Brighton & Hove Albion (Home) 10.02.2024

Ange Postecoglou started Dejan Kulusevski and Pape Matar Sarr as the Seagulls lined up in a mirroring 4-2-3-1 formation with the afternoon sunshine dotted by a few drops of rain before Spurs kicked off the match.  In the last couple of home games, players have been slipping over when the pitch has been watered and it almost cost Tottenham a goal in the first minute.  Micky van de Ven fell allowing Welbeck a free run down their right into the penalty area.  Rodrigo Bentancur slid in to block a shot, but the Brighton man had cut the ball back onto his left foot and he tried to curl a shot around Romero and beyond Vicario into the far corner, but he reached out and clawed the ball wide for a corner.  It was a very good save and coming so early in the match, was one that stopped us going behind so soon after it had started.  Corners have been an issue in our games recently, with this one ending in a free-kick for foul on Maddison at the far post. 

Spurs hit back with a corner of their own, but it was cleared and soon the away side were looking for a long early ball for Mitoma to test Pedro Porro.  It was the first in a long line of offside decisions against the Japanese winger, but also later in the game when Lamptey and substitute Benicio Baker-Boaitey couldn’t time their runs properly.  Another Tottenham corner was straight into Steele’s hands, but he managed to fumble it and had to grab it at the second attempt.  The game was stop start with the referee, who I had never heard of,, failed to award free-kicks equally, giving them one way and not ours when the same offence happened.  It didn’t help when Gross and Lallana were trying to use the camouflage of their kit to roll around on the grass as much as possible to get Spurs players booked.  They were in the referee’s face for almost every decision and it allowed him to be swayed to see things their way.  Estupinan got away with elbowing Richarlison in the head behind the referee’s back and although he gave a free-kick, it must have been on the advice of the linesman, because he was looking the other way.

In the 16th minute, Spurs got caught trying to play out from the back.  Udogie won off Welbeck the ball deep in our own left-back corner positions and played it inside to Micky, who moved it forward to Bentancur inside the corner of the box.  Gross won it off him, it ran to Buonanotte, who exchanged passes with Welbeck in the area and van de Ven stuck out a foot that caught the former Gooner and the ref gave a penalty.  Apparently, it was the sixth penalty we had conceded this season and now half of them have been in matches against Brighton !  Anyway, after the routine VAR, Gross stepped up to send it to Vicario’s right as he dived in the opposite direction and the Seagulls were ahead.

The Brighton press was forcing Vicario to play the ball long, which we rarely won.  When we did move the ball Sarr sent it to Richarlison 25 yards out and he slipped a pass into the box for Maddison, who was unable to shoot, but played it back to Richi, who had Gross all over him.  When Maddison got away from Gross, despite a poor effort to foul him, he put Richarlison through and from the left corner of the area, he shot low, but Steele spread himself to block it and Werner wasn’t able to get it past a defender in the box as he followed up with another shot.  The irritating Gilmour (trained at Chelsea) was in the referee’s ear, wanting a booking when Romero fouled Lallana, then Gilmour, Welbeck and Mitoma were claiming a yellow card when the two players clashed again.  Lallana followed it up with loads of verbals as he had to leave the pitch after having treatment and I wouldn’t give him a chance if he wanted to start something with Romero.  While he was still gesturing that he should be able to come on, Gilmour hit Sarr with the ball and it went forward for Richarlison to pass to his left for Maddison, with the midfielder curling a right foot shot a yard wide of the far post, with the keeper beaten. 

Having won a free-kick, Spurs were getting players forward and Lallana was bumping Romero to try and get a reaction.  The free-kick went too long and went off for a goal-kick, but when Tottenham did play the ball into the box, it was too crowded to get a shot away despite what many in the crowd wanted.  A hopeless long kick out from outside his box by Steele went through to Vicario, who then tried to get things moving by throwing the ball out to Bentancur, who was knocked over by Welbeck and as play was allowed to continue, they switched the ball wide left for Mitoma, but as he tried to find a team-mate in from of goal with the outside of his right boot, Vicario redeemed himself by pushing the ball out for corner.  The tactic of standing a player on the keeper wasn’t working as Maddison was the one who stood between them.

Gross was in danger of misconduct for making more of any contact than there really was and then Dunk was the next one to waste time by hitting the deck for no apparent reason.  When Maddison reached for a tackle on Lamptey, he caught him and got booked with 35 minutes on the clock, but some good first-time passing sent Werner away on the left wing to play in a low ball to the near post.  Richarlison got there first, but could only turn it wide.  It was now Tottenham’s press which Brighton had to break down, but they were forced into some loose passes and when Richi slid a pass into the box for Kulusevski to run in, it looked look a great chance, but Estupinan leaned on him and as he fell, he still got a shot away although Steele blocked it.  Winning the ball high up again, Maddison fed Richi, who made Dunk look stupid before having an effort from inside the box blocked for a corner.  Werner then made a run on the left at the visitors’ defence and played it inside to Richi, but the ball wouldn’t come down for him to get his shot away and when Brighton cleared the ball van de Ven clattered into Buonanotte, which should have been a booking, but I’m not sure if this referee would know one if it kicked him.  He failed to book Pape when he fouled Gilmour from behind, which should have been a caution.

When Estupinan played a wayward pass straight to Richarlison, his quick feet left Dunk floundering on the halfway line, the Brighton captain caught him, but the Brazilian was away and tried to play the ball forward into the box for Maddison’s run, but the ball was slightly behind him, allowing the defence to swamp him.  Did the referee go back and book Dunk ?  No chance.  While Spurs were making the most of the space Brighton left around the pitch, the final ball lacked conviction, either hitting the first man or finding the keeper’s hands instead.

Despite the incidents, it wasn’t a great first half from either side.  While Brighton pass the ball well, much of it is to little effect and Spurs did have more chances, although the opposition probably had the better ones.  At the start of the second half, Tottenham started on the front foot.  Maddison curled weak effort at goal from a free-kick after Buonanotte bundled him over just outside the box and then, when he caught Werner in the Achilles with his studs, he still escaped a card.  A couple of minutes later, Micky fed a sharp pass out to Werner, who set off on a run that left Lamptey on the floor behind him before letting go a shot that Gross got something on to deflect just wide.  It marked a little spell for Spurs that brought three corners, but ended with a pass from Kulusevski running through to the keeper.  A neat turn close to the right touchline by Kulusevski left Estupinan trying to hold onto his hips, but he played a pass through with the outside of his right foot that got Steele coming out of his box to just beat Richarlison to it.

Fati replaced Lallana, whose nuisance value had diminished with his lack of breath and lack of legs.  As Sonny warmed up and began taking his training top off, Bentancur won the ball from van Hecke in the centre-circle.  He twisted away from the lanky Dutchman, tried to play a pass that Gilmour got in the way of, but then Rodrigo got it back off him, finally playing it wide right to Kulusevski, who looked up and played a ball into Pape Matar Sarr’s run in behind Welbeck.  The Senegal midfielder unselfishly looked to square it to Richarlison, but Dunk stuck out a leg to stop it reaching the striker only for the ball to hit the near post.  The goalkeeper was on the ground, having gone the other way and that left Sarr the opportunity to turn the ball into the net with his left foot wide in the six-yard box to level things up.  Perhaps we should be grateful that the referee was so inept and that he didn’t book him earlier, as he did for going into the crowd to celebrate his goal.  He took it very smartly and it was a good build-up that Brighton couldn’t cope with.

Ange decided to go through with the planned substitutions, with Bissouma on for Bentancur, Son for Werner and Johnson for Kulusevski, who threw his tracksuit top down in anger.  Porro did well immediately to play the ball off for a corner as Brighton attacked, but he took a knock on his foot in doing so, while Richarlison had a little argument with van Hecke, so Dunk decided to come over and start barging the spurs man trying to get him to retaliate.   Dunk pushed Richarlison over as the ball came in, but Gross played it straight into the side-netting.  Buonanotte finally got booked when he fouled Maddison, who had got past him, but it took 65 minutes.

We worked the ball out from the back once more and Son’s pass to Johnson gave him the chance to shoot, but it was a tame shot straight at the keeper.  Brighton were happy to clear the ball anywhere as Tottenham pushed on towards their goal, but there was a spell leading up to the 70 minute mark when neither side could hold onto the ball, but there was a five minute spell after that when Brighton had more possession in their attacking third, with their best chance coming when Mitoma went to the dead-ball line on the left and pulled it back, only for Fati to scuff his shot low and inches wide of the far post.  Mitoma got past Porro for one of the few instances in the match and his ball into the middle caught Spurs our, with Buonanotte shooting with two players available outside him, only for Micky van de Ven to throw himself in front of the shot and deflect the ball wide for a corner off his groin.  It was a painful one for him, but a vital one.  

With ten minutes left, Davies and Hojbjerg came on for Sarr and Udogie just after Estupinan had shown a lack of self-control by kicking the ball away to receive a yellow card.  Hojbjerg played a fine ball over Estupinan’s head for Johnson, but the ball just held up and bounced off Brennan’s thigh for a goal-kick and then Romero won the ball well against Fati inside the Brighton half and when it was played wide to Johnson, his cross was cut out by Dunk, with shouts for handball that went unheeded.  Dunk was penalised with two minutes of normal time remaining when Richarlison got to a spinning ball first and the lumbering Brighton defender took his ankle, ending up in the book long after he should have done.  

The referee once more showed his lack of control of the game when Lamptey went down near the Spurs goal following an offside given against his side, but there was little need for him to stay on the pitch to get treatment as he was two yards from the end of the pitch.  Surprisingly, he was OK to walk around the pitch as he was substituted and then Gilmour wasted more time walking off the pitch when he was taken off.  Hojbjerg was being given some hospital balls, but when Maddison set him up just outside the area, his shot flew over the bar with Baleba questionably challenging him. 

When Spurs played the ball out from the back there were howls from the crowd to just get it forward.  Well, they did, with Davies playing the ball up to Richarlison, before he played it back to Maddison.  His return pass forward to the Brazilian isolated Veltman, with Sonny outside him to his left.  Not knowing which player to go to, it left space for the pass wide and Son took it on a couple of yards before delivering the perfect low ball across the area where Brennan Johnson had hung back beyond Estupinan to fire the ball high into the net from just inside the six-yard box.  The crowd went mad as Dunk looked on gutted as he was the man who pressed and was played around near the halfway line, he just lacked the speed to recover. 

It looked as though Brighton’s chances of getting anything out of the game were receding quicker than Jason Steele’s hairline, with the clock into the 98th minute by the time they kicked off again. Brighton moved the ball up the right wing, but Micky slid the ball off for a corner that saw the keeper come up for it, hoping that he could use his transplanted hair to good effect, but unfortunately for him and his team, the delivery was poor and it was van Hecke, who headed it away as the referee blew for full-time.  Dunk was giving the referee the benefit of his experience at the final whistle and was probably telling him that he was reffing the match better than the appointed official.  

The three points were well earned for a fine second half performance, in which Brighton had the odd half-chance, but Spurs dominated, running them ragged.  Their tactic of man-marking Maddison with van Hecke didn’t work, as he was not savvy enough to cope with the twists and turns that allowed Maddison to roll away from him and take Tottenham forward.  With Porro keeping a tight rein on Mitoma and Romero clearing up most things that came through the middle, the spaces started opening up in the visiting defence and that allowed us to break through on their goal.  I can only remember Vicario having to make the two saves in the first half, as Brighton’s tiki-taka football failed to produce much at the end of it.

While the goal came late, we were undone by a late one last week, so persisting with the way Ange wants us to play paid dividends on this occasion.  Another home game awaits next week against Wolves, with it being another week for the returning players to bed back in. 

Ian Carter 

• Tottenham scored in their 36th consecutive league match this extended the club’s own record for the feat and it put us joint second in Premier League records.