ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS - SEPTEMBER 19: Yankuba Minteh of Feyenoord Rotterdam looks on during the UEFA Champions League match between Feyenoord and Celtic FC at Feyenoord Stadium on September 19, 2023 in Rotterdam, Netherlands. (Photo by NESimages/Herman Dingler/DeFodi Images via Getty Images)
Fabian Hurzeler fumes at Brighton ‘behaviour’ after Mohammed Kudus levels for West Ham.
Defensive issues irritate Fabian Hurzeler at West Ham
Fabian Hurzeler explained why he was so animated on the touchline after Brighton dropped points against West Ham at the London Stadium.
The Seagulls took the lead on 51 minutes as Mats Wieffer side-footed home from Lewis Dunk’s knockdown for his first goal for Brighton since joining from Feyenoord for £25m last summer.
But once again Brighton dropped points from winning positions as West Ham’s Mohammed Kudus headed home just six minutes later to level the scores after Bart Verbruggen parried Jarrod Bowen low effort.
“Our behaviour, how we defended it, “ complained Hurzeler when asked what had irritated him so much. “Too easy. I think when you look at the goal, it’s a high pressure scene from us so it’s a long ball by them, where we had a gap between our centre defender and our six and we shouldn’t move forward there at this moment.
“I think then we controlled the ball, we won the ball for JP [Jan Paul van Hecke], we lost it again and then we weren’t able to block the shot and there were several individual mistakes.
“So that’s the thing where we have to be more clinical, we have to bring back the defensibility and the clean sheet because then I’m sure we’ll be able to win games.”
The Seagulls came closest to grabbing a winner but were unable to prevent their run without a victory stretching to five matches. They remain ninth in the table but could drop to 12th if Manchester United, Tottenham and Fulham win tomorrow. However, they did maintain their record of not losing at the London Stadium in all eight of their Premier League visits.
