But he said they lost balance in the 3-1 defeat. Albion had plenty of possession and territory but were hit a ruthless away side who also defended in depth.
Roberto De Zerbi said: “I’m disappointed with the result. It wasn’t the best game in my time but I think we didn’t play bad. We didn’t play a great, great game but we played a good game – enough to get a point. We conceded the first goal in a bad way, in a stupid way. I don’t understand yet what happened in the part of the pitch in that situation between Webster and Antonio and we concede a goal. And then West Ham defended in the last 20 minutes with very small spaces and it became very difficult to find the condition to score. Anyway, we shot 27 times, we created ten, 11 chances to score. And in the second half I am disappointed because we lost the balance. The games are 90 minutes plus extra time and we have not to lose the balance. But we are Brighton. We have to improve the team, improve the players, improve the understanding of the game.”
West Ham keeper Alphonse Areola made stunning saves from Joel Veltman and Evan Ferguson to cut short hopes of a comeback after Pascal Gross made it 3-1.
Roberto De Zerbi said: “Areola was, I think, the best player on the pitch but West Ham are still a very good team. In the last transfer market you can understand how many very good players they brought.”
