Tottenham Hotspur manager Ange Postecoglou was pleased to see his side look more like their usual selves in their 4-2 hammering at the hands of Liverpool at Anfield.
Spurs' abysmal losing streak in the Premier League now stands at four matches thanks to a horrendous opening hour on Merseyside, where Jurgen Klopp's men raced into a four-goal advantage.
Liverpool went into the half-time break with a deserved two-goal advantage thanks to Mohamed Salah's header and an Andrew Robertson effort, before Cody Gakpo and Harvey Elliott added to Tottenham's misery.
However, as was the case in last weekend's North London derby loss to Arsenal, Tottenham suddenly sprung into life in the closing stages, where Son Heung-min and Richarlison cut the arrears in half.
For the second weekend running, though, Spurs' late efforts were for nought, although Postecoglou cut a much calmer figure compared to his unprecedented touchline rage in the midweek defeat to Chelsea.
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Postecoglou: 'We played well in the first half'
After Aston Villa failed to wrap up Champions League qualification with their defeat to Brighton & Hove Albion earlier in the day, Spurs' latest setback leaves them seven points behind the Lions with just nine left to fight for.
Spurs have played one fewer match, but Villa need only win one of their final two fixtures to eliminate Tottenham from top-four contention, although Postecoglou refused to accept the notion that his side were poor in the opening period.
"Our last two away games at Newcastle and Chelsea weren't great, not only the performance but the results as well. At least today I actually thought we played more like ourselves and we at least endeavoured to be the kind of team we want to be," Postecoglou told BBC Match of the Day.
"I thought first half, we actually played well, it's just whenever we got to the final third just nothing came of it and I think it allowed Liverpool to get comfortable and the flip side of that, when they got into our box, they were looking dangerous with the players they have. Obviously them getting the two goals made it difficult for us and in the second half, they obviously scored a couple of exceptional goals.
"I still thought our football was good in general and at least in the last half hour, our front third started to click a little bit more and looked a little bit more dangerous. A couple of goals, created a couple more [chances]. It is disappointing obviously when you lose but at least today, I can hold on to the fact that we looked more like ourselves."
Postecoglou comments on Emerson performance at left-back
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The only change from Thursday's loss at Chelsea saw Rodrigo Bentancur come back into the midfield as Richarlison was sacrificed, meaning that Emerson Royal continued at left-back in the absence of Destiny Udogie and Ben Davies through injury.
The Brazilian - a right-back by trade - was run ragged by Salah on Merseyside and was also seen in a heated argument with Cristian Romero at half time; the Argentine had to be pulled away by Guglielmo Vicario.
Despite calls for Postecoglou to play the pacy Micky van de Ven at left-back and start Radu Dragusin in the centre, the Australian insisted that he had no choice but to thrust Emerson in the unfamiliar role, telling a press conference: "We're playing him out of position and it's kind of the way our season has gone.
"Whenever we've had injuries, invariably we've had them in the same part of the pitch. Both our left-backs are out and it's kind of forced him out there. It's not great for him and he's up against a pretty good player in Mo. Again, that's something we have to deal with."
Tottenham must take at least a point from their home clash with Burnley on May 11 to stay in contention for Champions League football, but their top-four chances will be extinguished if Aston Villa overcome Liverpool two days later.
Ben Knapton
