Ange Postecoglou was left to rue a “painful” collapse as Tottenham squandered a two-goal lead to lose 4-3 to Chelsea on Sunday.
Dominic Solanke and Dejan Kulusevski both took advantage of Marc Cucurella's missteps to give the home side a 2-0 lead after eleven minutes at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
However, Jadon Sancho pulled one back with a delightful drive in the 17th minute before Tottenham succumbed to the pressure in the second half.
A pair of Cole Palmer penalties, scored either side of Enzo Fernandez's thrashing finish to put Chelsea 3-2 ahead, spelled doom for Postecoglou's side.
Spurs, who finished third late on through Son Heung-min, suffered a second defeat in the space of three days following a midweek defeat to Bournemouth, although Postecoglou believes the performance was in contrast.
“It's definitely painful, it's painful,” the Tottenham boss told Sky Sports. “We started the match very well, but then we lost Cristian Romero and had to reshuffle.
“We still had some big moments to get a third place and finish it off. The second half was a ding-dong for a long time and then they scored. The two penalties weren't great, we need a bit of discipline in the sixteen.
“It's an important point when you lose an important player in the first 20 minutes. He can't continue, so that's not ideal.
“We didn't play well in midweek, but here we did. They are a top team, you have to give them credit. We were distracted at important moments.
“We have to realize that we are difficult to stop when we play our football. The two penalties were bad. When you play against these top teams the momentum changes quickly.”
Yves Bissouma fouled Moises Caicedo for the first penalty, with Pape Sarr at fault for a challenge on Palmer for the second penalty.
Tottenham felt aggrieved that Caicedo was still on the pitch as the Chelsea man survived a VAR review for a first-half strike on Sarr that could have been worthy of a straight red card.
“I haven't seen the replays. I thought some of the decisions were bad,” Postecoglou said of the Caicedo decision. “We have to accept it and move on.”
Micky van de Ven and Romero returned for Sunday's match, although the latter had to leave after just 15 minutes before his centre-back left the field in the closing stages.
“It felt a bit tight,” Postecoglou said of Van de Ven. “He was only supposed to play 60 to 70 minutes. Hopefully it won't be too bad because you could see the difference.
“I hope Romero is not too bad. We are thin in terms of numbers and if we are thin in January we want to expand the squad because they need some help.”
Tottenham 3-4 Chelsea
Chelsea have now won six of their eight matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in all competitions (D1 L1) after this comeback victory, the most wins by an away side there.
We look back on the game: pic.twitter.com/LxeRf7mEny
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) December 8, 2024
Sunday marked the 11th time Tottenham have lost a Premier League match after being two or more goals ahead – at least four more such defeats than any other side in the competition's history.
It was also the first time they had done so at home in the league since September 2001 against Manchester United in a 5–3 defeat.
Son shared a similar frustration with Postecoglou, but wanted to take the blame for his missed chance to draw 2-2 in one-on-one against Robert Sanchez.
“It's very disappointing. I don't know what to say at the moment,” Son told Sky Sports. “We cannot allow these kinds of goals. We cannot dive into this situation.
“I can sit here all day talking about the mistakes, but I'd rather blame myself for the opportunity and I'd rather take the blame.
“We have to stick together in such difficult moments, that is very important and that is why we need great support. The players are very young and need more support than before and more than we had.”
“The fans have always supported us fantastically, but I think it's time for the players to step up too. We need great support and a lot of encouragement.”
In Postecoglou's 53 Premier League games in charge, Tottenham scored both goals and conceded in 36 of them (68%).
Of all managers who oversaw more than 50 matches in the competition's history, only Ossie Ardiles' matches had a higher ratio of both sides scoring (69% – 37/54).
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