The anatomy of a stoppage-time equalizer.

Since the conclusion of the Brighton match, I've found myself incredibly annoyed by the discourse around Kevin Danso and his role in the equalizing goal. Yes, he made a critical error in the build up to the goal itself, but I went back and forced myself to rewatch the 4ish minutes of stoppage time leading up to the equalizer to highlight the laundry list of errors that happened in the four minutes before Danso became involved. And in many cases, any number of players could have had their mistake(s) lead to an equalizer.

This is not done to go in on any specific player, but to emphasize that there were failures by multiple players in multiple positions over the course those 4 minutes, which resulted in us conceding a devastating equalizer. And ultimately reflects in stark relief for me what people mean by "playing as individuals." So, I dusted off my rudimentary "tactico" hat and grabbed some screenshots to try to illuminate some things that drove me crazy for the last two days.

I will also concede that I can't even dream of doing the things these players can do on a football pitch and I sit at a desk for a living, BUT, some of the errors are rudimentary, reflect a lack of on-field accountability amongst the players, and showcase why even though we desperately need more technical quality in the squad, this group of players frequently forgets the basics.

• Key Mistake #1 – Bergvall does not sense danger / does not get instructed by a teammate of danger at the back post (this will literally happen two more times in the next three minutes)
• Key Mistake #2 – Kinsky plays a long ball forward and Solanke does well keep possession. After combining nicely with Tel, Tel wanders into an offside position and instead of keeping possession, Paulihna plays a through-ball to Tel and he is flagged for offside.
• Key Mistake #3 – After Kinsky comfortably claims a long diagonal into the penalty area, from the subsequent punt upfield, Tel simply refuses to challenge for an aerial ball in midfield right in front of RDZ, and the subsequent second ball is also unchallenged in midfield. (RDZ loses his shit with Tel).
• Key Mistake #4, #5, #6, & #7 – Tel/Porro fail to work together to create pressure on Minteh and "stop the cross" from the left. Palhinha runs himself out of play by covering the space (?) and not picking up a man, Spurs fail to win the header from the cross, Bergvall is ball-watching AGAIN and does not tuck in to cover the back post. Brighton fortunately volley the cross into the side netting – its a HUGE let off.
• Key Mistake #8 – Tel concedes possession after a fantastic first touch. He puts his head down and tries to take his man on 1 v. 1 to go to goal, instead of trying to head for safety of the corner flag. (I chalk this up to youth and inexperience, but at some point, you have to know the situation and know, "if the ball comes to me, I am going to the corner.")
• Key Mistakes #9, #10, #11, #12, and #13 – Palhinha wins a header under pressure, but is unable to direct his header to Xavi or Solanke in space. Porro absolutely switches off, claims the ball has gone out of play for a throw-in, then jogs back toward play as opposed to covering the space that Palhinha vacated to cover his teammate. As we all know Danso takes a poor first touch and is dispossessed by van Hecke. Van de Ven isn't expecting Danso to lose possession, but does not react and make a challenge on van Hecke, instead he stands still and puts his hands behind his back. Gray is sort of marking his man, and Bergvall is again asleep on the back post.
• Key Mistake #14 – Instead of reacting to mark Rutter after Danso concedes possession. Solanke throws his hands out to his side in frustration, momentarily delaying his ability to cover the wide-open Rutter at the top of the penalty area. He ultimately notices that Rutter is open, but its too late and he is unable to block the shot. After the ball goes into the net, he again throws his hands in frustration at Danso.

So, as I mentioned, this is not an attorney's defense of Kevin Danso. If anything it is another indictment on the team as a whole. Not a single player, aside from Kinsky can safely say they didn't play a role in conceding. This is a team sport, and until these players decide they need to play for each other, managerial changes will not keep us from conceding silly, late goals like this.

TL:DR — The equalizer we conceded to Brighton was the result of a cascade of individual and collective mistakes, not just Danso's heavy first touch and Brighton could have and maybe should have scored as a result of several other mistakes in the 3 minutes that proceeded it. I don't know if it is a manager that fixes this or the players themselves, but at some point someone needs to take accountability for it.