Berbatov says one Spurs defender made a ‘rookie mistake’ against Brighton

Hardly any of the Spurs players will come away from the defeat against Brighton with their heads held high, but one player in particular has been singled out for extensive criticism.

Second half horror show from Spurs

Tottenham controlled the first half entirely at the Amex Stadium on Sunday evening, with goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison setting them up for what should have been a comfortable win.

But, in the second half, the Lilywhites appeared to shut down and gave Brighton ample opportunity to seize the game and steal all three points.

It was a relatively rare meltdown from the Tottenham backline in particular, who looked unable to cope from the moment the whistle blew to get the second half underway.

After a number of errors and carelessness in possession, it seems Destiny Udogie is the main culprit to come away from the game with heavy criticism for his performance.

Udogie’s big mistake explained

It was Udogie’s poor attempt at a clearance that allowed Brighton to score their first goal and really turn the tide of the game, and both Dimitar Berbatov and Les Ferdinand were discussing his mistake on Sky Sports after the match.

Ferdinand was a little more forgiving, saying: “He’s coming at it that way and because he’s left-footed, if he swings a left foot at it he puts the ball in his own net. So he’s trying to clear it with his right. He should do better in terms of defending it though.”

Berbatov added: “I think it’s a rookie mistake. He has games under his belt, he should do better. From there, everything went wrong.

“You’re a defender first and foremost, you have to defend. In this day and age, full-backs do go and attack, and the first thought might be to attack, but it’s about reading the game. You need to anticipate… you need to be ready no matter what. When you make mistakes, someone will punish you.”

A lesson learned

I think Udogie has to take a lot of the blame for the loss there, and his overall performance was not acceptable. But, it is important to remember he is still very young, and we have to hope that he comes out of this learning from his mistakes and that he will do better next time.

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