'Hardly touched the ball': Les Ferdinand says Tottenham completely wasted one player in shocking Brighton loss

Today at 01:15 AM

Tottenham Hotspur's defeat and the manner of their collapse against Brighton & Hove Albion arguably couldn't have been timed much worse.

Tottenham were 2-0 up at half-time at the Amex Stadium and were 45 minutes away from a feel-good international break, one that would have arrived on the back of six straight wins in all competitions.

Instead, Ange Postecoglou is left reflecting on an 'unacceptable' collapse, one there didn't seem any danger of in the first half.

Spurs were controlling the game, Brennan Johnson, Timo Werner and Dominic Solanke were all looking dangerous up top, and yet Brighton flipped the game on its head in the second half. 

Les Ferdinand baffled by Tottenham’s use of Dominic Solanke in second half

That being said, Les Ferdinand was speaking about Spurs' collapse during Sky Sports' coverage after full-time.

And whilst there were tens of problems for Tottenham in the second half, Ferdinand focused on one issue he spotted with how Solanke was being utilised.

READ MORE: Jamie Carragher suggests he's been proven right after watching Tottenham lost 3-2 at Brighton

Solanke provided an excellent assist in the first half and then Ferdinand lamented that he barely touched the ball in the second, through little fault of his own.

Ferdinand explained: "What they had in the first half was, even though they tried to play out from the back, every time Brighton tried to close them down they had that out ball in Solanke – never used him once in the second half, never saw the ball.

"Come out from the back and go into Solanke and he'll hold it up and bring others in the game, hardly touched the ball in the second half."

"Hardly touched the ball in the second half, not through any fault of his own, I thought in the first half they used him well, they went over the press at times when Brighton were closing them down, straight into Solanke – the first goal came off him coming into spaces.

"Didn't use him at all in the second half."

Ange Postecoglou beyond frustrated as Spurs throw away another lead

Speaking to Sky Sports himself after the game Postecoglou was incredibly down beat as you'd expect, and was asked what message he gave to his players at full time.

Postecoglou responded: “There is no message. It is a terrible loss for us – as bad as it gets. Only one way to fix it and that’s my responsibility.

“We lost all our duels and if you’re not competitive it is not going to work – we were not competitive.

“They all go international duty the majority of them. They will process it individually and I will process it when everyone gets back.”

A sour note for Tottenham to end their run of wins on, and something they'll have to react to against West Ham United in N17 once club football returns.