Graham Potter proud of Brighton & Hove Albion's 'real courage' in loss to second-placed Leicester City

Head coach Graham Potter hailed the 'real courage' exhibited by Brighton & Hove Albion in their 2-0 home defeat against in-form Leicester City in the Premier League this (Saturday) afternoon.
Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Graham Potter. Picture by PW Sporting PhotographyBrighton & Hove Albion head coach Graham Potter. Picture by PW Sporting Photography
Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Graham Potter. Picture by PW Sporting Photography

After a goalless 45 minutes, the Foxes took the lead on 64 minutes through Ayoze Perez.

Jamie Vardy's late spot kick, after lengthy VAR controversy, sealed Leicester's fifth league win in a row.

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Potter said: "I'm disappointed to lose but over the course of the game I thought it was a fair result.

"Having said that, I thought Leicester were the better team in the first half.

"They started better than us (but) we grew into the game and stuck in there.

"In the second half I thought we were the better team actually. From the start of the second half until their goal ironically.

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"I thought we showed real courage, intensity without the ball and tried to play.

"We tried to create one or two opportunities, but maybe not as many as we'd like, but we're playing against a good team.

"It (the defeat) is not the end of the world for us. We did a lot of stuff quite well and we clearly need to improve if we want to be in the top bracket."

VAR drama reigned supreme for Leicester's second goal. The visitors were awarded a penalty, after a long VAR check.

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Vardy's spot kick was saved by Maty Ryan but James Maddison nodded home the rebound.

Maddison's celebrations were cut short after VAR showed the midfielder had encroached into the area when Vardy struck the penalty.

The penalty was retaken and this time Vardy made no mistake.

On the incident, Brighton's head coach added: "It looked a soft one to be honest. Then if there's encroachment in the box then of course we have to retake it."

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Although the Seagulls went in level at half-time, Leicester had well and truly bossed the first 45 minutes.

The first-half statistics showing that the Foxes had enjoyed 57 per cent possession and had ten shots to Albion's one.

Potter admitted Albion were 'confused in the first half' but was delighted with his side's response at the beginning of the second period.

He added: "I think we were a little bit confused in the first half, a little bit too passive.

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"We couldn't really put any pressure on them and we couldn't get Solly (March) and Martin (Montoya) as high up as we would've liked.

"I was happy with how we responded. At half-time we had to adjust a couple of things and I was happy with how we were doing.

"Aaron (Mooy) played a little bit more centrally and Leo (Trossard) went a bit higher.

"Our quality was high throughout the game but we have to dust ourselves down and prepare for another hard game."

A 'hard game' may be an understatement. Next Saturday sees Brighton travel to the Premier League's unbeaten leaders Liverpool.