Chris Sutton was left shocked by the lack of aggression he saw from one Tottenham player against Brighton in the 3-2 defeat on Sunday.
All three goals that Tottenham conceded at the start of the second period were incredibly avoidable, with the away side’s defending leaving a lot to be desired.
It was Destiny Udogie’s hacked clearance in 48 minutes that allowed Yankuba Minteh to capitalise and bring the Segualls back into the game.
For Brighton’s third goal, Rodrigo Bentancur inexplicably allowed the cross to come into the box despite being in control of the situation, with the two Tottenham centre-backs caught flat-footed, allowing Danny Welbeck to capitalise.
While Sutton was a little forgiving of Udogie’s mistake, suggesting that it happens to everyone on occasion, he remarked that Bentancur had no excuses for allowing the cross to come into the box.
The pundit suggested that the Uruguayan simply did not want it as much and did not show the required aggression.
The former Celtic striker said on It’s All Kicking Off podcast: “Who wants to win a challenge more? And there were certainly two examples. Udogie was guilty of one of them for the second goal.
“And Bentancur, not closing down the Brighton player or just thinking that he had a position under control. Wasn’t aggressive enough. That’s as simple as that with Bentancur.
“I mean, Udogie, we’ve all been there, Ian. We’ve all panicked in situations. His clearance was wild. Well, it wasn’t even a clearance in the end and it was a decent finish.
“Then the panic set in. But Bentancur, sort of understand the Udogie one. That’s just a horrendous error. He should have just concentrated on his connection. He didn’t. He panicked. But Bentancur, I mean, there’s no excuse for a lack of aggression. What was going on there?”
Bentancur’s lack of urgency for Brighton’s third goal was a perfect microcosm of what we saw from Tottenham in the second half.
The midfielder was extremely lethargic, thinking he would allow the ball to run for a goal kick without anticipating that the Brighton player was not going to make a last-ditch sliding attempt to get a cross in.
While the Spurs players were going through the motions in the second period, the home side played with maximum intensity.
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