‘Worst since I’ve been here’: Ange ‘gutted’ as Aussie left seething over ‘unacceptable’ Spurs choke

Ange Postecoglou has not held back with a scathing assessment of his player mentality after Tottenham blew a golden chance to move up the Premier League table.

Ange Postecoglou did not hold back in his post-match assessment of Tottenham’s second half capitulation at Brighton as he labelled the 3-2 Premier League loss “probably the worst defeat since I’ve been here”.

The Australian’s side were flying high when Brennan Johnson banged home his sixth goal in six games in the 23rd minute before midfielder James Maddison gave Spurs a second goal in the 37th minute to ensure they headed to half time with a two-goal advantage.

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But after the break, the momentum Tottenham gained from the first half as well as from winning their last five matches across all competitions evaporated.

Brighton produced a breathtaking burst with goals from Yankuba Minteh (48th minute), Georginio Rutter (58th minute) and Danny Welbeck (66th minute) coming in just 18 minutes to snatch the three points and leave Postecoglou seething.

“It was disappointing, and I’m absolutely gutted with that,” he said.

“It’s an unacceptable second half – we were nowhere near where we should be. Maybe we got carried away with how we’re 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.”

What was most perhaps most frustrating for Postecoglou was that Welbeck’s match winner came with 24 minutes of regular time left on the clock.

Tottenham had ample time to hit back but never looked like doing so, and the manager suggested that possibly his players got ahead of themselves following their recent run of form.

“Maybe things were travelling 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,” Postecoglou said.

“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 second half meltdown also created unwanted history for Tottenham.

It was the first time they lost a Premier League game after being 2-0 up since they went down to champions Manchester City 4-2 at Etihad Stadium in January last year, and it is the 10th time in Premier League history that they have done so.

They have coughed up that advantage on at least three more occasions than other side in Premier League history, and without sharing exactly what was said, Postecoglou made it clear that he hit his players between the eyes with his post-match address.

Ange Postecoglou rocked up to his press conference and decided to give this beautiful lesson on life.

'A lot of it is about understanding yourself as a person. I know what's important to me. That's my anchor. If I stay to that, I keep everything else away' 💙 pic.twitter.com/8yQJPfE9J3

— Optus Sport (@OptusSport) October 6, 2024

“Yeah, feedback is always what I believe (in),” he said. “I don’t hide things. I’m sure the players are disappointed, but I don’t really care about that. They should be disappointed. Our supporters are disappointed, I’m disappointed.

“I want them to understand football is not losing a game of football, that happens. The disappointment comes from us not going the very basics of what’s expected at the highest level from a competitive standpoint.

“They all go on international duty, the majority of them. They will process it individually and I will process it when everyone get back.

“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.”

Tottenham missed their opportunity to go sixth on the Premier League, they now sit ninth with three wins, a draw and three losses from seven matches to start the campaign which leaves them eight points behind league leaders Liverpool.

Originally published as ‘Worst since I’ve been here’: Ange ‘gutted’ as Aussie left seething over ‘unacceptable’ Spurs choke