Graham Potter quips he needs Brighton ‘history lesson’ after fans boo Leeds draw

Posted Sunday, November 28, 2021 by PA

Brighton boss Graham Potter was less than impressed with the fans who booed his team at the final whistle in their goalless draw with Leeds.

Neal Maupay blazed over an open goal from just six yards out as the hosts missed a succession of chances to see their winless streak stretch to eight Premier League games.

The wasteful Seagulls, inspired by the creative efforts of energetic star man Tariq Lamptey, dominated on a bitterly-cold evening at the Amex Stadium but failed to make their superiority count.

Lively Leandro Trossard and substitute Solly March each struck the woodwork, while misfiring Frenchman Maupay, recalled following three games as a substitute, and Jakub Moder wasted further excellent openings.

The final whistle was greeted by some boing from the home fans and, asked about the reaction, Potter told Sky Sports: “They’re entitled to their opinion. I disagree with them. Completely.

“You have to understand the game, you have to understand who we’re playing against, how we played, what we did. I think we’re sitting eighth in the Premier League, but maybe I need a bit of a history lesson at this football club.”

Potter backed Maupay to bounce back from his awful miss and felt there were “too many positives to mention”.

“He’s a human being and he will be disappointed because he will think that he can score those,” Potter said of Albion’s top-scorer in the post-match press conference.

“He’s not the only person to miss chances, he won’t be the last one. There will be better players than Neal that will miss, it’s just part of football, part of being a striker.

“He’s strong enough as a character to deal with that and he will bounce back. Sometimes in football you can have frustrating evenings and probably Neal had a frustrating evening.”

Speaking about the overall display, the head coach continued: “It was one of those nights – the ball didn’t go for us. We did everything but score.

“I think we played very well, showed great personality, great courage against a team that make it difficult for you in terms of how they defend.

“We created some really good chances. Tariq contributed to that in a fantastic way, so did Leo (Trossard) on the other side – too many positives to mention being honest with you. I’m really, really happy.”

The Sussex stalemate was a sixth draw during Albion’s lengthy run without victory but was sufficient to move them above Manchester United in the table.

Lacklustre Leeds, who stay just a single place above the relegation zone, have never won at Brighton’s current home and rarely looked likely to end that run as their difficult season continued.

Yet they would have snatched it had Seagulls goalkeeper Robert Sanchez not been alert to deny substitute Tyler Roberts on three occasions.

Leeds defender Junior Firpo endured a torrid first half up against Lamptey and, along with Kalvin Phillips, was replaced for the second period.

United boss Marcelo Bielsa confirmed England international Phillips’ withdrawal was tactical rather than injury-enforced.

The Argentinian admitted his side made a sluggish start on the south coast but was encouraged by the second-half improvement.

“In the first half the differences were very big in their favour and in the second half we managed to play as equals,” said Bielsa.

“We defended better and we created chances – not too many – but in proportion to the opponent.

“In the first half we didn’t defend well and we conceded a lot of chances at our goal and we didn’t take advantage of the balls where we had the possibility to create danger.

“The second half we defended better and we created four or five chances at goal and that allowed us to play a more balanced, equal game.

“I don’t ignore the performance in the first half, but I hope the performance in the second half is the starting point to grow.”