Liverpool v Tottenham: Why this was away display Spurs have been waiting for

Liverpool's 2-2 draw with Tottenham will make the headlines for its crazy ending and controversial decisions, but it was a brilliant tactical battle too.

Referee Jon Moss and his assistant Eddie Smart had two big calls to make with the two penalties they gave Mauricio Pochettino's side - and they got one of them wrong.

But Spurs' second-half performance was the kind of display their fans have been waiting for them to produce away from home against another top-six side and there was no way they deserved to leave Anfield empty-handed.

The way Tottenham dominated the second half made me feel they deserved to win it but, when you look at the game as a whole, a draw was a fair result from an unbelievable match.

Harry Kane claimed his 100th Premier League goal from the penalty spot to earn Tottenham a point in the 95th minute

First half - Liverpool in control

Spurs were the better side on the ball in the first half but never looked like breaking Liverpool down, and I never thought for a second that they were going to score.

That was because of the way Liverpool denied Spurs space when they came forward, and looked to hit them on the counter-attack.

We are used to seeing Jurgen Klopp's side press the opposition high up the pitch, like they did in their win over Manchester City last month, and look to win the ball as near to goal as possible so they do not have far to go to score.

Therefore it was weird to see Liverpool drop as deep as they did on Sunday, including Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, who were so deep on the left and right that at times they were almost doing the jobs of their full-backs, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

On paper, Liverpool were a 4-3-3 but they were often almost like a 4-5-1 with Roberto Firmino the player up front on his own.

Tottenham found it difficult to break them down because there was no room on the flanks and Liverpool's three central midfielders were getting close to Mousa Dembele and Eric Dier as well and denying them any time on the ball.

Even when Spurs got through that, Liverpool were keeping things so tight between their back four and midfield that there was no space for Son Heung-Min, Christian Eriksen and Dele Alli to operate in.

What changed? Liverpool ran out of steam

Things were very different in the second half. Tottenham began to take charge of the game after the break and the main reason for that was down to Liverpool running out of energy.

They had put so much into the first half that it was inevitable it would catch up with them, so it was all about patience for Spurs.

I can understand why Liverpool ran out of steam - Jordan Henderson was starting his first game for six weeks and James Milner has been in and out of the team in recent weeks too. Emre Can was probably the fittest of the three in that central midfield area but he seemed to tire a little bit towards the end too.

The Liverpool defence might just have dropped off a little bit or the midfield might have been going a little bit too high, but it meant there were gaps appearing.

Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino did not seem to change too much tactically but, all of a sudden, Alli was able to get on the ball behind the Liverpool midfield rather than in front of them like in the first half.