Brennan Johnson explains why Postecoglu was ‘so frustrated’ at half-time of Spurs vs Brighton

Brennan Johnson has revealed that Ange Postecoglou was not happy with what he saw his players in the first half against Brighton as they had moved away from their usual approach. 

As many people expected leading into Saturday’s game, both Tottenham and Brighton stuck to their guns, looking to press high up the pitch and dominate possession.

While the game would have been an entertaining affair for the neutrals, it followed a strange pattern, with both sides having spells of complete dominance where they prevented the other from even getting out of their half.

Brighton started on the front foot, with the home side finding it difficult to play out from the back in the first 20 minutes of the game and the Seagulls deservedly took the lead on 17 minutes, with Pascal Gross stepping up to convert from the spot after Micky van de Ven fouled Danny Welbeck in the box.

While Tottenham wrestled back control of the game during the latter part of the first period and created some chances, they failed to capitalise on those, with the away side taking a lead into the interval.

The Lilywhites came out like a steaming train at the start of the second half, putting Brighton under immense pressure and they got their just reward when Pape Matar Sarr equalised on 61 minutes.

Postecoglou wasn’t happy with Tottenham’s style

However, Roberto De Zerbi’s men managed to get a foothold in the game as the half went on and at one time, looked the likelier side to win it but James Maddison, Son Heung-min and Johnson combined for a moment of sublime quality in stoppage time, with the Welshman knocking in the winner at the far post.

The 22-year-old admitted that Postecoglou was far from pleased with what he saw from his side during the first period.

The winger told Spurs Play: “You don’t play that well or that togetherness if everyone isn’t on board. Everyone is firmly on board with how the manager plays.

“At halftime, he was so frustrated because we came away from the way we want to play. When we score goals like that, it’s stuff we work on day in day out. It’s a nice feeling.”

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One can understand Ange’s frustration as the press was extremely disjointed in the first half and some of the Spurs players seemed to be second-guessing themselves, taking a bit too long in possession, thus allowing opposition players to steal the ball in dangerous areas.

That was rectified at the start of the second half as we moved the ball with a lot more pace and committed bodies in attack, with the Seagulls struggling to cope with the pressure.