It was an ugly, rainy afternoon on the south coast of England as Tottenham Hotspur took on a Brighton side that was winless in its first five Premier League matches. But despite taking a 2-0 lead into halftime, Tottenham couldn’t maintain the intensity and defensive solidity they showed in the opening 45 minutes. Spurs shipped three goals in the second half — to Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter, and a late winner to former Gunner Danny Welbeck and limped to a disappointing 3-2 loss at the AmEx Stadium.
The match started out brightly for Tottenham, with Spurs getting a huge chance inside the first minute. Timo Werner and Brennan Johnson got space behind Brighton’s back line, and Timo put in a cross to an open BJ that was just a foot too far ahead for Johnson to convert. Tottenham had plenty of those opportunities in the opening 45, with Werner giving Veltman a torrid time on the left flank.
Brighton was forced into an early substitution after Webster pulled his hamstring on a goal kick and had to come off for Igor.
Spurs broke through in the 24th minute behind, you guessed it, Brennan Johnson. The high press forced a turnover inside Brighton’s half, James Maddison was able to pick out Solanke, who put a lovely through ball into the path of Johnson, who one-touched it home Great goal!
Spurs doubled their advantage late in the half thanks to James Maddison. Solanke again was the playmaker in this one, this time adding the hockey assist to Timo Werner, who played Madders in centrally. The shot should’ve been saved by Verbruggen who botched a routine stop, but it still counts and Spurs led 2-0.
Brighton had a few chances in the first half, mostly thanks to Kaoru Mitoma, who was excellent on the day. Their best was a square ball to an open Danny Welbeck who somehow shanked an easy shot wide of the post.
Brighton got back into the match early in the second half when Yankuba Minteh capitalized on two whiffed defensive clearances from Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie, tapping in a cross at the back post to make the match 1-2.
The discomfort didn’t stop for Spurs. Mitoma picked out Georgino Rutter on a counterattack in the 58th minute, who took a hit in the box but stayed upright and put a shot past Vicario to level the score at 2-2. And it got worse — Brighton completed the comeback thanks to Welbeck, who made up for his early miss by heading home Brighton’s third goal in the 66th minute.
Postecoglou made a few late subs, bringing in Pape Sarr and Yves Bissouma in the 78th minute and Mikey Moore at 85’, but despite snatching at a couple of late shots there wasn’t enough time to get an equalizer, much less a winner. The match ended a disappointing 3-2 to Brighton.
Match reactions:
- Spurs tend to start matches brightly, catching teams unawares with quick attacks, and someday it’d be nice to capitalize on those chances instead of wasting them. Looking at that Timo to Johnson cross inside the first minute and shaking my head.
- Brighton did exactly what we expected them to do which is come out and try and play football, which is what led to Tottenham’s early dominance. But Spurs led Brighton find their feet midway through the first half, giving Mitoma way too much space and freedom on the left flank. Those same attacking impulses were also what got Brighton back into the match in the second half.
- I’ve said it before but for all the goals he scores and will score, it’s all the other off-ball stuff and the pressing and passing that makes Dom Solanke such a good fit for this Tottenham team. His vision is just exceptional. He’s better at all that non-kicking-the-ball-in-the-net stuff than Harry Kane. I owe him an apology, I wasn’t familiar with his game.
- Brennan Johnson has six goals in six games, the first time that’s happened since Harry Kane in 2019. He is Tottenham’s in-form player, even in a loss today.
- Rodrigo Bentancur has played very well lately, but not today. Too easily he was muscled off the ball or failed to shut down the midfield defensively, which allowed Brighton to get back into the match.
- Something’s going on with Cuti Romero, he seems particularly error prone lately and I can’t figure out why. Partially culpable for Rutter’s equalizer and shut off completely for Welbeck’s goal. An awful match. We need to stage an intervention, or get him counseling, or something.
- Destiny Udogie also had a pretty disappointing game, looking second best defensively and going in for some rash challenges. Really expected he’d be yanked for Djed Spence.
- I’ve been frustrated by Ange’s late substitutions plenty of times during his tenure, but this match felt particularly galling. Spurs looked gassed by the 65th minute and there were several obvious subs to make that could’ve changed the overall tenor of this match. To wait as long as he did after blowing a two goal lead feels like managerial malpractice and I’m mad at him for it.
- There’s really no excuse for blowing a 2-0 halftime lead like this, “most dangerous lead in football” aside. Individual poor performances from Spurs’ defense and an unwillingness to be proactive worked against Spurs in this one. Regardless, this is a poor result and was extremely frustrating to watch for a team that was on a five match winning streak.
- Spurs could’ve risen to sixth in the table with a win. Instead, Spurs are in ninth, one point behind Fulham, with a full international break to stew over this loss. There go the vibes.
