Brighton & Hove Albion manager Chris Hughton insisted his team were made to follow logical instructions after the break against Leicester City, but accepted the performance levels were below the standard required.
The Seagulls had to settle for a point after Jamie Vardy’s 79th-minute penalty cancelled out Glenn Murray’s seventh goal of the campaign on Saturday afternoon.
Leicester played with ten men for much of the contest, following James Maddison’s 28th-minute sending off, and Hughton believes the correct game plan was put in place for his team to succeed.
He said, “The instructions were normal for the situation, you have to use your man advantage, keep possession and work for your openings.
“We were decent on the ball at times but I felt we needed to stretch them more. We still managed to get the ball into wide positions — if Jose [Izquierdo] holds his line on two occasions, he’s in on goal.
“You also have to give Leicester credit, they’re down to ten men but they’re a good side – a very energetic side, and they played the right game.
“They sat and played on the counter attack. We just didn’t play well enough in the second half to win the game.”
Hughton made four changes for the visit of the Foxes, with Bernardo, Bruno, Davy Propper and Pascal Gross all coming into the side, and the Albion boss assessed the current options within the squad.
“One change was forced, of course, with Dale Stephens. We’ve got competition in the squad and what I have to do is use that competition and that competitive edge.
“You’re not going to go through long periods without making changes and I thought the players that came in all deserved to play.
“Pascal [Gross] has been out for a while and it was good to see him back. Bernardo came in at left-back, and he’s been pushing really hard in training.
“There are lots of options, with Bruno and Martin Montoya at right-back as well, so it’s just down to the competition that we’ve currently got in the squad.”