Brighton women’s manager Dario Vidosic said that “a lot of things were lacking” during his side’s 0-0 draw with Leicester in the League Cup.
The Seagulls failed to create many chances and were lucky not to have lost at home. Leicester also won the ensuing penalty shoot-out, meaning the Foxes walked away with two points.
Vidosic said: “I thought the performance just wasn’t there in really any aspect.
“We were just our own worst enemies… [in] small glimpses it was okay, but over the majority of the game, we weren’t there.”
Embed from Getty ImagesVidosic’s philosophy of football which focuses heavily on passing sequences in build-up has led Brighton to one of their strongest starts in a season. However, the Australian recognised that technically his side weren’t up to par this game.
“We made a lot of technical errors tonight, a lot… when we did get that control, we rushed it, we gave it away and then we couldn’t really pin them in and we couldn’t get our game going.
“I don’t even think we deserved to go to penalties… Leicester would have deserved to win that game because we just weren’t there, and when you’re not, you don’t deserve much from it.”
After the international break, Brighton face a tricky test at Chelsea. Vidosic said on the challenge: “We want to test ourselves against the best. At the moment, they’re by far the best, they’re undefeated… we’ll dust ourselves off, learn from this and see what we can do.”
Embed from Getty ImagesLeicester boss Amandine Miquel was happy with her side taking home two points in the group phase, even if it could easily have been three.
She said: “I think at this point any point is good, so we take the two points. It would have been normal if we would have scored one at least.”
Miquel also praised the hunger of her squad for revenge, after losing at the Broadfield Stadium 1-0 earlier this month: “We worked all week to be better than last time and suffer less because last time we barely had the ball. We worked to be a pressing slightly higher and we much more aggressive.
“It’s not only the game plan, it’s also the energy. That was different from the last time we came here.”
Leicester haven’t had the strongest start to the season since Miquel arrived in July, but she said that today was a sign of what to expect from her side.
“When the whole team is in the same rhythm then obviously it’s harder for the opponent. It’s been taking us long, we didn’t have the start of the season we wanted for different reasons. Sometimes in football you have to be patient and it will come but with time.”
The group is now wide open after this result and Birmingham’s 3-1 win against Bristol City. Brighton are on four points and would secure a place in the quarter-finals with a win against Bristol. Leicester are on three points and rely on the Seagulls slipping up.
