‘It’s not a foul’ – Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler angered by Bournemouth penalty and timewasting

Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler speaking to Sky Sports on whether he thinks there was enough contact for a penalty: “No.”

On whether he had a chance to speak to the referees about it: “It’s difficult to speak to the referees. They always have their own opinion. They look quite straight away, so it’s difficult to have a conversation, but it’s not about that. In the end, they made a decision, we have to accept it. Although we don’t agree, that’s football. Sometimes things like this happen so we have to go on.

“A touch and a contact is not enough, and that is what the referees said to us before the start of the season. And in certain moments they don’t do it, that’s just the truth, and we’ve got to accept.”

“For me it’s not a penalty, but we have to accept people make mistakes.

“It’s difficult to speak in that moment to the referee. Of course you try it, but in the end they stick to their decision.

“For certain contact, for certain moments in the box – that’s what the referees told us at the beginning of the season – it’s not always a foul.

“Contact doesn’t mean foul and in this situation it’s contact, maybe a little bit, but it’s not a foul. It (the process of the VAR becoming involved) doesn’t make sense.”

Hurzeler speaking to BBC Match of the Day: “In the end we lost the rhythm after we conceded the goal, and that is something we have to do better. In the second half we had big opportunities. We wanted to win this game, in the end we have to accept the point, but I think we definitely deserved to win this game.

“We wasted 20 minutes in the first half after the goal and we could use them much more effectively. In the second half we were better in positioning and then I think that we had the game under control and we could score more than one goal.”

On the Bournemouth penalty: “A lot of people have different views on that. In the end I think that if you really see it, I don’t see a penalty there. I don’t know why [his assistant was booked], he was only watching from our bench. It was an emotional game. You will have to ask the referee.”

On Kostoulas’ equaliser: “Yes nice goal. We all know what he is capable of. But, we all prefer to win.”

On just one win in nine: “We need to make the small margins right and that is what we definitely have to improve. We keep on working and we need to understand that we need to bring a consistency into our behaviours. That is what we will work on.”

Thierry Henry, on Sky Sports, on the penalty incident:

In the end, we can talk about it, we can debate it – it is a penalty. You’re lifting your leg, at the time that you’re hitting the player, the ball is still in play. Regardless on if he can get it or not, it is still in play.

In the modern day as well all know you’re looking at a situation in slow motion. And it was given. Instead of arguing with this right now, whether it was a penalty or not a penalty, it could’ve been avoided and we can clearly see the contact.

Bottom line, you cannot say he didn’t touch him. He did.

Iraola, speaking to Sky Sports: “We knew before the game we wanted to go with something different for the second half because basically the second half we were more defensive. We defended well.

“At the end, we are in that moment in the season when everything is against us. We don’t have this little bit of luck that you need. They scored an incredible goal, an overhead kick, top corner, and you finish with a point. And it’s a big shame because the players have done an incredible effort. They were dead at the end. We are going point by point. We have to keep going.

“The problem is we are getting a lot of these kinds of points. We are so close to getting these three points. You think you deserve the three points but then something happens and you finish with one. This is football and the Premier League and the level is what it is. I am a little bit afraid because we lose Marcus Tavernier today and also with injuries, we are so, so thin.”

On whether they need to be active in the transfer market: “Definitely, we need help. Everyone sees it, everyone feels it. I understand it is not easy to sign players, but we are right now in a very, very delicate situation for the players because a lot of them are playing a lot of minutes and they will need help before the market ends.”

Brighton captain Lewis Dunk, speaking to Sky Sports: “We showed all season we’ve got fight. We started the game well, and then we lost our rhythm. A cheap penalty. I’ve not seen it back, but I don’t think it is at the time and it turns the game on its head, but we showed great fight to come back in the second half, and this man [Charalampos Kostoulas] scored an unbelievable goal to get us back in it.”

On Kostoulas’ goal: “I’ve seen him score better in training, but that was unbelievable. He’s a special talent. You’ve seen glimpses, and there’ll be many more things to come from him. He’s adapting to the country, new league, and he’s shown what he can do. That shows exactly what he can do.”

On reacting after the penalty decision: “It’s football, isn’t it? It’s football, so you have to. You have no other choice. There’s still thing we could’ve done better in this game today. If you look at the game, it’s probably a fair result in the end. We’ve got to look at ourselves and keep moving forward.”

Brighton goalscorer Charalampos Kostoulas, speaking to Sky Sports: “For you the first time you see it [his overhead kick], but Lewis [Dunk] has seen it a lot of times in training. I like this way to score or try to score. Today, the ball went into the net. I’m happy for this goal but the result could be better for us. We need this three points to keep pushing until the end of the season.”

On how he’s finding playing in the Premier League: “It’s an experience from a kid I want to live. I’m happy. I’m adapting day by day, and I like to play lots of positions, but mostly I like to be on the pitch everywhere and help my team.”

Twitter users gave their reaction with Brighton boss Fabian Hurzeler angered by Bournemouth penalty and timewasting tactics…

@deverill_simon: I would be very angry if that was given against us. Shouldnt be a booking for diving but not a penalty for me.

@ViscogliosiLuca: Is the supposed contact from Verbruggen on Adli enough to send Aldi tumbling to the ground in such a theatrical way?. To me, it’s not. This is not a clear & obvious error from Paul Tierney in my opinion. Poor decision

@TheFPLScope: Absolute bollocks. The little touch from Verbruggens foot did absolutely nothing to Adli’s momentum or ability to play the ball. He was already diving anyway. Will encourage people to dive and hope for contact afterwards to justify a pen. Ref got it right and VAR ruined it.

@kevdon40: Bournemouth player dives – keeper makes contact after he’s decided to dive. Fukwits in VAR decide it’s a pen 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️ croc of shite

@wearebrighton: The penalty decision is shit. But I will tell you what is shitter. The fact Bournemouth broke from a Brighton corner to win the penalty. Absolutely shambolic #BHAFC

@KieranJamesH: Like in what world does VAR think the ref made a wrong call? He’s already halfway down before he’s touched. Just encouraging players to dive. Every touch in the box I hope all our players go down. Absolute shocker. #bhafc #BHABOU

@SFordRedArmy: Another example of the standard of officiating being on it’s arse, in the Brighton v Bournemouth game. No chance that’s a penalty.

@Irish_Gooner: Watching that penalty decision on Verbruggen in the Brighton v Bournemouth game. At what point was the rule changed about contact? Seems any sort of contact these days means foul. That’s never a penalty!

@jamiebennett92: No more than Brighton deserve… the time-wasting and faking injuries from Bournemouth has been absolutely pathetic. No interest in playing at all. Make the rule that a yellow card for time-wasting also awards a corner to the other team and it will stop straight away.