Ange Postecoglou: Spurs boss says Brighton suffer ‘worst defeat’ of his tenure at club after second-half collapse | Football news

Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou said their 3-2 defeat at Brighton was the “worst defeat” of his Spurs tenure and slammed his side for their lack of fight during their capitulation at the Amex Stadium.

Tottenham suffered a second-half collapse on the south coast as Brighton scored three goals in 18 minutes to come from 2-0 down to win 3-2.

Spurs never looked like equalizing after Danny Welbeck’s 66th minute strike, prompting Postecoglou to claim his side “accepted their fate” as their five-match winning run was shockingly ended.

Postecoglou told it Air sports: “It’s disappointing. Frustrated. I’m absolutely devastated by that.

“That’s probably the worst defeat we’ve had since I’ve been here.

“An unacceptable second half. We were nowhere near where we should be. Maybe we got carried away with how we were going.

“We have accepted our fate, which is difficult to understand because we haven’t done that since I’ve been here. Normally we fought for everything. If you don’t, you pay a price and we paid a price.

“Maybe that’s part of the problem. Maybe it all went too smoothly. Football and life can trip you up if you get too far ahead and that’s what it looked like for me in the second half.”

The stunning defeat leaves Spurs in ninth place and four points behind the top four heading into the October international break.

Asked what the message is for the players, the Australian replied: “There is no message. It is a terrible loss. As bad as it can be, and there is only one way to solve it and that is my responsibility .”

“We lost all our matches, we were not competitive. If you lose all your matches, no matter what you do tactically, it is not going to work. You have to be competitive.”

“They are all going on international duty, the players are going to deal with it individually. I will deal with it when everyone is back.”

Ange: We didn’t deserve to get anything out of the game

Postecoglou cut a particularly somber figure in his post-match press conference.

The 59-year-old said: “There are certain elements of this team that have been quite consistent throughout my tenure, and that means that, even on our not-so-good days, we have always fought and been competitive. I think that was kind of non-negotiable.

“Today was the first day that I felt like we weren’t performing in those areas, whether that’s defensively, whether that’s with the ball.

“Sports are as much about competition as anything else, and if you don’t compete and you let the opponent overwhelm you like that, then you’re not going to get anything out of it.”

He added: “We haven’t done the basics of everything we’ve done to get to this point, good, bad or otherwise.

“So even when we didn’t win in Newcastle, we played well and fought hard until the last second to try and win that football match. We didn’t do that today. And every time we’ve played it’s been like that.” was a part of our game that I felt was in there. I didn’t see that today.’

When asked if he had learned anything new about his team, he said: “I don’t know if I learned anything new, but I definitely experienced something new, which with all these things you’re emotional about right after a game.

“That’s probably the most disappointing loss I’ve had since I’ve been here, given the way we handled it, and it’s something I have to assess.”

Asked if he could have made substitutions before Brighton’s second and third goals, he replied: “Yes, I could have done that, but all these things are completely irrelevant to me, substitutions and all that kind of stuff.

“If you’re not competitive, it doesn’t matter what you do, you don’t get rewards. You don’t deserve to win. So we didn’t deserve it because of our performance in the second half, regardless of the substitutions.” or something else, to get something out of the game.

“But I do think that if you take something out of the game, you’re being falsely rewarded, and I don’t want to be falsely rewarded.”

Maddison: We have to deal with adversity better

Tottenham midfielder James Maddisonwho put Spurs 2-0 ahead after Brennan Johnson’s opener, admitted they “lost complete control” after Yankuba Minteh pulled one back for Brighton in the 48th minute.

The England international said this Air sports: “We couldn’t deal with the mental shift and lost complete control of the game after the first goal. We handled the momentum very poorly. It just felt like attack after attack and we couldn’t deal with it.

“Brighton are a good team, but when the first goal is scored, in the Premier League you have to deal with setbacks and stay strong, weather the storm. The best teams stay strong. We didn’t do that.”

“We will have to learn big lessons from the second half if we want to make progress.”

Berbatov: Traces are too nice

Tottenham lost a Premier League match in which they were ahead by two or more goals for the tenth time, becoming the first club to reach double figures for this, and at least three more than any other side in the competition’s history.

Dimitar Berbatov believes his former club remains a soft touch under Postecoglou.

The ex-Spurs striker said this Air sports: “Things like this have happened to Spurs before and are still happening.

“They have played some good games but then it all falls apart because of results like that or something else.

“This is where they need to be mentally strong (after conceding the first goal) and weather the storm, but that hasn’t happened at Spurs. If you don’t have consistency in your performances to stay at the top, then you you do that.” suffering.

“Spurs are too nice.”

Meanwhile, there is another ex-Spurs striker, Les Ferdinandbelieves the players should be “embarrassed” by their collapse.

“The players will be embarrassed by that coach,” he said Air sports.

“The fans turned up in droves and were embarrassed by the performance in the second half.

“That is what you are left with as a player, shame and humiliation. That lingers until you play again.”