Tottenham teammates had to be separated at half time as Ange Postecoglou‘s Spurs lost a fourth straight game on Monday morning.
The Spurs had been given hope in their pursuit of Champions League qualification after fourth-placed Aston Villa had a surprise 1-0 loss at Brighton.
But Aussie Postecoglou’s side never looked capable of taking advantage of that result after being outclassed by Liverpool and losing 4-2.
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Some ordinary defending in the first half resulted in Spurs teammates Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal engaging in an ugly spat as players walked off for the break.
The pair got in each other’s face and exchanged words, before being separated.
Postecoglou was not disappointed to see it.
“They care mate, they care,” Postecoglou told the broadcast of the half-time stoush.
“If you care about something… I’d hate to think they were skipping into the tunnel holding hands.
“When they care, that’s a good thing.”
Mohamed Salah quickly put last week’s sideline spat with Jurgen Klopp behind him by scoring first in Liverpool’s 4-2 win.
Liverpool went 2-0 up in the 45th after Salah’s shot was saved by Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario and Andy Robertson converted from the rebound.
It was the least Liverpool deserved after dominating the chances in the first half and forcing Vicario into a host of desperate saves.
The title may be all but beyond Klopp’s team, but Liverpool still looks intent on ending the season on a high for the German, who is stepping down as manager.
Gakpo scored Liverpool’s third goal five minutes after the break when heading low at the far post following Harvey Elliott’s curling left-foot cross.
Nine minutes later it was Elliott’s turn to score with a moment of individual brilliance that brought the home fans to their feet and a beaming grin to Klopp’s face.
Collecting the ball on the right, Elliott needed one touch to get away from Rodrigo Bentancur. Then, from around 20 yards, he curled an unstoppable left-foot shot into the top corner and beyond the dive of Vicario.
Postecoglou sent on Richarlison in the hope of salvaging something and the Brazil international quickly made an impact by turning home Brennan Johnson’s cross in the 72nd.
He then turned provider to tee up Son Heung-min to fire in from close range five minutes later.
Richarlison forced Alisson into a low save when racing through late on, which led to Joe Gomez producing a flying clearance to stop Johnson from converting the rebound.
– with AP