Brighton defender discusses response from 7-0 Nottingham Forest loss and European prospects
Joel Veltman: “We need to fight the top six, we have the potential. There is that feeling that we can do much better than we’re showing now”; Brighton face top-six rivals Bournemouth on Tuesday – watch highlights first on the Sky Sports app
How do you bounce back from a 7-0 defeat?
Well, back-to-back victories against Chelsea and a resounding 4-0 win over Southampton is a good way to begin numbing the sores of conceding seven at Nottingham Forest.
Brighton’s thrashing at the City Ground handed the Seagulls their biggest defeat for nearly 70 years and a club-record loss in the top flight. But it also proved to be the end of a dismal 11-game run where the Seagulls recorded just two wins over the festive period.
“Sometimes you just need to forget it and throw that game away,” Joel Veltman, who started the game at Forest but missed Saturday’s win over Saints with a foot injury, told Sky Sports.
“Fabian Hurzeler’s message to us was to just forget it in the past. Obviously, you learn from it and take that losing feeling with you to prepare for the next game. That’s why our motivation was sky-high to beat Chelsea twice.”
The messaging from the head coach has paid off with Brighton, all of a sudden, looking primed to mount a challenge on the teams above them.
At the end of November, Hurzeler had his side sitting fourth in the Premier League, but a difficult two-month spell saw them plummet into mid-table.
