Brighton & Hove Albion have been treading water for quite some time after a strong start to the season. After drawing 2-2 at Aston Villa, coach Fabian Hürzeler addressed the rule enforcers.
Since Monday evening, Brighton & Hove Albion have finally arrived in their new “role”: draw kings of the league. No team in the Premier League can top the Seagulls’ nine draws.
At Aston Villa, Brighton gave away an early lead only to secure at least a point in the final quarter of an hour. The team of head coach Fabian Hürzeler is now waiting for a win in seven competitive games in a row (five draws, two defeats).
“You only have to look at the table, we’ve had too many draws,” said the 31-year-old ruefully. ”And in every draw, we should come away with a win. It’s a learning process we have to go through.”
If you take just the eight lost points in the draws in December, Brighton would still be in the thick of the Champions League race. But at the turn of the year, they are only tenth.
“You can’t not give the foul on Bart”
The 2-2 draw in Birmingham left Hürzeler feeling annoyed for another reason. The equalizer was a penalty that referee Craig Pawson had only awarded after consulting the VAR. Joao Pedro is said to have stopped Morgan Rogers illegally.
“You can give a penalty,” said Hürzeler afterwards, ‘but you can’t not give the foul on Bart Verbruggen. I think if this continues, every weekend, the blocking of goalkeepers, if the Premier League doesn’t come up with a clear rule for it, then it will end up in a different kind of sport.’
Hürzeler expressed his incomprehension that during the game “there is always a foul when a player is blocked without the ball near him. So I don’t understand why it’s not a foul when there is a cross. They have to find an answer to that.” Hürzelers’ protests were acknowledged by Referee Pawson with a yellow card – already the fourth for the former coach of FC St. Pauli.
Hürzeler is now hoping for a sporting breakthrough against Arsenal on Saturday, during which he will not have to deal with any side issues.
