Tottenham fans will treat Tuesday's 2-1 EFL Cup defeat to Liverpool as an outlier.
Of the starting XI, only Eric Dier had appeared in the previous weekend's Premier League game, the 0-0 draw at Bournemouth. Those fans who had made the 400 mile round trip to Anfield might not have liked it but Mauricio Pochettino's intentions were clear. If he could have squeezed out a result with a second XI then that's all well and good, but if his team were knocked out then it was no great loss. Spurs have more important targets elsewhere.