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Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler said ‘everyone is responsible on the pitch’ after a fifth consecutive game without a win in the Premier League.
After a drab first-half, the game sparked to life after the break at the London Stadium this afternoon (Saturday, December 21).
Mats Wieffer – the best player on the pitch in first-half – grabbed his first goal with a poacher’s effort after Lewis Dunk went up for a floated cross into the box.
Brighton’s habit of letting leads slip reared its head again as, just seven minutes later, Mohammed Kudus put the hosts level.
Fabian Huerzeler, manager of Brighton & Hove Albion, shakes hands with Carlos Baleba, after a Premier League match at West Ham United. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)Fabian Huerzeler, manager of Brighton & Hove Albion, shakes hands with Carlos Baleba, after a Premier League match at West Ham United. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
Fabian Huerzeler, manager of Brighton & Hove Albion, shakes hands with Carlos Baleba, after a Premier League match at West Ham United. (Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images)
Hurzeler was unhappy with the manner in which this goal was conceded – saying it was ‘too easy’.
With five games without a win now, Hurzeler was asked if there a common trend through those games or if it is individual issues.
He replied: “On the one side, every game is different, on the other side at the moment it's a circle of bad experiences and disappointments.
"One thing is for sure that no one will help us to get out of this situation, it's our responsibility. Like I said it's also our thought to get back this winner mentality, to get back the defensibility that we have to work on and we have to invest more to get this game back.”
The Albion boss was also asked if the players have a mentality issue after taking the lead.
"I don't like the word mentality so big because there are so many different definitions about mentality and I think it's more like a thing to get back in our mind,” he responded.
"We are responsible, everyone is responsible on the pitch that we need to defend that goal and we need to defend our own goal and we need to manage the game better in these phases of the game because I think we controlled the game quite good in the second half.
"There were not many attacks from West Ham so I think it's more a learning process, it's more a journey where we have to go and to a journey belongs also bad experiences, to a journey belongs also a bad period of time and also things where you have to learn and that's a thing where
we have to learn as a team to be more mature when we take a lead, to be more clear what we want to do, to manage the game, to take this lead and to leave the pitch as a winner.”
Hurzeler said his team – ‘especially’ in the second half, ‘invested everything’ to win this game, so he was encouraged for the future.
He added: “Normally we should leave the pitch as a winner but what is normal in football and that's why what I said, no space for feeling sorry for ourselves, it's our responsibility.
"We have to work harder, we have to invest more, we have to try to be more precise in the details and then it's something what I always say, I will never judge the team by the results, I will always try to focus on the performances and I think of course it's looking a little bit bad when you see you have five games in a row where you don't take a win but if you see the performances I think we might have much more points but like I said that's the Premier League, unpredictable, always competitive and then we have to be ready to fight.”
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