Baked by the Easter sun and seemingly overwhelmed with expectations, Tottenham returned to the wrong guy. For the second time in a week, Brighton challenged the challenge at the North London club’s four with a late goal by Leandro Trosar, stolen after Christian Romero was let into his own box, repeating what happened to the Emirates’ Arsenal.
Romero, stumbling over Adam Lallana, the late reserve, gave Trosar a chance to mark the winner, Brighton – and Tottenham – deservedly so. Volleyball by Stephen Bergwine after Trosar’s goal, Robert Sanchez barely had a shot on goal in Brighton’s goal and none on target, his job usually done for him through defense, throwing repetitive heroic blocks.
For this match of the first four, Arsenal’s visit to Tottenham on May 12 is now great, although Brentford, Leicester and Liverpool must first be agreed by the team of Antonio Conte. To end two seasons of absence from the Champions League, they must find a much greater intensity than the loss to Brighton at home for the first time since 1981.
Graham Potter, linked to the Spurs post, released by Nuno Espirito Santo in early November, has often suffered from Brighton’s inability to score, while emphasizing the quality of his team’s performance. Two goals for Arsenal represented two-thirds of Brighton’s result in their last eight Premier League games, and a less shy team could have taken those three points earlier.
Not that Potter minded. “I thought the performance was actually a step forward,” he said, compared to the Emirates victory. “We asked some questions. This was not a game of smashing and grabbing. We knew we had to be good, and I thought we were today. “
Brighton pressed aggressively, closing the space before the ball reached Harry Kane in his reserved position on a deep bed. Conte barks from the edge of his technical zone. He stayed there all the time, although the Italian, like his team, looked weaker than normal.
“Brighton was very good at closing the space,” Conte said. “We moved the ball slowly. We will have to do much better than today. Perhaps the fairer result was a draw, but Brighton is a good team. If you win at Arsenal and Tottenham as a guest, that means it’s a good team. “
Harry Kane struggled to make his usual impact on Brighton. Photo: John Patrick Fletcher / Action Plus / Shutterstock
The loss of the recently outstanding Matt Doherty for the rest of the season led Sergio Regilon to the position of left back in front of Ryan Sessegnon. Without the Irishman, the team, which has scored 17 in five previous games, has stopped, although Brighton deserves credit for cutting off additional supply lines. The partnership between Kane and Son Hyung-min was almost unrecognizable, the South Korean was anonymous until he received a pair of shots blocked at the beginning of the second half, first by Joel Weltman and then by Trosar’s escape back to join the effort. on all hands.
The remaining member of the previously victorious attacking trident, Dejan Kulusevski, received a yellow card in the first half for an elbow to Mark Kukurela. And this was as important as the Swede received before being withdrawn in favor of the equally ineffective Lucas Moura.
As Brighton clashed and quarreled and made sure to take time off in the game, Spurs’ disappointments were shared by home fans, who began to smell an archetypal mistake. “We executed the game plan perfectly,” said Brighton captain Lewis Dunk. “We could hear the crowd disappointed.
Yves Bisuma, who was patrolling Brighton’s defense, was exceptional. “Tactically, he was really good,” Potter said. “You can see its quality. His high class is at the level of the Champions League. “
After an early blow when Kukurela deflected the ball as he prepared to shoot, Kane quickly regained his pace, if not his influence. The spurs entered the break with great hesitation. A lot of energy was spent on trying to get a second yellow card with Enock Mwepu. Potter understood a hint to eliminate the Zambian at halftime in favor of Danny Welbeck, who soon hit hopelessly wide.
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With the introduction of Harry Winx in the midfield, the Spurs have tried to increase this over the last fifteen. Pierre-Emile Højberg’s running towards the finish and the reduction was unrewarded when Reguilón slipped desperately past the ball.
Meanwhile, Brighton continued to gain more chances before the ball finally fell to Trosar. The decisive blow of the Belgian from the inside and the final will be the coolest game seen all afternoon.
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