Brighton manager Fabian Hurzeler has shed light on his decision to substitute Carlos Baleba at half-time during the Seagulls’ dramatic 2-2 draw against Leicester City at the King Power Stadium.
Albion appeared to be cruising after stunning goals from Tariq Lamptey and Yankuba Minteh gave them a 2-0 lead.
However, their recurring inability to see out games cost them dearly. Veteran forward Jamie Vardy turned the game on its head, scoring in the 87th minute before delivering a sublime assist for substitute Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s injury-time equaliser.
Speaking after the match, Hurzeler expressed his frustration at another late collapse.
“I think when you’re 2-0 up, you control the whole game, you don’t give away too many shots for the opponent and things happen in ten minutes, I think you should be disappointed,” Hurzeler told reporters.
“In the end, we got punished for two easy mistakes. I think it happens now several times in the season.
“I think the word learning from it is difficult to use. We need to find the right game management in this period of time to take away the three points.
“Then after the first goal, Leicester came stronger, they go for the second goal. In the end, I think it’s our fault, it’s our responsibility. We need to be much more mature.
“We need to be much more clear how we solve the things in the last five or six minutes and then these things won’t happen.”
Hurzeler explained that Brighton had been in control before conceding the first goal, which he described as a turning point.
“The first goal from them, it happened out of nowhere. We defended the first shot and then it went to Jamie Vardy,” he said.
The Brighton boss also justified his tactical shift to a back five, saying: “They put a lot of players in our box, so you need to add another player.”
