Brighton’s Head Coach, Roberto De Zerbi is “very happy” with Brighton’s 5-0 Premier League victory at Sheffield United.
After Mason Holgate’s early red card for a reckless tackle on Kaoru Mitoma, Brighton took a quick-fire lead through first-half goals from Facundo Buonanotte and Danny Welbeck.
Jack Robinson’s own-goal and Simon Adingra’s brace completed the victory to lift De Zerbi’s Seagulls up to seventh in the table.
Speaking post-match, De Zerbi was pleased with how his players played across the match despite facing ten men for circa 80 minutes following Holgate’s 13th minute dismissal.
“We are very happy for the result. The red card obviously changed the game but I was very happy with our performance because it’s not always an advantage to play with one more.”
De Zerbi however is already focused on “a very tough” home game against the Blades’ fellow relegation strugglers, Everton on Saturday 24 February.
The Italian also spoke with pride of how much “freedom” his team displayed even when pushing at 2-0 up, with particular praise for Mitoma and Adingra, as he continued: ” Mitoma and Adingra are both very important, especially in this type of game when we need to have their skill in the winger positions to make a difference in the one-to-one situations.
“The game wasn’t closed at 2-0, we had to score more goals and keep playing seriously, and not to concede a stupid goal.”
De Zerbi though acknowledged that Chris Wilder’s Blades didn’t make life easy with their counter-attacking tactics, which didn’t make the game easy for his players.
“There is nothing easy in football. We had to be more focused to make sure we didn’t concede on a counter-attack. We played with our style, to try to dominate the game.
“Sheffield want to play without the ball and counter-attack and we have to be more focused on shorter passes with many players close to the ball.”
Although Brighton currently hold the likely final European qualification spot, De Zerbi iterated that momentum will be key, with Newcastle, West Ham, Chelsea and Wolves breathing down their necks as just three points separate the quintet.
“We need to have three or four wins in a row. I have seen the table. We are competing to find the same level as last season.”
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