Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler was delighted with Malick Yalcouye's performance during the 4-3 loss at Chelsea.
Yalcouye, 20, impressed on his Premier League debut and the Ivory Coast under-23 international midfielder scored Albion's first goal in a seven-goal thriller at Stamford Bridge.
“I think he showed an impressive performance,” said the German head coach. “We know since pre-season what he was capable of doing.
“Of course, he's a very young player. He needs to prove his physicality, but he also, like I said, showed personality, stepping into a difficult place, stepping into a top environment.
“It's proof of what he can do. Of course, there would be more happiness sitting here with more points, because I think we definitely deserved it today, and that's why we're frustrated.
“But it's also important to reinforce this kind of performance.”
Brighton signed Yalcouye from IFK in 2024 for around £6m. He has had loans at Sturm Graz and Swansea and is contracted with the Seagulls until 2029.
Chelsea should have cruised
Chelsea should have had the game won inside half-an-hour, goals from Romeo Lavia, Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro putting the home side into a three-goal lead that was then almost dismantled by a brave Brighton fightback.
Yalcouye crashed in his first goal for the Seagulls, beating goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez on his debut, then Pedro’s own goal had Chelsea teetering on the edge of an embarrassing collapse on the hour.
Cole Palmer took matters into his own hands as he lashed in his team’s fourth before Brighton's Pascal Gross netted a late third for the visitors.
Hurzeler added: “There are three [goals] also for Chelsea, and afterwards they showed a big belief in their quality.
Hurzeler: We dominated
“Like I said, we showed personality. They made it 3-1, but we were there to control the game. We created plenty of chances, we dominated the game, we scored to make it 3-2.
“Then afterwards again, we had a lot of chances to make it 3-3. Who knows how the game goes afterwards?
“Overall, I think we weren't brilliant at the basics. We weren't clean enough in doing simple things right. In certain moments, we missed the balance between defensive stability and control of the game.
“There's definitely something we can improve, but coming here to this place and creating that many chances, having that much of the ball, causing that many problems for Chelsea, is something where we have to give my players a lot of credit.
“We can analyse the game, we will make a step in our process, we will make a step in our development and we'll keep trying to improve. Then let's see how it continues.”