Tottenham player ratings: 'Night to forget' for 3/10 and 'awful' 4 v Liverpool

Even a 1-0 advantage wasn’t enough for Tottenham Hotspur to hold off an in-form Liverpool side for the second time in the Carabao Cup semi-final on Thursday night.

From the off, it was the hosts who looked the most likely to end up at Wembley Stadium and the shaky Spurs resistance lasted just 34 minutes under the lights at Anfield. Cody Gakpo had looked dangerous early and was an unsurprising first goalscorer in the first half.

Mohamed Salah, Dominik Szoboszlai, Virgil Van Dijk all found the back of the net after the break with little fight from the North London outfit in another thoroughly underwhelming performance. Here’s how the Spurs players rated.

Tottenham Hotspur player ratings

GK - Antonin Kinsky, 7

A mixed bag. That was a big occasion and the new signing made some impressive saves. Other moments were less convincing, flapping at corners and obviously bringing down Darwin Nunez for the penalty - although questions can be fairly asked of the Spurs defence for letting the striker run through like that. The writing was on the wall when he did.

LB - Djed Spence, 6

Caught the wrong side of Salah ahead of the penalty, that wasn’t fantastic stuff. Can’t fault his enthusiasm, finding some influence in attacking moves.

CB - Ben Davies, 3

That was a night to forget. Looked overwhelmed by the task at hand - keeping Liverpool out and marshalling a new-look back four in the process. As a result, his own performance was rocky, completely losing Van Dijk from the corner when the Liverpool centre-back scored.

CB - Kevin Danso, 4

Not much better than Davies, who was screaming in frustration when the Lens loanee was nowhere to be seen for the Szoboszlai goal. A tough first outing for Spurs.

RB - Archie Gray, 5

The Liverpool breakthrough looked likely to come on the left flank with Gray somewhat scattered trying to deal with Cody Gakpo. Diligent in his work as always, but just a second behind the opposition moves. Better than his defensive colleagues.

CM - Pape Sarr, 5

Not really in the game tonight, did try to get things moving after the Salah goal in the second half and helped Spence out well when 2-0 down, but those passages of play weren’t all that head-turning. Taken off before 60 minutes.

CM - Rodrigo Bentancur, 4

Struggling to get hold of the ball and break up Liverpool play. Could easily have been him who was taken off early in the second half.

Son hits the woodwork for Spurs

CM - Yves Bissouma, 6

Tried to be progressive at times in the first half but not finding much influence. Hooked early on in the second half as Postecoglou tried to regain some control.

LW - Son Heung-min, 7

Clearly the Spurs man who would find a response, if anyone was too. Had 10 minutes of real influence between 65 and 75 minutes, huffing and puffing on his own around the edge of the Reds’ box with some fruition. Hit the frame of the bar as his side’s closest attempt.

ST - Richarlison, 6

Found himself in a spat with Virgil Van Dijk early on. A couple moments of nice hold up play. There’s a feeling he could have taken a chance tonight if Spurs teed him up but hauled off shortly before the break with an injury.

RW - Dejan Kulusevski, 5

Largely anonymous tonight. Needed to see more than that.

SUB - Mathys Tel, 5

The boy clearly has pace but there was little to form any opinions on the Bayern Munich man tonight.

SUB - Lucas Bergvall, 6

The man of the moment in the first leg wasn’t able to find such heroics as he busied himself in midfield from the bench.

SUB - Pedro Porro, 4

Guilty of some awful positioning after coming on. Spurs needed extra competence on the flank and he did not provide it.

SUB - Mikey Moore, N/A