What Did We Learn?

What did we learn from the emphatic 5-0 win in the Champions League last night, apart from the fact that Red Star Belgrade are hopeless away from home? Remember they beat Liverpool 2-0 at home in last season's competition.

Giovani Lo Celso

Giovani Lo Celso had 10 minutes on his way back from injury and looked very good. He got into the box in a scoring position and had Kane pulled the ball back he may well have opened his account for us.

Apart from that, what I was encouraged by was his eye for a pass. OK, they didn't all come off, but he was trying to thread the ball through the defence and looked to create more than Eriksen has looked to do so far this season.

If he continues to progress then Pochettino can leave Eriksen on the sidelines and get the message across that you get your head in gear and give everything or you stagnate until January.

He isn't fit enough to play 90 minutes so bringing him on when the opposition have an hour or more in their legs will help him to make an impact.

Players behind Pochettino

As Glenn Hoddle pointed out, the team playing was essentially the players who were going to be here next season and thus committed to Spurs, except Vertonghen. he left Serge Aurier out but I doubt he'll be here next season either, although he could change his mind with plenty of football to play.

Alderweireld was poor in the last game, he kept giving the ball away or playing people into trouble, Eriksen is going through the motions, Rose turns on and off.

I reported during the summer that Eriksen had been told if he did not sign a new contract that he would not be an automatic first-choice starter, the same with Alderweireld. Both are missing games they would normally have expected to play in, as had Jan Vertonghen another who hasn't signed an extension.

The question still remains, are there enough committed to the club?

Jermain Jenas said every player who crosses the white line gives their all,but they can only give what their conscious mind allows them to give and the subconscious mind holds people back who are not committed.

Mental alertness is down, reaction time is down, desire, the all-important desire is down. They are working within reduced parameters and giving their best that those reduced parameters allow. For instance, a player won't be looking for defence-splitting passes constantly when an easy option to pass the buck to someone else is on.

Goal Kicks Must Change

Goal kicks must change, we can't have two players standing either side of the six-yard box so we are crushed into our own box and having to try and play our way out, which isn't helped by the poor positioning of Mousa Sissoko. 

Time and time again last night he was not available to receive the ball from the centre-backs when they were at the edge of the penalty box. The defensive midfielder has to drop a bit more to make himself accessible to a pass and/or drag a midfield player out of position to create a hole to play into behind them.

We are putting ourselves under undue pressure and giving the opposition the chance to win the ball back near our own penalty area, madness. Have one centre-back go into the area to receive a ball if we must, but we don't need two in there. We can use one to occupy a striker and create freedom for another player.

It is an area still under work, but the analysts have not looked at the situation enough and come up with any decent solutions yet. It is as if we are playing it by ear and not very well. We can't do that against a side like Liverpool.

You'll note, Gazzaniga was kicking it long in the end. What we used to do worked so reverting back to that would make more sense and lessen the pressure on ourselves so far up the pitch for the opposition.

Eric Dier

I was pleased to see Eric Dier back. He needs game time and he hasn't been playing in our poor start. He had a bad patch when coming back from injury last season and needs to build back up to his best, which I think he is well short of.

Our fans may, of course, try to destroy him as they tried to with Kieran Trippier, unaware they are actually making a player play worse and being part of the problem themselves.

Dier has been a decent player for us and still has a role to play with Victor Wanyama being so poor. We need a squad, not just a first-team so in that respect, it was good to see Juan Foyth back to. Another who needs cameos to bring him back to match fitness.