Jablonec 0 Brighton and Hove Albion 0
Head coach Fabian Hürzeler has demanded more up front from his Brighton and Hove Albion side after they fired blanks in Czechia this evening (Thursday 22 October).
Hürzeler admitted that the Seagulls were not at their best in their goalless draw against Jablonec in the Europa Conference League.
The Premier League’s top scorers, with 23 goals from their first seven matches, misfired badly in the foothills of the Jizera Mountains in northern Czechia.
Around 1,000 Seagulls fans made the trip from the Sussex coast to the homely Stadion Strelnice in the city of Jablonec nad Nisou.
And the Jablonec coach Lubos Kozel had said that his side would need a “miracle” to get anything from the match.
But they turned out to need only a below-par display from the favourites to lift the trophy to take a point – and in fact they could have had all three.
Hürzeler said: “We didn’t play at our highest level. I think Jablonec defended well but overall of course it’s not the result we wanted. But we have to keep going.
“If you play 0-0 then you didn’t create enough so that’s definitely something where we have to get better.
“We have to understand what it means to play in this cup. We have to understand that we have to be brilliant at the basics – and we weren’t good at the basics today.
“A little bit (of) precision in the last action was missing and that’s something we have to improve.”
Brighton struggled to make any clear-cut chances while Jablonec looked the likelier to score towards the end.
They pinned the hosts in their own half for the first 20 minutes but Jack Hinshelwood’s shot was saved by Jablonec keeper Jan Hanus while Pascal Gross and Ibrahim Osman were off target.
Jablonec eventually got far enough forward to win a corner, which Antonín Rusek headed narrowly wide.
Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen also had to be alert to smother a cute backheel from Rusek.
But they were rare moments of concern for the Seagulls, although they were frustrated in front of goal in the first half.
Georginio Rutter was cleverly put through by Gross but flashed his shot across the face of goal and wide, and Olivier Boscagli fired over from long range.
Early in the second half Rutter’s pass found Osman, but his effort flew wide before Malick Yalcouye tucked the ball into the net, only to be flagged offside.
Then Osman’s reverse pass got Matt O’Riley in behind, but his fizzing ball across the six-yard box could not find Rutter.
Hürzeler had seen enough after Osman blazed another chance high over the crossbar, making four changes with Chema Andres, Luka Vuskovic, Yasin Ayari and Promise David sent on.
But the changes had little effect and Jablonec were looking the likelier to score towards the end.
Rusek almost capitalised on a mistake by Joao Costinha before Verbruggen had to make a spectacular fingertip save to prevent Jiri Slama’s drive from hitting the top corner.
Rutter, who scored twice in Brighton’s opening 4-0 victory over Kauno Zalgiris, had a chance to win it in stoppage time but his snapshot was beaten away by Jan Hanus.
Hurzeler, in his 100th match in charge, made eight changes from the memorable 5-0 win over arch-rivals Crystal Palace. Only Verbruggen, Boscagli and the omnipresent Gross kept their places.
The head coach said: “Of course, the longer the game went the more space they had for making transitions. We were trying to push hard for scoring the goal.
“Then of course they also had the spaces where they can make counter-movements and they were also quite effective and in certain moments we were lucky.”
Next up, the Seagulls face a huge domestic match against Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday (25 October).
Hürzeler added: “Of course, we always learn. And I think it’s important to take things away from this game and try to improve it in the next game.”
