Brighton & Hove Albion boss Fabian Hürzeler appeared to take a swipe at Liverpool’s approach in their 2-0 win over his side at Anfield, claiming there was “one team” who tried to create.
An own goal from Pascal Gross and a neat finish from Alexander Isak were enough to seal the victory for Andoni Iraola’s side.
However, Brighton ended the afternoon having enjoyed more possession and generated a higher expected goals (xG) tally than their opponents — something Hürzeler was quick to point out in his postmatch news conference.
“I think everyone in the stadium saw that there was one team who really tried to create and try to win this game and therefore I have to praise my players,” the Brighton boss said.
“I think everyone in the stadium, and you as well, felt there was a missed opportunity for us, because it’s not only after the goal or the goals they scored.
“Also, before they scored, we had one, two big chances and today I think it was just the difference that they scored, we didn’t score. They kept a clean sheet because they defended well with their centre-backs, with full-back [Ronald] Araujo and with [Milos] Kerkez.
“I think they blocked a lot of shots. They really defended the box well. We didn’t have that efficiency. We couldn’t keep the clean sheet because we made easy mistakes, we lost some important personal duels.
“But overall I saw a team with a lot of good things to take away. I saw a team that really had the belief in our approach, that stuck to the match plan, that always kept going, and that is very frustrating because we all have the feeling that there is a missed opportunity here today.”
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Meanwhile, Liverpool enjoyed their fourth victory in a row in all competitions under Iraola, with the Reds moving up to fourth in the Premier League table.
“I’m very happy,” Iraola said.
“I’m happy with this fourth win [in a row].
“I think today we had a very good opposition in front of us, similar to Villarreal the other day — teams that are technically really good. I think today the key was how we started. We needed a strong start, to be aggressive, recover balls, win our duels and be dangerous in transitions. I think we did that and it’s been a different game to those where we conceded first.”
