Tottenham: Four Key Matches That Defined Their Season
3. October 3, 2019, Tottenham gets rolled by Brighton
Mauricio Pochettino’s seat started to get warm going into their eighth Premier League match against mid-table Brighton. Their run of form in league play had been grossly inconsistent dating back to the end of the previous season.
Spurs had won three, drawn two, and lost two in their first seven Top Flight games of the current campaign. However, fans and the board had started to look at the fact that Tottenham had only won six of their last 19 league matches as evidence that something was up.
Their Champions League campaign had not fared any better as they had been destroyed like the Death Star by Bayern Munich by five goals, at home, in a group stage match.
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To make matters even worse, rumblings started emanating from the dressing room that Pochettino had lost his players due to his message and intense training methods falling on deaf ears and tired legs.
Things started horribly for Spurs
Coming into a match with Brighton, goalie Hugo Lloris misplayed a cross into the box, which ended up resulting in a goal as Neal Maupay headed the ball over the line. Lloris fell awkwardly into the goal and severely injured his left arm. He required oxygen on the pitch and morphine in the dressing room, before being transported to the hospital.
Spurs never recovered from the initial shock of losing their captain three minutes into the match. Brighton dominated as they pressured Tottenham’s offense into making unforced errors leading to multiple quality scoring opportunities.
The Seagulls punched in two more goals to win decisively 3-0. Spurs’ xG for the match was 0.48 on three shots on target. Brighton’s xG was 2.60 on six shots on goal. They only allowed Tottenham an average of 8.14 passes in their end of the pitch before a defensive action (PPDA).
The unexpected loss of the match and their number one goalkeeper was the beginning of the end to the Pochettino era.