Poch’s full backs love to attack, but that leaves back door open

TOTTENHAM’S great strength is their ability to attack with their full backs. Against Liverpool, it was also the reason for their defensive weakness. Spurs were saved by the offside flag in the opening seconds after left back Danny Rose was caught high up the pitch. With Rose too far forward, Jan Vertonghen got pulled out wide from centre back to deal with James Milner. It meant Spurs had only two players in the middle to deal with Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane. Liverpool’s second goal at Wembley came from a similar situation. With right back Kieran Trippier too far forward, Liverpool were able to play a ball in behind to Mane, who crossed for Roberto Firmino to score. Liverpool’s front three are the best in the business at exploiting space vacated by defenders. Their movement is sublime but both of these goalscoring opportunities could have been stopped if Tottenham’s full backs were more defensively minded. Mauricio Pochettino will also be concerned that three of the last four goals Spurs have conceded have been headers from set-pieces. Goalkeeper Michel Vorm was at fault for Liverpool’s first goal on Saturday. Milner’s corner was aimed at Virgil van Dijk, who was being marshalled by Vertonghen. With the defender preoccupied, Vorm needed to be more commanding and decisively punch the ball clear. Instead, he parried it to Eric Dier, who could not adjust quickly enough to head to safety and Georginio Wijnaldum powered in to score. When Spurs are up against the best sides, they need to cut out these sloppy goals.