Ange Postecoglou slams 'worst defeat' of his Tottenham tenure after collapse against Brighton

Ange Postecoglou hit out at an “unacceptable” second-half display from his Tottenham side after they fell to the “worst defeat” of his time in charge.

Spurs held a two-goal lead at half-time through goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison, and at that point were firm favourites to secure a sixth consecutive win.

However, it proved to be a disastrous afternoon at the Amex Stadium, as Brighton scored three goals in 18 minutes to come from behind and earn a memorable victory, with Danny Welbeck heading in the winner.

It is a performance that Tottenham will now have two weeks to reflect on over the international break, and Postecoglou was left unimpressed by the manner in which his side fell apart.

"Disappointing,” he told Sky Sports.

“Frustrated and absolutely gutted with that. Worst defeat we’ve since I've been here. Unacceptable second half. Weren’t anywhere near where we should be. Maybe we got carried away with how we were going.

"In the second-half we kind of accepted our fate and it is hard to understand as we've not done that while I've been here. We’ve usually fought for everything. When you don’t you pay the price, and we paid the price.

"Maybe things were travelling along too smoothly. Football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself. That’s what it looked like to me in the second-half.”

Postecoglou stood on the pitch after the match by himself and appeared to be in disbelief at what had materialised in the second-half, with the result making this Spurs’ worst start to a Premier League season for 16 years.

On what his message to the players was in the dressing room, Postecoglou said: "There is no message. It is a terrible loss for us - as bad as it gets. There’s only one way to fix it and that's my responsibility.

"We lost all our duels, we weren’t competitive and if you're not competitive it is not going to work.

"They all go international duty the majority of them. They will process it individually and I will process it when everyone gets back."