Tottenham must realise defending is not for cowards after Brighton take delightfully silly win

It’s often true that there’s nothing worse than meeting someone who is very similar to yourself, because you see all your own flaws as they appear through someone else’s eyes. Brighton and Tottenham now know that feeling very well, but Ange Postecoglou will go away with the greater need for introspection.

In prospect, this game felt like it was either nailed on for both teams to score – probably more than once each – or for a completely squeezed, congested midfield melee. Thankfully, after coming close to being put into a vegetative state by Aston Villa and Manchester United’s earlier goalless draw, the two sides chose the fun option.

With 15 seconds on the clock, Timo Werner should have given Brennan Johnson a tap-in, only to overplay his pass ahead of his fellow winger. Dominic Solanke committed no such error in releasing the Welshman again midway through the half to fire Tottenham ahead.

But even after Spurs went into the break with a two-goal lead that they were excellent value for, you never felt quite comfortable writing the game off as being effectively over. After a poor start in the face of Tottenham’s excellence, Brighton were actually good, with Kaoru Mitoma especially bright. The visitors were quite simply better.

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A Danny Welbeck miss just before Tottenham doubled their lead through James Maddison (and a Bart Verbruggen error) spelt out that difference – but also gave Spurs a warning of what was to come. Sky’s later “who saw this coming?” act after the comeback was completed was as irritating as it was baffling, Peter Drury and co having apparently wiped the actual run of the first half from their memories as a storytelling contrivance.

Regardless, Tottenham were impressive in that first half, and you started to wonder whether Posteocglou’s side might have put their indifferent start to the season behind them and grown into a much more impressive beast over the past few games.

But then they go and remind you of that mile-wide callow streak that is going to keep a lid on their potential throughout the campaign, and possibly beyond.

Brighton deserve credit for seizing the initiative. If Mitoma wasn’t already your favourite player in the whole wide Premier League, consider yourself chastised for your folly, and it was no surprise that his latest dangerous ball from the left set the ball rolling on Brighton’s comeback. Yankuba Minteh fired home the loose ball as Destiny Udogie made Udog’s dinner of dealing with a cross and making a…block? Clearance? We’re not quite sure, which is kind of the point.

Giorginio Rutter then stepped into the frame for goals two and three, twice wriggling and driving free of defenders first to fire an equaliser into the bottom corner, then tee up Welbeck to atone for his earlier wasted sitter.

But it really is just daft of Tottenham, and of Postecoglou, to remain so stubbornly wed to their attacking principles regardless of game state, regardless of momentum, regardless of how clearly signposted their impending doom may be. In their enjoyably loopy bid to win every game 5-0, they end up panicking when things start to turn against them, and ultimately drop points in games they have dominated.

The timing of Brighton’s first goal may be a factor there: had they not rushed back out of the dressing room and practically straight towards the Guglielmo Vicario’s goal, maybe we would have seen more calmness, control and composure from Tottenham to professionally see out their two-goal lead.

As neutrals, we say: more of this sort of thing. Defending is for cowards and people who are more interested in trophies than happiness, who frankly should have a look at themselves and figure out what is missing from their lives.

But as critics, we also say: winning things is good, actually; it’s the objective of the entire enterprise. To that end, there is nothing wrong with being willing to take a moment to take the sting out of a game. Some fans across North London seem not to realise that when people about Arsenal’s grasp of the dark arts, it is intended as (or, at very least, should be taken as) a compliment, rather than a diss.

Neither Brighton nor Tottenham have very much of that about them, and it puts a ceiling on them – but good lord, it makes them both tremendous fun to watch. Never change.

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