Tottenham vs. Liverpool: 8 Lessons Learned from Spurs' 4-0 Win Against Reds

I'll be the first to admit it. Never in a million years would I have predicted that Tottenham would emerge from this game with a 4-0 win over Liverpool.

I thought Liverpool had the better squad heading into this game, and that with a proper reshuffle of personnel that Tottenham just might be able to squeeze out a 1-0 or 2-0 victory if the recommendations I made in my preview article were followed.

Instead, what I got was an absolutely dominating performance from Tottenham from start to finish, and a poor, poor display from a Liverpool side that looked second best all game long.

Let's go through and break down why exactly things turned out the way they did.

Ledley King: Never Underestimate the Captain

It's been said numerous times before, but I'll say it again: if Ledley King was not so plagued by injuries throughout his career, he'd easily have been a regular in the English national team.

In fact, I'd go so far as to say that, were he not constantly injured, King would surely be at the same level as John Terry and Rio Ferdinand at this point in his career.

Against Liverpool, King was a monster. Not only did he completely neutralize Carroll, but he also had the composure to play the ball out of the back to allow Tottenham to quickly switch from defense to attack.

Furthermore, King's leadership and composure at the back brought the best out of his center back partner Younes Kaboul. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but this is exactly what I wrote about in previewing the game.

King was an excellent mentor for Kaboul on the field and brought the best out of the Frenchman.

It's no coincidence that both of Tottenham's clean sheets this season have come with King at the back, and as long as he continues to play, Tottenham can be assured that they will have one of the strongest defenses in the league.

Luka Modric: He's Back

Towards the end of the summer, and early on this season, I was firmly convinced that it was a huge mistake not to sell Luka Modric.

I thought that Rafael Van der Vaart was easily capable of giving Tottenham everything that Modric does, and that the money from Modric's sale could provide the club with the cash they need to make major signings.

On the back of his magnificent performance against Liverpool, I completely retract that statement. 

Modric was an absolute beast against Liverpool. His goal was spectacular, but it was the cherry on top of an excellent 90-minute performance.

For the first time this season, Modric brought back the Modric of last season, and then some. He maintained possession alongside Scott Parker excellently in midfield, and made many key passes that kept the Tottenham offense ticking throughout the game.

Modric, welcome back with open arms. We hope to see much more from you throughout this season.

Introducing Defoe-Adebayor, the Next Keane-Berbatov

It's been a long wait, but at last Tottenham can finally, once again, boast one of the most dangerous strike partnerships in the Premier League.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not jumping the gun and saying that, after only two games, Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermaine Defoe's strike partnership is as good as Robbie Keane's and Dimitar Berbatov, but it definitely has the potential to be as good, and dare I say it, better.

They may not be the most unselfish of strikers, but maybe that's what makes them so compatible.

As we saw for in the third goal, Adebayor was able to respond quickest to Defoe's strike, and calmly rebound the shot into the net after getting it over Jose Manuel Reina.

Both strikers compliment each other very well as well.

While Defoe lacks height, Adebayor has plenty of it. Similarly, while Adebayor is not among the fastest strikers in the Premier League, Defoe is.

The blend of their striking attributes ensures that Tottenham will have a whole arsenal of striking skills available to its offense, each and every game.

At the moment, it's too early to say too much about how successful the Adebayor-Defoe partnership can be.

If Harry Redknapp can leave it intact and avoid the urge to rotate his strikers for Premier League games or change the team's formation back to the 4-4-1-1, I believe the partnership will pay off dividends in Tottenham's quest for a Top 4 finish in the Premier League. 

4-4-2 > Rafael Van Der Vaart

The time has come for the team's success to be put above the desire to put Rafael van der Vaart in his perfect position.

This isn't Hamburg, where van der Vaart was easily his team's best player and thus benefitted from him playing in his ideal position. 

This is Tottenham, where quality players are available in each position in the team. And with Luka Modric back to his very best, Scott Parker excelling as his partner in a central midfield duo, and Jermaine Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor clicking excellently up front, van der Vaart will simply need to adjust his game to that of a right midfielder.

And why shouldn't he be able to do it?

All the best players in the world always learn to adjust to new positions and still put out their best performances.

Take Cesc Fabregas for example, who has excelled in an advanced, quasi-winger role with Barcelona despite having played as a central midfield playmaker for Arsenal for the last seven-plus years.

Or Lionel Messi, who played as a winger for much of his Barcelona career before being switched to the center forward position last season. Or Fabio Coentrao at Real Madrid, who's done very well shifting from left back to defensive midfielder.

The examples go on and on, but the point is that it is feasible and done by so many of the best footballers in the world. And if van der Vaart really loves Tottenham as much as he says he does and puts the team's success ahead of his, he should have no problem with the switch.

Charlie Adam, Jordan Henderson and Stewart Downing: Disappointing

For Liverpool fans, if there's one thing that they painfully learned against Tottenham, it's that Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing still have not hit the gear they need to be at if Liverpool truly want to make the top-4.

Downing came closest to having any real impact on the game with some nice touches, but lost possession far too frequently.

Henderson was nowhere to be found, a non-factor when the going got tough, as has been a trend throughout the first five games of the season. And Adam was poor in his 28 minutes in the game, before greatly handicapping his team with his red card.

Obviously, the first reaction is to run to Steven Gerrard and beg him to save the team when he returns next week. Which is fine because Gerrard will surely energize the team and definitely improve the quality of Liverpool's midfield.

But if Liverpool truly want to be considered among the best, and not the worst, of the "Big Six" in the Premier League, these three guys will have to step up, and fast.

Everyone knows what to expect from Lucas, Gerrard, Kuyt, etc. It's Henderson, Adam and Downing who are still giving us hot-and-cold displays that make it hard to determine just how good they actually are, and that needs to change ASAP if Liverpool want to avoid another miserable season. 

Jamie Carragher and Martin Skrtel: Not Right Backs

For the millionth time, Liverpool was painfully taught that neither Jamie Carragher nor Martin Skrtel should play at right back.

Last week, Carragher put in a horrid performance at right back, being caught out of position several times and conceding the penalty that handed Liverpool an unexpected loss to Stoke City.

This week, Skrtel outdid Carragher, getting completely overrun by Gareth Bale, and picking up an unnecessary red card in the 63rd minute.

Liverpool has three competent right backs: Martin Kelly, Glen Johnson and John Flanagan.

The former two were recovering from injury and probably were not selected due to their lack of match fitness, but Kenny Dalglish needs to stop thinking that Carragher or Skrtel can be adequate replacements in the back whenever either of his first-choice right backs are unavailable.

They can't.

Both players are way too slow to keep up with the best wingers of the Premier League, and are error-prone enough as it is. Flanagan, while inexperienced, would surely have put in a better performance than the Carragher or Skrtel.

In hindsight, of course, is 20/20, but Dalglish will do well to heed this lesson going forward. 

Andy Carroll: The Next Fernando Torres?

No, being "The Next Fernando Torres" is not a good thing here. In a game where Liverpool needed that extra bit of quality to keep them competitive and in the game, Andy Carroll failed to deliver.

Like Andre Villas-Boas at Chelsea, Kenny Dalglish faces quite the conundrum here with Carroll. Carroll is just like Torres: you can drop him to the bench, but at the end of the day he is your record signing and not playing him amounts to a tremendous waste of money.

So what can be done?

It was expected that Luis Suarez and Carroll would strike up the next great Premier League partnership, or that at least Carroll would bag goals left and right off crosses from Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson, but neither situation has materialized.

It would seem that, just like Chelsea with Torres, all that can really be done is to keep playing him until he scores, but Dalglish will definitely need to pull some "Mourinho magic" and get inside of his key striker's head if he hopes to keep Liverpool's top-4 dreams alive.

4th Place Favorites: Tottenham

It won't be an easy road, and I fully expect Arsenal and Liverpool to figure out their issues and jump back into the fray, but it would seem that, at the moment, fourth place is Tottenham's to lose.

After a very rough summer, it seems things are finally clicking: Brad Friedel looks confident in goal, the defense looks sharp behind the leadership of Ledley King, Luka Modric and Scott Parker have struck up an excellent understanding in midfield and Gareth Bale and Niko Kranjcar/Rafael van der Vaart have been providing Emmanuel Adebayor and Jermaine Defoe with a steady stream of service and opportunities, which both strikers have been finishing.

If Harry Redknapp continues to make the right decisions, like he did today, I have full confidence that, come the end of the season, fourth place will belong to Tottenham.