Roberto De Zerbi looking worried and Mathys Tel in circular inset

Roberto De Zerbi and Mathys TelImago

Tottenham player ratings vs Liverpool - Mathys Tel horrible but teammate starts to answer critics

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Published on:

15 Sep 2026, 8:59 pm

Tottenham were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Liverpool in a 3-1 defeat on Tuesday night.

Alexis Mac Allister's scored in the first-half before Cody Gakpo struck against the club he was linked with in the summer in the 54th minute.

Conor Gallagher netted in the 69th minute to give Spurs late hope that they might be able to get a penalty shoot-out on Merseyside.

However, as Spurs pushed for an equaliser, Dominik Szoboszlai scored an absolute screamer in the first minute of stoppage time to seal the victory for the Reds.

Tottenham are now out of the Carabao Cup and with six games gone in all competitions, Roberto De Zerbi's men have just one victory to their name - which came against Championship side Charlton.

Here, Tottenham News has rated the players' performances in what was - at best - a spirited display at Anfield.

Tosin Adarabioyo shows he can answer his critics

There was a lot of disappointment among Tottenham fans when the North London club signed Tosin Adarabioyo from Chelsea on deadline day.

However, in his first start for Spurs, it's fair to say that the 28-year-old put in a good performance despite the result.

Liverpool had plenty of attacks and a lot of time, Adarabioyo had the measure of his opponents.

According to stats by Sofascore, the centre-back completed all three tackles that he attempted, made five clearances, sealed three recoveries and blocked two shots.

He also won seven out of nine aerial duels, three out of four ground duels and didn't get dribbled past once.

Adarabioyo did make one error that led to a shot but otherwise, he can be happy with his personal display.

And Spurs fans should maybe cut him a bit more slack given their reaction to his arrival at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at the start of September.

Why Micky van de Ven will fear Roberto De Zerbi axe after Tosin Adarabioyo's Tottenham arrival

Mathys Tel worryingly bad

It wasn't the best of nights for Mathys Tel, with many wondering how he managed to stay on the pitch for 85 minutes before being replaced.

He was dropped from the starting line-up against Everton at the weekend and based on his performance at Liverpool, it's likely that De Zerbi will keep him out of the side once again in the Premier League this weekend against Aston Villa.

It's hard to pinpoint anything that Tel actually did against Liverpool.

The stats say that the 21-year-old Frenchman only attempted 17 passes, completing just 71 per cent of them.

He was also caught offside twice and didn't manage to fire any shots at goal throughout the 90 minutes.

He lost possession a staggering 17 times and also had five unsuccessful touches.

It was such a forgettable performance by Tel, that De Zerbi should maybe forget about starting him for a while.