Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler has urged his players not to ‘feel sorry for themselves’ following their FA Cup exit.
The Seagulls’ poor run of form continued with a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Liverpool on Saturday night, with Curtis Jones, Dominik Szoboszlai and Mohamed Salah all on the score sheet at Anfield.
The loss leaves Brighton out of both cup competitions and now on the cusp of a relegation battle in the Premier League, having won just one of their last 13 league matches.
But Hurzeler feels that there were plenty of positives for his team to take away from Merseyside, telling BBC Sport: “We started the game well, controlled the ball, and the game changed a little bit when they scored. The goal came out of nowhere. We had two big chances in the first half, and we didn’t use them. Liverpool were more effective.
“Second half, it was the same picture. We had a big chance with Lewis (Dunk), and then two or three minutes after, they scored.
“That was the difference, they used their moments, and we didn’t in the way they did. In the end, it is a disappointing result because our fans were great today, they supported us for 90 minutes, and they deserved more.”
The former St. Pauli boss has come under fire following Brighton’s poor form in recent weeks, leading to speculation that he could depart at the end of the season.
Hurzeler went on to accept responsibility for the loss, but wants his team to take the result in their stride as they prepare for a tough trip to the Gtech Community Stadium to face Brentford next week.
He concluded: “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves, we can’t complain about these moments. It is about us and me taking responsibility and working for it. You have to do the small step right, and then we can take a big step.”