Brighton & Hove Albion disappointed not to get a point against Arsenal says Ruiz | OneFootball

Brighton & Hove Albion head coach Arturo Ruiz emphasised the positives after watching his side fall to a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal in their opening Barclays Women’s Super League match of the season.

The Seagulls hosted The Gunners at Broadfield Stadium in Ruiz’s first competitive match in charge this afternoon. Lisa Baum’s early goal was all that separated the two sides over the 90 minutes.

When speaking to the media after the match, Brighton & Hove Albion boss Ruiz admitted that he was pleased with his side’s overall performance and that the players were disappointed to not have taken at least a point.

“I think that the first impression of our team was really competitive, really good and that’s the most important and positive thing,” Ruiz said. “With the ball, without the ball, transition, set-pieces, we were really good, so talking about the game, really good and the psychological part was really important because we were very competitive.

“We were very convinced about what we coached and what we did today,and that’s the most important thing. The players are disappointed because we didn’t get points and I am as well. We created enough to get a point, but we just go onto the next one because the performance was really good.”

Commenting on the longer term, Ruiz emphasised what Brighton & Hove Albion will need to do to compete with leading clubs like Arsenal.

He said “Process, high-performance mentality and making the most of our resources that our board and our owner give to us because the resources of our club are huge. We just need to keep pushing.”

Ruiz was thrilled with Brighton & Hove Albion’s response after conceding the early goal, noting that the team maintained the game plan, specifically in the second half.

He stated “Our reaction was brilliant. I think that we kept competing, the last minutes of the first half were hard because they were better physically, but then in the second half, we performed really good.

“Our substitutions were really important to keep pushing and keeping us solid during the second half. I think our players did very good. It’s all about quality in that final third. We didn’t have something like that super-good today. It’s all about time, it’s all about confidence, it’s all about deep growing. Our reaction to the goal was really, really good.”

Brighton & Hove Albion are back in Barclays Women’s Super League action next Sunday when they travel to Birmingham City.