Díaz and Salah double up as leaders Liverpool run riot at Tottenham

Well done, boys, good process. Liverpool stretched their lead at the top of the Premier League to four points, having played one game fewer than second-placed Chelsea, with the latest illustration of their remorseless cut and thrust under Arne Slot.

It was an occasion when Tottenham, playing their way, the Ange Postecoglou way, with zero compromises, were taken to pieces. They conceded six but it could and should have been double figures. Time and again, Liverpool sliced through and a prominent detail at the end of a wild afternoon was the glaring nature of some of their misses.

In the corresponding fixture last season, Luis Díaz had a goal disallowed incorrectly for offside in the 34th minute at 0-0. It was a monumental muck-up between the officials and the VAR team in a game that Spurs won 2-1. Here, Díaz had his revenge, scoring two and running amok. He was not the only star in red. Mohamed Salah got two goals of his own and seemed to have the freedom of the pitch at times. Liverpool’s other scorers were Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai.

Spurs were staring at a historic drubbing when Salah scored his second for 5-1 just after the hour and maybe they can say that they continued to fight. They were able to keep the margin of defeat relatively tight in the context of the yawning chasm between the teams. James Maddison had scored for 2-1 in the first half. Dejan Kulusevski, who never stopped, and Dominic Solanke got them back to 5-3 before Díaz’s late second.

Do not be fooled. This was a humbling for Postecoglou, albeit his hands were tied by the selection crisis that ruled out eight players. He stuck with the starting XI that defeated Manchester United in the Carabao Cup quarter-final on Thursday. Slot had rotated heavily in victory at the same stage of the competition at Southampton on Wednesday. Liverpool were fresher, sharper.

This was one of the most dominant performances of Slot’s tenure, which shows 21 wins out of 25 matches in all competitions with three draws. The Liverpool press was suffocating. Whenever a Spurs player had the ball, he invariably felt the heat. Slot started Díaz in a false 9 role partly because of his remorseless energy, the tone that he sets out of possession.

It was also about what Liverpool did with the ball. They threatened repeatedly to open Spurs up, to get in around the sides with overlaps. Or through more central areas on the transition. Basically, from any angle.

Díaz’s header for the breakthrough was a beauty; he was coiled like a spring, almost side-on, the power and precision on the release too much for Fraser Forster. The vicious delivery from Trent Alexander‑Arnold was not bad, either, and it was far from being his only wonderful pass. After what happened last season, Díaz was forgiven for stealing a glance across at the assistant referee. He was onside. Then again …

Liverpool could have scored a couple of goals by then. Salah had a clutch of chances, hitting the crossbar with one after a bewitching piece of footwork. The second goal was of a piece with everything that had gone before, Liverpool with men over on the left. Andy Robertson hung up the cross and Szoboszlai got a break when he jumped with Archie Gray and Djed Spence, the ball looping kindly for Mac Allister, who rose to nod home.

It was a shock when Spurs pulled one back, something out of very little. Kulusevski won possession high up off Mac Allister – Liverpool’s cries for a foul were in vain – and Maddison curled in from the edge of the area. The resumption of the natural order was no surprise, Spurs so open after Szoboszlai won a header from Alexander-Arnold’s ball forward. He kept on running. Salah played the pass. Szoboszlai was never going to miss.

The game was framed to an extent by a protest against the Spurs chairman, Daniel Levy, on the High Road in the countdown to kick-off; a couple of hundred diehards set out some banners and chanted aggressively. Inside the ground, the Spurs support watched through their fingers.

Postecoglou’s last line was high throughout; caution thrown to the chill wind. Liverpool simply ran through. It was easy to fear for Spurs when Salah made it four after good work by Cody Gakpo and Salah’s second shone a further light on Tottenham’s defensive recklessness. Why was Radu Dragusin drawn so far up the pitch to Díaz? Liverpool worked it quickly in behind, Szoboszlai playing the decisive pass.

Moments earlier, Szoboszlai had run through unopposed from halfway on to a long ball from the goalkeeper, Alisson. It was too easy. Szoboszlai fluffed that opening. As did Díaz when was clean through, lobbing high. By then Kulusevski had volleyed in from Solanke’s chipped pass and Solanke’s goal was similarly good to watch, a fine volley on the spin. Salah made Díaz’s second goal and, crazily, it would have ended 6-4 had Alisson not saved smartly from Brennan Johnson, on as a Spurs substitute. Liverpool had made their statement.