Here’s David Hytner’s report from the Amex.
Fabian Hurzeler spoke to the BBC: “My team deserved to win, they worked hard and focused on the things they could control. I think Tottenham always have a great start. They play with intensity and we were not ready for that. We also created chances but defensively we have to improve.
“We focused on the positive things, the second important thing was to win the duels to build self-confidence. The players worked hard to gain flow and they used it.”
More Ange via Sky: “Worst defeat since I’ve been here. Unacceptable second half. Nowhere near where we should be. We got carried away with how were were going.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.
“The problem is we are travelling along too smoothly, football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself. There is no message. It is a terrible loss for us - as bad as it gets. Only one way to fix it and that’s my responsibility.
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Dom in Florence gets in touch: “Genuinely Spurs are the weakest mentally in the league. How often can they look world beaters, should be well out of sight, get casual, concede and then IMMEDIATELY just run round like Penelope Pitstop with her hair on fire shouting HEEEEEEEELP!?.
”As soon as Brighton scored my phone lit up like a Christmas tree with family & friends saying we were doomed. And so it proved. TBF it’s not just on Ange, but we need the flattest of tracks to get anything (eg United)
”And when things start to slip, then he just looks at wane after wave of attacks, and then goals, and just says “OK let’s just see where they are going with this….”
Ange Postecolglou spoke to the BBC: “Fair to say that the second half was unacceptable and we paid a price for that. We probably should have put it to bed in the first half. What we did in that second half is unacceptable and we got what we deserved.
“Maybe we just thought we’d roll out there and play well again and that’s not how it works and we paid for it. We’ve conceded before but it is how you react and our reaction wasn’t what it should be. It’s a bad day for us and when it’s a bad day the responsibility falls at my feet.”
Fair to say he didn’t look up while saying that.
Danny Welbeck speaks to Sky: “An amazing feeling. First half was embarrassing. The second half was about attiude. I was really peed off in the first half, there was an opportunity we had to do better with. “We have got to give credit to the senior boys who are not in the pitch the likes, of Steely [Jason Steele] and Milner [James Milner] - they told us the bare minimum is we’ve got to fight. Everyone is together in this.”
So does Georginio Rutter: “We stayed together, and we had to believe. It’s not about tactics, it’s about fighting.”
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Nayson Ratcliffe gets in touch: “Did a fly on the wall hear Fabian Hürzeler at half time say: ’Jungs, es ist Tottenham’”
Here’s the table after the weekend of Premier League action.
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 7 | 11 | 18 |
| 2 | Man City | 7 | 9 | 17 |
| 3 | Arsenal | 7 | 9 | 17 |
| 4 | Chelsea | 7 | 8 | 14 |
| 5 | Aston Villa | 7 | 3 | 14 |
| 6 | Brighton | 7 | 3 | 12 |
| 7 | Newcastle | 7 | 1 | 12 |
| 8 | Fulham | 7 | 2 | 11 |
| 9 | Tottenham Hotspur | 7 | 6 | 10 |
| 10 | Nottm Forest | 7 | 1 | 10 |
| 11 | Brentford | 7 | 0 | 10 |
| 12 | West Ham | 7 | -1 | 8 |
| 13 | AFC Bournemouth | 7 | -2 | 8 |
| 14 | Man Utd | 7 | -3 | 8 |
| 15 | Leicester | 7 | -3 | 6 |
| 16 | Everton | 7 | -8 | 5 |
| 17 | Ipswich | 7 | -8 | 4 |
| 18 | Crystal Palace | 7 | -5 | 3 |
| 19 | Southampton | 7 | -11 | 1 |
| 20 | Wolverhampton | 7 | -12 | 1 |
Kári Tulinius gets in touch: “I really think that Postecoglou is a football visionary, and that if he had the right team, they’d sweep all before them. However, I’m starting to think that this Spurs squad might not be right for him. The question is whether such a squad exists in the real world, or only in Ange’s vision.”
Full-time: Brighton 3-2 Tottenham
What a comeback from Brighton, what a shambles from Tottenham, who had been so in the first half. Danny Welbeck is as good as ever, and his goal wins a minor Premier League classic. Fabian Hurzeler has a big beaming smile. Ange Postecoglou has seen a ghost, by the looks of things. The ghost of Spurs past, present and future.
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90+4 min: Enciso tries to send away Gruda again. Relentless stuff from Brighton. Attack has been their form of defence.
90+3 min: The home fans are noisy, so much noisier than in that painful first half. Their team’s second half has been excellent.
90+2 min: Brighton have men over as Enciso and Gruda the subs take too long. Danny Welbeck, the old warhorse, tells them they have been wasteful.
90 min: Four minutes to be added on. Spurs win a corner. Ange Postecoglou is shaking his head.
89 min: Spurs look to young Moore for salvation but he’s closed down. Brighton look the fitter team. Still, Sarr arrows a ball at Solanke but the striker can achieve little.
88 min: All hands to the pump for Brighton. This would be a huge win, the first since August. There are few doubts against Hurzeler at the club but morale needed pepping up.
87 min: Off goes Minteh and on comes another Brighton winger, Bryan Gruda, making his first ever appearance for his new club.
85min: Minteh next shoots wide, and off goes Maddison, and on comes Moore. No pressure, Mike.
84 min: Mikey Moore is imminent for Tottenham. Udogie suddenly finds space and jabs a shot that Verbruggen saves well. Vindication after that earlier mistake…..the ball flies down the other end and the excellent Minteh rides a tackle and only just runs out of room. Spurs were all over the place there.
83 min: Lots of snappy, scrappy stuff. Spurs playing hurry-up offense. The silkiness of the first half but a memory. They’re going to have to tough it.
80 min: JW is in touch: “Without Son, Romero is captain. Yet it was clearly Vicario giving the big speech in the half time huddle and now we’ve crumbled. No leadership on the field. Fuming.”
Here’s where the recriminations begin, then. An uncomfortable fortnight awaits Ange if it stays this way.
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79 min: The Timo show is over, with Bentancur off too. On come Sarr and Yves Bissouma, booed for the manner of his departure from Falmer.
78 min: Jeremy Boyce is back: “So all the same, we’re still on for an 8 - 8, despite Mr Young’s negativity ? When he’s on it Mitoma is something else, isn’t he ? And as a Leeds fan sad to see him go, good to see Rutter stepping up and slotting them in. I lived in Brighton for a while, great place. Good team.”
77 min: Marlon Cameron gets in touch: “What was that you were saying about a gulf in class?” You can always build a bridge, I suppose.
76 min: Hinshelwood runs back to clear Brighton lines. It feels like the home team may come under the pump soon. That’s the least of expectations from Tottenham.
74 min: Wieffer’s first task is to be bounced over by Bentancur.
73 min: Brighton want to bring on Enciso. Off goes the excellent Rutter. Carlos “I’m A” Baleba departs and on comes Wieffer.
71 min: Tottenham have what is a rare attack. And a corner The angle of Porro’s ball is too wide, outswinging and cleared. Werner – a forgotten man – cuts inside. He shoots and, yes, misses.
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69 min: Spurs reduced to reducers…Mitoma is having one of those days. Kulusevsi goes into the book for hacking him down. Spurs seem angry with each other.
67 min: Spurs ragged, so ragged. Minteh is smashed down by Udogie. This is a painful lesson in Spurs lore. Nobody else does it like this.
Goal! Brighton 3-2 Tottenham (Welbeck, 66)
Oh my, Rutter sets on a solo run, hits the byline and scoops the ball on to the head of Welbeck. Brighton lead, and Tottenham are in ruins.
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63 min: That corner is swept up, to relief from Tottenham. They’re rocking back on their heels.
62 min: Brighton go close again. Welbeck skips on, and Mitoma has another effort. From the next passage of play, Minteh forces a corner.
60 min: And what noise in the Falmerdome, too. Ange’s face is a picture. His team have done exactly what he probably told them not to do.
59 min: So much better from Brighton. Like they’ve had 5800 MegaHurzelers jolted into them.
Goal! Brighton 2-2 Tottenham (Rutter, 58)
Lads, it’s Brighton. Mitoma zooms on, slips the ball inside. Rutter has work to do, but steps inside Van der Ven and scores. Ange Postecoglou fixes his eye-line ever lower than normal.
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56 min: Mitoma is buzzing along, and forces a save from Vicario, End to end, stuff. Kulusevski scampers away, and aims his pass at Solanke, only for the danger to be cleared by Veltman.
55 min: Richard Hirst gets in touch: “Just come in and caught up with the news of Barry Lloyd’s death. 257 games for Fulham, and unused sub for the 1975 Cup Final; a good man. Also the subject of one of my favourite chants, not I think heard much these days:
He’s here, he’s there
We’re not allowed to swear
Barry Lloyd, Barry Lloyd
54 min: It’s getting physical. Veltman, the first-half enforcer, clatters into Udogie and ends up knacking himself.
52 min: Spurs force a corner, Estupinan conceding. From the second ball, Porro finds Romero but the defender heads away – oddly. Next time, the offside flag rings out.
51 min: Brighton enjoying a level of possession that seemed beyond them in that first half. Though when they did play well in the first half, those were the moments they conceded.
49 min: Spurs defended rather too much like Brighton in the first half for that game. Hurzeler’s team talk has had its effect.
Brighton 1-2 Tottenham (Minteh, 48)
Brighton back in it. Mitoma’s ball, Udogie and van der Ven fail to clear. Minteh forces it home game on.
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The second half is underway
46 minutes: There’s been a Brighton change, with Kadioglu departing the scene, and Estupinan is on. The Ecuadorian can maybe add some thrust down the flank.
Half-time: Brighton 0-2 Tottenham
Brighton have been bamboozled, and Tottenham excellent. Brennan Johnson’s finish was fine, James Maddison was a tad lucky. A couple of decent Brighton chances draw only a fig leaf over the gulf in class between these two.
45+2 min: A case in point: Rutter, a passenger all half, is miles offside when the ball is played to him.
45+1 min: Spurs invite on the Brighton press but the home team are struggling to put anything together.
45 min: Three minutes are added on, and the Falmerdome is very quiet.
44 min: It could have been three, Johnson outmuscling the tracking run of Mitoma to thrash over the bar. Ange is aghast though that looked a difficult chance.
42 min: Brighton seek their way back, but Tottenham seek to see out the half. As was pointed out elsewhere, they have a fine defensive record.
40 min: Van der Ven’s speed stops Welbeck’s run. The quickest in the business – confirmed.
38 min: Spurs look very good, full of attacking dimensions. They have had a share of fortune with that goal but have been easily the better team. Still, from Kadioglu’s ball from the flank, Welbeck heads wide.
Goal! Brighton 0-2 Tottenham (Maddison, 37)
That Brighton pressure means more room for Tottenham. Solanke out to Werner, the ball slotted inside to Maddison, who strokes it goalwards, and Verbruggen makes a hash of it. The goalie holds his head in despair.
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36 min: Welbeck gets down the channels, and Mioma and him exchange passes. Eventually, Mitoma lands the ball on Hinshelwood’s head but the ball drifts behind.
35 min: Can Brighton maintain the momentum they have at last located?
33 min: Sudden waves of Brighton attacks, Minteh to the fore, and a corner forced. The corner sees a foul. Veltman and Maddison at it? Next, Igor Julio yellow-carded for bringing down Kulusevski.
32 min: And yet, Brighton almost score. Mitoma’s cross is a beauty, and Welbeck misses, Oh Danny, Danny. That’s a sore one.
30 min: As if to illustrate that, Lewis Dunk is forced into using his turning circle to clear the ball.
29 min: Jeers from the Tottenham vans as Verbruggen is forced to thwack the ball out of play. In the battle of high-pressing, Spurs are winning.
27 min: Some ludicrous acting, as Maddison and Veltman clash. The Dutchman accuses him of diving. Then does a theatrical fall to make his point. No booking, and Veltman makes a limp-wristed gesture to his foe. Amusing stuff. More please?
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26 min: A rare Brighton attack, but Mitoma is disappointed when he doesn’t get on the receiving end.
25 min: With that goal, Johnson has equalled a feat by Harry Kane. Remember him? Brighton have no answer to Spurs’ pace all over the park.
Goal! Brighton 0-1 Tottenham (Johnson, 24)
Another goal – sixth in a row – from Johnson. Fine play from Solanke, winning the loose ball and Johnson scores. That goal had been coming. Spurs have been excellent.
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Spurs have a goal disallowed
21 min: Porro gallops down the wing, ball to Johnson, and then a ball into Werner, the header down, and Maddison pokes in. Offside. Though how?
19th min: Verbruggen can only shank the ball back to Spurs. Brighton camped in their area. This is not how they usually have to play. Big test for their young manager. Lewis Dunk is having to do some old-style stopping, and comes across to stop Solanke.
16th min: Here’s some zip from Timo Werner, and Lewis Dunk closes down Udogie. Brighton are trying to play out from defence but are really struggling. Tottenham pushing up high.
15th min: On the Sky broadcast, Alan Smith has just admitted he got three points on his driving licence for doing 24 in a 20. The game’s not that bad. Much more zip than at Villa Park.
14 min: Here comes the Irish question, from Tik: “Does Evan Ferguson need to wait for Danny Welbeck to start collecting his pension before he starts again or is it time for him to go on loan in January, even if it’s in the Championship? With Pedro out injured and Evan back training full time for about two months surely if Hurzeler had any intention of using him it would have happened by now.”
13 min: Mary Waltz gets in touch: “John good morning from California. Praying for an exciting match. Watched the first half of the United v Villa tussle, it put me to sleep so I switched to the Chelsea Forrest fixture and was rewarded with a slam bang 1-1 draw and followed the United snooze fest on the MBM. When the MBM is better than the actual match it is so sad.”
So does Tim Young: “I notice in your MBM a contributor suggesting that the way these two teams are ‘scoring and conceding’ it could be 8-8, reflecting the commonly held view that both teams have been profligate at the back. But Tottenham have so far conceded the second fewest goals in the league, so why do you think this idea has become so well accepted as true?”
Tim, it’s Spurs.
11 min: Porro – with his wand of a right foot – hits a diag Maddison might have done rather better with. Next, Mitoma looks to get away for the first time. He’s offside; Ange using the halfway line again. Risky business.
10 min: How do Brighton respond? They almost catch out Bentancur with the highest of presses, Spurs desperately clearing the danger.
8 min: That will be it for Webster. Igor Julio will come on. Webster in some pain, having had a mare last week at Chelsea. Good player, Webster, and a reminder the lower leagues bring through plenty. Julio speeds on.
7 min: Baleba tries to cut back but is crowded out. Adam Webster is down, and injured. He pulled it when clearing his lines, a hamstring or a calf injury.
5 min: Another Tottenham attack, Brighton so open. Romero’s ball is a beauty and Maddison has time once he brings down the ball, and Webster blocks.
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3 min: Brighton try and get a move underway but Udogie clears his lines when the exciting, speedy Minteh looks to get away. Spurs go back to the other end, Kulusevski cuts the ball in and Dunk uses his experience to put the block in. It’s an open game so far.
And away we go...
1 min: Spurs get off to a flier, and it’s the Timo show underway. Does he shoot? No, he aims a pass at Brennan Johnson. And misses his target.
The players pay tribute to Barry Lloyd, the club’s one-time manager and chief scout. A name from a very different Brighton.
We are deeply saddened to report the passing of our former manager Barry Lloyd, aged 75.
— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) September 28, 2024
We extend our sincere condolences to Barry's family and friends at this saddest of times. The players will wear black armbands today and there will be a tribute next weekend against Spurs.
Pascal Gross – or is that Groß? – is shown off to the Falmer faithful, as a means of saying goodbye. He’s at Dortmund now. What a player he was for Brighton. One of those so underrated he’s rated players.
Via the BBC: Some interesting quotes from Ange Postecoglou, who welcomed Fabian Hurzeler to Tottenham’s training facility last season. “He spent a day with us. He asked a lot of questions and I gave him too many answers, for sure.
“I actually palmed him off at one stage because he was asking too many. I passed him to the other coaches. He was inquisitive about everything. He was already a senior manager, doing a good job, and the fact that he still wanted to ask questions - he made a real impression on everyone.”
Yash Gupta gets in touch: “David Squires made cartoon about Werner after Chelsea-Man City final in 2021. Best player on land outside box. Okay maybe 6th best in this Tottenham team. As long as he contributes well, I think his ‘show’ can be sidelined for now.”
I’m a fan. A total entertainer.
Congratulations, Daniel Harris, for staying awake during this. I was glad the Arc came on in the second half.
Elsewhere, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest drew 1-1. That’s a fine result for Nuno, a manager we all wrote off, didn’t we. (OK, I did.)
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Jeremy Boyce gets in touch: “Given the way these two are scoring and conceding it’s either 8 - 8 or 0 - 0 isn’t it?”
Getting that vibe, yes.
Last time out for these two teams.
Fabian Hurzeler makes two changes from Chelsea last week. Yankuba Minteh and Joel Veltman in, Mats Wieffer and Pervis Estupinan dropping to the bench. Ange Postecoglou opts for the same team that smashed Manchester United. That means the Timo Werner show rolls on.
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The teams
Brighton: Verbruggen, Kadioglu, Webster, Dunk, Veltman, Hinshelwood, Baleba, Minteh, Rutter, Mitoma, Welbeck. Subs: Steele, Lamptey, Igor, Gruda, Enciso, Ayari, Wieffer, Ferguson, Estupinan.
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Romero, van de Ven, Udogie, Kulusevski, Bentancur, Maddison, Johnson, Solanke, Werner. Subs: Forster, Dragusin, Bissouma, Gray, Bergvall, Spence, Sarr, Lankshear, Moore.
Preamble
As the season starts to shake out, Brighton’s great start to the season has dissipated, and so have fears that Tottenham are about to explode. Five wins in a row will do that sort of thing. Spurs were impressive against Manchester United, and then in midweek toughed it out at Ferencvaros. A win could take Ange Postecoglou’s team into the top four, where they would like to be. Brighton haven’t won in the Premier League since August and were on the wrong end of a thriller last week with Chelsea. Fabian Hurzeler’s already shown off that he has fire in his belly, and so does Ange. So let’s hope for fireworks in Falmer.
Kick-off at 4.30pm, UK time. Join me.
