Matt O’Riley makes painful life after Celtic admission & identifies key problem that keeps troubling Brighton
The midfielder is now in the Premier League after time at Celtic.
Matt O’Riley has been left rueing more Brighton frustration as an up and down life after Celtic continues for the midfielder.
The Danish international left Parkhead last summer in a money spinning deal to the Premier League. Injury and lack of selection has dented his progress this term but while he did get an assist against Leicester City at the weekend, the Seagulls drew 2-2 at home to the strugglers.
Overall he’s played 17 times with a goal and assists, having had 27 goals and 35 assists at Parkhead. Brighton have drawn at home against all of the Premier League’s bottom four and the eight points dropped are why they are not sitting fourth. O’Riley has made a painful admission of why life after Celtic has not brought him to the elite reaches of the English top flight yet.
O’Riley laments Brighton factor
He told the Mirror: “That’s the difference between the top, top teams. They’re just more ruthless and we’ve got a little bit to go to get to that level. We’re good enough to beat any team but we need to be able to do it consistently and do it against teams in the bottom half as well because when you compete at the top of the league you need to be able to be up for it every single game. Our problem has been consistency.
“It felt like we stopped playing a bit in the last half an hour. It looked like we stopped showing for the ball, stopped playing with courage and stopped counter-pressing. It looked like we just got quite passive in general, both on and off the ball. Regardless of who you play against you can’t afford to do that in this league. You get punished and I think they deserved to get a draw in the end.”
Missing chances
O’Riley also held himself accountable for chances he missed, including a glaring headed opportunity. He told The Argus: “I always try to get in the box, always try to time my runs well. I think the one I definitely should have scored was the header in the first half. The other ones were, not half-chances, a little bit more unlucky. It felt like we stopped playing a bit in the last half an hour.
“I’ll have to watch it back but it looked like we stopped showing for the ball, stopped playing with courage and maybe stopped counter-pressing like we were before. It looked like we just got quite passive in general, both on and off the ball.
“Regardless of who you play against, you can’t afford to do that in this league. You get punished and I think they deserved to get a draw in the end.”
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