Mauricio's verdict on Brighton

Mauricio Pochettino said the emotional impact of Hugo Lloris’ early injury on the team couldn’t be underestimated as we fell to a 3-0 loss at Brighton in the Premier League on Saturday.

The manager confirmed our goalkeeper and captain suffered an injury to his left arm/elbow in the action that led to Brighton’s opening goal after only three minutes.

Hugo was stepping backwards towards his goal line as he collected Pascal Gross’ inswinging cross from the left and, worried about carrying the ball over, dropped it down in front of the line. As he did so, he lost his footing and fell awkwardly. Neal Maupay was left with the easy task of heading the loose ball over the line for the goal, but Hugo was left writhing in pain in the back of the net.

A stretcher was called immediately, and it took five minutes to stabilise Hugo and take him away for treatment. Paulo Gazzaniga took over, Brighton scored again just after the half-hour and left us with a mountain to climb in the second half.

We started the second period with intent but Aaron Connolly’s second goal on the break on 65 minutes ended the contest at 3-0 and that’s how it finished.

“It was a tough game, difficult,” said Mauricio. “First of all, I want to say thank-you to our fans for helping us and making the effort to stay here with us. We know how they feel - very disappointed - and we share the same feelings. All I can say is thanks for their support.

“Then yes, it was disappointing. It was a massive impact, Hugo, and to concede after three minutes. That is a problem you cannot manage.

“The plan was different, to be solid, to work hard to try to change the dynamic and the feeling from Bayern Munich but it was impossible because we conceded the second goal and never had the possibility to be in the game.

“I give credit to Brighton, they played really well, but the impact of Hugo changed the emotions of the game, the team suffered a lot and couldn’t find the way to be solid and play football.”