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Familiar failings from Tottenham, proof that a change of management can never immediately cure previous ills. There is, though, a fighting spirit within Thomas Frank’s new Spurs, whereas last season in the Premier League, there was rarely much beyond surrender.
Brighton scored two fine first-half goals, Yankuba Minteh’s solo mission followed by an opportunistic long-range strike from Yasin Ayari, in a 45 minutes where Tottenham dominated possession but repeatedly left open the door. Richarlison’s goal before half-time set up a second-half comeback completed by Jan Paul van Hecke’s own goal.
In May, Brighton’s 4-1 win at Tottenham, completing a home and away double, proved to be the final act of Ange Postecoglou’s reign. Under new management, Spurs were supposed to be a different defensive proposition, but at the Amex, particularly in that first half, Frank’s team showed many of the foibles of the previous regime. Brighton continue to be enigmatic; brilliant one minute, wasteful of opportunities and prone to the type of pratfall that brought their equaliser the next.
Fabian Hurzeler made four changes from the previous week’s limp defeat at Bournemouth and improvement came. Tottenham featured three changes from the Champions League defeat of Villarreal. Rotating the squad for European commitments is a fresh challenge for a manager whose previous continental assignments were Europa League qualifiers a decade ago at Brondby.
The returned Destiny Udogie’s attacking quality might have produced an early Tottenham penalty. Ayari lunged in, just managing to pull away. Brighton beat the ball away with difficulty and within seconds had scored with their first attack, almost wholly Minteh’s own work in winning the ball back before racing to a return ball from Georgino Rutter.
Brighton have found goals hard to come by but Minteh coolly rounded Vicario to poke home a strike showing heavy shades of the infamously malfunctioning Postecoglou high line.
Richarlison, flanked by Mohammed Kudus and Wilson Odobert, led the Spurs line, taking the ball down from a Pedro Porro diagonal to hit the side-netting. The Brazilian, a considerable physical specimen himself, was soon after out-muscled by Minteh, beginning a move that finished with Ayari forcing a save from Vicario.
The hosts were making the cleaner opportunities, and that chance proved a sighter for Ayari. After Lucas Bergvall had clumsily coughed up possession, Ayari’s early hit of a dipping shot caught Vicario on the wrong foot.
Brighton’s defenders protested against Richarlison’s goal. It was decidedly scrappy but there was no evidence of an infringement; Lewis Dunk flailing on the line meant no offside. Thus, the stage was set for a second-half Tottenham revival, a chance to show they are no longer the soft touch of lore. Brighton had meanwhile lost Carlos Baleba to injury, the yet rawer Diego Gómez coming on for the second half, and that gave Spurs a firmer grip of midfield.
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Xavi Simons was thrown on to add an X-factor that had been lacking from Tottenham’s key passes, Rodrigo Bentancur having struggled for impact in the midfield scheming role. On the touchline, Frank’s temper was boiling. Hurzeler, almost as agitated, sent James Milner on to try to re-establish some composure. Simons fizzed one shot wide, and next completed a solo burst by forcing a fine low save from Bart Verbruggen. When Bergvall dummied a Kudus cross, the Dutchman again fired wide.
Spurs’ back door, meanwhile, remained open, only Udogie’s speed in curbing a couple of Minteh breakaways protecting Vicario’s modesty. Gomez decided to shoot from 40 yards out rather than hold up possessions, and Ferdi Kadioglu narrowly failed to meet a Kaoru Minteh cross.
Eventually, after Tottenham turned back up the pressure gauge, Brighton conceded one of those goals that have pockmarked their season so far. From Kudus’s cross, Van Hecke could not prevent himself diverting the ball beyond Verbruggen. Would a winner come? Kudus’s shot deflected behind to set up Tottenham’s 10th corner. It proved as ineffective as the previous nine. There would be no comeback victory but Spurs continue to pull in a better direction.
