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Tottenham's Premier League collapses compared as Brighton capitulation sets unwanted record

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It was a case of deja vu for Tottenham at Brighton on Sunday.

Spurs' shocking second-half collapse to surrender a two-goal lead and lose 3-2 at the Amex Stadium set a new unwanted record for the north London club.

It was the 10th time Tottenham have lost a Premier League game in which they led by two or more goals, becoming the first club to hit double figures for this, and at least three more than any other side in the competition's history.

Ange Postecoglou: Brighton collapse worst defeat of my Spurs tenure

Brighton 3-2 Tottenham: Match report and highlights

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If Ange Postecoglou was hoping to shake off the 'Spursy' tag then he has plenty more work to do, especially after conceding three goals in 18 second-half minutes.

But how does this latest capitulation compare to the other nine that came before it?

Man City 4-2 Tottenham - January 2023

Postecoglou's predecessor Antonio Conte launched an extraordinary rant about the club's culture after Spurs surrendered another two-goal lead on the south coast in a 3-3 draw at Southampton in March 2023.

But two months earlier Spurs did lose from two goals up under the Italian at champions Manchester City - and it was eerily similar to their latest capitulation at Brighton.

Spurs led 2-0 at half-time through goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Emerson Royal, but three goals in 12 minutes - six minutes quicker than Brighton managed - saw City put together a second-half comeback to run out 4-2 winners.

Kulusevski, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma and Cristian Romero - who captained Spurs at Brighton on Sunday - were all part of that defeat at the Etihad Stadium.

Arsenal 5-2 Tottenham - February 2012

Spurs were in dreamland at their north London rivals Arsenal after goals from Louis Saha and Emmanuel Adebayor put Andre Villas-Boas' side 2-0 up after 34 minutes.

But unlike their most recent collapses, Spurs threw away their lead before half-time as Bacary Sagna and Robin van Persie hauled the Gunners level.

Postecoglou spoke about a lack of fight and his side "accepting their fate" on Sunday, and even 12 years ago that appeared to be the case as Tottenham found themselves 5-2 down by the 68th minute after Tomas Rosicky's goal was followed by a Theo Walcott double.

Burnley 4-2 Tottenham - May 2010

Admittedly this collapse at Burnley on the final day of the 2009/10 season came just days after a real high for Spurs, after qualifying for the Champions League for the first time following a 1-0 win at Manchester City to secure a top-four finish.

Gareth Bale and Luka Modric put Spurs 2-0 up after 32 minutes at Turf Moor, but already-relegated Burnley pulled a goal back through Wade Elliott before half-time.

Second-half goals from Jack Cork, Martin Paterson and Steven Thompson then completed the comeback against Harry Redknapp's side.

Man Utd 5-2 Tottenham - April 2009

It was a second half to forget once again for Spurs as Manchester United scored five goals in 22 minutes to claim a 5-2 home win.

Tottenham had looked on course for a first Old Trafford win for 20 years with Redknapp's team 2-0 up after 32 minutes, thanks to quickfire first-half goals from Darren Bent and Modric.

But the game turned on a controversial penalty as goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes fouled Michael Carrick, and Cristiano Ronaldo's 57th-minute spot-kick sparked the collapse, which saw Wayne Rooney hit a double either side of another Ronaldo goal, while ex-Spurs striker Dimitar Berbatov rubbed further salt in the wounds by scoring a fifth.

It was not the first time Spurs had spectacularly crumbled against Sir Alex Ferguson's side (more to come on that later).

Fulham 3-2 Tottenham - September 2002

Les Ferdinand told Sky Sports on Sunday the Spurs players will be "embarrassed" by their Brighton collapse and revealed it "lingers until you play again" - and he knows all about that, having himself been part of a Spurs capitulation.

Twenty-two years ago, the striker started in the 3-2 defeat at Fulham that saw Spurs familiarly go in at the break 2-0 up after goals from Dean Richards and Teddy Sheringham.

But Junichi Inamoto's goal with 22 minutes left set up the Cottagers' comeback at Loftus Road, as Spurs fell apart in the final moments with Steed Malbranque's 84th-minute penalty equaliser followed by a Sylvain Legwinski's 90th-minute winner.

Ferdinand and Spurs did, however, bounce back in their next game with a 3-2 home win over West Ham - the exact fixture Postecoglou's side face next after the October international break.

Tottenham 3-5 Man Utd - September 2001

Arguably Tottenham's worst Premier League collapse.

White Hart Lane was rocking at half-time with Glenn Hoddle's side 3-0 up against the champions Manchester United, thanks to goals from Dean Richards (on his debut), Ferdinand and Christian Ziege.

But, much like the capitulation at Brighton 23 years on, it was an early second-half goal which triggered the Man Utd comeback.

Andy Cole's header within a minute of the restart was followed by a 58th-minute Laurent Blanc header before Ruud van Nistelrooy headed the visitors level in the 72nd minute.

And just four minutes later, Juan Sebastian Veron scored to complete the remarkable comeback before David Beckham grabbed a fifth in the 87th minute.

It is a defeat which has come to epitomise the 'Spursy' tag.

Tottenham 2-4 Aston Villa - April 2000

Even 24 years ago Tottenham were conceding quickfire second-half goals as Aston Villa netted four in 12 minutes at White Hart Lane to win 4-2.

George Graham's side were 2-0 up in the 47th minute through Steffen Iversen and Chris Armstrong - but then came the collapse in the 62nd minute.

Dion Dublin's seven-minute double drew Villa level, with goals from Benito Carbone and Alan Wright completing the fightback.

Liverpool 3-2 Tottenham - May 1999

Yet another second-half capitulation, this time at the hands of Liverpool.

Jamie Carragher's own goal and Steffen Iversen put Spurs into the familiar 2-0 half-time lead, although they were reduced to 10 players when Mauricio Taricco was sent off just before the interval.

Liverpool then immediately seized the initiative after the break as Jamie Redknapp scored a 49th-minute penalty, with Paul Ince heading a 77th-minute equaliser followed by Steve McManaman's winner just two minutes later.

Chelsea 4-3 Tottenham - February 1994

Tottenham's first instance of losing a Premier League game when leading by two or more goals came 30 years ago at the hands of London rivals Chelsea.

Spurs were 2-0 up within 18 minutes through Steve Sedgley and Jason Dozzell, yet incredibly the Blues were ahead at half-time as Mal Donaghy, Mark Stein and John Spencer scored in the space of 11 minutes to make it 3-2.

Andrew Gray equalised from the spot for Spurs in the 73rd minute, but he then missed a penalty to put Gerry Francis' team back ahead, and he was made to pay as Stein hit a 90th-minute penalty winner for Hoddle's side.

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Ange Postecoglou: Spurs boss says Brighton loss 'worst defeat' of his tenure at club after second-half collapse

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Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou said their 3-2 loss at Brighton was the "worst defeat" of his Spurs managerial tenure and blasted his side for their lack of fight in their capitulation at the Amex Stadium.

Tottenham suffered a second-half collapse on the south coast as Brighton scored three goals in 18 minutes to come from 2-0 down to win 3-2.

Spurs never looked like equalising after Danny Welbeck's 66th-minute strike, leading Postecoglou to claim his side "accepted their fate" as their five-game winning run was shockingly ended.

Brighton 3-2 Tottenham: Match report & highlights

As it happened: How Spurs collapsed on the south coast

Teams | Match stats: Brighton make stunning second-half turnaround

Postecoglou told Sky Sports: "It's disappointing. Frustrated. I'm absolutely gutted with that.

"That's probably the worst defeat we have had since I've been here.

"An unacceptable second half. We weren't anywhere near where we should be. Maybe we got carried away with how we were going.

"We accepted our fate which is hard to understand because we haven't done that since I've been here. We've normally fought for everything. When you don't you pay a price and we paid a price.

"Maybe that's part of the problem, maybe things were travelling on too smoothly. Football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself and that's what it looked like to me in the second half."

The stunning defeat leaves Spurs in ninth and four points off the top four heading into the October international break.

Asked what the message is for the players, the Australian responded: "There's no message. It is a terrible loss. 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. If you lose all your duels, irrespective of what you do tactically, it's not going to work. You have to be competitive.

"They all go on international duty, the players will process it individually. I will deal with it when everyone gets back."

Ange: We didn't deserve to get anything out of game

Postecoglou cut a particularly downbeat figure in his post-match press conference.

The 59-year-old said: "There are certain elements of this team that have been pretty consistent throughout my tenure, and that is, even in our not-so-good days, we've always fought and been competitive. I think that's been sort of non-negotiable.

"Today's the first day I actually felt like we didn't deliver in those areas, whether that's defensively, whether that's with the ball.

"Sport's as much about competition as it is anything else, and if you don't compete and you allow the opponent to overrun you in that manner, then you're not going to get anything out of it."

He added: "We didn't do the basics of everything we've done to get to this point, good, bad, or otherwise.

"So even when we didn't win at Newcastle, we played well, and we fought hard to the last second to try and win that game of football. We didn't do that today. And every time we've played, that's been an element of our game where I felt that was in. I didn't see that today."

Questioned whether he had learned something new about his team, he responded: "I don't know if I learned something new, but I certainly experienced something new, which with all these things, straight after a game you're emotional about it.

"That's probably the most disappointing loss I've had since I've been here in terms of the way we went about it, and it's something I need to assess."

Asked whether he could have made substitutions before Brighton's second and third goals, he replied: "Yeah, I could have, but all these things are totally irrelevant to me, substitutions and all those kind of things.

"If you're not competitive, it doesn't matter what you do, you're not going to get rewards. You don't deserve to win. So we didn't deserve on our second-half performance, irrespective of subs or anything else, to get something out of the game.

"But I do think if you do get something out of the game, then you're falsely rewarded, and I don't want to get falsely rewarded."

Maddison: We have to deal with adversity better

Tottenham midfielder James Maddison, who put Spurs 2-0 up after Brennan Johnson's opener, admitted they "lost complete control" after Yankuba Minteh pulled one back in the 48th minute for Brighton.

The England international told Sky Sports: "We couldn't deal with the mental shift and lost complete control of the game after the first goal went in. We dealt with the momentum very poorly. It just felt like attack after attack and we couldn't deal with it.

"Brighton are a good side but when the first goal went in you have to deal with adversity in the Premier League and stay strong, weather the storm. The best teams stay strong. We didn't do that.

"We'll need to take big lessons from the second half if we want to make strides forward."

Berbatov: Spurs are too nice

Tottenham lost a Premier League game in which they had led by two or more goals for the 10th time, becoming the first club to hit double figures for this, and at least three more than any other side in the competition's history.

Dimitar Berbatov believes his former club remain a soft touch under Postecoglou.

The ex-Spurs striker told Sky Sports: "This type of stuff happened to Spurs before and continues to happen.

"They have a couple of good games but then it all comes crashing down because of results like that or something else.

"This is where they need to be mentally strong [after conceding the first goal], weather the storm, but it didn't happen for Spurs. If you don't have consistency in your performances to stay at the top you are going to suffer.

"Spurs are too nice."

Meanwhile, another ex-Spurs striker, Les Ferdinand, believes the players should be "embarrassed" by their collapse.

"The players will be getting on that coach embarrassed," he told Sky Sports.

"The fans have turned up in their numbers and have been embarrassed by the second-half performance.

"That's what you're left with as a player, embarrassment and humiliation. That lingers until you play again."

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NFL 2024 London games: Minnesota Vikings beat Aaron Rodgers' New York Jets to stay perfect at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

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Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings continued their staggering unbeaten start to the campaign as they held off Aaron Rodgers and the New York Jets to clinch a 23-17 win at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the first NFL London game of the 2024 campaign.

Stephon Gilmore iced the game for the Vikings as he intercepted Rodgers inside the final minute to quash any late drama and derail the Jets as they sought to mount a game-winning drive.

Linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel scored his second pick-six of the season following his offseason move to Minnesota, while CJ Ham bundled in for a rushing touchdown to help the Vikings improve to an NFL-best 5-0 having led 17-7 at half-time.

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Garrett Wilson's fourth-quarter touchdown had moved the Jets within three points, but in the end it would be a member of Brian Flores' unrelenting defense who had the final say.

Rodgers finished the day 29 of 54 passing for 244 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions, while being sacked three times and hit on 11 occasions. Vikings quarterback Darnold was limited to just 14 of 31 for 179 yards and an interception as Flores' attack dogs played a defining role once more.

As beer snakes formed and the fine rain fell, the Jets incited a thrilling finish when Brandin Echols intercepted Darnold on an overthrown pass intended for Jordan Addison over the middle of the field, allowing New York to snatch back possession at the 42-yard line with 9.47 to play in the fourth quarter.

Rodgers turned the resulting drive into a one-yard touchdown pass to Wilson to make it 20-17 after Gilmore had been flagged for pass interference in the end zone, with Mike Williams converting on third-and-10 moments earlier with an 18-yard grab to move the chains.

The Vikings responded with a nine-play drive ending in Will Reichard's 41-yard field goal to push the lead out to six, leaning on their defense to fend off the storm that threatened to follow.

With three minutes to play, was a vintage Rodgers game-winning drive coming? It looked for a moment like it might as the Jets worked their way down to the Vikings' 26.

Staring at third-and-10, Rodgers looked towards Williams deep in the red zone only to see his pass picked off by Gilmore, who was swarmed by teammates to celebrate a fifth straight win.

Stats leaders

New York Jets

Passing: Aaron Rodgers, 29/54, 244 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs

Rushing: Breece Hall, 9 carries, 23 yards

Receiving: Garrett Wilson, 13 catches, 101 yards, 1 TD

Minnesota Vikings

Passing: Sam Darnold, 14/31, 179 yards, 1 INT

Rushing: Ty Chandler, 14 carries, 30 yards

Receiving: Justin Jefferson, 6 catches, 92 yards

The Vikings produced the first points of the game through Reichard's 54-yard field goal, before almost being dealt a nightmare setback when Darnold stayed down for treatment following a bruising hit from Chazz Surratt, leaving Minnesota's high-flying quarterback clutching his ribs as the volume levels plummeted inside Tottenham.

Darnold was momentarily replaced by Nick Mullens before returning to the game two plays later, at which point disaster struck when his pitch to running back Ty Chandler was fumbled and recovered by Quincy Williams.

The Vikings survived, paving the way for Flores and his 'everybody eats' defense to live up to their pre-game billing by offering Rodgers a less-than-warm welcome to London.

The four-time MVP quarterback was intercepted moments later, Van Ginkel retreating into coverage and picking off Rodgers on third down before racing away for a 63-yard touchdown and his second pick-six of the campaign.

It became two picks in two plays for Rodgers, whose overthrown pass intended for Allen Lazard was gift-wrapped for Cam Bynum to mop up an easy interception. Minnesota punished emphatically as CJ Ham capped the ensuing drive with a two-yard rushing touchdown after Sauce Gardner had twice been flagged for pass interference on Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison.

The Flores clinic continued for the Vikings as Rodgers' frustration began to tell, amplified by a thumping Harrison Smith sack from the blitz.

Finally the Jets did get themselves off the mark late in the half, Rodgers stepping up through the pressure to toss a 17-yard touchdown strike to Lazard to make it 17-7 at the half just seconds after almost being intercepted for a third time by Blake Cashman.

Scoring summary

Who said what?

Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell: "Not good enough on offense, we leaned on our defense today. Way too many pre-snap penalties, way too many things we talked about. It starts with me as the play caller, there were some things offensively that just can't happen.

"What I told our team is there's going to be days like this, good teams pick themselves up. We had a thousand excuses out there, but they just kept playing. Defense were lights out from a standpoint of picking up our team when we needed them."

Vikings wide receiver Justin Jefferson: "Coming off a season with a whole new quarterback, new system, I feel like we're doing great. After the bye week, some teams are complacent and feel like they're in a great spot. After this bye we need to be focused, locked in and ready to go."

Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold: "We have a lot of good things clicking as a team but it's early. We've just got to continue to take it one step at a time, if you get caught up in what people are saying about you... we weren't listening to what anyone before the season so why would we listen to it now?"

What's next?

Rodgers' Jets return to MetLife Stadium in Week Six as they host Josh Allen's Buffalo Bills, while the Vikings are at home to the Detroit Lions.

Caleb Williams and the Chicago Bears meanwhile travel over to London as they face Trevor Lawrence's Jacksonville Jaguars at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with kickoff at 2.30pm live on Sky Sports NFL on Sunday October 13.

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Brighton 3-2 Tottenham: Spurs suffer second-half collapse as Brighton stage stunning comeback

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Brighton produced a stunning second-half comeback as they scored three goals in 18 minutes to come from 2-0 down to beat Tottenham 3-2 at the Amex Stadium.

Spurs were in total control at half-time thanks to goals from Brennan Johnson, who scored for a sixth straight game, and James Maddison.

But Ange Postecoglou's side suffered a shocking collapse sparked by Yankuba Minteh's goal just three minutes into the second half as he pounced on Destiny Udogie's mistake.

As it happened: How Spurs collapsed on the south coast

Teams | Match stats: Brighton make stunning second-half turnaround

Live Premier League table | Watch PL highlights for free

Stream the Premier League with NOW

Rocked by the goal, Brighton sensed Spurs' loss of confidence and found a leveller 10 minutes later through Georginio Rutter's low finish.

The comeback was then complete in the 66th minute as more poor Spurs defending allowed Danny Welbeck to head home.

The shocked visitors failed to recover from going behind, mustering just one shot on target as Tottenham suffered their first defeat in six games to leave the north London side ninth and four points off the top four heading into the October international break.

Brighton, meanwhile, end their four-game winless run to move sixth and two points behind fourth-placed Chelsea.

Ange: Worst defeat of my Spurs tenure

Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou speaking to Sky Sports:

"It's disappointing. I'm absolutely gutted with that. It's probably the worst defeat we've had since I've been here.

"It's unacceptable in the second half, we weren't anywhere near where we should be. Maybe we got carried away with how we were going.

"We kind of accepted our fate and we haven't done that since I've been here - usually we fight for everything, but when you don't you pay the price and we paid the price.

"Maybe things were travelling on too smoothly and football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourselves and that's what it looked like in the second half.

"It's a terrible loss for us. As bad as it gets. There is one way to fix it and that's my responsibility.

"We lost all our duels, we weren't competitive. Irrespective of what you do tactically, we weren't competitive.

"The majority of players are going on international duty so they will process it individually. And I'll deal with it when everyone gets back."

Maddison: We lost complete control after Brighton's first goal

Tottenham midfielder James Maddison speaking to Sky Sports:

"We couldn't deal with the mental shift and lost complete control of the game after the first goal went in. We dealt with the momentum very poorly. It just felt like attack after attack and we couldn't deal with it.

"Brighton are a good side but when the first goal went in you have to deal with adversity in the Premier League and stay strong, weather the storm. The best teams stay strong. We didn't do that.

"We'll need to take big lessons from the second half if we want to make strides forward."

Hurzeler on what he said at half-time

Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler speaking to Sky Sports:

"The first half was not a tactical thing where we conceded the two goals, it was about making the last step, playing with intensity, fulfilling the match plan with intensity. We tried to get this back in half-time, but it's the job of the players. They played an amazing second half and showed the reaction and deserved to win.

"A little bit was missing, a little bit of intensity, being ruthless in the most important duels. If you win the personal duels, if you gain the ball in the opponent's half, you gain self-confidence. That was the biggest change in the second half, that we won more balls.

"Tottenham had some moments in our half, but most of the times we controlled the transitions. Then I always say we have enough quality in possession to always score. For me it's very important that we learned from the first half. Not everything was bad, even though it seemed to be bad being 2-0 down, but there were positive things."

Analysis: Solanke shines but Spurs fail to capitalise

Sky Sports' Lewis Jones:

Ange Postecoglou blamed Tottenham's incredible collapse at Brighton on a lack of application rather than anything that tactically changed in the second half. That is hard to argue against yet, what was glaring obvious after the break was how little of the ball Spurs managed to get into Dominic Solanke. The striker was excellent for 45 minutes, playing a huge role in both goals and offering Spurs an option to set their attacks from.

Despite his influence, Solanke only had 20 touches of the ball in the entire game, the fewest of any player that started the game across both teams. Spurs should've utilised him more, especially in the second half where he was anonymous as Tottenham failed miserably at chasing the game when 3-2 behind.

Former Spurs striker Les Ferdinand was left perplexed about the lack of service Solanke got, he said: "In the first half Spurs always had the out-ball with Solanke - they never used him in the second half. He never got the chance to hold it up and bring people in. He hardly touched the ball, through no fault of his own."

Brighton's key player, Kaoru Mitoma, had 51 touches. Play to your strengths they say. That proved the difference between the teams.

Story of the match in stats...

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