Tottenham Hotspur walked out at Liverpool with the door ajar for their Champions League hopes, only for Ange Postecoglou’s fading side to trip and fall flat on their faces at Anfield.
Do not be fooled by the 4-2 scoreline in Liverpool’s favour. It was flattery, doing Spurs a kindness their overall performance did not merit.
It must also not deceive anyone in the Spurs camp as the dramatic decline, in a season that held much promise and optimism at one time, continues its sharp downward curve at a crucial point.
Handed the opportunity to close a seven-point game on fourth-placed Aston Villa after they slipped up at Brighton, it made a woeful, passive approach - that played into Liverpool’s hands for the first 70 minutes - even more mystifying.