Harry Kane has stated that Tottenham need to understand the moments better after they were put to the sword in the opening minutes of a game for the second week in a row. Having shipped five goals in 21 minutes at Newcastle United last Sunday, one week on Spurs found themselves 3-0 down after 15 minutes against Liverpool.
Looking down and out and likely to concede more with Liverpool opening them up with ease, Spurs managed to find a way back into the contest and restored parity deep into stoppage time after Richarlison had added to goals from Kane and Son Heung-min. There was to be a late twist in the tale, however, with Diogo Jota capitalising on an error from Lucas Moura to win the game one minute later.
A real sickener for the Tottenham team after mounting such a good fightback, Kane has admitted the manner of the defeat so deep into stoppage time was "hard to take". Opening up on the message from Ryan Mason at half-time, Kane also outlined the importance of keeping the best teams quiet in the opening stages and managing the game better to ensure they remain in the contest.
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"Sometimes when you're 3-0 down it's easy to start playing, it's easy to have no cares. I think the best teams around are able to start like that and go out there and play in those moments," Kane told SPURSPLAY after the defeat.
"I think we need to understand those moments more as well as a team. You're coming away to Anfield, just like you're going away to St. James' Park, two really intense atmospheres and what happened today is exactly what they were hoping for as they were on the front foot. We need to be more experienced in those moments slowing the game down, dictating the tempo because once it's 3-0 we've got no option but to play with a high intensity.
"We showed patience and the boss showed great patience in terms of talking to us and even at half-time told us not to get too carried away and try and win the game in the first ten minutes of the second half. We knew we were going to get chances and if we kept plucking at it and if we kept the clean sheet, which we spoke about at half-time, we would get something out of the game.
"We were so close to being right. Credit to him, there's a lot of good things we can take from the game but ultimately when you lose like this it is hard to take."
Tottenham fans were no doubt fearing another heavy defeat after Liverpool had raced into a three-goal lead inside the first 15 minutes. Hailing the team for their play in the final 70 minutes, Kane has labelled the first 20 minutes as "unacceptable".
"It's just gutting to have what happened at the end," admitted a crestfallen Kane. "First 20 minutes is just unacceptable again. It feels like I am talking about it every time we play, especially away from home, and the 60-70 minutes we had the better chances, created some really good ones, and hit the post a few times. Alisson made some good saves and we fully deserved to get back into the game like we did.
"To go through all that effort, determination, desire and come back in one of the hardest away grounds in the Premier League to then give it away so cheaply at the end is just hard to even put into words."
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