‘It shows they care’: Ange Postecoglou defends Spurs duo after Anfield bust-up

Tottenham defenders Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal break into a heated argument before Guglielmo Vicario intervenes. Photograph: Sky Sports

Ange Postecoglou claimed he had no issues with the Tottenham defenders Cristian Romero and Emerson Royal becoming embroiled in a half-time row at Anfield as it showed “they care” about the club’s plummeting form.

Spurs were well beaten by Liverpool in Jürgen Klopp’s penultimate home game with Mohamed Salah, recalled to the starting lineup following a spat with his manager at West Ham, sparking the win.

The visitors were fortunate to be only two goals down at the break when Romero and Emerson squared up to each other on the pitch. The Spurs goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario sprinted over to intervene.

Spurs’ aims of Champions League qualification are almost certainly over following a fourth Premier League defeat in succession. The visitors trailed 4-0 after 59 minutes at Anfield, before the substitute Richarlison led a late rally, yet Postecoglou claimed their performance was an improvement on recent away defeats.

The Spurs manager said: “Hugely disappointing outcome, of course, but at least we were more like ourselves today compared to Newcastle and Chelsea. Those results weren’t great either, but we didn’t try to play our football.

“In the first half today some of our pressing was back to where it should be. We lacked a cutting edge and had nothing in the final third and that makes the opposition look comfortable.

“At 4-0 we have a mountain to climb but when we play like ourselves we put pressure on the opposition. We scored two and could have had a couple more. At least we tried to play a version of ourselves.”

Klopp described Salah as “outstanding” on his return to Liverpool’s starting lineup and admitted his ­substitutions contributed to Spurs’ late recovery.

The Liverpool manager said: “Anfield was a special place today again because the boys played outstanding, until we didn’t. At 4-0 up I made the changes and we lost organisation definitely in that moment and then you could see how good Tottenham could be if we would have let them before. But we were good in pretty much all areas. The goals were outstanding. Mo was outstanding and really happy for him that he could play the way he played today. We can see what he’s capable of.”