Tottenham's disciplined tactical performance at Anfield will have given Antonio Conte plenty of food for thought when it comes to what he can get out of his players next season.
Conte and Spurs are well aware of the need for strengthening his paper thin squad with quality this summer, particularly when just four injuries ensured three academy youngsters needed to take their place on the bench at Anfield.
Tottenham expect the Italian to be in charge next season, not least because he has a contract to do so but also because they are determined to build on what he has achieved so far. Spurs are now guaranteed their first top five finish since 2019 and they are hoping to go one further. It's difficult at this moment to see what better options Conte has out there than building upon the foundations he had laid in the past six months at Tottenham.
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Currently, the PSG job is the only big one likely to be available in the summer with Mauricio Pochettino heavily-reported to be relieved of his duties. The PSG gig - where the Ligue 1 title is the minimum requirement and Champions League success is craved - would be an odd fit for Conte, who despite his title successes has a poor record as a manager in Europe's elite club competition, having won just three of his past 15 matches in it.
Conte would also miss the tactical battles that occur every week in the Premier League and he admitted ahead of Saturday's match that England's top flight has become what Italy's was in his playing days - the place where all the best players go and the best teams play.
It's also where many of the best managers go and you can see Conte loves testing himself against Klopp, Guardiola & Co. He relishes these contests and he would not get them in the bread and butter of the French league. He spent all week preparing his team in a specific way to face Liverpool and it showed.
On Saturday at Anfield, Conte saw once again, and in the noisiest of football cauldrons, that his current squad can calmly carry out his instructions to the letter and they should have walked away with the victory against a team that has lost just twice this season. Conte's players are beginning to play in his image, just imagine what they could do with a full pre-season under him and the right additions this summer?
Spurs wanted more than a point on Saturday and have now put their destiny in Arsenal's hands but they are the first team to stop Jurgen Klopp's side from winning at Anfield in the Premier League since October last year, ending a 12-match win streak in front of the Kop. None of the title challengers have been able to beat Tottenham this season, City losing both home and away against the north London outfit and the Reds drawing each of their games with Conte's men.
Anfield was incredibly noisy at times, at the start of both halves and at the end of the encounter with every set piece gained as Liverpool chased the three points they needed in the title race. In years gone by, Spurs might have panicked, caved in and lost their focus within the din. There have been plenty of collapses against the Premier League big boys, not least at Anfield, but this Tottenham outfit gave Conte the type of warrior mentality he craves.
Every single player was fully invested in the Conte way and they were disciplined to the man. Liverpool barely tested Hugo Lloris, his gloves only warmed twice with comfortable saves and it took a heavily deflected effort from Luis Diaz to get past him.
Tottenham's back three were magnificent. Cristian Romero is already one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League, Eric Dier was a colossus in the middle and Ben Davies hurled his body in front of the ball at every opportunity, reaching some shots he had no right to.
Alongside them the young wing-backs, both criticised in recent weeks, turned in tactically excellent performances. Ryan Sessegnon barely gave Mohamed Salah an inch and the one time he did, he had that bit of 'professional' nous to earn a yellow card by pulling the Egyptian back. The 21-year-old also bagged an assist for Son Heung-min's goal, showing his energy in getting up and down the left-hand side and then the composure to find his team-mate.
On the other flank, Emerson Royal put in his best performance so far in a Spurs shirt. The Brazilian is always better when he is able to concentrate more on defending but this display was something else.
He had won all four of his attempted tackles, he made five clearances, recovered the ball five times and won seven of his eight ground duels. That he took 73 touches of the ball showed his busy and productive evening.
Spurs' defence had the travelling fans on the edge of their seats all night in sticking to Conte's instructions of playing out from defence and passing around Liverpool's energetic press, rather than constantly going long with their passing. Other than the odd misplaced pass, the game-plan worked.
It anything it was Tottenham's much lauded attack that let the side down somewhat because Spurs had plenty of chances to grab a win through what Klopp called their "insane counter-attacking".
Tottenham had eight shots on goal, three on targets but they had other moments when swift breaks would have put an attacker through on goal if there had been a better final ball, Harry Kane culpable on a number of occasions when those through balls have been his forte this season.
The worst miss of the night came from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, who had otherwise been superb in Spurs' engine room, but he sent a late unmarked header right in front of Alisson from Harry Winks' cross neither at goal nor across to the also unmarked Kane, instead sending it backwards.
Conte told football.london after the game that he was happy with the improved mentality of his players, even if the point was not what they wanted.
"Yeah, for sure I have to be proud of my players because as I said before to play with this atmosphere, a lot of noise around you, and with fans who are very excited for the result of Liverpool, and it wasn't easy," said the Spurs head coach.
"Instead I think that we have never lost the composure, the calm to face difficult moments. I think we didn't concede great chances to Liverpool to score. At the same time I asked my players to be brave with the ball. I know it's not easy because Liverpool want to put a lot of pressure, to be a problem to you, but I think we prepared the game very well and when we were able to overcome the pressure we created chances we could exploit much better."
Tottenham have lost just one of their last eight Premier League games, winning five of them, and Conte has something of a hold over Klopp, having lost only one of his six Premier League encounters with Liverpool and he remains unbeaten against them at Anfield in the competition.
By the time he had come into his press conference, Klopp was not in the mood to praise Tottenham's defence for their efforts against his side when asked if they had impressed him.
"I'm sorry I'm the wrong person for that, I don't like this kind of football, but that's my personal problem. I think they're world-class and I think they should do more for the game," he said.
"I think the game against Liverpool they had 36% or 38% possession, but it's my problem. I cannot coach it. So that's why I cannot do it. So yes, world-class players block all the balls, really difficult. Atletico Madrid is doing it. Fine, they won whatever. Fine, absolutely fine. I just can't. I respect everything they do, but it's not me."
It was all a bit cliched. Top manager can't win the match so attempts to belittle the other manager and team's approach. "Make it easier for my team to win," declares one of the game's best tactical minds, in essence.
As Klopp says, it's his problem, because he's failed to beat Spurs twice this season, he has not found a way around them and on both occasions the north London club had enough chances to win the encounter.
Klopp would love every team to play gung-ho football against his side, but he knows that with the quality of his players on the break themselves that would be football suicide. Instead Conte devised a game plan that worked perfectly and should have brought all three points.
If anything, the Liverpool boss should be thankful for that Spurs game-plan because it took six points away from Manchester City this season - accounting for two of their three defeats - and would likely have gifted Klopp's side the title had they been able to beat Tottenham themselves just once. There were parallels to be found in the discipline of both the displays at the Etihad Stadium and Anfield. Klopp should have known and prepared better.
Thursday night brings another big game full of pressure and the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium could well be noisier than Anfield as the fans play their part in a huge north London derby.
For Conte, his players sent him a clear message that they are fully on board with his project and with the club's hierarchy expected to do the same, what more could he want?
