Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler was left unimpressed by Liverpool as his side was on the wrong end of a 2-0 scoreline in the Premier League that halted its recent progress
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler.
Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler.(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler appeared to aim a dig at Liverpool's approach during its 2-0 win over the Seagulls in the Premier League, claiming that only one team tried to attack during the game.
First-half goals from Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz put the Reds in the ascendancy and from there, Andoni Iraola's men closed things out. Having established a lead in the clash, they kept a clean sheet.
But Hurzeler was unimpressed by the pragmatism that saw his side struggle to break down a deep-lying defense that was looking to spring counter-attacks when it could, albeit not that successfully after the interval.
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"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," Hurzeler said in his post-match press conference.
"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 or two big chances, and today, I think it was just the difference that they scored and we didn't score.
"They kept a clean sheet because they defended well with their center-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.
Alexander Isak celebrates with Bradley Barcola after scoring for Liverpool against Brighton.
Alexander Isak celebrates with Bradley Barcola after scoring for Liverpool against Brighton.(Image: Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images)
"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."
Brighton had around two-thirds of the possession across the course of the game, but the south coast outfit only generated one shot on target.
Hurzeler added: "If you don't score, you can't say that you did enough. But let's go from the beginning of the game when we created the first chance, how is the question then you will ask?
"So therefore, the players want to score goals. I think we did enough, we had enough chances in Anfield Road to create and score plenty of goals. We missed it today.
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"We maybe also weren't clean enough, definitely not clean enough in the final third. I think if we stay cleaner in these actions, then I think we could even create more. Until the final third, it was overall a good performance.
"In the final third, we definitely could do more. The second part is also that we didn't work enough to keep the clean sheet. We were not clean enough in the clearances and that's also part of the truth that if you want to win here, you have to be good in both phases good and there we weren't good enough today.
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"But I also mentioned again that we saw a lot of positives from our team, from my team and we will also take positives away from this game."
Liverpool.com says: While Brighton was on top in the second half, the Reds had earned the lead. It never really felt like they were under that much threat of an unlikely comeback being pulled off.