Tottenham Hotspur coach Ange Postecoglou has said his team did not put up a fight in the second half against Brighton & Hove Albion. The Australian called it a “terrible” loss but vouched to bring Spurs back in fighting shape.
Tottenham Hotspur Surrendered Two-Goal Cushion Against Brighton & Hove Albion
Postecoglou’s Tottenham Hotspur made the trip to Amex Stadium for their Premier League Matchday 7 meeting with Brighton on Sunday, October 6. In the 23rd minute, in-form forward Brennan Johnson fired the team into the lead, applying a tidy finish. Fourteen minutes later, James Maddison joined him on the scoresheet, giving Spurs a comfortable two-goal cushion.
Tottenham simply needed to protect their lead in the second half to claim maximum points, but that did not turn out to be the case. Three minutes into the second 45, Yankuba Minteh pulled one back for the hosts. In the 58th minute, Georginio Rutter scored the equalizer before Danny Welbeck headed in the third in the 66th minute.
Ange Postecoglou ‘Absolutely Gutted’ with Brighton Loss
Speaking to the press after the game, a dejected Postecoglou said (via ESPN):
“It was disappointing and I’m absolutely gutted with that. It’s an unacceptable second half — we were nowhere near where we should be. Maybe we got carried away with how we were going.
“We kind of accepted our fate and it’s hard to understand as we’ve not done that while I’ve been here. We usually fight for everything, and when you don’t you pay a price.”
He added:
“Maybe things were traveling on too smoothly. Football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself and that’s what it looked like in the second half.
“It’s a terrible loss for us, as bad as it gets, and there’s only one way to fix it and that’s my responsibility. We lost all our duels, we weren’t competitive and if you’re not competitive, irrespective of what you do tactically, it is not going to work.”
The defeat against Brighton has seen Tottenham slip to ninth place in the Premier League rankings. With 10 points to their name after seven games, Spurs are four points adrift of fourth-placed Chelsea.
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