James Maddison makes admission over Tottenham mentality after dramatic collapse in defeat to Brighton

James Maddison admitted Tottenham mentally collapsed in the second half to lose 3-2 at Brighton.

Spurs built a two-goal lead in the first half at the Amex after goals from Brennan Johnson and James Maddison. However, a second-half collapse saw Brighton score three goals to take all three points on Sunday.

A visibly delated Maddison fronted up in a post-match interview after the game, conceding that Spurs fell apart too easily.

“Yeah it could have been definitely,” he told Sky Sports when asked if his team had struggled mentally and got carried away after their first-half performance.

“Brighton are a good side and have good players. But in adversity in the Premier League you’ve got to stay strong, you’ve got to weather the storm a little bit.

“The best teams stay strong in that moment and weather the storm - we definitely didn’t do that.”

On why Spurs could not respond to conceding that first goal, and went instead conceded three in the space of 18 minutes, Maddison added: “We couldn't deal with the momentum shift. We lost control of the game when the first goal went in.

“We dealt with momentum poorly and couldn't get any control of the game - when they were coming at us it felt like attack after attack. We couldn’t deal with it and they managed to score three goals.

“We have been on a good run, but it feels like a couple of steps back today. We were saying all the right things to not get complacent, but words mean nothing if you don't go out and show it."