Fabian Hurzeler says his Brighton stars were “quite lazy” in their 1-0 win over Getafe on Thursday night as one of his players put Declan Rice to shame.
Malick Yalcouye headed in the only goal of the game off the underside of the crossbar in the 64th minute from Costinha’s knock down.
Brighton had twice hit the woodwork when it was goalless as Jaouen Hadjam shot against the post in the first half and curled another effort that bounced off the top of the bar early in the second.
The result leaves Brighton fifth in the Conference League table after two wins and a draw; well set to qualify for the last 16.
After the game, Hurzeler claimed his “quite lazy” players failed to do the “simple things” well, but was pleased with another clean sheet.
“These games in the Conference League are different,” he said. “You have to beat a low block. You have to understand what the opponents are looking for in the game. Therefore, you have to always be patient in these games and I think we did it today.
“We didn’t play our best game, to be fair. We had a few moments where we were quite lazy with the easy things. We didn’t do the simple things on the highest level but in the end we kept a clean sheet, third clean sheet in a row in this tournament and we scored a goal and I think we deserved to win this game.”
Mikel Arteta hit back at suggestions he should be managing Declan Rice’s minutes more carefully as pundits and fans took note of how “exhausted” the England international looked in the second half of their win over Slavia Prague on Wednesday.
“He was as well rested against Fleetwood so he had a very good week to recover before Liverpool,” Arteta said.
“It’s his second game in a week and not the fifth one. We expect our players to be able to do that and I think he had some very good moments throughout the game.”
There has been no let-up for Brighton’s 35-year-old midfielder Pascal Gross, who has started every game in all competitions for the Seagulls this season.
Asked about his plan for the Germany international, Hurzeler admitted that at some point they will have to give a player who “just keeps running” a rest.
Hurzeler said: “At one point we need to manage him as well, but at the moment he just keeps running. He seems to be in a good shape. Today he didn’t play the full 90 minutes, also manage the energy from the players like this.”
On Brighton fans getting excited about winning the competition, Hurzeler added: “They should dream, that’s what I always say. We focus on work. We focus on the things we can control. They should dream and hopefully at one point we can fulfil their dream.”
