The Guardian

A 49-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an alleged sexual assault on the Tottenham season ticket holder Eve De Haan.

Writing in the Guardian, De Haan described how a travelling Brentford fan had elbowed her in the face, sexually assaulted and verbally abused her on an overground train after Spurs’ 3-1 defeat of Brentford at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. De Haan wrote that she reported her claims to staff at Seven Sisters station.

A spokesperson for the British Transport Police said: “I can confirm a 49-year-old man from Staines-upon-Thames was arrested and has been released on bail.”

A spokesperson for Brentford said the club “understand that a suspect has been arrested in connection with this incident and is now under police investigation. The club will provide full support to the authorities throughout this process and will consider the findings before taking any action in line with our club sanctions policy”.

Tottenham said in a statement: “The club stands firmly against misogyny and all forms of violence towards women and girls. We became the first club to sign up to the Mayor of London’s women’s night safety charter and have spoken directly with Eve to offer our full support, as well as that of our dedicated supporters’ group for women and non-binary fans of the men’s team, Women of the Lane.

“The club also offers its full support to what remains a live police investigation and we shall be contacting transport providers to discuss more frequent trains on match days.”

North London was orange (and a bit blue) as the Chicago Bears rekindled their relationship with British fans and treated a partisan crowd to a blowout victory against a limp Jacksonville Jaguars side for good measure.

In the battle of two No 1 overall draft picks, the Bears’ rookie quarterback Caleb Williams had the edge over his opponent Trevor Lawrence, who the Jags selected first in 2021. Williams threw four touchdown passes and rushed for 58 yards, the decisive contribution in the game. But his performance passed the entertainment test too, the 23-year-old’s adaptability and the pinpoint power of his arm showing the 60,000 crowd why he has been marked out as a prospect of some talent.

For Lawrence there were two touchdown passes and 234 passing yards. But with many of his 23 completed passes unambitious, the Tennessee native with the shoulder length hair looked very much a franchise player, but of a franchise that is currently flailing and dipping dangerously low on confidence. Defeat takes the Jaguars to 1-5, and keeps them rock bottom of the AFC South.

The Jaguars remain committed to playing in London each year, though talk of a London franchise has died down. Meanwhile the Bears were playing their first fixture in the UK in five years. Yet the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium felt a bit like Soldier Field on the day, such was the preponderance of Bears support. With the programme running a lengthy feature on William ‘the Refrigerator’ Perry and his spell at the London Monarchs, perhaps some of the affiliation was sentimental. There was certainly a substantial travelling contingent too. But either way, the support was ubiquitous, gaudy and noisy. As for Jaguars fandom, there was little, if any. The quirks of international expansion.

The Jags had arrived late in London, their travel delayed by the destruction wreaked by Hurricane Milton. The Bears, meanwhile, have been holed up in Hertfordshire for a week. There is debate as to the best way for an NFL team to deal with the schlep to London, but Bears head coach Matt Eberflus said the week in the UK had allowed the team to effectively have a mid-season training camp. It showed on the field, with a number of complex plays coming off on the day as Williams continued to build relationships with his new teammates.

The key moments came before half time, after Williams blotted his copybook with a sloppy interception. It felt like a play that could send the game in a different direction and Williams admitted it had infuriated him. But the Bears defense proved its worth, as it so often does, immediately springing back to recover possession, and the ball was immediately driven back down the field where the game-breaking third touchdown was scored. It was Williams who clinched the play with a rocket of a 25 yard pass down the seam, into the arms of Keenan Allen, the man he calls his “older brother”. It was the wide receiver’s first touchdown for the Bears and he celebrated by holding a tea party with his teammates, pinky out as they supped.

“We feel we took a step in the right direction today,” said Eberflus of Williams’ performance and engagement with his teammates. “You want progress to be linear but it’s not always that way. But his ability to learn, to want to get better, is what sets him apart. He knows this year is a big year for him, to learn the game. He’s always been good enough in terms of talent but he’s learning our game and learning our skill sets. Our guys have wide skill sets, we have to utilise that and he’s doing a good job.”

Back in the rather colder confines of Leigh, we’re approaching kick-off time. What’s your prediction for this one? I’m going for a narrow United victory, 2-1 perhaps.

A win for the hosts would ensure they join Chelsea as the only WSL side with a perfect record this season so far. Can they go three from three?

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Tottenham’s head coach Robert Vilahamn is speaking to Sky Sports before the game.

He says his team must find the balance between scoring goals and keeping them out. “We need to make sure we don’t give away set-pieces to score from.”

He adds that Beth England “deserves to start” after the impact she’s made off the bench in the past few matches.

“These games are the ones we’ve got to compete [in] to see if we can break into the Champions League, to challenge Man United. We’re aiming for the Champions League in the long run.”

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Marc Skinner has been delighted with United’s fast start to the league season but says his team are still in transition, integrating new players after a busy summer.

We’re in a good space. We’re still learning. I can tell that there are parts of our game that are not smooth but I’ve been happy with our clean sheets. I think that’s huge for us. We’re embedding a new goalkeeper into a starting position. We’re embedding new defenders, new midfielders, new forwards.

We’re playing some really exciting stuff and, even in training, I’m starting to see little connections in players that haven’t played together before. I think that is really important for us. It’s still our style, but I just think you’ll see individuals do things differently.”

And what of the challenge posed by Spurs?

It’s going to be an intriguing game. I won’t take Tottenham ever lightly. I pay every team the respect they deserve and this is a team that can score goals, create chances, has great counter-attacking ability. We’ve just got to try to control it as much as possible. It’ll be a good game. It will be tight.

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Updated at 13.07 CEST

A reminder that Melvine Malard is injured for United and it looks like she’s been joined on the sidelines by Brazilian forward Geyse. The hosts still look pretty strong through, with Leah Galton continuing in her left back role and Celin Bizet coming into the forward line.

For Spurs, it will be all about that link-up between Martha Thomas, Beth England and Jessica Naz up top. We’re about 45 minutes from kick-off at Leigh.

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Preamble

Hello and welcome to today’s live Women’s Super League offering. And it comes from Leigh Sports Village, where unbeaten Manchester United host Tottenham. OK, United have only played twice in the league so far this season, but with two wins from two confidence is high. Spurs have been a mixed bag with a win, a draw and a defeat from their three encounters so far.

Grace Clinton is most certainly the player to watch today. The 21-year-old England prodigy is aiming become the first ever United player to score in each of their first three WSL appearances for the club. She showed huge promise on loan at Tottenham last season – so there’s narrative for you. United boss Marc Skinner boasts a super record against Spurs, too, going seven games against them unbeaten.

The game kicks off at 12.30pm (BST) and we’ll bring you team news in the next post, so let’s get stuck into this, shall we? Yes, let’s.

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Last month I took the overground to sit in my season ticket seat at the best football club in the country, in my home of north London. I sat with the middle-aged men I’ve learnt to love over the past three seasons, watching a team I’ve loved since I was a child and celebrated a buoyant 3-1 win over Brentford under the sunshine.

So how come 30 minutes after the final whistle, I was surrounded by police officers, sobbing my eyes out in a Transport for London (TfL) office at Seven Sisters?

I’d say there’s always a sense of nervousness getting on the packed overground after a game, no matter if we win or lose. The trains come only every 15 minutes, the crowd gets frequently kettled into the small station, and being only five foot three and packed into a crowd of men who have spent the last 90 minutes submitting to their territorial football mentality, I often have to meditatively breathe myself into being OK. But until now, I had been OK. Despite appearances, most fans in these situations still seem to have a generally altruistic and empathetic attitude to those less able, less comfortable, or just generally … small.

When an away fan elbowed me in the face getting on the carriage that weekend I put it down to the intense crush as everyone pushed each other to get on in time. It’s never nice, it’s never comfortable, but it happens. It was just as the train was setting off that I realised I was actually being assaulted. The same fan was pushing into me, not in a packed-like-sardines way, but in a I’m-pushing-my-pelvis-directly-into-your-ass-on-purpose kind of way. Meanwhile, the man in front of me was grinning and licking his lips as my front was pushed into him from behind. Like being a slice of cheese in a horrendous assault sandwich.

To exacerbate things, the away fan had two teenage sons with him who started laughing about their dad being able to “penetrate” a girl on a train and when I told him to stop, all hell broke loose. I won’t go into everything they said, but it was cruel and misogynistic. They then started filming me as I was still being assaulted, while someone in the carriage yelled at me to “enjoy it”.

After I pointed out the assaulter to a young member of the TfL staff at Seven Sisters, he shrugged, obviously unaware of procedure. Shaken up while the fans were still shouting abuse at me, I waited for the entire crowd to leave before then seeing five police officers further down the station. After I explained what had happened between frenzied sobs, they ran down the escalator and held the Victoria Line train to try to find him. Too late – he and his sons had managed to get an earlier tube.

After my statement had been taken, football shirt sodden with sweat, and comforted by very kind and empathetic officers, my boyfriend picked me up and I made my final trip home. It was only over the rest of the weekend my rage against this man amplified into the familiar anger at the systemic inequality I have to endure every week I go to the football. Why, despite being a lifelong fan just like these men, do I have to grit my teeth every time I attend a game?

My mind flitted from “why were away fans allowed on the platform”, to “why did the male TfL attendant just shrug”, as if this is just part and parcel of going to football matches. Why does it have to be? By protecting the traditional, and at times brilliant, football culture in this country, why does that mean maintaining and even applauding views and behaviour towards women that are not just out-dated but openly predatory?

Furthermore, whose responsibility does it fall on to tackle these issues? I would imagine Tottenham have nothing to do with fans the second they leave the stadium. Is it clubs that should be working harder to tackle misogynistic behaviour? Is it the responsibility of the away team that sells their allocation to aggressive fans? Is it Transport for London, who could be working harder to ensure women are safer on their carriages after football games by putting on more trains to ease crowding, or explore policies such as women-only carriages as seen in Japan and Brazil? Or is it the British Transport Police who should be investing further into campaigns against sexual violence and post-match disorder?

In 2019, only 14% of men thought sexism was a prevalent issue at football games, yet just last month, a study from Kick It Out has shown that 52% of female fans have experienced sexist behaviour on matchday. Compounding that with a 36% growth in matchday disorder since the pandemic, it feels like harassment and assault is a bomb about to explode in a room of silent witnesses. A long as we view women as secondary in the space of men’s football, this issue will never be addressed. And with a disparate collective of clubs, transport companies and the police unable to form a coalition at dealing with misogyny and disorder together, it feels like everyone is putting their hands up and deciding it’s someone else’s problem to deal with.

When contacted by the Guardian, TfL said it was shocked to hear about my experience. “We are very sorry that the woman concerned did not receive the help that she needed. We are supporting the police with their investigation and are also looking into how this was handled by staff.” BTP, meanwhile, said there has been a rise in reports of sexual harassment and that “our officers are on patrol 24/7 and can meet trains at the next station. If it happens on the tube and you don’t have signal, you can speak to staff or text us at the next station.”

While their intentions are genuine, I am sure, I’m still fatigued and resent the need of entering protection mode every time I want to go see the club I love, support, and pay to watch. My whole body fills with dread when I now think of the journey there and back for the next match.

This is a public call for clubs, BTP and TfL to please do better. At the very least, invest in campaigns that address this behaviour. Explore policies that make these spaces safe for women. Take us seriously and stop viewing us as secondary in the male space. The fact that two teenage boys were encouraging what was happening shows how vital it is to shift these behaviours before they’re picked up by the next generation.

And if any women coming to Spurs v West Ham on the 19 October want to buddy up and travel together, hit me up. We shouldn’t have to, but here we are.

Eve De Haan is a Spurs season ticket holder

The Tottenham first-team coach Ryan Mason is in talks with Anderlecht to take his first managerial role.

Mason has held a variety of positions at Spurs, including two spells as interim manager, since he returned to the club in 2018. The once-capped England midfielder was forced to retire from playing at the age of 26 following a fracture to his skull in a game for Hull at Chelsea in 2017.

He started his coaching career at his boyhood club, Tottenham, months after his retirement before he was asked to take charge of the first team in 2021 after the departure of José Mourinho. Mason subsequently led Spurs in their 1-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley.

Antonio Conte promoted Mason to his coaching staff upon his appointment and the 33-year-old had another interim spell in charge towards the end of the 2022-23 campaign.

Having worked under the current Tottenham manager, Ange Postecoglou, for the past 16 months, Mason has held talks with Anderlecht over the Belgian club’s vacant head coach position and could now be set for his first permanent managerial role.

If only there were a word for that sort of performance from Tottenham. At half-time, they were 2-0 up and seemed utterly in control, Dejan Kulusevski and Brennan Johnson ripping Brighton apart down the right.

They were so dominant that the instinct was to start recalling great Spurs collapses of the past – 3-0 up against Manchester United in 2001, 3-0 up against 10-man Manchester City in 2004, the leads lost in the two 5-2 defeats by Arsenal in 2012, 2-0 up against Chelsea in the Battle of the Bridge in 2016, 3-0 up after 82 minutes against West Ham in 2020 – if only because it seemed so unlikely something similar could happen again. But the Spursiness of Spurs is never to be underestimated.

This was the 10th time Spurs have lost a Premier League game having been two goals up. No other side have done it on more than seven occasions. As Giorgio Chiellini observed after Juventus had scored twice in three second-half minutes to transform a Champions League tie Spurs had seemed to be dominating in 2018, “this is the history of the Tottenham”.

Perhaps in retrospect, there were just a couple of warning signs in the first half, the sense that Brighton had the capacity to slice Spurs open. But the story at the break seemed to be of Brighton’s fragility, the remarkable vulnerability of their high line. There was the unusual sensation of watching a dogmatic approach being undone in a Spurs game and Ange Postecoglou being on the right side of it.

The tone was set within 16 seconds as Dominic Solanke released Timo Werner behind Joël Veltman; again and again the away side hit the space Chelsea had exploited last week. Fabian Hürzeler has insisted the issue is not the height of the line but a lack of pressure on the ball, but playing a line that high with players as slow on the turn as Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster means there is no failsafe such as, for instance, Spurs enjoy with the pace of Micky van de Ven. The loss of Webster to what appeared a hamstring injury after nine minutes only complicated matters further. Igor Julio came on, but Jan Paul van Hecke is badly missed.

Even allowing for the fact that Werner is not, it’s fair to say, as lethal as Cole Palmer, the surprise was that it took 23 minutes for Spurs to take the lead. The method, though, was entirely predictable, as Georginio Rutter was dispossessed and Solanke fed Johnson to score his sixth in six games. The second, similarly, resulted from a simple transition, Solanke holding off Igor to play in Werner, who teed up James Maddison.

Spurs could have got more before the break. As Postecoglou said, Spurs should have “put the game to bed”. He seemed almost shell-shocked afterwards, standing on the pitch for a lengthy period and then acknowledging that his side hadn’t done the basics, that they hadn’t competed after half-time. It wasn’t just that they were open in the second half, it was that the life went out of them. Had more than three of this side played away to Ferencvaros on Thursday, it might have been tempting to blame fatigue, but there were no obvious explanations and, from Postecoglou’s point of view, no excuses.

After a promising start to the season, Brighton had run into a slightly sticky spell, failing to win any of their previous four league games. There have now been 20 goals in their past four games in all competitions; that might not be sustainable, but it is fun. Pervis Estupiñán’s arrival for Ferdi Kalioglu at left-back helped shore up that side and, with a more solid platform, Kauro Mitoma suddenly was able to impose himself.

Still, though, for all that Brighton improved, for all that they became more compact, for all the determined running of Rutter and the aerial threat of Danny Welbeck, it was hard to avoid the feeling that Tottenham gave this up. The first Brighton goal came after an air shot by Van de Van and a miskick by Destiny Udogie. The second came after Mitoma was allowed a run and Udogie’s shove almost seemed to give Rutter the momentum to get past Van de Ven. And the third resulted from Rutter beating Udogie far too easily and Rodrigo Bentancur then being indecisive, allowing Rutter to cross.

Ange Postecoglou tore into his Tottenham players after seeing them throw away a 2-0 half-time lead to lose 3-2 at Brighton, branding the performance “unacceptable” and accusing them of a lack of fight. The head coach has not been this angry after a defeat during his season-and-a-bit at the club, his outspoken criticism feeling like his Antonio Conte moment.

Conte, the previous permanent Spurs head coach, went into meltdown after his team surrendered a two-goal lead to draw 3-3 at Southampton in March 2023, furiously questioning his players’ mentality. It should be said that Postecoglou’s delivery was rather more measured.

“We didn’t do what you need to do at this level – it’s kind of non-negotiable,” Postecoglou said. “We just weren’t competitive. We didn’t win our duels, we lacked intensity, we didn’t deliver the things you need to at this level – the basics of the game, and we paid the price for it.

“It’s unacceptable. You can kind of understand that you’re not going to win every game. But there’s the manner you lose games. And that’s the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve lost the game in that manner. Like I said, unacceptable. It’s probably the most disappointing loss I’ve had since I’ve been here, in terms of the way we went about it and it’s something I need to assess.

“It’s a real stark reminder of what elite sport is about. The core of it is competitive. If you’re not competitive, it doesn’t matter how good you are or how good you think you are … you’re going to trip up.”

Danny Welbeck put Brighton in front in the 66th minute and Postecoglou left it until the 79th minute to make his first substitutions. “Substitutions and all those kind of things … they are totally irrelevant to me,” he said. “If you’re not competitive, it doesn’t matter what you do, you’re not going to get rewards.

“We didn’t deserve, on our second-half performance, irrespective of subs or anything else, to get something out of the game. If you do get something out of the game, you’re falsely rewarded and I don’t want to get falsely rewarded.

“We should have put the game to bed in the first half. But if that just masks what I saw in the second half, then it doesn’t … I mean, certain things will always reveal themselves over the course of time. I’ve got to deal with what happened in the second half.”

Postecoglou was asked whether he had said all of this to the players in the dressing room. “Yeah, feedback is always what I believe [in],” he replied. “I don’t hide things. I’m sure the players are disappointed but I don’t really care about that. They should be disappointed. Our supporters are disappointed, I’m disappointed.

“I want them to understand football is not about losing a game of football, that happens. The disappointment comes from us not doing the very basics of what’s expected at the highest level from a competitive standpoint.”

Ange Postecoglou wore the thousand-yard stare. The game had felt over at half-time, his Tottenham team two goals to the good, their control almost total, en route surely to a sixth straight win in all competitions.

Now the head coach stood motionless on the touchline, hands buried deep into coat pockets, struggling to process what had happened. Which was an astonishing Brighton comeback, one that involved them bouncing up from the canvas and surging into the lead just after the hour. They would not relinquish it, the home support celebrating wildly at full-time.

There was an uncomfortable spotlight on the Spurs defending, with Destiny Udogie enduring a personal nightmare, culpable to varying degrees on all three goals. Yet he was not alone. Micky van de Ven, for example, will not enjoy the inquest into his role on the first two goals, which were scored by Yankuba Minteh and Georginio Rutter. Ditto Rodrigo Bentancur on what proved to be the winner, which was headed home by Danny Welbeck.

More broadly, as Postecoglou would make clear in searing style, this was an abdication of responsibility from his players; their failure to do the very basics – beginning with carrying some kind of fight – cutting him to the core. He has not been this frustrated after a game, this outspoken about the shortcomings of his team.

Credit to Fabian Hürzeler, the Brighton head coach, who made a key substitution at the interval, replacing Ferdi Kadioglu, who endured a torrid time at left-back, with Pervis Estupiñán. And to every player in the blue and white. They refused to believe that defeat was their destiny, even if they surely could not have envisaged the extent of the Spurs capitulation.

Brighton located the necessary levels of intensity, of ruthlessness, with Kaoru Mitoma the spark; a blur of quick feet and direct movement. He was virtually unplayable.

Earlier in the year, when Hürzeler was in charge at St Pauli, Postecoglou had invited him into Spurs to share some of his knowledge. “If someone knocks on your door and wants a cuppa, let them in your house,” Postecoglou said. “He’s not going to take your furniture or steal your cutlery.” Here, Hürzeler plundered extensively, Brighton jumping above Spurs and up into sixth place in the table. Their £150m summer squad rebuild has its latest dividend.

It was almost impossible to reconcile the first-half performance with what followed from a Spurs point of view. Their start had been blistering and the story looked set to be about a sixth goal in as many games for Brennan Johnson, about James Maddison making light of his continued omission from the England squad with another influential display. Dejan Kulusevski revelled in his inside forward role, surging up and down; more up than down.

Spurs pressed high and aggressively, forcing turnovers in dangerous areas. Timo Werner’s pace was too much for Joël Veltman, even if his end product was typically frustrating. Dominic Solanke impressed.

Maddison had a goal ruled out by the VAR, who spotted that Pedro Porro was offside before he crossed, and the breakthrough was all about Spurs’ hustle, Udogie and Maddison combining to rob Rutter. From there, it was Solanke to Johnson and Johnson with the low first-time finish. The biggest compliment to pay the in-form winger was that the outcome was never in doubt.

Spurs had created a clutch of decent openings in the first 10 minutes alone, Kulusevski and Maddison central to everything, and when the former sent Johnson through in the 43rd minute after a neat Solanke lay-off, a Brighton fan next to the press box summed things up. “It’s too easy,” he yelled. Johnson banged the shot over the crossbar.

Brighton, who lost Adam Webster to a muscle injury in the early running, barely contributed to the first half, save for a couple of Welbeck moments. He prodded wide from a Mitoma cross when he ought to have done better and flashed a header wide. The second-half turnaround was remarkable.

Hürzeler’s introduction of Estupiñán revived his team on the left, with Mitoma coming alive. By the 58th minute the winger had set up two goals and the game was level. Van de Ven and Udogie each miskicked before Minteh spun to score and the Spurs pair were brushed aside on the equaliser, with Rutter swerving away from them and picking out the bottom corner.

There was an element of inevitability about the Brighton goal for 3-2, Spurs all at sea, Udogie yet again at fault. Rutter got around him too easily but Bentancur had moved across to deal with the forward as the ball ran along the byline. Except he did not. Rutter slid for it, showing the desire, and his tackle became the perfect cross, Welbeck rising to nod past Guglielmo Vicario.

Spurs disappeared without trace. Their only real chance for the equaliser came when Udogie cut inside and unloaded a low shot. Verbruggen got down to his right to save.

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Here’s David Hytner’s report from the Amex.

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Fabian Hurzeler spoke to the BBC: “My team deserved to win, they worked hard and focused on the things they could control. I think Tottenham always have a great start. They play with intensity and we were not ready for that. We also created chances but defensively we have to improve.

“We focused on the positive things, the second important thing was to win the duels to build self-confidence. The players worked hard to gain flow and they used it.”

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More Ange via Sky: “Worst defeat since I’ve been here. Unacceptable second half. Nowhere near where we should be. We got carried away with how were were going.We kind of accepted our fate and it is hard to understand as we’ve not done that while I’ve been here. We paid the price.

“The problem is we are travelling along too smoothly, football and life will trip you up if you get too far ahead of yourself. 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.

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Updated at 19.57 CEST

Dom in Florence gets in touch: “Genuinely Spurs are the weakest mentally in the league. How often can they look world beaters, should be well out of sight, get casual, concede and then IMMEDIATELY just run round like Penelope Pitstop with her hair on fire shouting HEEEEEEEELP!?.

”As soon as Brighton scored my phone lit up like a Christmas tree with family & friends saying we were doomed. And so it proved. TBF it’s not just on Ange, but we need the flattest of tracks to get anything (eg United)

”And when things start to slip, then he just looks at wane after wave of attacks, and then goals, and just says “OK let’s just see where they are going with this….”

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Ange Postecolglou spoke to the BBC: “Fair to say that the second half was unacceptable and we paid a price for that. We probably should have put it to bed in the first half. What we did in that second half is unacceptable and we got what we deserved.

“Maybe we just thought we’d roll out there and play well again and that’s not how it works and we paid for it. We’ve conceded before but it is how you react and our reaction wasn’t what it should be. It’s a bad day for us and when it’s a bad day the responsibility falls at my feet.”

Fair to say he didn’t look up while saying that.

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Danny Welbeck speaks to Sky: “An amazing feeling. First half was embarrassing. The second half was about attiude. I was really peed off in the first half, there was an opportunity we had to do better with. “We have got to give credit to the senior boys who are not in the pitch the likes, of Steely [Jason Steele] and Milner [James Milner] - they told us the bare minimum is we’ve got to fight. Everyone is together in this.”

So does Georginio Rutter: “We stayed together, and we had to believe. It’s not about tactics, it’s about fighting.”

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Updated at 19.44 CEST

Nayson Ratcliffe gets in touch: “Did a fly on the wall hear Fabian Hürzeler at half time say: ’Jungs, es ist Tottenham’”

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Here’s the table after the weekend of Premier League action.

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Kári Tulinius gets in touch: “I really think that Postecoglou is a football visionary, and that if he had the right team, they’d sweep all before them. However, I’m starting to think that this Spurs squad might not be right for him. The question is whether such a squad exists in the real world, or only in Ange’s vision.”

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Full-time: Brighton 3-2 Tottenham

What a comeback from Brighton, what a shambles from Tottenham, who had been so in the first half. Danny Welbeck is as good as ever, and his goal wins a minor Premier League classic. Fabian Hurzeler has a big beaming smile. Ange Postecoglou has seen a ghost, by the looks of things. The ghost of Spurs past, present and future.

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Updated at 19.34 CEST

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Here’s where the recriminations begin, then. An uncomfortable fortnight awaits Ange if it stays this way.

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Updated at 19.19 CEST

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Updated at 19.10 CEST

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Goal! Brighton 3-2 Tottenham (Welbeck, 66)

Oh my, Rutter sets on a solo run, hits the byline and scoops the ball on to the head of Welbeck. Brighton lead, and Tottenham are in ruins.

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Updated at 19.03 CEST

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Goal! Brighton 2-2 Tottenham (Rutter, 58)

Lads, it’s Brighton. Mitoma zooms on, slips the ball inside. Rutter has work to do, but steps inside Van der Ven and scores. Ange Postecoglou fixes his eye-line ever lower than normal.

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Updated at 18.52 CEST

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He’s here, he’s there

We’re not allowed to swear

Barry Lloyd, Barry Lloyd

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Brighton 1-2 Tottenham (Minteh, 48)

Brighton back in it. Mitoma’s ball, Udogie and van der Ven fail to clear. Minteh forces it home game on.

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Updated at 18.43 CEST

The second half is underway

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Half-time: Brighton 0-2 Tottenham

Brighton have been bamboozled, and Tottenham excellent. Brennan Johnson’s finish was fine, James Maddison was a tad lucky. A couple of decent Brighton chances draw only a fig leaf over the gulf in class between these two.

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Goal! Brighton 0-2 Tottenham (Maddison, 37)

That Brighton pressure means more room for Tottenham. Solanke out to Werner, the ball slotted inside to Maddison, who strokes it goalwards, and Verbruggen makes a hash of it. The goalie holds his head in despair.

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Updated at 18.15 CEST

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Brennan Johnson scored for a fifth consecutive match to help a youthful Tottenham secure a hard-fought win at Ferencvaros in the Europa League.

Ange Postecoglou named four teenagers in his lineup in Budapest and it was an excellent run by 17-year-old Mikey Moore on his full debut which created Pape Matar Sarr’s 23rd-minute opener.

It was Sarr’s second goal in the competition and after Spurs withstood some late pressure from the Hungarian champions, Johnson wrapped up the points with a left-footed finish with four minutes left.

Barnabas Varga set up a tense finish when he volleyed home in the 90th minute, but Tottenham held on to make it five wins in a row.

Postecoglou made seven changes from the weekend win at Manchester United and handed full debuts to academy graduates Moore and Will Lankshear.

An intimidating atmosphere greeted Spurs’ youthful team onto the pitch with the Ferencvaros fans making plenty of noise, but the visitors settled after Varga sent an early effort over.

The influence of Moore, who become the youngest player to play for Tottenham in the Premier League in May, started to grow with a fine dribble followed by a lovely delivery across the face of goal.

Lankshear headed over a Timo Werner cross minutes later before Sarr’s low effort was saved by Denes Dibusz after an excellent pass from Yves Bissouma.

Ferencvaros had the ball in the net with 16 minutes played when Ben Davies was caught out of position and Adama Traoré headed in Eldar Civic’s cross, but it was ruled offside and eventually confirmed after a lengthy VAR check.

It lifted the home side and Postecoglou’s men had to weather a storm with Guglielmo Vicario forced into an outstanding save to deny Varga from close range, although the ball had initially gone out of play.

Moore continued to impress and after he got Civic booked, the highly-rated youngster helped create the opener for Spurs. An incisive dribble got him past Cristian Ramírez and his attempted ball into Lankshear rolled perfectly for Sarr to score from six yards.

The Tottenham players celebrated in front of the 1,200 travelling support before Sarr went close again with a right-footed effort following Lankshear’s smart lay-off.

It was almost 2-0 again when Pedro Porro cut inside Mohammad Abu Fani and curled a left-footed effort which hit the post and evaded Lankshear.

The second half was briefly delayed after 49 minutes due to smoke from flares let off by Ferencvaros supporters making visibility. Vicario had already denied Matheus Saldanha by this point, but the visitors regrouped and stand-in captain Cristian Romero had a header tipped over before Lankshear volleyed off target.

Chances continued to be created by Spurs and they should have scored twice in quick succession just beyond the hour mark. Firstly, Archie Gray drag flicked to Davies after being surrounded by Ferencvaros players and the ball was recycled to Bissouma, who played in Lankshear, but the young forward was tackled.

Two minutes later and another quick break resulted in Moore producing a delightful through ball for Werner, but he tried to round Dibusz and fired into the side-netting. Postecoglou turned to Dejan Kulusevski, James Maddison and Johnson with 65 minutes played.

Johnson almost wrapped up the points with 10 minutes left but fired against the crossbar after Gray played him in. Ferencvaros scented blood and after Cebrail Makreckis shot wide, Gray had to block Abu Fani’s shot before Johnson did clinch the victory.

After Dominic Solanke’s intended pass into Johnson had been cleared to Maddison, he played the ball back to the Wales international, who cut inside and curled into the bottom corner via a deflection.

Varga set up a nervy finale when he slid home a cross by Ramírez as the clock hit 90 minutes, but Postecoglou watched his team hold on to make it two wins from two in the league phase.