‘That’s poor’…Pundit says 23-year-old Tottenham player let his teammates down against Brighton

Add as preferred source on Google

Andy Townsend suggested that Dejan Kulusevski let his teammates down by giving away a penalty during the first-half as Tottenham Hotspur struggled against Brighton on Thursday.

Ange Postecoglou’s men endured a miserable first-half on the south coast. Brighton took a 2-0 lead into the break. And had it not been for Guglielmo Vicario, the scoreline may have been a lot worse.

Certainly, Vicario could do nothing about the second Brighton goal, with Joao Pedro given the chance to double the lead from the penalty spot after Dejan Kulusevski had fouled Danny Welbeck.

Dejan Kulusevski let Tottenham teammates down in Brighton clash

VAR was required for the penalty to be given. But it did not need the longest check, with Kulusevski clearly grabbing the striker’s shirt to stop him getting on the ball.

It was a desperate move from the 23-year-old. And he surely cannot have expected to get away with the foul.

Speaking on Amazon Prime Sport, Townsend suggested that it was a huge error from the winger.

“Lovely penalty. Tiptoed up to it a little bit and just sweeps it beautifully into the bottom corner,” he said.

“That is an important goal in this game. It has been end-to-end but the home side have a healthy lead now.

“That’s poor from Kulusevski. That’s letting your teammates down.”

Winger making mistakes is a worry for Spurs

No-one will be angrier than Kulusevski himself. Obviously, it was an error to let Welbeck get into that position, seemingly poised to find the back of the net.

But in that split-second, many would have done the same as Kulusevski. And with the use of VAR proving to be so bizarre at times, he may have hoped that he would somehow get away with the foul.

Kulusevski has been excellent over the last few weeks, scoring and providing an assist against both Manchester City and Nottingham Forest.

But everything seemed to go wrong for Tottenham on Thursday. It certainly did not bode well for Spurs when even Kulusevski was making such glaring mistakes.