Fabian Hurzeler claimed his Brighton & Hove Albion side were the only team trying to create chances and win as they fell to a 2-0 Premier League defeat at Anfield.
A Pascal Gross own goal and an Alexander Isak strike in quick succession in the first half gave Liverpool their first home victory in the Premier League so far this season. Despite Liverpool limiting Brighton to just one shot on target, Hurzeler insisted his side deserved more.
Hurzeler: 'Everyone in the stadium saw'
“I think everyone in the stadium felt there was a missed opportunity for us because it's not only after the goal or the goals they made (we created chances),” he said. “Before they scored, we had one or two big chances.
“And today, I think it was just the difference that they scored, we didn't score. They kept a clean sheet because they defended well, with their centre-backs, with full-back Araujo, also with Kerkez.
“I think they blocked a lot of shots. They really defended the box well. We didn't have that efficiency.
“I think there was much more in it and we definitely deserved more. When we only look at the performance today, everyone in the stadium saw that there was one team who really tried to create and tried to win this game and therefore I have to praise my players.”
Brighton's final third struggles
He continued: “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. 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.”
Defensive errors cost Brighton
Hurzeler also bemoaned how defensive errors cost his side and gifted Liverpool their goals.
“We didn't or we couldn't keep the clean sheet because we made easy mistakes,” he said. “I'm always a coach who focuses on performances because there's so many things you can't control.
“If you look at the first goal from Liverpool, it's out of nowhere. It's a personal duel they won. We could also win this personal duel. They scored, it was I think even deflected. So it was not even a big chance.
“The second was after our mistake. And mistakes, some things you can't control. What can you control is our performance, our approach afterwards, how we stick together, how we try to create chances, how we then try to manage the game.
“Therefore, I saw a team who, when we're taken these four or five minutes away, maybe two minutes afterwards, they had another chance after our mistakes. If you take these moments away, then I saw a team who's capable of doing a lot, who's capable of coming here and having the approach to be very self-confident, win this game. And that's the main focus from us.
“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 frustrated because we all have the feeling that it is a missed opportunity here today.”
