'We can't' - Brighton boss makes Bart Verbruggen admission after Harry Wilson blow at Fulham
Reaction from Brighton’s 2-1 loss to Fulham at Craven Cottage
Head coach Fabian Hurzeler refused to blame his keeper Bart Verbruggen as Brighton suffered a late blow at Fulham.
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The Seagulls were leading and looking dominant at Craven Cottage after Yasin Ayari’s first half opener but Fulham hit back through Samuel Chukwueze and then a late freekick from Harry Wilson.
Brighton also had an effort ruled out when the scores were locked at 1-1 as Danny Welbeck’s second half effort was ruled out by VAR for the narrowest of offside calls.
It was the freekick however that proved decisive as substitute Charalampos Kostoulas committed a needless foul and Wilson arrowed a freekick into the top corner from 30-yards.
Verbruggen did get a hand to the effort and perhaps should have kept the ball out.
”I think we can't give the responsibility there for Bart,” said Hurzeler to Sussex World.
“He plays a great season and therefore sometimes these kind of things happen.
“Like I just mentioned, sometimes you can't control everything in football.
“Of course, we don't want to give the ball away there, it's an easy ball loss, but like I just mentioned, young players do mistakes.
“Therefore we have to give them the protection, we have to give them the self-confidence that they learn from it, and do it the next time better.”
Hurzeler: we have to accept VAR call
Hurzeler also felt the VAR decision to rule out Welbeck’s effort was harsh but subjective.
“If they do it just a little bit later, then it's not offside. If they do it later, it's offside.
“It depends on when they stop it, when they say, now it's the touch. So, for me, it's just subjective, and therefore you need to accept it.”
The Premier League Match Day Centre posted: “#FULBHA – 74’ VAR OVERTURN VAR checked the referee’s call of goal – and established that Welbeck was in an offside position and recommended that the goal was disallowed.”
The defeat drops Brighton to 12th in the Premier League table, while Fulham move up to seventh.
The German added: “We were a better team, but that's sometimes football, football is brutal, and therefore we need to accept it. But regarding the performance, we were pleased. Regarding the results, we were all very disappointed.”
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