Ange Postecoglou tore into his Tottenham players after seeing them throw away a 2-0 half-time lead to lose 3-2 at Brighton, branding the performance “unacceptable” and accusing them of a lack of fight. The head coach has not been this angry after a defeat during his season-and-a-bit at the club, his outspoken criticism feeling like his Antonio Conte moment.

Conte, the previous permanent Spurs head coach, went into meltdown after his team surrendered a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 at Southampton in March 2023, furiously questioning his players’ mentality. It should be said that Postecoglou’s delivery was rather more measured.

“We didn’t do what you need to do at this level – it’s kind of non-negotiable,” Postecoglou said. “We just weren’t competitive. We didn’t win our duels, we lacked intensity, we didn’t deliver the things you need to at this level – the basics of the game, and we paid the price for it.

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“It’s unacceptable. You can kind of understand that you’re not going to win every game. But there’s the manner you lose games. And that’s the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve lost the game in that manner. Like I said, unacceptable. It’s probably the most disappointing loss I’ve had since I’ve been here, in terms of the way we went about it and it’s something I need to assess.

“It’s a real stark reminder of what elite sport is about. The core of it is competitive. If you’re not competitive, it doesn’t matter how good you are or how good you think you are … you’re going to trip up.”

Danny Welbeck put Brighton in front in the 66th minute and Postecoglou left it until the 79th minute to make his first substitutions. “Substitutions and all those kind of things … they are totally irrelevant to me,” he said. “If you’re not competitive, it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re not going to get rewards.

“We didn’t deserve, on our second-half performance, irrespective of subs or anything else, to get something out of the game. If you do get something out of the game, you’re falsely rewarded and I don’t want to get falsely rewarded.

“We should have put the game to bed in the first half. But if that just masks what I saw in the second half, then it doesn’t … I mean, certain things will always reveal themselves over the course of time. I’ve got to deal with what happened in the second half.”

Postecoglou was asked whether he had said all of this to the players in the dressing room. “Yeah, feedback is always what I believe [in],” he replied. “I don’t hide things. I’m sure the players are disappointed but I don’t really care about that. They should be disappointed. Our supporters are disappointed, I’m disappointed.

“I want them to understand football is not about losing a game of football, that happens. The disappointment comes from us not doing the very basics of what’s expected at the highest level from a competitive standpoint.”