Tottenham Hotspur: 5 Lessons from Spurs' 3-2 Loss to Liverpool

Tottenham's incredible run of form came to a close Sunday, as Spurs fell 3-2 to Liverpool at Anfield.

The loss ended the club's 12-match unbeaten streak in the Premier League and eight-match unbeaten run in all competitions.

Gareth Bale was again the main man for Tottenham, setting up both Spurs goals with crosses to Belgian Jan Vertonghen.

The result is obviously a blow to Spurs' season, allowing the clubs chasing for a Champions League spot an opportunity to gain ground.

However, Tottenham still sits in third place in the Premier League with a comfortable cushion over Arsenal in fifth.

So what can one take away from Spurs' loss to Liverpool?

Here are five lessons from Tottenham's loss Sunday. 

Bale Can Do It in More Ways Than One

Over the past few weeks, Tottenham's Gareth Bale has been on the best scoring tear of his career.

The Welshman had scored in five consecutive Premier League matches, with seven goals in that period of time.

Despite this amazing form, though, detractors still found negatives in the winger's newfound "shoot first" mentality, especially as it resulted in just one assist through 24 league matches.

However, Bale showed his supporting abilities in Spurs' match with Liverpool Sunday, setting up both Tottenham goals in the loss.

Week in and week out, Gareth is proving just how well-rounded his game is, scoring wondrous goals and creating great scoring opportunities alike.

Strikers Needed ASAP

Tottenham's striker situation this season has been more than a little worrisome.

With only two experienced strikers on the roster in Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor, Spurs have had problems with both depth and quality.

While Adebayor missed time due to the Africa Cup of Nations, Defoe had to play every match; when Defoe went down with injury, Adebayor was forced into regular action. Meanwhile, both have experienced struggles for form.

These problems were spotlighted this week, as Ade played quite poorly against Inter Thursday and Defoe contributed mightily to the club's loss Sunday.

As to Defoe's poor match against Liverpool, it's hard to think of a positive contribution the striker made. While a mitigating circumstance might be Jermain's recent return from injury, the Englishman did make that ridiculous pass that resulted in the decisive goal.

Perhaps Tottenham can cope through the rest of the season with this striking core, but the club must address the position as soon as possible.

Sigurdsson Regresses

For the first few months of his run at White Hart Lane, Gylfi Sigurdsson did little to win the confidence of the Tottenham faithful, especially in front of the net.

Over the past few weeks, though, the Icelander has played much better, even scoring a few fine goals in that span.

However, Sigurdsson seemed to regress a bit Sunday, freezing in front of net on a few occasions and wasting a few clear opportunities to put the match away for Spurs, notably pulling a clear opportunity wide and firing off of a sliding defender and onto the post.

Now, this isn't to say that Gylfi played poorly Sunday; in fact, his ability to create chances and link with his teammates was quite nice.

Still, Siggy's play has been quite frustrating for supporters, as a bit of improved finishing could elevate him to a huge contributor.

Hopefully this was just a blip and Gylfi can continue on the upward trajectory he seemed to be on before this match.

Mistakes Abound

With a 2-1 lead over Liverpool at Anfield, Tottenham looked on their way to another huge win and another step to the top four.

Unfortunately, a few mistakes later and they had grabbed defeat from the jaws of victory.

On the first goal, Kyle Walker's ridiculous back pass to goalkeeper Hugo Lloris was more than a little ill-advised, while the France captain's decision to try to control the ball was almost as bad.

On the second, it was a ludicrous touch by Jermain Defoe that set Luis Suarez into the area, while Benoit Assou-Ekotto was forced to give away the penalty.

Through their unbeaten run over the past few months, Spurs have been able to avoid mistakes like this. In fact, the club has been able to overcome the late-match woes they experienced early in the season and even started to win matches at the death.

However, Sunday's match was a throwback to those early struggles.

Tottenham supporters can cling to the hope that this was merely the product of fatigue following the club's match with Inter on Thursday, but Spurs should hope that this doesn't once more become a trend through their tough run-in.

Top Four Race Far from over

After Tottenham's victory over Arsenal in the North London derby opened up a seven-point gap between Spurs and their eternal rivals, the general feeling around the club was that a Champions League spot was all but assured.

Looking through the remaining schedule of both clubs, though, tells a different story.

While Spurs are still left with matches against Manchester City, against Everton, at Chelsea and at Stoke still left on their bill, Arsenal's only match with clubs in the top five is against Manchester United at the Emirates.

Now, it's hardly looking like Arsenal are going to win every match left on their schedule, especially on current form.

However, with nine matches left in the Premier League season, Spurs still have to at least get a few good results to wrap up their top-four finish.

Given last season's awful midseason and the club's recent history in pursuit of the Champions League, this Premier League season is not yet a success for Tottenham.

Glory may just be a few matches away, but those matches still must be won.

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