On January 5, Beijing time, the 20th round of the English Premier League was in full swing, Brighton started a 1-1 tug-of-war with Arsenal at home. After the match, Brighton coach Hülzeler faced the media and gave a detailed explanation of the whole match.
In response to the question, Hülzeler said: "We believe that we should have gotten more out of the game. Looking back at the game, we capitalized on a lot of good chances, but unfortunately we couldn't increase the score. Nevertheless, we still saw the indomitable spirit and strength of the team."
Speaking about the much-anticipated penalty, Hülzeler was adamant that it was an undisputed penalty: "It was a head-on contact, and if it wasn't for the head, any contact would have been a penalty. It was clear from the slow-motion replay that when João Pedro put his head on the ball, Saliba was too slow to react and was unable to recover in time, so the referee's decision was not inappropriate. We are pleased with the referee's fair decision."
Regarding the performance of João Pedro, the core of the team, Hülzeler expressed his understanding and encouragement: "João Pedro is the backbone of the team and the leader of our team. Today, he even assumed the role of captain. Every player goes through ups and downs in his career, it's normal. We will fully support him and give him the necessary help and advice. I am confident that he will quickly adjust his form and return to the field with a stronger look."
In addition, Hülzeler commented on his team's excellent play after the break: "It's a difficult task for us to keep playing with such intensity. At the moment, we can only do this in individual periods of the game. In order to do well in the coming matches, we have to improve our fitness and mental strength to ensure that we maintain a high level of intensity throughout the entire 90 minutes of the match. If we fail to achieve this, winning will become extremely difficult."
