BBC pundit notices what Tottenham players were doing when trying to defend v Liverpool

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Tottenham endured a nightmare first half against Liverpool today as they went into half-time 3-1 down against Jurgen Klopp’s side.

Once again, Ryan Mason saw his team put in a dire opening 45 minutes. Just like against Man United and Newcastle before that, Tottenham gave themselves a huge uphill task to come back.

For Tottenham, some of the defending on show was bordering on criminal. The likes of Romero and Dier were poor once more.

But watching on for BBC sport, former Spurs man Chris Waddle picked up on the nightmare habit the entire Tottenham team had when trying to defend.

“Tottenham are well organised and they all shift across but they aren’t putting in any challenges. The players are just marking space,” Waddle said.

Tottenham have suffered for weeks as a team when defending. And watching on today, Waddle’s point was bang on.

Of course, Tottenham did try and make a game of things and produced a spirited last 15 minutes in first period before starting well in the second half. But once more, their shocking opening 45 made life difficult.

TBR’s View: Tottenham defending is abysmal at times

This is a really interesting point from Chris Waddle here. And this is a mix of both tactics and players not wanting to defend properly.

Spurs’ defenders have a lot to answer for this season. The likes of Romero and others have simply not been good enough and it’s simply mistake after mistake at times.

Tottenham have got to address this in the summer. It will take the right signings. And from there, the right work on the training ground to get things up to speed properly.

At the moment, Tottenham aren’t going to have any success defending like they do. Until it changes, then Spurs fans will continue to be frustrated.