Tottenham Hotspur captain Son Heung-min has delivered a brutal verdict on his team’s performance away at Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Spurs forward admitted that his side’s performance in Thursday night’s Premier League loss was “very disappointing” and “nowhere near the level” required.
Tottenham fell to a 4-2 defeat on the south coast, and their two goals came in the latter stages of the match after they were already four down.
Jack Hinshelwood opened the scoring in the 11th minute with a powerful strike, before Joao Pedro netted a 23rd-minute penalty to put the Seagulls two up by the break.
Tottenham then shipped two more goals in the second half. Pervis Estupinan let rip with a fierce long-range shot on 63 minutes for the third, before Pedro netted another spot kick.
To their credit, Spurs did threaten a fightback. Alejo Veliz opened his account for Tottenham in the 81st minute before Ben Davies added a second four minutes later.
However, it was too little too late for Spurs, who leave the Amex Stadium empty-handed as their three-match winning run came to an abrupt end.
“It is a very disappointing performance,” Son told Premier League Productions, via the BBC Sport website.
“This is not how we’ve approached the season. This performance was nowhere near the level we want to play at.
“We know what our mistakes were but now is not the time to point fingers at each other because the games are coming fast.
“We know we have to play like that from minute one; we have to take the lesson again and go on. Instead of talking about the conclusion, we should discuss the first half and the early stages of the second half.
“This has to be a major wake-up call. Every team in the Premier League is strong, and if we’re not playing like the last 15 minutes in every game, we’re going to struggle.”
Roberto De Zerbi’s team dropped seven points behind fourth-place Manchester City as Spurs squandered the opportunity to go back into the top four of the Premier League standings.
When Ange Postecoglou’s team hosts Bournemouth at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday at 2 p.m., they will look to avenge their defeat.
