Tottenham captain Son Heung-min labeled the team’s latest defeat “unacceptable” and said his teammates “need to take responsibility” after dropping points from a winning position for the fifth time in a row.

Ange Postecoglou’s men deservedly seized an early lead against West Ham at home on Thursday night, but were defeated 2-1 after a second-half comeback.

Tottenham have dropped the most points from winning situations in the Premier League this season, with 16.

Spurs’ five-match winless streak has dropped the Lilywhites from first place, with a five-point lead at the top of the league, to sixth.

“It makes no difference whether we deserved better or not – we lost the game.” “It’s not acceptable,” Son said to Amazon Prime.

“As players, we must accept responsibility.” Attacking players, in particular, should take responsibility because we had opportunities to end the game.”

Tottenham hit the post with a deflected cross from Giovani Lo Celso in the first half, and Richarlison had a great chance to restore the hosts’ lead in the second half but headed a close-range header wide.

Ultimately, West Ham were clinical, whereas Tottenham lacked ruthlessness despite having 23 shots.

“If you dominate a football game, you have to turn it into something meaningful, and we didn’t,” Postecoglou continued on BBC Match of the Day.

“We let ourselves down when we should have won the games [we have taken the lead in] comfortably.”

Tottenham started the Premier League season with a bang, winning eight of their first ten games.

They last won in October and have now lost three straight league home games for the first time since September 2008, when Juande Ramos was in charge.

Following defeats by Chelsea, Wolves, Aston Villa, and West Ham, all of which had claimed the lead, talk of a title challenge has given way to concerns of finishing outside the top four.

“The difficulties are there. “It’s no good feeling sorry for ourselves,” Postecoglou added. “As a team, we still have a long way to go, and today demonstrates that.”

“In a football game, if you don’t put those chances away, teams will always have the opportunity to punish you.” We were nothing near where we needed to be in either box.”

Tottenham’s next Premier League fixture is against Newcastle on Sunday.