Tottenham Hotspur had an afternoon to forget on Sunday as they threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 3-2 to Brighton at the Amex Stadium. Ange Postecoglou's side had dominated the first half, going into the break with a two-goal advantage thanks to a sixth goal in as many games from Brennan Johnson and a strike from James Maddison.
But things quickly fell apart after half-time, with Brighton scoring three in just over 20 second half minutes through Yankuba Minteh, Georginio Rutter, and finally Danny Welbeck to complete a remarkable turnaround.
Alasdair Gold spots Spurs star jogging back for Brighton equaliser
Unsurprisingly, Destiny Udogie was handed the worst of the criticism after a nightmare performance for the young talent. Alasdair Gold gave the Italian full-back only a 3/10 for what he called a "poor day at the office" in his post-match review.
"Back after missing the midweek match and he played well in the first half only to make a mess off trying to clear a cross and presenting the ball to Minteh to score," Gold wrote of Udogie. "Put in a weak challenge on Rutter before he scored Brighton's second and was poor again with the same player for the third, getting himself nutmegged and beaten."
Fingers have already been pointed at who else was to blame for Spurs' collapse however, and Gold took aim at Rodrigo Bentancur for his roles in Brighton's second and third goals, handing the midfielder a measly 4/10 for his performance.
"A calm first half gave way to a lacklustre second period," Gold wrote of the Uruguayan midfielder, who currently earns £75,000 per week at the London Stadium. "Jogged back for the second goal with no urgency and he was far too laidback in the build-up to Brighton's third goal."
Angry Ange rips into Spurs' "worst defeat"
Just as Gold was unimpressed with Tottenham's implosion at the Amex, so was Spurs boss Postecoglou. In fact, he described the defeat as the worst he's seen from his side since taking over as manager in June 2023.
"Disappointing, frustrated and absolutely gutted with that. Worst defeat since I've been here. Unacceptable second half,” an angry Postecoglou told Sky Sports after the match. “Nowhere near where we should be. We got carried away with how were were going," he said. "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."
Postecoglou called the loss as bad as it gets: "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."
As a result of the defeat, Tottenham now sit in ninth place in the Premier League, level on 10 points with Nottingham Forest and Brentford.