We examine why Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi was wrong after his side drew 0-0 with Wolves
Gary O’Neil’s side contested a goalless draw down south against the Seagulls on Monday.
While the game might have not been as thrilling as recent results in the Premier League, it was a good point on the road for Wolves.
The result extended the Molineux side’s unbeaten run to six games after also progressing into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
The point was also impressive due to the number of first-teamers that Wolves currently have missing due AFCON and the Asian Cup.
Despite this, O’Neil’s side were more than competitive in the fixture, up against a side that they have traditionally struggled against.
Yet, after the game, Brighton boss De Zerbi had a different view of the game overall.
Roberto De Zerbi believes Brighton ‘should have won’
The match certainly had limited opportunities for both sides in an interesting battle of tactics. However, both teams also had moments where they could have taken the lead.
Nonetheless, nobody managed to take their chances when they were presented as the points were shared.
Upon reflecting on the result after the game, De Zerbi believed that his side deserved to take more from the game.
“We have to understand the situation of injuries, we have to understand how much energy we spent in the Europa League, in FA Cup, we have to analyse if we will be lucky or unlucky,” he told the BBC.
“In the last two games in the Premier League we have been unlucky because two points after two games with good quality to win the game, we are losing too many points.
“We have been unlucky because five draws (at home), for example, Sheffield United, Burnley, Fulham and Wolverhampton, we deserved to win all of the games.
“We didn’t play the best game in my time (tonight) but we created a condition to win the game.
“Yes, we made some mistakes in the crucial part of the pitch and for it we didn’t win.”
Wolves had the better chances against Brighton
While Wolves didn’t control much of the ball, the visitors certainly had the better of the chances.
O’Neil deployed a counter-attacking strategy to try and take the game to the Seagulls and this worked reasonably well.
The visitors could have taken the lead multiple times. This was most evident towards the end of the game when Matheus Cunha should have scored after being played through. The striker was unable to replicate his recent form with the finish. Mario Lemina also had a golden chance while Pedro Neto was a persistent threat throughout the night.
The xG philosophy also backs this up with Wolves beating Brighton with a 1.51 xG compared to their 1.48.
While Wolves arguably shouldn’t have come away the winners, they certainly didn’t deserve to lose the tie.
O’Neil’s side will be hopeful that they can get their goalscoring touch back for Sunday as they take on West Brom in the FA Cup fourth round.