Ange Postecoglou admitted his ‘tired’ Spurs side ‘came up short’ during the club’s 4-2 defeat to Brighton at the Amex Stadium.
Postecoglou’s injury-hit side suffered a setback in their bid to secure Champions League qualification after losing to Brighton, though the Spurs boss praised the effort from his players.
Cristian Romero’s pre-game hamstring injury left the North Londoners without a recognised centre-back and a makeshift defence struggled to contain Brighton in the opening exchanges, as the Seagulls raced into a two-goal lead inside 23 minutes through Jack Hinshelwood and a Joao Pedro penalty.
Pervis Estupinan’s stunning goal made it three, before a second penalty from Pedro stretched Brighton’s lead to 4-0 heading into the final minutes.
Late goals from Alejo Veliz and Ben Davies added respect to the scoreline for Spurs, whose effort was appreciated by Postecoglou despite the defeat.
“From my perspective, all I know is everything they had, the players gave tonight,” the Australian reflected to the club’s official website.
“We probably looked a bit tired, lacked a bit of sharpness, particularly early in the game, and it’s understandable, we’ve been on this run for a while now where we’re asking the same players to keep performing, and the way we play is very taxing physically, we see that every week.
“Again, they gave everything tonight, but it just wasn’t enough. They don’t stop, and at the end there they gave everything, and that’s all I can ask for. That’s what you want. We came up short tonight, but that type of effort and endeavour has got us into the position we are in at the moment.”
