Tottenham 0 Liverpool 5
Liverpool: Suarez 18’, 84’ Henderson 40’, Flanagan 75’, Sterling 89’
Red card: Paulinho (Tottenham)
Man of the match: Luis Suarez (Liverpool)
The boos at the final whistle were ferocious. If manager Andre Villas-Boas came close to the edge after the 6-0 defeat to Manchester City, a humiliating defeat to Liverpool may have tipped him over.
Perhaps he was unfortunate to meet a Liverpool side playing brilliant, vibrant football, and any manager looking to accommodate seven new signings deserves patience, but the shapelessness and the spinelessness of Tottenham on Sunday went beyond teething problems.
“We are not far off,” Villas-Boas insisted, “but the distance is increasing for Champions League spots. In the Premier League, we are completely far off our expectations.”
The gap to Liverpool is now six points, with the leaders Arsenal two ahead of them. But such statistics give little sense of the gulf between the sides on Sunday.
The Tottenham manager is clearly aware that dismissal is a possibility.
“It’s not my call,” he said when asked if he thought he would have time to develop this squad.
“It’s the only thing I cannot control. I have to get down to work, that’s the only thing I can do.
“I won’t resign and I’m not a quitter. All I can do is work hard with the players to get them back on track. This is a top-four squad, but in the Premier League, the form isn’t there.”
Liverpool’s control of midfield – the one area in which Tottenham had been consistently impressive this season – was extraordinary. Jordan Henderson, not for the first time, seemed to grow in the absence of Steven Gerrard, a powerful and intelligent presence who in the space of one first-half minute sprayed a 50-yard pass to either flank.
Joe Allen, so derided last season, was neat and effective in his distribution, the pace and quality of Liverpool’s pressing and passing leaving Spurs puffing in their wake.
“It’s the most complete performance since I took over,” said the Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers as his side moved to within two points of league-leading Arsenal.
“We were like animals in our hunger for the football, and once we got it, our use of it was outstanding.”
It seemed strange, having dropped deeper after the 6-0 defeat at Manchester City, for Spurs to return to such a high line against a side boasting Luis Suarez’s pace.
Perhaps Villas-Boas thought he could stifle Liverpool’s relatively callow midfield, but if so, he underestimated the improvement in both Henderson and Allen this season.
Again and again, Suarez got behind the ponderous Michael Dawson and Spurs were fortunate he had what, by his standards, was an off-day in front of goal, three times being denied by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in one-on-ones.
Henderson set up the first after 17 minutes, regaining possession after Dawson had intercepted Suarez’s through-ball and laying the Uruguayan in to finish neatly.
The second came six minutes before the break, with Philippe Coutinho’s touch laying in Henderson.
His shot was saved, as was Suarez’s follow-up, but Lloris was finally beaten at the third attempt, as Henderson gleefully thumped home his first league goal since April.
The 61st-minute sending off of Paulinho for thrusting his studs into Suarez’s chest ended any distant though of a Tottenham fightback. A Henderson run was instrumental in the third, creating space for Suarez to cross to the back post, where Jon Flanagan arrived to half-volley the ball in off the underside of the bar.
Suarez added the fourth, his 17th of the season, after running on to Luis Alberto’s through-ball, and then laid in Sterling for the fifth.
It could have been worse.
Coutinho struck the bar with the score at 1-0 and, four minutes into the second half, Raheem Sterling, who tied Kyle Naughton in such knots he was withdrawn at half time, dinked a ball to the back post when Mamadou Sakho headed against the post.
This was a hammering from start to finish.
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