Furious Lewis Dunk destroys Brighton team-mates with comments on 7-0 thrashing
Brighton & Hove Albion suffered their heaviest defeat in more than half a century as Nottingham Forest scored seven unanswered goals at the City Ground on Saturday
Brighton captain Lewis Dunk hit out at the Seagulls' "embarrassing" performance in their 7-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.
Dunk's first-half own goal set Forest on their way, and Nuno's side bounced back brilliantly from their 5-0 reverse at Bournemouth last time out. Chris Wood stole the headlines with a hat-trick, while Morgan Gibbs-White, Neco Williams and Jota Silva also found the net.
The Seagulls had a chance to climb as high as eighth in the table if results went their way. Instead, they are looking over their shoulders, and will fall into the bottom half if Brentford beat Tottenham on Sunday.
It was Brighton's heaviest ever top-flight defeat, and their heaviest in any competition since the 1960s. Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, skipper Dunk didn't mince his words.
READ MORE: 'Incredible' Anthony Elanga shows Man Utd what they're missing - 'The boy is on flames'READ MORE: Premier League issue statement after painfully long VAR call during Forest vs Brighton"Everything [went wrong]. It was embarrassing," Dunk said. "We let ourselves down. We let the travelling fans down. We let the fans at home down. We have to take it on ourselves. It was us out there that performed like that. We have to look ourselves in the mirror and bounce back next week.
"I don't think we played with enough intensity or wanted it enough. It's not nice to say as a football player but we weren't good enough today. As a whole team we didn't deserve [anything]. It could have been even more.
"We knew that we were coming here for a tough game. They are flying in the league and it is always a tough place to come. That tough? Probably not. And that is on ourselves. We have to work hard now and make sure we don't let ourselves or the fans down like that again."
Where did it all go wrong for Brighton? Have your say in the comments section
Dunk said there was nothing for manager Fabian Hurzeler to say after the collapse, insisting the team will have to work on the training ground to rebound. "Three games ago we were on top of the world again weren't we after two wins in a row?" he added. "Now we're rock bottom again."
Brighton's next match comes in the fourth round of the FA Cup, with Chelsea visiting the Amex Stadium. As luck would have it, their following Premier League match will be a carbon copy of that fixture.
Forest are back on their travels after earning a seventh home leagie win of the season. They're up against League One side Exeter City in the cup, followed by league trips to Fulham and Newcastle.
"It is all about taking it game by game," Forest winger Anthony Elanga said in response to questions about European qualifiaction. "We can't be complacent. We have to keep working hard and continue to let our football do the talking and let the fans continue to believe."
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