LIVERPOOL

DIEGO MARADONA was here. So too were 80,826 others, making it the highest ever Premier League attendance.

But it was those watching from further afield that had most to learn from Tottenham’s second impressive showing of the week.

Manchester City will now realise that even the exertions of holding out in the Bernabeu against back-to-back Champions League winners Real Madrid in midweek are not going to keep Mauricio Pochettino’s side off their coat-tails this season.

Wembley hoodoo well and truly buried, Spurs have emerged from this weekend as the only side likely to be able to come between Pep Guardiola and the Premier League title.

Much more pertinently, Jose Mourinho must have been given pause to think yet again about why he did not send his Manchester United team to Anfield last week in more adventurous spirit. Because, boy, are Liverpool there for the taking right now.

Jurgen Klopp started with one back four, changed to another and then reverted to a back three. In truth, from the first whistle, they were at sixes and sevens. Players such as Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez simply are not strong enough to provide a platform for anything, certainly not a title-challenging side. Mark Lawrenson and Alan Hansen must be spinning on their punditry stools.

The legendary Anfield defensive pair, the keystone of Liverpool’s most successful ever side, used to be pilloried for insisting every goal, however marvellous, was somehow down to a defensive error.

At Wembley, the Liverpool defence were making the summarising clear for everybody to see. Just four minutes had gone when Harry Kane left Lovren standing, darted on to Kieran Trippier’s pass, cut inside and finished smartly while off balance with his left foot. But on the far side, Alberto Moreno had been a yard behind the rest of Liverpool’s flat defence, keeping him onside.

The second Spurs goal was just laughable. Hugo Lloris threw the ball long, Lovren rushed forward on the halfway line and the ball sailed over his head. So bad is Lovren’s defending right now, that Kane anticipated a £20million defender