Brighton 3-2 Spurs | Ange’s verdict

Ange Postecoglou couldn’t hide his disappointment after we let slip a 2-0 lead at half-time and fell to a 3-2 loss against Brighton at the Amex in the Premier League on Sunday.

Five wins on the spin in all competitions ahead of kick-off, it looked like our winning momentum was going to continue as we dominated and led 2-0 at half-time. Brennan Johnson opened the scoring by taking his goalscoring streak to six successive games and James Maddison fired home from the edge of the box for 2-0 on 37 minutes. It could have been more - we opened the home side up on numerous occasions, including three decent chances inside the opening six minutes - and had another goal disallowed by VAR after close offside call.

It all changed in the second half. Yankuba Minteh reduced the deficit to 2-1 within three minutes, Georginio Rutter levelled 10 minutes later and the comeback was completed by Danny Welbeck on 66 minutes.

Shellshocked, we couldn’t find a way back and only seriously tested Bart Verbruggen once more, Destiny Udogie’s low drive from 20 yards forcing the Dutch goalkeeper to save down to his right.

Speaking to our Review Show at the Amex, Ange said: “I’m disappointed, obviously. It’s probably as bad a defeat we’ve had since I’ve been at the club, in terms of the manner of it.

“It was an unacceptable second half. If you are not competitive in this game, if you don’t win your duels, if you are not matching your opponents’ intensity, it’s not a football equation, it’s something else and, in the second half we didn’t do any of that. In this game, at this level, you pay the price.”

Asked if, maybe, there was a hint of the job being done with us 2-0 up on the back of such a good run, Ange replied: “I hope not, because the game goes for 95 minutes. We know that better than anyone else. We’ve always prided ourselves on being that kind of team. Defeat is part of the process, but there are acceptable things and unacceptable things and today, the second half was unacceptable.”