Tottenham Hotspur Pay the Price for Attention Deficit in Defeat at Liverpool

You will not find it in any medical journals nor can you get a prescription for it. But ball-watching disease is endemic among footballers, and Tottenham Hotspur have a worrying case. One that undermined their otherwise general good health in Wednesday's 3-2 defeat by Liverpool.

Thanks to the invention of Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela, Tottenham had twice come from behind to go level with Liverpool at Anfield. Harry Kane levelled after Lazar Markovic's opener, then Mousa Dembele did so after Steven Gerrard's penalty.

The north Londoners were in this closely fought contest with less than 10 minutes of normal time to play, with the prospect of a decent away point still alive. One of the late wins that have become synonymous with Mauricio Pochettino's side this season was not out of reach either.

Instead, with Nabil Bentaleb and Danny Rose both confronting Jordon Ibe and left midfielder Nacer Chadli too far from the action, Adam Lallana was allowed to run unchallenged into the box. He received his wide man's pass and then picked out Mario Balotelli darting behind the oblivious Eric Dier. The centre-back's eyes had been fixed squarely on Lallana.

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Liverpool's guts and ingenuity in pursuit of their winner should not be detracted from, nor the significance of this result, which has extended their unbeaten league run in 2015.

Much maligned by supporters and outside observers throughout this season, manager Brendan Rodgers has worked hard to figure out what is required to make this redesigned Reds squad work. When their attempts to penetrate Spurs' resistance on this occasion grew predictable midway through the second half, he did not shy away in handing Balotelli and Lallana the opportunity to add their twist to the cocktail. Duly refreshed late on, the buzz from the Italian's winner should persist for a good while yet.

Perhaps Liverpool would have edged this one regardless. Yet, challenging as it might have been to resist them, better concentration from Spurs would at least have stopped them scoring in that moment.

The north Londoners are not alone among Premier League teams that seem hypnotised by the appearance of the ball within or approaching 18 yards of their goal. But the resulting obliviousness of other threatening opponents it often seems to prompt is threatening to undermine their good progress.

As good as they were in Saturday's north London derby victory, the match could have went against them because of a similar disregard for the presence of opposition players beyond their immediate line of vision.

Mesut Ozil's opener partly resulted from Ryan Mason's failure to track Olivier Giroud on Arsenal's break when he had initially been there with him. The unmarked Frenchman's scuffed shot found his similarly unattended German team-mate free at the back post.

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Right-back Kyle Walker was caught between a rock and a hard place. He chose trying to help protect his goal, and, as a result, Ozil went free. It demonstrated the split-second decision difficulties that can occur when your hand is forced.

Then there was the 61st-minute Laurent Koscielny header, which forced Hugo Lloris into a brilliant save to his left. Bentaleb negligently allowed the defender a free run at the ball and almost saw his team punished less than 10 minutes after Kane's equaliser.

Tottenham's defence is not impenetrable. They were going to concede chances and goals, especially to teams as good as Arsenal and Liverpool (although they also did similarly in their previous loss to the less offensively blessed Leicester City in the FA Cup). But some could have been stopped by an individual quickly looking around in the pivotal buildup moments.

As Pochettino noted (above), Spurs' effort was good. They gave it away too often in the first half and stood off Liverpool early on, but they adjusted and deserved to be level heading into the closing minutes.

There was plenty to commend defensively. Jan Vertonghen again looked cool and alert centrally, while his partner Dier just about had the measure of Daniel Sturridge and others between the 20th and 80th minutes. Walker battled, Rose had a tough time with Ibe but persevered, and the midfield again grew into the contest.

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But with a conceding of the initiative not helped by Pochettino making substitutions rather than more thoughtful adjustments (Eriksen being kept on and perhaps moved centrally to help keep possession would surely have made sense), they provided Liverpool the time and space to punish them.

Things remain very tight in the hunt for the top-four places. In sixth place, Tottenham are still a point ahead of Liverpool and have opportunities to pull back other rivals.

The best of their work shows they have it in them to earn a lofty finish. But the Eriksen- and Kane-led attack is not always going to be able to pull them back from the brink. They need to learn to concentrate at all times and stop conceding goals that require entertaining and emotional, but not always achievable, comebacks.

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