fter being touched by the hand of God, Harry Kane was at his superhuman best. There were two more goals from the Tottenham Hotspur striker as he destroyed a Liverpool defence that was simply desperate. They were Kaned and should be caned after this.
At half-time Diego Maradona, here as a guest, held aloft a Kane No10 shirt, playing to the crowd, but it is the kind of moment that will motivate the England forward even more. Kane wants worldwide recognition and world-class status and it was interesting that the Spurs manager, Mauricio Pochettino, introduced Kane to Maradona prior to kick off.
“It was difficult to let [Maradona] go,” Pochettino said of his compatriot, hailing him as “the best player ever” while Liverpool never got close to Kane who ran at them time and again. It was a mismatch.
Before Maradona’s show of that Lillywhite shirt, Liverpool raised the white flag. It is hard to recall such a shambolic, insipid, chaotic defensive display as the one they delivered in a first-half that reaped three goals for Spurs – it could have been five – before they made a gift of another inside the hour.
Spurs were rampant; Liverpool were rank, at least defensively so. They threatened going forward, through the tireless Mohamed Salah, and there were a couple of outstanding saves from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, but that means nothing when they are so appalling at the back.
Parking the bus? That is not Jürgen Klopp’s way but the Liverpool manager threw his defender Dejan Lovren under the bus by taking the hapless centre-half off just after the half-hour. By then Lovren had been beaten as Kane bullied the Liverpool defence. It was a man against boys.
Kane’s goals mean that only another Argentinian, a certain Lionel Messi (with 46 goals), has scored more in all competitions in 2017 than the England striker who has 38, equal with Edinson Cavani (before Paris Saint-Germain kicked off on Saturday night). It is 17 in 13 matches for club and country for Kane, 13 for Spurs and when he was substituted there was a standing ovation and also a concerned check from Pochettino as the forward had felt the back of his leg before he went off although he was later said to be simply tired.
While Liverpool will be having nightmares after this, Spurs will believe they have banished their own demons with a thumping home win at Wembley in the Premier League against one of the other ‘Big Six’. It capped a wonderful week after the impressive Champions League draw with Real Madrid, drew them level with Manchester United in second place and, right now, they look the likeliest contender to push leaders, Manchester City. Incredibly, after just nine matches, Liverpool are 12 points off the top.
Spurs sensed their weakness. They had lined up in a 5-3-2 formation, conscious of the threat of Liverpool’s attacking triumvirate, the pace of Salah in particular, but broke quickly with Son Heung-min partnering Kane in attack and Dele Alli far more effective running from deeper in midfield.
Not that, in front of the biggest-ever crowd for a Premier League match, 80,827, they had to work particularly hard for their goals. Less than four minutes had elapsed when Kieran Trippier chipped the ball forward, after combining with Christian Eriksen and Son from a throw-in. Lovren inexplicably lost Kane, who ran between him and Joel Matip before lifting the ball past Simon Mignolet who had unnecessarily rushed from his goal. Kane was clipped but steadied himself to shoot into the unguarded net. Then, horribly, Lovren blundered again as he woefully misjudged a long throw from Lloris allowing Kane to run free down the right and the striker sprinted on and crossed low for Son who superbly guided his first-time shot past Mignolet.
It was a car-crash for Liverpool and they were caught out again when Son ran on to Eriksen’s through ball, which arced between Lovren and Matip, for the forward to thump a right-foot shot that struck the underside of the cross-bar and bounced out.
A lifeline came for a drowning Liverpool, though, when Kane smartly turned Emre Can and ran from his own half. Liverpool players swarmed around him, Kane went down – Pochettino claimed a foul – and Jordan Henderson angled the ball forward. It deflected off Alli’s head and went between Jan Vertonghen and Serge Aurier for Salah to run on to and steer a low shot across Lloris.
Would that change the dynamic? Instead Alli slid a clever pass beyond Lovren for Son who, clear on goal, saw his shot blocked by Mignolet with an outstretched left leg. Klopp had seen enough. Off came Lovren. The manager later said he could have substituted other defenders but it was Lovren who suffered the humiliation.
But Liverpool did not improve. On the stroke of half-time Can brought down Alli and Eriksen’s free-kick was headed out by Matip, as he back-pedalled, but only to the edge of his own area. It was met by Alli – as Can stood watching – and he volleyed past Mignolet.
The goalkeeper could do little, maybe, then but was guilty again when he inexplicably flapped at a free-kick, punching it for no reason when there was no Spurs player close and delivering it straight to Vertonghen whose shot was cleared off the line by Roberto Firmino but only to Kane. And we all know what happens next. Another goal.
So it was over despite two fine saves by Lloris, the first one outstanding, when the captain denied Philippe Coutinho with a brilliant one-handed save, at full-stretch, pushing the Brazilian’s left-foot shot onto the cross-bar. He then kicked away Salah’s low shot. Lloris had also met Maradona – who had grabbed Kane in a bear hug. And Liverpool were smothered.
