Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou called his team’s second-half collapse in the 3-2 defeat at Brighton “unacceptable” and “as bad as it gets.”
Spurs allowed three goals in just 18 minutes shortly after halftime, a situation that may feel familiar to the club’s supporters.
According to Opta, which provides statistics for the Premier League, this is the 10th time Tottenham has lost a match after leading by two or more goals.
“It is a terrible loss for us — as bad as it gets,” said Postecoglou, whose team was ahead 2-0 after goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison.
The Australian coach, now in his second season at Tottenham, stated that this was the “worst defeat since I’ve been here.”
“Unacceptable second half. Nowhere near where we should be. We got carried away with how we were going,” he said. “We kind of accepted our fate, and it is hard to understand since we’ve not done that while I’ve been here. We paid the price.”
Tottenham had just come off five consecutive wins, including a 3-0 triumph over Manchester United that was praised for the way Postecoglou’s team performed.
“The problem is we were traveling along too smoothly — football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself,” Postecoglou explained.
Maddison added that his team “lost complete control of the game.”
“In tough moments in the Premier League… the best teams stay strong and weather the storm,” he said. “We definitely didn’t do that.”
