View from the Brighton press box as Mikel Arteta fumes after controversial penalty

SussexWorld

Sussex World reporters Derren Howard and Sam Morton from the Amex Stadium after Brighton's 1-1 Premier League draw against Arsenal.

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00:00Okay, here we are, thanks for joining us Sam, in the snowy conditions outside the Amex Stadium.

00:07Just after Brighton's 1-1 draw against Premier League second place team Arsenal. Funny game

00:13Sam wasn't it? Brighton were so poor in the first half, really lethargic, deservedly went

00:21one nil behind and then they came back into it didn't they? Second half I thought was

00:25much more like it, got the equaliser through Jal Pedro's excellent penalty and disputed

00:31penalty but what were your thoughts on that one? It's such a random performance. It was

00:37really bizarre, they came out really poor, lethargic as you say, not at the races, deservedly

00:43went a goal behind, some really poor defending, let go far too easily to open the scoring

00:50and it was just a real concern seeing the defensive shape, it was a bit all over the

00:55place, giving Arsenal's players far too much time and space on the ball and you kind of

01:00felt that Arsenal could score again pretty easily but Odinga had a big chance to score

01:06and it was kind of a mistake at the end of the first half and he very easily could have

01:10gone into half-time level which would have been fortunate from Brighton's point of view

01:14but Hertzler has obviously got into his players at half-time and told them that more is expected

01:19of them and they did come out a completely different side, obviously a couple of changes

01:23at the break, I think they really did make a difference, absolutely brilliant. Obviously

01:27Janku Wiminta and Jorginho Rutta that came on for Brian Gruder and Matt O'Reilly and

01:33they made such a difference straight away, especially Rutta I thought was really good

01:36in the second half. And yeah, obviously Matomi also came on later in the second half and

01:41the fans were well up for it at this point, it was really noisy and you kind of felt that

01:45Brighton were the team that would go on and find that winner but obviously as you mentioned

01:48the penalty was a bit controversial, Arsenal was furious while Hertzler said it was a

01:53blatant penalty so yeah, one of those but I think Brighton were the team at the point.

01:58What were your thoughts on the penalty, do you think it should have been given? I thought

02:01it probably should, it was a strange penalty but it made contact with him, with some part

02:07of his body didn't it, it was almost a headbutt, sort of a clash of heads but it was the defenders

02:13fault and I thought it probably was just about on balance a penalty. Yeah it's a difficult

02:17one, I think the general consensus is it's such a rare penalty that you don't really

02:22see ones that are given like that, I think that's the main issue I think people have

02:26with it, you just don't see things like that and it's odd because it could appear just

02:31a headclash and it's been given for a headclash and when it was first given I thought that's

02:35not a penalty, I've seen the replays and I thought that can't be a penalty, it was given

02:39and then I've seen it again, I've kind of watched it back and I can see why it was given,

02:43it was just such an unusual one, I can kind of see both arguments really, I can see why

02:48Arteta wouldn't be very happy about it, but yeah I think Brighton deserved the point and

02:53they obviously could have won it on another day as well, it's a tricky one to call that

02:59but I think the ref probably just about got it right. And no Lewis Dunk obviously on the

03:04team today, he's struggling with a calf injury, I spoke to Hazela after the game and he said

03:09it's not going to be too serious, it shouldn't keep him out for too long, which is a bonus

03:13and you spoke to Joel Veltman afterwards didn't you in the mix zone, what was his thoughts

03:18on the match? Yeah so Joel Veltman was pleased, he's always a really good talker in the mix

03:25zone when he comes out to his journalists and he's pleased with the defensive performance

03:28and how they came out a lot stronger in the second half but I think the consensus was

03:32they need to start the game like that and if they'd played better in the first half

03:35they could have won today and he just feels like they're getting a lot of draws and there

03:39is definitely confidence in the team, they just need to start turning these draws into wins.

03:43Okay well let's go and get in a warm Sam, the snow's really coming down now and keep

03:49an eye up on the Sussex World for all the reaction player ratings and all the interviews

03:54from the Arsenal game. Thanks very much for watching, thank you.

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