Spurs boss Mason laments second half performance: We lacked intensity

Paul Lagan at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Spurs interim boss Rayan Mason was naturally disappointed to see his side lose a lead and crash 1-3 at home to Brentford this afternoon - citing a lack of intensity as a major contribution to the defeat.

He said: “Maybe it was a combination of different things.

“I say we'd probably were asking them to do something they haven't done for a while in terms of having a higher line and being a little bit more front foot.

“And I think to do that for 90 minutes, you probably need to train for a consistent amount of time, which we haven't had, but I thought there was lots of positives in the first half.

“I certainly took a lot of positives.

“They made some crucial blocks and their keeper in a second made a couple of good saves as well.

“This is the Premier League you have to get to be ready for the whole game. For the first half the played a very good match probably had a few opportunities to score a couple more couple of openings. But yeah, of course the second half the intensity dropped. And we've got punished.

"So very, very, very disappointed with the second half performance.”

Most of the crowd had left before the players re-emerged for the end-of-season lap of honour.

Skipper Harry Kane gave a wave to the few fans and Mason dismissed any notion it was a goodbye wave.

He said: “I remember sitting there two years ago, and you guys were convinced he was leaving, saying the same thing as soon as the last last home game of the season. So he wants to show his appreciation to the support received and we've all received the season.”

Asked what needs to happen in the coming year to rectify the problems, Mason said: “There's many different conversations that need to happen. But ultimately we need to commit to something and be consistent with it and then ensure other people, staff, players are committed to it too.”