Roberto De Zerbi says his Brighton team had a ‘blackout’ in their shock 4-0 thrashing at Luton Town on Tuesday night, but insisted they must ‘remember this day’ to make sure it never happens again.
The Hatters were 2-0 up in three minutes on a remarkable evening at Kenilworth Road, which saw Elijah Adebayo net a hat-trick and Chiedozie Ogbene score the other of the four goals.
It was an unforgettable night for the home side and De Zerbi wants his players to remember it too, but for very different reasons.
‘We did not play. It was a blackout. We have to remember this day,’ the Italian said of his side’s performance.
‘We played badly, not one player played well, and our substitutes too. Everyone has to take responsibility.
‘Luton played a great game. We knew how difficult this game would be. I feel sorry for the fans. We are all responsible, myself first of all.
‘We are suffering from this result more than people can think.’
Luton boss Rob Edwards was predictably buoyant after the win, which sees his side climb out of the relegation zone, with Everton dropping below them.
‘All of it was pretty good from start to finish,’ he said. ‘We’ve done that to quite a few teams. It’s how we play. With a result and performance like this, a few people might take notice of it a little bit more.
‘I feel, we feel, the best way for us to go in this league is to attack.
‘We’re going to keep driving. There were bits where we were sloppy. We have to keep our foot down. We can’t afford to stop because we’re not good enough to do that.’
On hat-trick hero Adebayo, Edwards added: ‘I’m delighted for Elijah. He’s a very difficult player to play against. We’re very thankful that we’ve got him, but there were several good performances out there tonight.’
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