Deeney tears into three Tottenham players who ‘gave up’ in Carabao Cup v Liverpool
Troy Deeney has been left fuming by what he saw from the Tottenham midfield against Liverpool on Thursday.
Spurs travelled to Anfield on 6 January with a 1-0 aggregate lead heading to the second leg of the League Cup semi-final.
This advantage lasted just 34 minutes before Cody Gakpo wiped it out, followed by three second-half strikes to secure a 4-0 win for Arne Slot’s side.
Liverpool centre-back Van Dijk grabbed the fourth and final goal of the night to send the Reds to Wembley on a night where it is fair to say, many Spurs players failed to show up.
Deeney slams Tottenham midfield trio after Anfield shockers
There were plenty of issues with the away side on Merseyside which is frustrating given the quality that was on show in the reverse leg back in January.
Ange Postecoglou has to face his critics for the result and the performance which ultimately played into Liverpool’s hands perfectly.
With that being said, questions do have to be asked of the players and the performances they showed on such a big night for the N17 club.
This was picked out by Deeney, live on talkSPORT on Friday (10:12am, 7 February), who wasn’t for pulling any punches about the midfield in particular.
Taking aim at Spurs, he said: “Yesterday, the players quit. They quit yesterday. That wasn’t young players, it was senior pros who should be stepping up.”
Jim White questioned: “At what point did they quit?
This didn’t phase Deeney who instantly replied: “From the start of the game.
“You need a midfield that says, ‘give me the ball, we know we’re under pressure at Liverpool, we know what they do. They counter press without the ball.’ The three in midfield, who was the sitting midfielder? Who was the aggressive one? They were all so passive.
“The beauty of it is, when they went 3-0 down, there was a five-minute spell when they wanted the ball, that’s the easy time.
“For me, they quit and I don’t like saying that about lads. I would question whether a lot of those guys can look themselves in the mirror today and say ‘I gave everything’.”
Questions have to be asked after Liverpool semi-final defeat
The Lilywhites have gone without a trophy since 2008 and haven’t reached a final since 2021.
As a result, this clash away at Anfield represented a huge chance for this Tottenham side to secure a famous result to book a date at Wembley.
Everyone knew that Postecoglou’s Tottenham side would have to put in an excellent performance to secure even a draw against the Premier League leaders.
Regardless of this, it is totally unacceptable to lose a semi-final in such a manner, especially after what has been a poor season until this point.
The North Londoners are sitting in 14th place in the Premier League and have now spurned the chance to pick up at least one piece of silverware.
There are plenty of reasons to pick out as to why this was the case but it is clear that Deeney believes it is down to the shy nature of the midfield on such a huge occasion.