Djibril Cisse proved there is life without Michael Owen as the French striker netted on his Liverpool debut, but it was not enough to give the Reds victory over Spurs at White Hart Lane.
On the day England striker Owen was officially unveiled at the Bernabeu, Liverpool fans could have been forgiven for wondering where the goals would come from, with Czech striker Milan Baros yet to hit top form for Liverpool despite his Euro 2004 heroics and Cisse needing time to adapt to the pace of the Premiership.
But the Frenchman, a £14 million signing from Auxerre in the close season, gave new boss Rafa Benitez a glimpse of the talent which convinced ex-Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier to track the striker for most of last season.
Cisse, who netted 26 times in the French League last term, opened the scoring with a goal former Anfield hero Owen would have him proud of - reacting quickest in the box to sweep home after Spurs failed to clear a corner.
But the strike was not enough to give former Valencia boss Benitez, who won the League and Cup double in Spain last season, a winning start in English football.
Liverpool led from the moment Cisse struck the opening Premiership goal of the season on 38 minutes, but with 20 minutes remaining, England striker Jermain Defoe grabbed his eighth goal in 16 appearances for Spurs to equalise and earn a share of the spoils.
It saved Tottenham's new manager and former France boss Jacques Santini from an embarrassing defeat in his first game in charge and was just reward for a spirited second half display by Spurs after Liverpool dominated most of the opening exchanges.
Defoe, left out of Sven-Goran Eriksson's Euro 2004 squad, gave an indication of the talent that may convince the troubled Swede to recall the former West Ham forward as he rarely gave the Liverpool defence time to breathe.
But Liverpool fans will wonder why Benitez hauled off Cisse shortly before Defoe struck because Liverpool rarely looked the same without him.
Tottenham, who had won only one of their past seven opening day fixtures, started with six debutantes in Santini's first competitive game in charge of the north Londoners. But they were without the injured trio of Robbie Keane, Simon Davies and Dean Richards.
Liverpool began with Cisse and Euro 2004 top scorer Baros up front as the red half of Merseyside gets used to life without Real Madrid striker Owen. In fact, new boss Benitez stuck with the side which won 2-0 in Austria against AK Graz in their Champions League qualifier in Austria on Tuesday.
And it was Czech striker Baros who had the first real chance midway through the first half, but his right-footed effort from the edge of the box deflected off 17-year-old debutante Philip Ifil to the relief of the White Hart Lane faithful.
Earlier, Tuesday's two-goal hero Steven Gerrard should have had a penalty when he had his shirt tugged by Ifil in the Spurs penalty box but veteran referee Dermot Gallagher waved his appeals away.
Liverpool continued to dominate with Baros seeing another shot blocked. But the Merseysiders got the goal their play merited seven minutes before the break.
Noureddine Naybet nearly put through his own net from a Harry Kewell cross and, from the resulting corner, Tottenham failed to clear. Steve Finnan looped the ball back into the box, Jamie Carragher flicked on and there was Cisse to finish instinctively into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
Benitez's men nearly went in at the break two goals to the good but skipper Gerrard's dipping 30-yard volley flew just over the bar.
Santini must have given his players a stern talking-to at the interval for Spurs offered a lot more up front at the start of the second half. England striker Defoe went on a mazy dribble on 55 minutes but saw his shot with the outside of his right boot fly wide of Jerzy Dudek's goal.
And it was the diminutive Defoe who struck the equaliser on 70 minutes. He swivelled ten yards from goal and shot with his left foot from a tight angle to catch out Dudek on his near post. But the Liverpool keeper will be disappointed to have been beaten from such a tight angle.
The visitors nearly went straight up the other end to regain their lead, but Paul Robinson, a £1.5million signing from Leeds in the summer, showed just why Spurs splashed out on the England stopper.
Carragher must have thought he had scored the winner when his bullet header from Finnan's corner appeared goalbound, but Robinson was on hand to tip over and earn Santini his first point in charge of Tottenham.