Richarlison helps Spurs avoid worst-case result as Tudor snatches draw at hopeless Liverpool | OneFootball

That was the best we’ve seen from Tottenham Hotspur under Igor Tudor. The bar was horrendously low, but at least it didn’t plunge to even further unprecedented depths against Liverpool.

Tottenham had been dead and buried by half-time in every other game since Tudor’s arrival, excluding the north London derby against Arsenal, which they ended up losing 4-1.

Tudor could have been sacked after Tuesday’s horrorshow against Atletico Madrid, but that would have been pointless. A Spurs win at Anfield would have been a miracle. Putting a new manager in the dugout for Liverpool away would have extinguished any chance of a new-manager bounce.

Showing promise and losing by the odd goal was the worst-case scenario for Spurs, as it likely would have meant Tudor stays for the Atletico second leg and then possibly a gargantuan relegation six-pointer against Nottingham Forest. Losing by four or more would have been the end of the Tudor reign.

The worst-case scenario was agonisingly close to becoming a reality, but Richarlison’s 89th-minute equaliser earned Spurs a point that they absolutely deserved.

Spurs played better than in the previous defeats to Arsenal, Fulham, Crystal Palace and Atletico, and the players actually looked like they were trying. The bar was so low that trying is a big positive, so is looking like they have an identity of some kind.

But there’s also the point that Liverpool aren’t very good.

Arne Slot rotated more than he usually does in the league, which ultimately led to a triple substitution earlier than he would ever dare. Rio Ngumoha earned a first Premier League start, Hugo Ekitike and Ibrahima Konate were rested, and Jeremie Frimpong was on the right wing.

The Liverpool head coach, who is often as stubborn as they come when it comes to playing his favourites, clearly had Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 second leg against Galatasaray in mind and knew a certain amount of rotating would be fine against such a miserably out-of-form Spurs team.

It wasn’t that rotation that cost Liverpool. They weren’t great, but Spurs didn’t really threaten when it was the two sets of starters against each other. It was when Mohamed Salah and Ekitike came on, and Tudor changed his team’s approach to officially go for it.

Liverpool didn’t concede because those players came on, but they were very wasteful in the final third and could have killed the game and Tudor’s Spurs career.

Spurs had stayed in the game and flicked a switch with 15 minutes left. They were very open, very susceptible to a Liverpool counterattack, but there was no end product from Salah and company.

Richarlison’s equaliser was not a shock in the end, we were just thankful he didn’t take his shirt off this time. That’s why Liverpool didn’t score from that counter-attack deep into injury time.

You can’t sack Tudor now, can you? He would have felt aggrieved after a tough 1-0 loss, but getting something at Anfield, albeit against a shocking Reds team, there’s no doubt the Croatian will be in charge against Atletico on Wednesday.

It’s a huge point that gets Spurs out of the 29-point mire in the relegation battle, but they are absolutely not out of the relegation battle, with the gap between themselves and 18th just one point.

Next week’s match against Nottingham Forest is a six-pointer and comes before the international break, and the last time Spurs had such a gap between games, they changed managers.

Tudor, who replaced Thomas Frank in February, could be gone by then. If there is no Champions League comeback against Atletico, followed by a home defeat to Forest, Sunday’s draw at Liverpool will not be enough to avoid Tudor’s tenure going down as one of the briefest managerial spells in Premier League history.

But that’s a whole week away, and what happened on Sunday at Anfield at least buys Tudor some time. He will have a go at overturning a three-goal deficit in the last 16 of the Champions League.

What we expected at Anfield is not what happened. Unless you’re Dave Tickner, who wrote in Big Weekend: “When you think about it, the new rock-bottom Spurs might actually manage to find this weekend could be that they accidentally draw this game and the sacrificial manager survives.”

Their accidental draw was by no means undeserved.

It was a balanced combination of Liverpool being terrible and Spurs executing an effective Tudor tactical plan.

It could be a turning point for Spurs when they were minutes away from a Guglielmo Vicario error being the difference and a worst-case scenario result.

At this stage of the season, results matter more than performances, but Spurs produced both, unlike Liverpool, who almost got away with one against the worst team in the Premier League.

A point does push them into the Champions League places above Chelsea, assuming fifth will be enough, but it was another uninspired performance and failing to beat this Spurs team means questions will be asked about Slot, when everyone expected the narrative to be about Tudor come 18:30 on Sunday.

Their form, coupled with how Chelsea and Aston Villa have been, gives hope for those below, with Brentford, Everton and Newcastle United all somehow in with a chance of sneaking into the top five.

Conclusions, as many as 16 of them, will delve into where Liverpool stand after a shocking result, and Brighton away next week is far from ideal, especially with a Champions League last-16 second leg against Galatasaray before then.

It’s a very, very big week for both teams.