BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION  1  (1)  TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR  0  (0) 
Date : –  31st January 2021 Kick off : –  19.15
Competition : –  Premier League  Venue : –  Amex Stadium 
Crowd : –  0,000
Referee : –  Peter Bankes (Merseyside) Linesmen : – Mr. Neil Davies; Mr. James Mainwaring
Fourth official : –  Simon Hooper
VAR official : –  David Coote VAR Assistant : –  Nick Hopton
Weather : –  Cold, drizzly
Spurs kicked off the first half attacking the North Stand end
Playing time : –   90 + 7 minutes

 

BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
GOAL-SCORERS
  Trossard  16m 10s  
CARDS
  Maupay  (foul on Ndombele)  71   Alderweireld  (foul on MacAlllister)  66
  Burn  (foul on Son)  87    
 

 

BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR
26.   Robert SANCHEZ 1.   Hugo LLORIS (c)
     
3.   Ben WHITE 6.   Davinson SANCHEZ  ( 45. Carlos VINICIUS  46)
5.   Lewis DUNK 4.   Toby ALDERWEIRELD 
4.   Adam WEBSTER 14.   Joe RODON
     
34.   Joel VELTMAN  ( 33.   Dan BURN  72  ) 17.   Moussa SISSOKO
13.   Pascal GROβ 5.   Pierre-Emile HOJBJERG
8.   Yves BISSOUMA 28.   Tanguy NDOMBELE  ( 11. Erik LAMELA  74)
10.   Alexis MACALLISTER 33.   Ben DAVIES
20.   Solly MARCH    
9.   Gareth BALE  ( 27.  Lucas MOURA  61)
9.   Neal MAUPAY    ( 14.  Adam LALLANA  79) 23.   Steven BERGWIJN
11.   Leandro TROSSARD  (  7.  Aaron CONNOLLY  79)    
7.   Heung-Min SON
Substitutes Substitutes
31.   Simon WALTON 12.   Joe HART
17.   Jakub MODER 2.   Matt DOHERTY
15.   Steven ALZATE 15.   Eric DIER
22.   Percy TAU 25.   Japhet TANGANGA
29.   Andi ZEQIRI 8.   Harry WINKS
19.   Jose IZQUIEREDO 54.   Alfie DEVINE

 

Manager : –  Graham Potter Manager : –  Jose Mourinho
Kit Supplier : –  Nike Kit Supplier : –  Nike
Shirt Sponsor : –  American Express Shirt Sponsor : –  AIA
Colours : –
Colours : – 
Images of kits courtesy of the marvellous Colours of Football website

 

MATCH REPORT

An abject performance was not the reaction Jose Mourinho was probably seeking from the Tottenham side off the back of the loss to Liverpool and where they go from this 0-1 defeat at Brighton is anyone’s guess.  a run of more difficult games does not bode well with Harry Kane and the creativity in the side both unavailable.

The changes made by Jose Mourinho weren’t all to punish players for the mistakes made on Thursday against Liverpool, but with a game in four days’ time against Chelsea, this was probably also in his thinking. Hopefully, the fact that Brighton hadn’t won a home match this season didn’t figure too prominently in the players’ thinking.

Three minutes into the game, the Tottenham defence was opened up, much like last season, with Maupay and MacAllister setting up Gross in the box. He took the shot from the right with the outside of his right foot and there must have been a collective sigh of relief when the ball bounced out off the foot of Hugo’s right-hand post.

Brighton had the more attacking intent and that was helped by Tottenham’s inability to pass the ball to a white shirt. Three times in one move we handed possession to the home team with no pressure on our players.  When the ball was pinched off Alderweireld, it was moved from MacAllister to Gross and his pull back square to Trossard allowed the midfielder to side-foot the ball in at the near post to give the Seagulls the lead. It wasn’t an inaccurate reflection of the play up to that point and Tottenham hadn’t really put anything together. The press was disjointed and the passing was slack, which made winning the ball and any progress up the field very difficult, allied with the free-kicks and corners Spurs were conceding that allowed the tall Brighton defenders to come up for the set-pieces.

Too often, when Tottenham looked like mounting an attack, they slowed the move down and had to revert to playing the ball backwards. There was little tempo about our play and without Kane as a focal point, there seemed little idea about how to get at the Brighton goal. When the players did press, Brighton did make errors with their passing, so there was a way that they could get at them. 

It took almost half an hour for Spurs to even get a shot at goal, when Ndombele was fouled, but the play was waved on as Son had the ball and his pass to Bergwijn on his right was pulled wide across the goal. Almost immediately, Brighton went forward and the Spurs defence backed off Trossard, who played the ball in from the right to Maupay, but Sanchez and Toby denied him room to turn and get a shot on goal.

It looked like another match where Spurs fail to turn up. We just didn’t seem to be able to hold onto the ball and Brighton’s midfielders had so much time on the ball and such an amount of space to decide what they were going to do with it. When Tottenham did try to move upfield, Brighton got ten men back behind the ball very quickly. Quicker than we got men forward. Corners almost caused our downfall as Dunk met one with power that Bale headed away from goal, although replays showed it might have been going wide. Sanchez did well to block a shot from March, but the Seagulls were still able to work positions around the Spurs box with good movement. They even did so starting moves from their own half, as Bale left the ball for Ndombele, but it was cut out and Maupay ran 50 yards to take the ball up to the Spurs penalty area and MacAllister ended up having a shot from 18 yards that flew well wide. It was more than Spurs were creating and how Mourinho would change the flow of the game in the second half, it was hard to see.

Vinicius for Sanchez was the change at the start of the second half, hoping to give them a target man and an out ball. There was very little movement off the ball and so, when we were in possession, it was painful watching the ball being passed across the pitch and back again, without any option to provide a decisive pass. Son did manage a shot at goal, but it didn’t get there as Webster blocked it and then Toby won the ball in the right wing positions, but his cross didn’t have too many white shirts to aim it at.

From our first corner in the 53rd minute, Bale picked out Vinicius at the far post, with his header being kept out by a flapping foot of the goalkeeper. Meanwhile, it was like a hot knife through butter for Brighton, as they sliced through to see up Trossard, but Ndombele nipped in to knock it out for a corner. The ball dropped in the box from it and Alderweireld just poked the ball out, straight to the corner taker and the ball in was touched at goal by Webster, forcing Lloris to a save low down on the goal-line and grabbing the ball at the second attempt.

Davies had done well, being left with two men running at him, seeing the ball off for a goal-kick before Lucas Moura came on for Bale, who had been involved but not effectively. Son was regularly forced back, as he received the ball with his back to goal and there were few passes that gave him the opportunity to take it on the half-turn and evade his marker. Things weren’t helped by inconsistent refereeing, not giving decisions for things he had in other parts of the game.   

Alderweireld was booked for going through MacAllister and Maupay for a snide rake of his studs down Ndombele’s Achilles, as the referee suddenly decided to take some action. The Brighton striker should have done better when a cross came in and he won a header getting between Toby and Joe Rodon. It seemed to spark something in Tottenham, as first Son ran across from the left wing and shot on target, forcing Sanchez to a straightforward save, but the keeper had to do better to push Vinicius’ shot wide of the post with a full-length dive. Sissoko fired a cross in from the right and Webster got to it, but got the ball caught between his legs, preventing it running to Vinicius at the far post.

Tanguy couldn’t carry on after his injury caused by Maupay’s foul, so Lamela was the last substitution used by Jose, but playing long high balls forward was not the way to test the Seagulls’ back line. Not the same at the other end, as Gross got played into the box and squared it for Connolly in front of goal. He had to score, but Toby had followed back to make an amazing block to divert the ball away. He had blood pouring from his mouth and to add insult to his injury the referee made him go off to receive treatment with Brighton waiting to take a corner. Spurs managed to clear the ball and when it was played up to Son, Burn was all over him and received a yellow card for his efforts. It was a shame the referee failed to notice that on two occasions when Spurs were breaking away that MacAllister attempted rugby tackles on Spurs players.

Lamela had a shot blocked into added time, but Brighton wasted time and then kept the ball at our end to run down time.

The lack of creativity is a real concern in Tottenham’s play at the moment. With Sanchez, Rodon and Sissoko, they are not the most flexible in making things happen, so the onus on creating moves was firmly placed on the midfield. Without Kane linking with Son and the absence of Lo Celso, there
were few on the pitch who looked as though they would be able to unlock the Brighton defence … and so it proved. Tanguy tried hard, but was inevitably kicked off the pitch, with little protection afforded him by the referee, whose performance was typified by his insistence of where throw-ins were taken.

With Kane out for a while and Reguilon missing width and a crossing ability missing from our other full-backs, it is hard to see where our next goal is going to come from. One would imagine that Dier was omitted to keep him fresh for the Chelsea game, but if Brighton can do this to us, I hate to think
what might happen on Thursday.

A truly uninspiring performance against a team, near the relegation zone and while the Liverpool defeat was disappointing, they are at least a decent side. Brighton worked hard and we didn’t. That and the one goal were the major differences between us and them.

East Stan

 

MATCH NOTES

Lloris makes his 350th Spurs appearance

Davies makes his 300th career appearance.

This was the first time Tottenham have started a match without an Englishman in the side in the Premier League.

 

OTHER RESULTS
Everton 0 Newcastle United 2
West Bromwich Albion 2 Fulham 2
Crystal Palace 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0
Woolwich Wanderers 0 Manchester United 0
Manchester City 1 Sheffield United 0
South Coast Big Club 0 Aston Villa 1
Chelsea 2 Burnley 0
Leicester City 1 Leeds United 3
West Ham United London 1 Liverpool 3

Premier League Table 2020-21

Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Points Goal Difference
1 Manchester City 21 13 5 2 37
13 44 +24
2 Manchester United 21 12 5 4 37 27 41 +10
3 Liverpool 21 11 6
3 43 24 40 +19
4 Leicester City 21 12 3 6 37 25 39 +12
5 West Ham United London 21 10 5 6 31 27 35 +4
6 Tottenham Hotspur 20 9 6 5 34 21 33 +13
7 Chelsea 21 9 6 6 35 23 33 +12
8 Everton 19 10 3 6 29 24 33 +5
9 Aston Villa 19 10 2 7 34 21 32 +13
10 Woolwich Wanderers 21 9 4 8 26 20 31 +6
11 South Coast Big Club 20 8 5 7 27 25 29 +2
12 Leeds United 20 9 2 9 35 36 29 -1
13 Crystal Palace 21 7 5 9 25 36 26 -11
14 Wolverhampton Wanderers 21 6 5 10 21 30 23 -9
15 Newcastle United 21 6 4 11 21 34 22 -13
16 Burnley 20 6 4 10 13 26 22 -13
17 Brighton & Hove Albion 21 4 9 8 23 29 21 -6
18 Fulham 20 2 8 10 17 29 14 -12
19 West Bromwich Albion 21 2 6 13 17 50 12 -33
20 Sheffield United 21 2 2 17 12 34 8 -22