It wasn’t a win, but it kind of felt like one? Tottenham Hotspur roared back from a 2-0 first half deficit to earn a scrappy draw against Brighton & Hove Albion at the AmEx Stadium in Brighton on Saturday. In truth, it was a pretty good, if not perfect, performance against a team in Brighton that is tough to beat at home.
Thomas Frank certainly thinks so. The Tottenham Hotspur manager had plenty of praise for his players in his post-match press conference, singling out fullback Destiny Udogie and
new signing Xavi Simons for the most praise in what was at times a wet, sloppy match on the south coast of England.
Frank had his most emphatic remarks for Udogie, who made his first start this season after returning form injury and was dominant at the left back position. Udogie gave Brighton’s defense a lot to think about with some exceptional ball progression, and he linked well on the day with Wilson Odobert.
“Exceptional. [Udogie] was exceptional today. He was unstoppable, almost, going forward. And I think also it was a bit unfortunate, it was Wilson who had to track him on the situation, because it was a little bit of a high-pressure situation, the Brighton wonder goal. But he just completely took him out going forward. Very good, just top.
“I must admit, I’ve got three extremely good full-backs. I think Djed’s been fantastic for us. So when another player is doing so well, then there’s no reason to throw Destiny in too early. And I’m pretty sure we need all three throughout the season. That is crucial.
“We are playing, hopefully, around 60 games this season. That’s a lot. I think Liverpool changed both their full-backs from midweek to today. So it’s a big thing. We want fullbacks to come bombarding up and down. So we need everyone. But I’m very happy with Destiny.”
Xavi Simons also had a very good match as a second half substitute, earning a bit of a rest after playing mid-week in the Champions League vs. Villarreal, and also playing at the 10 position for the first time. It’s something Spurs fans have been waiting for since he joined the team; with James Maddison and Dejan Kulusevski both out with long-term injuries, Spurs’ midfield was screaming for creativity, and Simons provided exactly that.
“Yeah, I’m very, very pleased with that. I think Xavi came in and did exactly what we thought he could do in that 10 position. Of course he had a good pre-season and he played two games in Germany and all that, but he’s still coming into a team and all that. And I think on any other day, he’d score a goal. He got a great finish on the first one, great save from Verbruggen. And the other one, he mistimes. And I think maybe he could have got an assist to Richy, where Lucas takes the ball, he doesn’t see him.
“I think he can play both [central and wide]. I think he can easily play the left winger, that can go more inside. I also think he’d have the right position too. Sometimes the playmakers, they drift to the side because there’s no space in the middle. So I think he can do that. But 10, obviously he can play that as well.”
Frank also spoke very highly of his team’s resilience in coming back from a 2-0 first half deficit. A draw under those circumstances is a good result, but Spurs clearly wanted more on the day; Frank said his players were disappointed that they didn’t complete the comeback win.
“I’m very, very pleased with it. I think there was also a situation the first half, the way we sprinted back on our recovery runs. That’s goosebumps, that’s bread and butter. But you want to be a resilient team because we play against good teams and it will be difficult sometimes. But it’s a good group of players. They want to perform. They are disappointed after the game. Even when we come back, they wanted to win, of course.
“I also think the overall performance played in – I think maybe this was our most complete performance so far in the season. I know we made, you can say we conceded two goals, but I think actually there were so many positives overall in the game. Also the high pressure, the man-to-man, very aggressive. But as you say, that resilience in the group, that mentality, is good.”
Frank was asked to expound on why he thought this was the most complete performance by Spurs so far this season.
“We try to put a good structure in place. Offensively and defensively, clear principles. Keep reinforcing the right messages. For example, today we put so many crosses in. That’s a big part of what we want to do. There could be a little bit more quality, we could also have a little bit more runs. And then we’ll keep coaching them, running in the right gaps. I think if Richy had run in the right gaps, he’d have scored maybe two goals more today, for example. I believe any player can keep developing. That’s a big part of what I believe in, and my coaching staff believe in as well.
“I know we conceded two goals, and it’s never that black and white. So one where we will say I should take it. The second one is, OK, we conceded a goal, that can happen. It’s just Premier League, it’s good. But besides that, I thought we defended well.
“Overall, I think the high pressure was very aggressive, and we were winning the ball back more or less all the time, which we like to do. I think in phase one, we got out every time, more or less. We controlled it up there. We created so many good opportunities, and had to counter-press and rest defending crosses. So there was a lot of the bits we like to do, because of that. And then on top of that, the mentality to come back from 2-0 down is so important.”
Tottenham’s next match is this Wednesday, September 24 in the League Cup; Spurs host Doncaster with kickoff at 2:45 p.m. ET / 7:45 p.m. BST.
