There were a host of Tottenham icons on the pitch. Martin Chivers, Steve Perryman, Pat Jennings, Ricky Villa and Ossie Ardiles to name but a handful. They formed part of the post-match guard of honour for Ange Postecoglou and his players, the club’s newly anointed Europa League-winning heroes, the exterminators of the trophy drought. Postecoglou had embraced each of the legends and now they turned to applaud him.
It was a touching moment, one he is unlikely to forget as he luxuriated in the continued afterglow of Wednesday’s victory over Manchester United in Bilbao – and sought to move on quickly from this latest Premier League capitulation. The question that positively screamed in the background concerned whether Daniel Levy will give Postecoglou the thumbs up or down when he carries out his review into the manager’s future.
The story here went beyond a Brighton victory that was enough to lock down eighth place but not to keep alive hopes of Conference League qualification. It leaned into another limp Spurs showing, how they fell apart in the second half. They had partied hard after Bilbao, the release of emotion quite something. It looked to have caught up with them. This was a 22nd league defeat of the season, equal to the all-time low from 1934-35 and that was across a 42-game campaign.
Really, it was about Postecoglou and whether the Spurs fans would show their backing for him to carry on after everything they have lived through; the sublime highs in Europe, the dreadful lows in the league.
There were busts of support for Postecoglou, his name rolling around the stadium at times, including after the Brighton fans had informed him he would be sacked in the morning. It was a little subdued for long spells, hungover, even; the definition of an event after the parade, which had taken place on the open-top bus on Friday. And yet when the Brighton substitute Diego Gómez bent home his team’s fourth in stoppage time, it was the trigger for a mass outpouring of flag-waving from the home crowd, of songs and defiance. They appear to remain with Postecoglou. Or maybe it is simply gratitude.
The man himself sounded isolated, exasperated, bemused. Why did he even have to talk about his future after achieving something so cherished and rare? Besides, he does not have the answers. Only Levy does. It is very much over to the chairman.
“My gut feeling is I feel right now that I’ve done something that no one believed I could do,” Postecoglou said. “And I shouldn’t be sitting here talking about it [his future]. You’re right to ask the question but you’re asking the person who can’t give you that answer. I am so confident about what we can build at this football club and I want to push on and take it to the next level. We’ll see whether that happens.”
The vibe among the Spurs support was happy and relaxed, plenty of Europa League-winning merchandise on show, footage on the big screens to thrill, especially the highlights from the final. But it was coloured, too, by Levy’s programme notes. The chairman did mention Postecoglou, having chosen not to do so at the end of March in his statement that accompanied the club’s financial report. Levy thanked him for making the trophy success possible. But that was it. No clues as to what he may do next with him. No vote of support. It was easy to read it negatively from Postecoglou’s point of view.
Spurs played without pressure at the outset and they enjoyed a break when Mats Wieffer lunged into a silly challenge on Mathys Tel. Wieffer stood on one of the Spurs winger’s feet as Tel jinked inside the area, going away from goal. Tel went down. Dominic Solanke converted coolly from the penalty spot.
Brighton had a few moments in the first half, Jack Hinshelwood working Guglielmo Vicario with a header from a corner, but they had to show more purpose and intensity. Tel ought to have made it 2-0 in the 38th minute after being played in by Pedro Porro. He shot for the far corner only to see Bart Verbruggen produce a smart low save.
The visitors needed to wake up because with Brentford winning at Wolves, they could feel their grip on eighth loosening. Fabian Hürzeler made half-time changes, introducing Kaoru Mitoma and Gómez, dropping Hinshelwood into a deeper midfield role. It may have been Mitoma’s farewell appearance; Bayern Munich are interested in him.
Brighton stirred, coming to dominate. Carlos Baleba exerted himself in midfield, Mitoma made a difference. The equaliser came when Adam Webster attacked a corner and the ball fell kindly for Hinshelwood.
Brennan Johnson fluffed a decent chance on 56 minutes but it was all Brighton, Hürzeler’s team creating a fistful of chances. Vicario saved from Gómez and the dangerous Yankuba Minteh, who also saw a shot blocked by Kevin Danso. Baleba rattled an upright.
Brighton had advertised the next goal and Hinshelwood got it from another corner, Spurs again defending weakly. This time, he had his back to goal when the ball ricocheted for him. The improvised backheeled finish was a beauty. It was a tired challenge by the Spurs substitute Yves Bissouma on Gómez to concede the penalty converted by Matt O’Riley. And it was Gómez who had the last word, curling home his first Brighton goal from distance.
