Tottenham Hotspur were hammered 5-1 by Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday in a match that confirmed their opponents as the champions of the Premier League.
It was a one-sided contest for much of the evening, despite Dominic Solanke’s opening goal in the first half, as the Reds ran riot on Merseyside against a helpless Spurs defence.
Ange Postecoglou will surely be disappointed with the performances from his players on the pitch, as several stars underperformed, including Destiny Udogie.
Destiny Udogie's struggles against Liverpool
The Italy international was tasked with keeping Mohamed Salah quiet at left-back and, actually, did a decent job of it in the opening 45 minutes.
Player ratings courtesy of Sofascore
Although Salah played a part in the first goal with a pass in behind the Spurs defence, the Egypt international ended the first half with zero goals or assists.
Unfortunately, however, the Liverpool number 11 stepped his game up in the second half to create one ‘big chance’ and score a goal, as he cut inside of Udogie from the right flank before rifling an effort into the bottom corner.
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Salah also put the Spurs left-back under pressure and forced the defender to convert into his own net for the fifth goal, in what was a dreadful second-half for the Italian dud.
Udogie, however, was not the worst-performing full-back of the afternoon for Tottenham, as Djed Spence was even worse than the former Udinese star.
Why Postecoglou must drop Spence
The English right-back did not enjoy his best day in a Spurs shirt, with a dismal showing, and it started with his involvement, or lack thereof, in the first Liverpool goal.
Spence hesitated and tried to push up to play offside, but it was not an organised line, instead of following his man – Luis Diaz – into the box, and it was his match-up who scored the goal.
He found himself unaware of his man making a run off his back twice in the second half, once to allow Cody Gakpo in behind, but his cross evaded everyone, and the second time to allow Diogo Jota to fire in the cross that forced Udogie’s own goal.
Alongside those disappointing moments defensively, Spence’s use of the ball was also wasteful in comparison to Udogie’s throughout the 90 minutes.
Minutes
90
90
Pass accuracy
81%
56%
Dribbles completed
1/2
0/3
Possession lost
7x
21x
Tackles
3
1
Interceptions
2
0
Duels won
6/8
1/8
As you can see in the table above, the Italian defender had the better performance out of the two defenders, with his play in and out of possession, even if you include his own goal, which Spence was partially responsible for.
The former Nottingham Forest full-back was weak in his physical battles, made poor decisions defensively, and gave the ball away far too often, losing possession a whopping 14 more times than Udogie. This provided Liverpool with even more opportunities to attack because he could not keep hold of the ball well enough.
Therefore, Postecoglou must consider ruthlessly dropping Spence to the bench in favour of Pedro Porro, who provided an assist against Forest last time out, for the Europa League clash with Bodo/Glimt on Thursday.
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ByDan EmeryApr 27, 2025