Antonio Conte spoke about a lesson to learn after our late 1-0 loss against Brighton on Saturday.
The game looked destined for a goalless draw but a frustrating afternoon took a turn for the worse in the 90th minute when Leandro Trossard wriggled through on the left of the penalty area and poked the winner past Hugo Lloris.
“For sure, there is big disappointment for the final result,” said Antonio. “Also, because I think we can do much better. A lesson to learn is that there are games where if you are not able to win, you are not to lose. Honestly, at the end of the game, the draw is a fair result. Instead, we are talking about a loss.”
We struggled to break down an organised Brighton side in a stop-start encounter. Heung-Min Son saw two shots blocked in the second half, Steven Bergwijn couldn’t turn Harry Kane’s pass on target in injury time.
“We started the game slowly,” continued Antonio. “It was a tactical game, Brighton closed every space but, at the same time, when you move the ball slowly, you help your opponent to close the space. It’s a pity, because we wanted to get the three points.
“Now there are six games to go. This race is a big opportunity for us to start to try to cope with the pressure, because when you play without targets… instead, we deserve to stay in this race and go for a place in the Champions League.
“To grow, it’s important to cope with type of pressure when we need to get three points, because in this way, you grow, and you prepare yourselves to fight for something important in the future.”