Ange Postecoglou rant in full as Tottenham boss furious over ‘terrible’ Brighton defeat

Ange Postecoglou launched a furious rant at his shell-shocked Tottenham stars after watching them throw away a two goal lead to lose at Brighton.

Goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison ensured Spurs held a commanding lead at the half-time break. But the visitors fell apart in the second-half, conceding three unanswered goals to fall to their third defeat of the season.

It has been a disappointing campaign for Postecoglou’s men, who sit four points adrift of the top four. And the Australian was in no mood to hide his anger following his side’s shocking defeat at the AMEX Stadium.

Instead, he branded it the ‘worst defeat’ of his reign at Tottenham, insisting the second-half performance was ‘unacceptable’. Postecoglou also admitted that his side had got carried away after claiming a two-goal lead.

“Disappointing. Frustrated and absolutely gutted with that. 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,” he told Sky Sports.

“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. We lost all our duels and if you’re not competitive it is not going to work. They will process it individually and I will process it when everyone gets back.”

He added to Match of the Day: “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. It’s a bad day for us and when it’s a bad day the responsibility falls at my feet.”

Goalscorer Maddison was at a loss to pinpoint what had gone wrong for his side in that second period. The Englishman admitted that Sunday’s performance felt like his side had gone backwards.

“Not 100 percent sure [what went wrong]. We couldn’t deal with the momentum shift. We lost control of the game when the first goal went in. We dealt with momentum poorly and couldn’t get any control of the game,” Maddison told Sky Sports.

“It felt like attack after attack. They are a good side and have good players. Adversity in the Premier League – you have got to stay strong and weather the storm – we definitely didn’t do that.

“We have been on a good run, but it feels like a couple of steps back today. We were saying all the right things to not get complacent, but words mean nothing if you don’t go out and show it.”