Saturday's away fixture on Matchday 5 of the Premier League was a forgettable one for Tottenham Hotspur, and while a road trip against Brighton could always be worse than 2-2 draw, it was the manner in which Spurs played that was so disconcerting.
Although Thomas Frank could have done a better job with his team selection, leaving Xavi Simons on the bench, he actually had his team set up pretty well tactically. It's just that the players were lost, lethargic, and sloppy, with only a precious few starters distinguishing themselves in a positive manner.
One of those starters was decidedly not Lucas Bergvall. After a sensational Man of the Match performance with a goal and an assist against rivals West Ham last weekend and another Man of the Match at mid-week in the Champions League vs. Villarreal, Bergvall was riding high as a now indispensible part of the Thomas Frank team.
Instead of building on that further in an open game against Brighton, Bergvall was shocking. He made ghastly touches and looked genuinely out of it off the ball, running away from the channels and generally taking himself out of the equation on most passes of play.
Still a work in progress for Tottenham
There will be much better days for the young Swedish midfielder, and he did actively make tackles and looked good transitioning on the ball with his athleticism.
However, off the ball, Bergvall reminded Tottenham supporters that he is still a young player and a work in progress. He is a great young player, no doubt, but he is far from the finished product. And it shows in some of the decisions he makes in terms of where he runs into the space or players he fails to pick up marking.
Bergvall cost Tottenham one goal and didn't help add to any. Spurs were surprisingly better without him on the pitch, and, from that standpoint, you really have to say that the breakout star let his team down in an important match against Brighton, who are a potential top five rival in the Premier League this season.
There's no need to make any shocking generalizations, though. Young players - and players in general, even great ones - will have games like this where they look miles off it, so the next thing for Bergvall to continue to work on this season is building the consistency that world-class midfielders need to be truly world-class midfield players.