Son Heung-min labels Tottenham ‘soft’ as Spurs make unwanted Premier League history

A 2-1 defeat to West Ham means Spurs have now dropped points from a winning position in five straight games

Tottenham captain Son Heung-min said Spurs were too “soft” after their 2-1 defeat to London rivals West Ham on Thursday, as they became the first team in Premier League history to drop points from a winning position in five straight games.

Spurs have not won in the Premier League since their victory at Crystal Palace in late October but have taken the lead in all five matches since, losing to Chelsea, Wolves, Aston Villa and West Ham as well as drawing against Manchester City.

They threw away another lead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Thursday night, after Jarrod Bowen and James Ward-Prowse struck second-half goals to stun injury-hit Spurs on the counter-attack following Cristian Romero’s early opener.

"We lost the game which is unacceptable," Son told Amazon Prime. "You get the lead five times in a row and losing the game I think is unacceptable and as players we should take responsibility.

"West Ham have always been tough to play against but look we were soft. Especially in the Premier League, even if you are winning 2-0, 3-0, you don’t know what will happen in the end."

When asked if the record run of results was psychological, Son said: "Not at all. But as I said before the players should take responsibility, and the fans don’t deserve this. When you go 1-0 up early you should bring even more energy. We didn’t and that’s why we lost."

Tottenham, who have now lost three three home games in a row for the first time since 2008, host Newcastle on Sunday looking to end their winless run, which is now the club’s longest in the Premier League in four years.

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Ange Postecoglou’s side went five points clear at the top of the table following victory at Crystal Palace and the Australian urged Spurs to bounce back against Eddie Howe’s side.

“There’s no point in feeling sorry for ourselves, looking for a cuddle anywhere,” Postecoglou insisted.

“There’s only one way to change our circumstances and that is to come here on Sunday and put in a performance. Not just play good football but go out there and show some conviction about ourselves as a team.

“Sometimes we can disguise how we’re going by playing some nice stuff but like I said from day one, that’s not what I’m about.

“I want to win and that’s why I came to this football club and that’s the message.

“We’ve still got a long way to go, I’ve said that from the start. We’re still right at the beginning of what we need to create and days like today just give me further evidence and fuel of how much we need to do.”

Spurs produced another impressive first-half display, which has become a trademark during the past month but they only had Romero’s goal to show for it after several openings were squandered, while Lo Celso’s late cross was deflected onto the woodwork by West Ham captain Kurt Zouma.

It was a different story in the second period after the Hammers levelled through Bowen, but Tottenham substitute Richarlison did send a free header wide from six yards in the 70th minute when the game was finely-poised at 1-1.

Postecoglou admitted: “I think it’s another game where we’ve dominated a game of football and haven’t turned our dominance into something more tangible and kept the opposition in the game.

“I thought we were really poor in both boxes tonight – both with our finishing and both goals were terrible to concede.

“Us being good means us being 3-0 up. This isn’t about us playing good football, it’s about us winning games of football. That’s what I’ve said from the start.

“1-0 at half-time was not a good performance. A good performance would have been 3-0 or 4-0 up, as was the case against Villa, and when you don’t, and give up goals you shouldn’t like today, then you get what you deserve.”

Includes reporting from PA