Antonio Conte says the mental instability within his Tottenham squad was to blame for their 3-2 defeat to Southampton.
The Saints scored twice in two minutes late on to turn a 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 victory as Mohamed Elyounoussi and Che Adams headed home James Ward-Prowse crosses.
A Jan Bednarek own goal and a Son Heung-min effort either side of Armando Broja's strike had put Spurs in a winning position, but Saints deserved the three points.
They peppered Tottenham's goal with 23 shots, missing several clear chances, and deserved the luck of seeing Steven Bergwijn's stoppage-time leveller for Spurs ruled out by VAR.
Conte liked what he saw from his team in terms of attitude but criticised their quality when in possession of the ball.
The result damages Tottenham's top-four prospects. Even a draw would have been enough to take Conte's side above sixth-placed Arsenal but instead, they are left with ground to make up.
"For sure, we have to be disappointed," he said. "They were good but I think we made many, many mistakes, especially with the ball, and I think this type of situation creates a bit of mental instability in my team.
"In the second half, then, we started to play, we started to press in the right way and then we created chances to score.
"We also did that in the first half because every time we play the ball in the right way, we created a situation to go and score, but I repeat, we made many mistakes in the first half - important mistakes.
"In the second half, we did well, scored, but then we had to be better to defend.
"I have seen the two goals and we conceded two goals with the defensive line had to stay there. We need to be more accurate but I know very well that this season we are going to struggle to get
Read more on msn.com
msn.com
