After Tottenham’s capitulation against Brighton, serious questions have been asked about the team, and Graeme Souness thinks he has pinpointed the key problem underpinning what went wrong.
Despite heading into the game on a run of five straight wins, and leading 2-0 at half-time, Tottenham somehow managed to throw away their advantage and were 3-2 within 20 minutes of the restart at the Amex Stadium last Sunday.
Pundits and fans alike have thrown criticism at the defence for the complacency they showed in letting the Brighton attackers overrun them, while Ange Postecoglou has been called out for not fixing the issues and helping his team regain control of the game.
Postecoglou himself even described the result as the worst defeat of his Tottenham tenure, due to the manner in which his team rolled over and failed to fight back (ESPN).
Now, Graeme Souness has revealed what he believes to have been the major problem behind the downfall, and it all comes down to the voices in the dressing room.
He told William Hill: “The Tottenham players should have known better. You learn it at school – when you’re 2-0 up the next goal is vital. If you concede, the momentum is suddenly with the opposition but if you go to 3-0 up, the game is over.
“I don’t know if Spurs have any leaders. When they go into the dressing room at half-time, the chat should be, ‘we can’t concede the next goal, this game is far from over’ – that’s what Ange Postecoglou should be telling them. He needed to remind them that if they were to concede, everyone’s going to be all over you.
“I think the issues at Spurs boil down to the manager and the coaching staff. The only message they needed to give the players in that game when the half-time whistle blew was to play more of the same. Spurs just ended up capitulating which is why Postecoglou was so deflated after the game, he thought he had some warriors in that team and was proven otherwise.”
The Brighton game should be a real wake up call for these players, who need to learn to kill the game. They need to be more ruthless and more resilient, and understand that, in the Premier League, you simply cannot take anything for granted against any team.
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