Roberto De Zerbi believes Brighton’s possession-based style was a key factor behind their 3-1 win over Manchester United on Saturday.
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Brighton delivered another brilliant performance as goals from Danny Welbeck, Pascal Gross and Joao Pedro sealed a deserved win at Old Trafford.
United started the game brightly and were denied an equaliser through Rasmus Hojlund shortly before half time as VAR stepped in to rule that Marcus Rashford dribbled the ball out of play in the build up.
But Brighton were on the front foot for the majority of the game and De Zerbi praised his players for sticking to their gameplan against United.
‘We played a great, great game. We deserved to win, we played well,’ De Zerbi said after the game.
‘In the first 15, 20 minutes we suffered a lot because United played in a different way than we prepared for but after that we played a great game.
‘I think the game was changed when we kept the ball. In that moment their pressure was strong and to keep the ball helped us to control the game and then we have four attackers who are very fast and very good.
‘We have to keep our style when we are losing, when we are wining.
‘We can’t forget our DNA because the game can change and it’s bad when the result can change our style.
‘We are working to not lose our characteristic, our quality and to score more goals. We scored three but had many chances to score again.’
Gross also admitted that Brighton needed to adjust after United adopted a new tactical approach for the start of the game.
‘I think we needed to organise ourselves a little bit at the start of the game because they played quite a different shape to what they’re used to playing,’ Gross said.
‘As we figured it out I think we were better defensively and on the ball we’ve been in control, we find good spaces, good gaps, we can be dangerous on the attack.’
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