‘I am the coach’ – De Zerbi pins Brighton blame on himself after ‘very bad game’ against Aston Villa
Brighton head coach Roberto De Zerbi says he is responsible for his side’s 6-1 Premier League defeat at Aston Villa.
The Seagulls were dismantled at Villa Park as Ollie Watkins scored a hat-trick and in front of England manager Gareth Southgate.
It was a horrible day in the office for De Zerbi, who has assumed all of the responsibility for the woeful result.
He told TNT Sports: “We played a very bad game, without energy, [without] mental energy. The biggest responsibility is mine because I am coach.
“We have to adapt this season. It is totally different to last season. It is very tough, we’re playing every three days.
“We want to compete in every competition and we have to show if we are ready or not. When you play like today, the responsibility is with the coach.
“I have great guys, great people inside the dressing room. We reached this level [by] pushing [and] pushing, but we are not there yet. We are reaching the right level to compete this season because we want to give satisfaction to our fans.”
Watkins had not scored in the Premier League until his winner at Chelsea last week but now has four in seven games, which all of a sudden looks like a very good return for the campaign.
Speaking after the win, Aston Villa captain John McGinn said he was “delighted” for Watkins.
“[The win] is right up there against a superb team,” McGinn said. “It’s not clicked for us this season quite yet, but it all fell into place today. It’s a great result.
“Everything seemed to go right. We worked a lot on their shape – you have to, they’re a top side. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing at the moment.
I think we got quite lucky against Chelsea so we need to improve our away form.”
On Watkins, the Scottish midfielder added: “I’m delighted for him. The England manager was there, so that will cheer him up. He works really hard for the team which sometimes goes unnoticed. Today was the complete performance.”
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