David blames 'easy mistakes' for defeat
- David Wagner reviews Brighton defeat
- Head Coach points to basic defensive errors
- Wagner comments on Karim Matmour's debut
Huddersfield Town Head Coach David Wagner says his side needs to learn from today’s 2-1 Sky Bet Championship defeat at Brighton in order to be better prepared for its next test against a top team.
“It was a defeat where we are able to learn very much,” David told htafc.com after the final whistle.
“Firstly, we can see from this game that we going the right way. For a big part of the game, I thought we did well against one of the best teams in the league. There were no goal chances for Brighton in the second half until the one they scored.
“What we also have to learn is that to beat one of the best teams in the league, we are not allowed to make such easy mistakes like we did today. We did one mistake too many today. We didn’t use our chances in offence and the way we gave away the goals – especially the second one – was too easy.”
Wagner felt his side made basic errors for both Brighton goals, as well as in the attacking penalty area:
“When we get the offensive chances, we have to concentrate to score. We had one in the first half – a strike from Nahki and he shot over the goal. In the second half a great opportunity for Nahki as well. From these situations, we have to create more.
“In defence, we conceded one goal from our own corner. In this situation we were not clear enough on the counter; whether to make a foul in the right area or whether we are quick enough to get back.
“For their second goal, we had to clear the ball better than we did. In this situation, the ball cannot stay in the game; it must go out to the stands so we can get organised again.
“These are small, easy moments with very, very big results. This is what we have to make better.
“We are able to learn and we like to learn; I know my squad is very open minded. We will get opportunities to beat the best teams in the league in the future and we will learn to get the right result because of this game.”
One positive was a Huddersfield Town debut for Karim Matmour, who replaced Emyr Huws at half time.
“He did OK. Today he played longer than I expected before the game, so the next two weeks are very important for him and Dean Whitehead. It’s perfect that we don’t have midweek games now, as we are able to work hard with them.
“It wasn’t the easiest game to come into. After their second goal, we weren’t able to create any real chances on the pitch, which wasn’t the best one. We were also a little bit tired, so we tried to use our reactive pressure to get the second ball. We had some moments, but in the end we didn’t create any good chances.”
Unfortunately, both Mark Hudson (a two game suspension after a 10th yellow card today) and Tommy Smith, who was sent off for two bookings late on, will miss next weekend’s game at home to Cardiff City.
On Smith’s dismissal, David explained: “It was too late in the game to influence the final moments, as we already tried to use the long ball. It was a foul that you can give a yellow card for.
“We had a lot of yellow cards today. We have to accept this and find solutions for next weekend, as ‘Huddy’ (Mark Hudson) and Tommy Smith now cannot play. We are able to do this with this squad, of course.
“We will find good solutions over the week to bring a starting XI and bench into the Cardiff game so we can beat them.
“This finished our series of results today and now it is up to us to start a new one. Of course everybody is disappointed today, but this is OK; hopefully they will keep this feeling with them until Saturday, when we play against Cardiff. We need to show a reaction.”
