Hugo Lloris held up his hands — the ones that had just offered such help to Liverpool's title hopes — to accept blame for Tottenham's cruel defeat at Anfield.
The Spurs keeper made a catastrophic error to launch the comedy of errors that put the Reds back on top of the table... and now puts his own team’s bid for a top-four finish and a place in next season's Champions League in jeopardy.
Keeper Lloris, who captained France to win last summer's World Cup, didn’t duck the questions afterwards, as he conceded the responsibility for defeat was all his after fumbling a soft Mohamed Salah header onto team-mate Toby Alderweireld for the late own-goal winner.
He said: “Of course you question yourself and the good thing is there is another game in three days.
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“We need to switch off from today and prepare the next one. That is the best way to forget.
“I don’t really know what happened. I tried to catch the ball twice but unfortunately there was no bounce it bounced straight on the shin of Toby and what happened, happened.
“A bit of the luck was on the opponents’ side today. It is tough. We gave so much to come back in the game and had chances to score the second goal. It is sad for us.”
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While boss Mauricio Pochettino lamented his side’s fate at the end of an absorbing match, he also offered a frank admission about their form in recent weeks.
He believes they deserved far more than even a draw at Anfield, never mind a defeat, but now they stand 18 points behind Liverpool, after being within four a month ago.
Spurs are now winless in five Premier League games, losing four of them, and have been joined on 61 points by Manchester United.
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Arsenal can leapfrog both into third on Monday with a home win over Newcastle, while Chelsea are also a single point back following their controversial Sunday win in Cardiff.
Pochettino said: “I am a little bit ashamed we are not there closer to Liverpool and Manchester City. We were, but the last few weeks I think we begin to find our reality - our place.
“So disappointed yes, but also knowing the difficult circumstances we have faced, and being realistic - and we can be happy. We played very well against Liverpool and deserved to win, so we can take momentum from that.
“And now we have a mini league, seven games, and it is in our hands to finish fourth and beat [last-eight opponents] Manchester City to be in the semi-final of the Champions League.”
