Spurs 2-1 Brighton: Toothache and 96th minute heartbreak

Poor Roberto De Zerbi. Already laid up, out-of-action back in Italy after invasive dental surgery, the Brighton boss would have been left feeling even worse when his side conceded a 96th minute goal to lose 2-1 at Spurs.

Toothache and heartbreak. Not a good combination. Especially as the Albion arguably deserved better, having displayed a lot of their best free-flowing football in a couple of periods of domination.

What let Brighton down was not taking their chances at big moments. Their game management was also questionable, being caught horrifically out-of-position when Spurs broke to score the decisive goal in the final seconds having been looking for a winner themselves.

A high-risk approach with the aim of coming out of every game with victory is part and parcel of DeZerbiBall. Everyone accepts that. It is what makes it so fun and – more often than not – it pays off.

Yet sometimes, on rare occasions, it is alright to settle for a point when there are 30 seconds to go and you are away from home against a side clinging onto the coattails of the title race.

Or in the case of Spurs, a side who famously won the Premier League back in October after only eight games had been played.

Whisper it quietly, but the lengthy spell of injury time had in part been caused by what Tottenham fans felt (and they were probably correct) was timewasting.

How typical that whilst clubs like Fulham, Brentford, Sheffield United and Burnley are never punished for slowing the clock down against Brighton, on one of the rare occasions we saw gamesmanship from the Albion, it ends with losing the match in the 96th minute.

Those teams obviously never combine timewasting with throwing every player forward in the 96th minute. Which is what the Albion did, meaning Lewis Dunk and Jan Paul van Hecke were miles up the pitch as Richarlison led a break.

Pascal Gross could not be found sitting in front of the defence in his holding midfield role either. That left Joel Veltman, Carlos Baleba and Pervis Estupinan as a back three up against four white shirts.

Richarlison slipped the ball left to Son Heung-min. Son played a low, hard cross to the back post and Brennan Johnson arrived unmarked to fire past the helpless Jason Steele. Part of the reason Spurs 2-1 Brighton hurt so much is because it was preventable.

It was not all bad news, though. Some of the football played by the Albion was scintillating at times as they looked to carry on from where they left off in last week’s historic 4-1 hammering of Crystal Palace at the Amex.

Brighton created their first opportunity inside of 60 seconds. Tariq Lamptey released Danny Welbeck down the right and after cutting inside Rodrigo Bentancur, Dat Guy curled a powerful left footed effort towards goal which required Guglielmo Vicario to turn away at full stretch.

The Albion took the lead on 16 minutes from the penalty spot. Brilliant one-touch passing between Welbeck and Buonanotte left a mass of Spurs players giddy. The only way Tottenham could think of stopping Brighton was by Micky van der Ven kicking Welbeck to the ground.

With Joao ’10 penalties scored out of 10′ Pedro out for an indefinite period with a hamstring injury, taking duties fell to Gross.

Der Kaiser does not have the best record from the spot, with high-profile previous misses coming against Palace at the Amex in the 2021-22 season and that afternoon when Brighton famously missed two penalties in an hour against West Bromwich Albion in 2021.

Gross squandered the first of those kicks at the Hawthorns and Welbeck the second as Glow Up Graham Potter‘s xG nightmare was at its peak.

You could sense the nervousness as Gross stepped up. No matter. Der Kaiser has obviously been taking lesson from Pedro in the art of sending the goalkeeper the wrong way. He struck left, Vicario went right and Brighton had the lead.

Going behind brought Tottenham to life. There had been a mini-meltdown of sorts when the Albion XI was announced with Jason Steele back in goal as part of De Zerbi’s controversial goalkeeper rotation for the first time since his horror show at Luton Town.

Steele though silenced the doubters a little with a huge one-on-one save from Richarlison. James Maddison curled a shot just wide in a rare glimpse of the England international midfielder, who found himself being superbly marshalled by Jan Paul van Hecke.

Frustration soon began to get the better of Maddison. He was booked for a terrible tackle and then sarcastically clapped referee Samuel Barrott for the decision.

In a season where officials are supposed to be cutting down on dissent, Maddison could consider himself lucky to avoid a second yellow card. Would it have been the same story had Dunk been the one doing the sarcastic clapping?

Kaoru Mitoma almost marked his return from Asian Cup duty with a goal, getting in down the left and hitting an effort with the outside of his right boot which Vicario just about got enough on to divert away.

Steele made another big stop from a Maddison one-on-one before Van Hecke got back on top of their individual battle, blocking a shot and then doing likewise to a Richarlison effort.

Whatever Ange Postecoglou said at half time to his Spurs players had the desired impact as they dominated the start of the second 45, eventually equalising on the hour mark.

It was a goal which would go well with the Benny Hill Theme Tune, although not for reasons of incompetence but rather pure bad luck.

Dunk slid in to attempt clearing a Pape Matar Sarr cross, succeeding only in putting the ball straight against the Albion post.

That returned possession straight to Sarr, who was left with the simple task of guiding it into the now unguarded net. Steele lay prone on the ground having dived full stretch thinking Dunk’s own goal attempt might creep in.

When Tottenham then threw Son on from the bench immediately after levelling, it looked ominous for Brighton. “Only one team winning this now… and it ain’t us,” seemed to be the general school of thought.

But Brighton instead stirred and could have gone 2-1 up themselves before Spurs found their late winner. Substitute Ansu Fati should have scored when brushing the outside of the post with a low shot from a Mitoma pull back.

Mitoma and Fati then combined to work an opportunity for Buonanotte in the middle of the box. With Sarr in close attention, Buonanotte went for goal with an effort easily blocked when Lamptey was unmarked to his right. A terrible piece of decision making from the teenager.

Benicio Baker-Boaitey almost announced himself in dream style with an effort wide, after which the Albion probably should have accepted a second goal was not forthcoming and taken the point.

That is not the way of DeZerbiBall, however. Nor is it the way of suave and sophisticated assistant manager Andrea Maldera, who did such a sterling job leading the side in the absence of De Zerbi.

Other than the lack of madcap Italian jumping around the technical area in his bright white trainers, you would not have noticed De Zerbi’s absence in the performance level and the way Maldera managed the side.

And that extended to the desire to find a late, late winner, which ultimately resulted in a late, late losing goal as it finished Spurs 2-1 Brighton.

Football can be painful sometimes. Almost as painful as a visit to the dentist. Just ask De Zerbi.