Tottenham captain Son Heung-min apologised for Sunday’s shock 2-1 loss at home to Ipswich and called for his team-mates to be better disciplined to cut out their inconsistency.
Ange Postecoglou’s side slumped to a fifth Premier League defeat of the campaign after they conceded first-half goals to Sammie Szmodics and Liam Delap.
Both goals could have been avoided with better defending and while Rodrigo Bentancur pulled one back in the 69th minute, no comeback win occurred like in recent league victories at home to West Ham and Aston Villa.
🏆 Liverpool extend their lead at the top 📈 Ipswich out of the relegation zone😳 One point between third and ninth
Presenting your Premier League table ahead of the international break 🌎 pic.twitter.com/OlTWQZdjcm
— Premier League (@premierleague) November 10, 2024
A win would have meant Tottenham headed into the international break in third position, but they are instead 10th.
“It was a very disappointing afternoon and the result of course, but the performance we have to be better,” Son said.
“Before they score two goals or even first goal, we had a couple of chances where we can score the goal and go ahead. We didn’t and concede two very silly goals, which is also very painful because of how much we work and how important it is inside the box to defend the goal at home.
“We didn’t and look, we have to all take a big, big responsibility and I want to say sorry about the result.”
This loss continued a season of one step forward followed by a step back for Spurs, who managed to recently earn excellent wins over Manchester City and Villa but have now slipped to consecutive defeats to Galatasaray and Ipswich.
Spurs boss Postecoglou accepted it was his responsibility to “help the players” and fix the inconsistency they are experiencing in his second season.
Captain Son told SpursPlay: “You have to have belief even more. I think we could be a bright team, we could be a really strong team.
“Everyone saw it but those type of games (Man City and Aston Villa) you have to think about in a mentally very strong way. A team like Villa, yeah you have to go really strong but next game you play against Ipswich, they are same opponent, same competition.
“Everyone is expecting this game we win but football you never get a free win. You have to earn it, you have got to work hard and we have got to just believe more. And then we have to be more disciplined. That’s for sure.
“Everyone has to be more disciplined. The structure and the plans, you have got to just follow it. This is the main part of where we can be even stronger. I hope we can be stronger when we come back from the international break.”
It was a bad day for Tottenham, but an afternoon to savour for promoted Ipswich after they claimed a first Premier League win in 22 years.
Boss Kieran McKenna revealed they will spend some time off during the international break before they turn their attention to the visit of his old club Manchester United in a fortnight.
McKenna said: “Lots of the players go off on international (duty), but those that aren’t on international (duty), they’ll have a few days off.
“Then we’ll be back in by the back end of this week and get a nice long run in to another brilliant game after the break.
“And go try put on a big display at Portman Road against a great club.”
