For Spurs fans, the beginning of November seems like a long time ago.
Tottenham, who were top of the Premier League eight weeks ago, are again in fifth place after a defeat at Brighton.
On the trip back to London from the South Coast, the inquest began with the unavoidable injury problem. Ten or eleven Spurs players are currently unavailable. But Brighton are now missing about eight players from their squad.
While there were seven adolescents on both benches on Thursday night, it was a Brighton 18-year-old, Jack Hinshelwood, who set the home side on their road to a 4-2 win.
Brighton‘s young players have scored 19 goals in 2023, exceeding the combined total of 16 goals scored by all other Premier League teams’ juveniles.
Spurs‘ squad depth and development are properly being questioned, but so is their discipline. Dejan Kulusevski and Giovani Lo Celso both missed penalties at Brighton.
In addition, Kulusevski received another unnecessary yellow card and will miss today’s (New Year’s Eve) home game against Bournemouth, the latest in a string of Spurs suspensions.
It raises concerns about Ange Postecoglou’s squad’s fitness as well as mindset. Regular Tottenham fans are now wondering if it is possible to play Angeball without Ange players…
There is an increasing impression that Postecoglou is attempting to instill a new style of play on a team of players, only around half of whom are capable of implementing his ideas.
When too many key starters are missing, the system inevitably collapses. Spurs‘ first-half performance against Brighton was widely regarded as their worst of the season.
Tottenham had no shots on goal in the opening 45 minutes, and it wasn’t until Destiny Udogie scrambled into the penalty area in the 56th minute that they forced the Albion custodian to make a save.
Udogie has been an excellent addition to Tottenham‘s lineup this season, but he is now being encouraged to do much more than just play left-back, and to become more involved elsewhere on the pitch, similar to John Stones.
Liverpool and Arsenal have both used Trent Alexander-Arnold and Oleksandr Zinchenko in mixed full-back and creative roles, so Spurs are obviously looking to do the same.
That is a lot to ask of Udogie, 21, in his debut season in English football, and it is likely to have contributed to the Italian defender’s error in leaving Hinshelwood unmarked for Brighton’s opening goal.
Ultimately, this was only one of several errors that contributed to Tottenham’s terrible defeat following a bad performance, which was perhaps their worst overall under Postecoglou.
Pervis Estupián‘s magnificent long-range left-footed curler was as unstoppable as it gets, yet it was the first goal conceded by Spurs this season from outside the penalty area.
Guglielmo Vicario‘s ability in goal masked the troubles in front of him for lengthy stretches of the game at Brighton, unfortunately at the same time as his predecessor was departing the club.
Hugo Lloris‘ departure signals another huge divergence from Spurs’ recent history, as only Son Heung-min remains at the club from the starting XI in the Champions League Final in Madrid in 2019.
With the current Premier League season halfway through, reflections are usual. Searching for statistical patterns and trends is also important. Of course, some are more important than others.
West Ham United have made the challenging chore of competing in the Europa League and Europa Conference League into an art form, bringing the club its first trophy in 43 years last season.
And Brighton & Hove Albion are now following in the footsteps of the Hammers by winning their group on the Seagulls’ Europa League debut this autumn. So beating the Spurs on a Thursday was a piece of cake.
Only Roberto De Zerbi’s overreaching and overcomplicating of his team’s tactics allowed Tottenham to mount a late comeback against Brighton, making the final scoreline more respectable than appeared likely.
And the final debates on the way home through winter weather and festive changes to public transport services were about whether it was all worth it and why we weren’t all bored with the sport yet.
Tottenham’s trip to Brighton was one of 11 Premier League matchdays in 13 days during the Christmas and New Year holidays. It is part of a 39-day stretch in which English top flight teams compete in one or more competitions.
Players will be yearning for the brief period of rest that they will have in January. Most fans will just experience withdrawal symptoms and wish for more action as intense and breathless as it has recently been.
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