The Brighton boss was not happy to have left Stamford Bridge was nothing to show for his troubles following Chelsea’s 3-2 win
Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi believes the Seagulls should have defeated Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
A ten-man Blues side dug deep to defeat the Seagulls and return to the top half of the Premier League. Conor Gallagher was dismissed for a second yellow card on the stroke of half-time, giving his teammates an uphill task.
In the second half, Brighton dominated possession and created the majority of the chances, but they were unable to break down Mauricio Pochettino’s men. Joao Pedro’s 92nd-minute strike to restore parity heightened tensions in West London, but Chelsea held firm to take all three points.
After the game, Seagulls manager De Zerbi insisted his team “deserved” to return to the south coast with a win. “I think we played better than Chelsea, better than in the Europa League, and better than the Nottingham [Forest] game,” he said. But we made three major errors and lost the game.
“In those situations, we need to defend better.” I’m sorry; we deserved to gain (earn) points. A single point, a draw, was not a good result for us – imagine a defeat.”
De Zerbi also remained tight-lipped about the two penalty decisions that went in Chelsea’s favor. Referee Craig Pawson also awarded a spot-kick for handball against Levi Colwill late in the game.
VAR intervened twice to overturn the decisions, but the Brighton manager refused to be drawn into the controversy. “Before the penalty, we played very well,” he added. With passion and ideas. I don’t want to talk about referees. The referees are good people who make mistakes. The referees’ boss will be aware of their plans. It’s none of my business.”
Leave a Reply