Brentford head coach Thomas Frank rued a “10-minute blackout” at the beginning of the second half that saw Tottenham Hotspur turn the game in their favour.
The Bees led at the interval thanks to Neal Maupay’s scrambled finish, but Spurs’ Destiny Udogie, Brennan Johnson and Richarlison all struck in a frantic period after the restart.
Ivan Toney pulled one back following Udogie’s misjudged backpass, but the visitors couldn’t find an equaliser during the closing stages.
“Apart from a 10-minute blackout at the start of the second half, we performed very well against a good Tottenham side,” Frank began.
“The first half was in many ways very good: we were dangerous going forward on counter attacks, aggressive in the high pressure and defended well in a low block.
“We ticked all the boxes I wanted on that, but probably could have played one of the two transition chances bigger to produce another goal.”
The Bees boss continued: “Second half, we had a 10-minute blackout. We can’t win a game when we concede three goals in the way we did.
“Of course, two of the goals are a bit unlucky in terms of ricochets – the first and the third.
“But the second one can’t happen; you can’t concede at the kick-off again.
“But after that we grew into the game again, scored a 2-3 goal and had chances and opportunities.
“Tottenham changed to a back five, which was the right decision, but I haven’t seen them to that this season. That’s the respect they showed us, which is fine, but it didn’t give us any points.”