The Seagulls face Southampton on Sunday as they chase the first of two wins which would take them into the Europa League. Head coach De Zerbi said his side got things wrong tactically in the first half at St James’s Park, where they went down 4-1.
Roberto De Zerbi said: “We have to be strong in a tough period. I don’t love to make an excuse but we have eight, nine, I don’t know how many injuries we have. We are playing four games in 12 days. We knew before the game the situation was difficult. I think we will be able to qualify anyway for Europe. We have to win two games. We play in our stadium with our fans. In our stadium we play with 12 players. It is a difficult period but to qualify for the Europa League we have to be stronger than everything. If we qualify in the Europa League we reach an historic target. We have the right motivation, we have the right energy to fight until the end.”
Newcastle’s pressing game stifled Albion in the first half.
Roberto De Zerbi said: “We didn’t understand well the man who could play and the man was Estupinan – and Caicedo, the full-backs. We didn’t understand the situation. We didn’t find the right player. We are not used to playing three games in a week and we suffer a lot. Moises Caicedo, Pervis, Mitoma – in the first half they don’t play well but I love them. They have to learn to play two games in four days. We are not used to it yet but next year we will be better, we will be ready to play every day.”
