderson just five minutes later and then found their winner with Mohamed Salah's penalty.

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Had Son's shot crashed in off the underside of the crossbar then Pochettino's counter-attacking tactics and even his team selection might be getting praise in the wake of the match.

Many Spurs fans had feared the worst at Anfield before the game, expecting their team to go down under a deluge of goals.

In the end they didn't, they set up defensively, ready to counter-attack, scored that early goal to stun their hosts and other than two individual mistakes, they actually defended pretty well and when Liverpool got through Paulo Gazzaniga was there.

However, the mark of the very elite is that you take your chances. Spurs had that Son opportunity and also a decent opportunity in the first half when Christian Eriksen fired across goal and Kane couldn't get a touch on the ball.

Liverpool did what needed to be done, driven on by a raucous crowd at Anfield.

"Yes [these games are decided by fine lines]. In this season we deserve more points in the table that we didn't get," Pochettino told football.london.

"That happens and that is the moment to stay stronger, keep pushing and maybe in different seasons this type of situation results in 2-0 or 3-0 for us in the second half but today it was a different way.

"It's important to stay calm and try to assess the team in the best way and take the best decision."

That's not to excuse Pochettino. Those individual mistakes are coming from the same players most weeks that he is selecting and Spurs were playing with 10 men for much of the match because of another one of his selections. That's down to the manager.

The troubles of Serge Aurier and Danny Rose

How many chances can Pochettino give certain players?

The Spurs boss talks about the squad, the collective and how everyone must feel motivated, but that applies to those who must be looking on and wondering why others are playing ahead of them while they're not getting a chance.

Pochettino clearly doesn't trust Kyle Walker-Peters, his only other natural right-back, and despite Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni raving about Juan Foyth as the country's new right-back, the Spurs boss appears unmoved.

Instead he plays Serge Aurier, a man who has great belief in his own abilities, has repeatedly stated that he wanted to leave the club in the summer and for every decent game he play follows it up with four matches where he's an absolute liability.

Aurier might be 27 in just over a month's time but he always plays like a head-strong teenager making his debut.

He flies up the pitch, launches into tackles, loses concentration easily and finds himself out of position frequently.

The penalty at Anfield was unfortunate for Aurier, although how he allowed himself to get into the scenario in the first place was perhaps more telling.

It also means that the Ivorian has a record of conceding a penalty every 12 games since signing for Spurs two years ago.

I asked Pochettino what he had made of Aurier's struggles this season.

"I think I am happy with him. Of course today he's not happy and nobody would be happy, it's normal when you give away a penalty," he said.

"Of course I understand that as well as anyone. You feel like you're guilty but it's not like this.

"Nothing to say about him or the squad. I am behind our squad, supporting them. We have 29 players, they will all have the opportunity to play and nothing to say.

"After five years and a half at Tottenham it is a time to all be together and show our support."

There's also trouble on the other flank. Pochettino continues to throw Danny Rose into the action despite repeated poor displays for club and country.

The 29-year-old has been a great servant for Spurs over the years but his game is falling apart this season and he needs time out, rather than being thrust into it constantly.

Ben Davies must be wondering what he has to do to get regular starts this season, having watched Rose constantly getting caught out with balls in behind him game after game and struggling to string two passes together.

His contribution going forward is minimal and the one time Rose did get forward in the second half, he cut inside into the box and from eight yards out he skied a great opportunity over the crossbar.

The left-back's late and woeful challenge on Henderson earned him his fifth yellow card of the season and he will miss the match at Everton.

Roy Keane didn't hold back about either full-back after the game.

"The two full-backs for Spurs – a huge question mark when you compare them to the full-backs of Liverpool," he said on Sky Sports.

"This guy (Aurier), he’s a car crash. I almost felt five seconds before he did it (gave away a penalty) what he was going to do.

"He was out of position in the first place, recovers well and you’re thinking ‘Just relax, a little bit of composure…’ and then, it’s madness. Same with Rose on the other side – madness. This full-back (Aurier), he’s a disaster."

Pochettino always speaks about the collective and people earning their chances in the squad.

He doesn't seem to be thinking of either by constantly selecting Aurier and Rose most weekends.

Showing support publicly is one thing, but by continuing to select them he's doing them and the team more harm by not taking them out of the firing line.

Positives from Paulo and the centre-backs

There were some positives to be had from the match at Anfield and mostly it came from the trio at the back end of the pitch.

Despite concerns that right-footer Davinson Sanchez playing on the left in a centre-back pairing with Toby Alderweireld would prove to be unbalanced, both players impressed on the day.

The Belgian and Colombian cut out balls into the box at every turn, using their head, feet and strength to try to halt Liverpool's waves of attacks but ulimately the mistakes of others meant their efforts were deemed fruitless.

When the home side did get through the backline they mostly found Paulo Gazzaniga in top form with flying saves aplenty.

The Argentine has struggled to recapture the form he showed last season when he stood in for Hugo Lloris.

This campaign so far he's been more hesitant, taking less command of his box and his kicking has been as bad as Lloris' as times.

However, there was no faulting his reactions against Liverpool as he pulled off four top drawer saves within five minutes in the first half and then added others in the second period.

"We pushed them back and played good football, created chances in both halves," said Jurgen Klopp after the game, "They were super saves from the goalkeeper of Tottenham. What a game he had."

Ultimately Gazzaniga was beaten twice but this will have been a big day for his confidence as he repelled the unbeaten Premier League leaders for long periods.

Spurs will be without their World Cup-winning captain Lloris until early next year and they need his Argentine deputy to be full to the brim with confidence as he needs to step up in the months ahead.

For he, Alderweireld and Sanchez, despite the scoreline, this was a match which helped them get back on track.

The fall of Christian Eriksen and who will replace him

You have to wonder whether Christian Eriksen was even meant to start this match.

Erik Lamela had set up two goals and scored one himself on Tuesday night in the Champions League but picked up a thigh injury on Saturday in training.

A doctor checked him over on Sunday but he was not able to take his place in the squad.

So late was the Argentine's fitness test that he travelled with the squad and his shirt was even hanging up in the dressing room.

Instead it was Eriksen who began the game. He may well have anyway, what with Pochettino's obsession with rotation even after Spurs had finally won a game in midweek.

The Dane put in the effort on the whole. What he is desperately lacking right now is confidence and any shred of quality with his passing, decisions or set pieces.

He was a passenger for long periods for the visitors and when they needed someone to keep hold of the ball for them or pick out the runners, he wasn't able to do so. Liverpool's winner began with Eriksen gifting them the ball.

It's a sad decline for one of the Premier League's most creative players of the past half a decade and shows just how much damage having your head turned by transfer speculation can do. In this form, Europe's top clubs wouldn't touch him with a barge pole.

Pochettino will want Giovani Lo Celso to get fitter and sharper in order to take on the Dane's mantle. That was always the eventual plan but the Argentine's injury put a stop to that changing of the guard.

Spurs could have done with a Carabao Cup match this week to give important minutes to various players, such as Lo Celso and Ryan Sessegnon. Instead they will have to slowly increase their involvement with substitute appearances and that will mean the changes won't come quick enough.

Pochettino, Ndombele and bravery

Spurs have the players and the manager to turn around their slump in form but to do so Pochettino has to practice what he preaches.

The Argentine has very clear principles he often speaks about but constantly contradicts himself.

For instance he was showing all of his support to Aurier after another poor performance in one answer in his post-match press conference and then in the very next response did nothing of the sort for Tanguy Ndombele.

The question was simple enough, asking about the big difference the young Frenchman made when he came on.

"Big difference? Doing what?" snapped back Pochettino before launching into a rant about team selection and how important it is to analyse players according to the period they come on in matches and the level of opposition they play against.

Two of the biggest frustrations with Pochettino are his very slow, painstakingly gradual incorporation of new signings into his starting line-ups and then his use of substitutes during matches.

With the new signings, the Argentine demands very high levels of fitness and appears to hold a belief that he can't upset players who have worked for him for years by suddenly replacing them with a newcomer. Isn't that the whole point of new signings and the competition they bring?

The Spurs boss has been unlucky with Lo Celso and Sessegnon's injuries and lack of pre-seasons and their gradual introduction is understandable.

For Ndombele, who had a full pre-season getting used to Pochettino's demands and philosophy it's simply not understandable.

The 22-year-old culb record signings clearly brings something Tottenham don't have to the midfield table with his quick, intelligent forward passing and his ability to drift past players.

Europe's biggest clubs wanted Ndombele yet it was the Spurs boss who helped convince him that he could turn him into a superstar.

That could take some though, especially after Pochettino told football.london on Friday that Ndombele could take up to two years adapt to the English game.

Pochettino doesn't seem to trust the Frenchman in a midfield duo in the Premier League yet - he was withdrawn after just 45 minutes against Brighton.

So why not solve the Eriksen problem by playing Ndombele further up the pitch and freeing him of his defensive work as he adjusts to the English game? He's got the through balls, the dribbling and the shooting to flourish in the role. Pochettino hasn't got anything to lose.

When it comes to substitutions Pochettino just doesn't put as much stock in them as other managers.

Ask him about them and he will tell you that it's not about the names, it's about the philosophy and he will point out that his team is constantly changing their system throughout a game to adapt and tweak their approach.

Fans moan that he will not change things until the 60th minute, being reactive rather than proactive. The irony is that in his two previous Premier League matches, Pochettino had made half-time changes before reverting to type at Liverpool.

It's more about fresh legs and impetus and Spurs need some of that right now.

At a time when Pochettino desperately needs to start changing the guard and bringing about that rebuild he has spoken about for two years, he appears to have retreated back to the safety of familiar names and selections.

The problem is that those old names no longer provide a safe port in the storm and with a winnable month of fixtures ahead, on paper, Pochettino needs to practice what he preaches.

He's always telling the club and his players to be brave, now it's his turn.