Brighton defeat could be a blessing in disguise for Tottenham – opinion

Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat against Brighton last weekend was a difficult pill to swallow, but every cloud has a silver lining, and from this disappointment, we could see a new tenacity and resilience in Ange Postecoglou and his players.

Postecoglou suffered his worst defeat at Spurs

Every game in the Premier League is hard. Even when you are leading 2-0 at half-time, you simply cannot switch off and cannot take anything for granted.

That’s exactly what the Tottenham players did against Brighton. They gave the Seagulls freedom to play. They left the door ajar just enough to let their opponents barge in, take over the game, and frankly, the Spurs players looked overwhelmed and clueless as to how to react.

In his post-match comments (via Sky Sports), Ange Postecoglou described that defeat as the worst he has experienced since taking over at Spurs. More specifically, he was frustrated with the manner of the defeat, for the way his players rolled over and lost control of the game entirely.

To some, that may sound like a manager who is disillusioned, who witnessed something he doesn’t want to be a part of any longer. In fact, the opposite is true, and from this setback, the world is going to see a very different Spurs moving forward.

Things are going to change

Watching Postecoglou on the pitch at the final whistle, the Tottenham boss looked angry and contemplative, but that’s a good thing. That defeat, and the way in which the players capitulated, can be a line-in-the-sand moment for Postecoglou and the squad.

You can bet your life on the fact that Postecoglou will never, ever allow a performance like that to play out again as long as he is at the club.

From front to back, the players were guilty of carelessness, complacency, and they lacked the cutting edge, the fight, and the willpower to wrestle back control of the game. That’s something we have never seen from this Postecoglou side, who even in defeat, would usually always battle right to the end.

Now, Postecoglou has the chance to use this negative experience and turn it into a positive. Moving forward, any player who lets their standards drop like that again will very likely end up cast aside by a manager who demands only the best from his men on the pitch.

A valuable lesson

Hopefully, the Spurs players are hurting from the Brighton game. We’ve already seen Micky van de Ven claim he felt ill due to the result, and James Maddison insisting he and the squad will use this to fuel them from here on out.

That’s exactly what you want from the players. There will always be setbacks in any journey, it’s how you respond to them that matters, and we know Postecoglou will ensure his players take a most valuable lesson away from this experience.

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