Gary Neville tells Arsenal what they got wrong in Brighton ‘humbling’ | Football

Gary Neville reckons Arsenal did not take the threat of Brighton seriously enough before their shock 3-0 defeat at the Amex on Saturday.

Pascal Gross, Charalampos Kostoulas and Chema Andres scored the goals for the Seagulls to hand the Gunners their first loss of the season.

Fabian Hurzeler’s side climbed to just one place behind Mikel Arteta’s in the early-season table with the victory and have picked up 10 points from their first five games.

The Premier League champions had been impressive before that defeat on the south coast and Neville admits he was surprised to see it.

However, he was not shocked to see Brighton perform well after they beat Manchester United a few days earlier, only that Arsenal may have taken them lightly going into the match.

‘It’s just so rare to see them so open and pulled apart,’ the Manchester United legend said on Sky Sports’ Gary Neville Podcast.

‘But I watched Brighton at Old Trafford on Wednesday night and saw them humble Manchester United and be far better and more intelligent in knowing what to do.

‘If you’re not quite there against these teams. We would go in the dressing room sometimes and because we were very experienced and got some bloody noses, you just knew at certain grounds, you’d say to each other in the dressing room, “If you’re not quite at it today, these will do you. By the way, don’t think this is going to be easy.”

‘Arsenal probably didn’t quite do that enough before the match. It’s going to be a massive slog to get through that game for Arsenal and they didn’t treat it in that way and they didn’t get the details right that they always do.’

Neville does not see the result as a derailing one for the champions, but says they will need to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.

‘Look, you can have a blip. Arsenal have been so reliable and consistent over the last 12-18 months that they’re allowed a moment like that,’ he said. ‘But they’ve got to get back on the bike quickly when you’re a top club, a champion team and they’ve had that humbling that they had.’

The win over Arsenal completed a fabulous seven days for Brighton after they hammered Coventry City 5-0 in the Premier League and beat the Red Devils 3-2 in the Carabao Cup after conceding the first two goals of the game.

Neville can see the Seagulls finishing in the Champions League places this season, especially with a number of traditionally bigger clubs nowhere near the peak of their powers.

‘There is an opportunity for Brighton to shock everybody and get into the top four or five,’ said the former England defender.

‘Because Untied are not right, Liverpool are not right, Tottenham aren’t right, Villa aren’t right this year compared to the last couple of years. Chelsea, there’s question marks.

‘All these teams that have spent hundreds and hundreds of millions over the last three or four years, if you’re being kind you’d say they’re in transition or not delivering if you’re being unkind.

‘But those teams [Brighton and Brentford] are solid as a rock. Each player knows where they’re going to pass it next. I watch some of the top teams and they haven’t got a clue where they’re going to pass it next. It’s almost like they’re playing in moments.’

Hurzeler was thrilled with his team and said they were not concentrating on containing Arsenal, but what they could do against the champions.

‘Beating the current champions and the best team in England is something special,’ said the Seagulls boss. ‘But it’s not because the result is special, it’s the performance. The boys showed real togetherness and intensity.

‘They were horrible to play against today and that’s because we did the basic things right. Overall I was very pleased with the performance.

‘I think it’s not too much about the weaknesses from Arsenal. It’s really about sticking to our principles and sticking to our beliefs and what we want to do in our game, especially at home and in front of our supporters.

‘And that was our approach, focusing on us not speaking too much about strengths or weaknesses from Arsenal. Everyone knows when you see their team, there will come a lot of individual quality. There is a lot of individual class, a top team and the current champions.

‘It’s about what can we do? What can we control to have the right approach and to be successful in this particular game? In terms of minute one to minute 90, attack versus defence.’

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