Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou rips into ‘unacceptable’ players after Brighton implosion | Football | Sport
Ange Postecoglou didn’t hold back after his Tottenham players collapsed to a 3-2 defeat against Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday, having led by two goals at half-time. The Spurs boss was in disbelief following a second-half implosion that denied a sixth consecutive win in all competitions.
Brennan Johnson continued his hot scoring streak to break the deadlock at the Amex Stadium before James Maddison profited from a Bart Verbruggen mistake to double the lead.
But Fabian Hurzeler’s side came out firing in the second half as goals from Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter, and Danny Welbeck produced a stunning 18-minute comeback.
After full-time, Postecoglou appeared devastated as he described the result as Tottenham‘s worst defeat of his reign so far.
“Disappointing. Frustrated and absolutely gutted with that. Worst defeat since I’ve been here,” the Aussie coach told Sky Sports.
“Unacceptable second half. Nowhere near where we should be. We got carried away with how were were going.
“We kind of accepted our fate, and it is hard to understand as we’ve not done that while I’ve been here. We paid the price.
“The problem is we are travelling along too smoothly, football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself.”
Tottenham have now lost 10 Premier League games in which they’ve led by two or more goals, more than any other club in the competition’s history.
When asked about his message to his players after the painful setback, he added: “There is no message. It is a terrible loss for us – as bad as it gets. Only one way to fix it, and that’s my responsibility.
“We lost all our duels, and if you’re not competitive, it is not going to work – we were not competitive.
“They all go international duty the majority of them. They will process it individually and I will process it when everyone gets back.”
Despite his disappointment with his players on the south coast, Postecoglou accepted responsibility for the visitors’ poor reaction to Brighton’s fightback.
“We probably should have put it to bed in the first half. What we did in that second half is unacceptable and we got what we deserved,” he explained to BBC Match of the Day.
“Maybe we just thought we’d roll out there and play well again, and that’s not how it works, and we paid for it.
“We’ve conceded before but it is how you react and our reaction wasn’t what it should be. It’s a bad day for us and when it’s a bad day the responsibility falls at my feet.”
