Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou dismissed suggestions that he was still a Liverpool fan before facing the Reds this weekend, but he admitted after the game that his team couldn’t cope in the Anfield atmosphere.
Goals from Luis Diaz, Alexis Mac Allister, Cody Gakpo and Mohamed Salah, plus an own-goal from Destiny Udogie, saw Liverpool win the match 5-1 to be confirmed as league champions. But the result was secondary to the celebrations as the Reds’ players and coaching staff drank in the emotion and adulation that they have earned over the last few months.
“Credit to Liverpool, worthy champions, and they have been the outstanding team all year, consistent and again today obviously,” Postecoglou said during his post-match press conference. “I thought we started the game well and sort of made things difficult for them.
“Even apart from the goal, I thought just in general we had decent territory. But once they got in front with the atmosphere inside the stadium, it’s fair to say it was going to be difficult for us to claw them back, and that’s how it proved.”
Once Liverpool went ahead in the game through Mac Allister’s sensational strike, it was always likely to ease across the line. Spurs offered little in the way of resistance as the title party began.
“It’s not easy,” Postecoglou said. “It’s not easy on the players because if you sort of look at Liverpool’s line-up, you can almost pick it on a weekly basis. I had made a lot of changes, but I just felt it was necessary.
(Image: Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
“A lot of our players have missed a lot of this season with injuries and it wasn’t just about bringing them back but managing their minutes because obviously we want them ready.
“Guys like Micky (van de Ven) and (Cristian) Romero today could have played. But they’ve missed so much of the season that we’ve just got to be really careful about when we use them.
“Guys like Pedro (Porro) and (Rodrigo) Bentancur have played a lot this year. It has been a juggling act for sure and that hasn’t helped the team, hasn’t helped the players and when you’re facing the best you pay that price.”
Liverpool.com says: Anfield was superb, as it was always going to be, against Spurs. And with the title now won, the ground will be able to celebrate for a couple more games. Postecoglou’s men have been dire at times this season but they didn’t play badly here. The tide was always going to be against them in the circumstances, though, and they didn’t stand a chance.
