Brighton star defends Roberto De Zerbi tactic despite Arsenal and Crystal Palace errors

Goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen was put under pressure in his box by Crystal Palace’s Chris Richards, his chipped pass was then cut out by Michael Olise, and a few seconds later they took the lead through Jordan Ayew – before coming back to draw 1-1 through Danny Welbeck’s late header.

Away to Arsenal last weekend, Verbruggen had a pass intercepted by the home side’s high press and from the resulting corner, Gabriel Jesus bagged the opener in the 2-0 win.

Conversely, this style of play under head coach Roberto De Zerbi has brought the club unprecedented success, which is something defender Van Hecke thinks is important to remember.

When asked if he still had faith in the approach of building attacks from deep, the Dutchman replied: "Yeah, I think so. We have also had a lot of good things from us, like when we are able to play out of the press a lot of times and attack.

"That is our style, these things can happen, of course it [the goal against Crystal Palace is bad timing. How we played in the first half and how we conceded was not good enough but that is football. And then we turned it around in the second half but it wasn't enough. We need to start playing better earlier and then we would win this game for sure but we didn't."

Following Brighton’s loss to the Gunners, Newcastle United legend Alan Shearer said he “doesn’t see any harm” in Albion going long every once and a while when under pressure in defence.