Tottenham slumped to a shock comeback defeat at the hands of Brighton on Sunday, throwing away a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at The Amex.
The visitors had led at half-time thanks to goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison, but then conceded three within just 21 second-half minutes directly after the break, with Danny Welbeck scoring what proved to be the winning goal. Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou described the defeat as "unacceptable".
"Disappointing, frustrated and absolutely gutted with that. Worst defeat since I've been here," the 59 year-old, who took over as Tottenham manager in June 2023, said after the match. “Nowhere near where we should be."
A number of Tottenham's players have come under scrutiny for their role in the loss, including both Destiny Udogie and Rodrigo Bentacur, the latter of whom was spotted "jogging back" for Brighton's equalizer. Striker Dominic Solanke was also criticised, despite providing the assist for Johnson's opener.
Solanke blasted after England call-up
Last week, Solanke was named in Lee Carsley's England squad for the Three Lions' upcoming Nations League fixtures against Greece and Finland on October 10 and 13. The last time the Spurs striker played for England was back in November 2017 while he was at Liverpool. Reacting to Solanke's international recall, former Tottenham scout Bryan King said he was surprised.
“To be honest, I couldn’t really work it out," King told Tottenham News. "He cost a lot of money and scored some goals. However, they weren’t exactly spectacular goals, and his work has been nothing spectacular either.
“Obviously, Carsley has seen something which I haven’t seen," he said. "We have to assume that he knows him from Bournemouth. Playing Greece and Finland, they aren’t exactly the biggest nations in the world either.”
Carsley, who is currently standing in as England's interim boss, told the press that he recalled Solanke because he is "extremely talented".
"Dom's a player I'm fully aware of having worked with him in the past. He was really close to being in the last squad but got injured just before selection," he said. "He did so well at Bournemouth and now he's taken that form into Spurs. He's got a lot of really good attributes that I really like, as well as being a really nice person."
A stellar start for Solanke
Solanke joined Tottenham from Bournemouth this summer in a deal worth £55 million, signing a £90k-a-week contract. Having scored 19 Premier League goals for the Cherries last term, fans were hoping he would be able to fill the void left by club record scorer Harry Kane, who had joined Bayern Munich the previous year.
After an injury-hampered start to his career in North London, however, the Englishman has found his feet in recent weeks, scoring three and assisting one in his last four games. His most recent goal came in Tottenham's resounding 3-0 victory over Manchester United on September 29.
Speaking late last month about Solanke's start to life at Spurs, Postecoglou said: "He's settled in really well. There's plenty more to come from him."