Although Brighton’s 2-2 draw with Nottingham Forest left them unhappy, assistant head coach Andrew Crofts insisted there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the start of the new season under Fabian Hürzeler.
After the match, the Brighton assistant spoke in lieu of Hürzeler, who was dismissed for intruding onto the field.
In less than a minute, Nuno Espírito Santo and Morgan Gibbs-White were also sent out, and the head coach of Albion was shown one of three red cards.
Crofts told the club media after the game about the disappointing outcome. “We haven’t lost yet. There are still a lot of things to be happy about after seven games—five in the league and two in the cup—and we’re still undefeated, according to Crofts.
A contest Brighton ought to have won.
Given how much of the game they controlled, Brighton will feel like they lost by two points.
The squad ultimately lost the game by two crucial errors in focus, and according to Crofts, these are the lessons the team will need to take away from the experience.
“We’re disappointed, but at the same time you’ve got to turn that disappointment into learning, to moving forward, and hopefully we can learn a lot from the last two home games,” Crofts stated.
In a match that at times seemed to be favoring Forest more than the Albion, the first half saw both sides trade punches.
Gibbs-White’s carelessness allowed him to get past Brighton’s defense and throw a pass into the penalty box, which resulted in a penalty kick and a callum Hudson-Odoi foul by Carlos Baleba, giving Forest the lead.
The goal was inspired by the exact kind of scenario that teams aim to avoid while facing a fast-break-dominant opponent. Over the past two seasons, the Reds have had the third-most fast break shots in the league, and they demonstrated why Thursday afternoon.
But Brighton bounced back from the setback, scoring twice in as many minutes with goals from Danny Welbeck and Jack Hinshelwood to lead 2-1 at the interval.
Crofts believed that from this position, the team should have won the game, and their regret at the final whistle was due to the fact that they did more than enough to win all three points.
“We’re annoyed. We believed we had done enough to prevail in the match. We’re not talking about three points and a respectable effort, “Crofts stated.
“We will undoubtedly learn from the last two games. There is a tonne of material to examine, analyze, and learn from.
Welbeck’s goal surprised everyone as he skillfully curled the ball past Matz Sels in the Forest goal, the former Manchester United striker.
Crofts praised the 33-year-old’s skills in dead ball scenarios, indicating that the choice to place him on the free kick was well-considered.
The Welshman remarked, “I remember a free kick against Manchester City a couple of seasons ago that hit the bar, and he’s always shown that he can be dangerous from free kicks in those areas.”
Quick break déjà vu.
Another fast break scenario resulted in Forest’s second goal, as the Garibaldi used the up-back-through technique to split the Albion defense.
In order to help the assault, Chris Wood dropped deep. He then played a great ball to Gibbs-White, who then spotted Jota Silva and the recently signed Ramón Sosa running. The two of them combined skillfully to make the score 2-2.
After Forest equalized, Crofts continued to believe that his side could score a third goal, but in the end, he said that his team’s inability to be clinical in the final third was what won the game.
“[In the second half] it felt like a third goal was going to come and even in the first half, we got into lots of areas where we could have been a little bit more clinical with the last action, the last bit of movement, and made sure we cover the right positions,” said the former Albion midfielder.
“If the third goal doesn’t come, you’ve got to go ‘okay, just make sure we win the game.’ That’s where we can learn as a team.”
