Brighton 3-2 Tottenham: Premier League – as it happened

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.

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.”

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.

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

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.

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.

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)

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)

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)

The second half is underway

Half-time: Brighton 0-2 Tottenham

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)

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.