Ange Postecoglou’s unserious Spurs exposed by serious Liverpool | Jonathan Liew
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Spurs can win spectacularly and are fun but they could have had Arne Slot in 2023 and instead have the same pot of relaunched stasis. Liverpool are serious about this. They’re not in London for souvenirs or sightseeing. They had a game four days earlier, they’ve got another in four days’ time, and so all they really want for Christmas is to get in, get the points and get out. They’d rather do it clean. But they’ll do it dirty if they have to.
![[Jonathan Liew at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2019/11/25/Jonathan_Liew.png?width=180&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Above all, they know exactly what they want. Luis Díaz wants to spin off his man and run from deep, and Ryan Gravenberch wants to plug the gaps and get the ball moving, Dominik Szoboszlai wants you to commit, but not until he’s put you half a step off balance first, and Mo Salah wants to be Mo Salah. They can go short or long, hit you from every angle, hurt you from every bit of the pitch. Nine Liverpool players made a key pass in this game, including the goalkeeper and both full-backs.
![[Ange Postecoglou]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b3de12a7b2cd4c20c0b0354e44f8b515895cbfd0/0_111_1893_1136/master/1893.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Tottenham are not serious about this. They win spectacularly, and then they lose spectacularly, and it doesn’t really matter because over the past couple of years they have engendered a culture in which progress is basically divorced from outcomes. League positions are of no consequence. Champions League qualification is not a target, because the entire success of this multibillion-pound operation is geared around whether a middle-aged Australian man feels his ideas have taken root this week or not.
There are clear and tangible advantages to this approach. Most importantly, it’s a lot of fun. This is expressive football with no compromises, a young and essential energy, and occasionally the ultimate rush. When it destroys the quadruple champions or puts seven past Manchester United in two games, it feels like total vindication, and who doesn’t love one of those? This is the entertainment business, there are Tunnel Club packages to be sold, and being the Premier League’s top scorers is a pretty persuasive pitch if you’re not really fussed about who wins.
