Brighton boss Graham Potter wants his players to swiftly move on from the disappointment of their defeat at Manchester United as they prepare to tackle relegation-battlers Burnley.
The Seagulls were beaten 2-0 at Old Trafford on Tuesday night, having played most of the second half with 10 men following a red card for captain Lewis Dunk – who had initially only been cautioned before referee Peter Bankes was advised by VAR to check the pitchside monitor.
United’s subsequent charge by the Football Association for their players’ reaction to Dunk’s challenge on Anthony Elanga, who was looking to run through on goal, has added to the sense of injustice.
Potter admits he still holds a similar opinion about the dismissal to how he felt immediately after the match, but he also took some positives from the game and now wants to look ahead to the challenge posed by Burnley.
“Sometimes your opinion is a little emotional after the game, but I don’t take too much back to be honest,” Potter said.
“If the referee gave a red at the time, I wouldn’t be totally disagreeing with it or I could see why he would be giving it.
“But when it was yellow to start with and then turning it around, it didn’t look so clear and obvious (error) to me, but I could be wrong, it wouldn’t be the first time.”
The Brighton boss added: “We are disappointed because we played well first half.
“We were the better team and then we have made a couple of mistakes at the start the second half, which makes it very, very difficult to play that amount of time with 10.
“The players were fantastic, they kept going and in the end we created some opportunities ourselves.
“But it is what it is, we have to focus on the things we could have done a little bit better and then move forward.”
Potter would not confirm whether Brighton had lodged an appeal against Dunk’s red card, which is set to see him suspended on Saturday after being deemed to have denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity.
“This season the one thing that we have done really, really well is just adapt when people have been away and we have had lots of different examples of players missing or being unavailable for different reasons,” Potter said.
“We have never used it as an excuse. We have just focused on the players that are available and work with them as best we can to try to put a team out that is competitive and to perform, so that is what we do again.”
Potter reported no fresh injury concerns from Tuesday night, with midfielder Alexis Mac Allister having been able to train again as normal following a knock to his side.
Burnley may be propping up the table, but Potter will not take their challenge lightly.
“On the one hand you are trying to give yourself a belief and confidence that you can go anywhere to get a result, but at the same time you need the humility and respect to say you could get beat by anybody, so you have to start from scratch (in the next game),” he said.
“Burnley are very, very competitive, they have drawn a lot of games and performances have been good.
“They will be looking to turn those little margins their way. We are expecting a tough game, but are looking forward to it.”
