Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto de Zerbi has highlighted the importance of Simon Adingra in the team following his impact in their 5-0 bashing of Sheffield United in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
The 22-year-old was part of the triumphant side that defeated Nigeria in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final on home soil last week.
He started the game against the Blades on Sunday and scored the fourth and fifth goals while Facundo Buananotte, Danny Welbeck and Jack Robinson (own goal) netted the others.
It took Adingra’s tally to six league goals for the season and De Zerbi stressed on his wide players having the creative freedom to cause havoc to opposition players on the flanks.
“All of my players have freedom and I want them to support them in what they decide to do on the pitch. Mitoma and Adingra are both very important, especially in this type of game when we need to have their skill in the winger positions to make a difference in the one-to-one situations,” De Zerbi told the club website.
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He added: “The game wasn’t closed at 2-0, we had to score more goals and keep playing seriously, and not to concede a stupid goal.
“There is nothing easy in football. We had to be more focused to make sure we didn’t concede on a counter-attack. We played with our style, to try to dominate the game. Sheffield want to play without the ball and counter-attack and we have to be more focused on shorter passes with many players close to the ball.”
The victory took Brighton up to seventh on the Premier League table, and are nine points off the Europa League qualification spot and a further 11 points away from the top four.
