Jurić: Brighton superior throughout
Ivan Jurić admitted Southampton were well below the level of their opponents as Brighton ran out 4-0 winners at St Mary’s.
Saints’ cause was not helped by an early injury to captain Jan Bednarek, who was forced off in the 12th minute, before João Pedro’s opener gave the Seagulls a 1-0 half-time lead.
Saints thought they had levelled the scores through Cameron Archer, only for the striker to be flagged offside, before Brighton added three second-half goals to take the points.
“It was a very bad performance from the beginning until the end, a huge difference between the two teams,” Jurić said.
“We didn’t play very well in the first half. Not low intensity, but they have much more intensity than us, they are faster, technically better.
“Second half we started well, we had the opportunity with Archer that was offside by half a metre, but they are just better than us.
“I’ve had a good feeling through all of this period because the players are training hard and there have been good moments – even against Bournemouth there were good moments.
“I said ‘we can play like this for more time in the game’ but after this game it’s really tough. It will be a tough night, but tomorrow we will start to prepare the next game.”
