'Too light' – Roberto De Zerbi spots three things that must change ahead of Nottingham Forest

Albion were beaten by The Bees in the Premier League's Friday night kick off under the floodlights at a lively G-Tech Community Stadium.

Brentford and England striker Ivan Toney bagged a brace with two ice cold finishes either side of half time, one a Cruyff flick and the other a well-taken penalty.

Asked where it went wrong for Albion, Italian De Zerbi said: "I don't know [why we weren't getting to the second balls]. I will have to watch the game again, honestly.

"My feeling from the bench was we were losing too many second balls, maybe we are all late on the second balls, maybe the duels, or the fight we were too light."

The Albion boss said it was 'difficult to explain the result' after his side enjoyed 72% possession, had 21 shots on goal with seven of those on target.

De Zerbi said: "I think during the games you have to score, without goals you cannot win the game. We shoot 21 times.

"It's difficult to explain this result and it's difficult to for you to listen to a coach that speaks about a good game when he lost 2-0, but I think so and I think the stats say the same."

Asked about his side's finishing, De Zerbi gave a nuanced analysis of his strikers and went on to praise the 'incredible' David Raya in the Brentford goal.

The Italian said: "The goalkeeper of Brentford was incredible.

"I can't say Welbeck played bad. Welbeck worked for the team and Undav the same for 20 mins, and Solly March and Gross and Mitoma in the second half. We didn't find the goals. Maybe on Tuesday we will shoot 10 times and maybe we can score two or three times, no?"

De Zerbi remains positive despite taking one point from his first three games in charge of Albion.

He said: "I'm positive. I trust in my team because we have played three very good games. What has been before is part of the past. I want to be focused on my team.

"I think we have played with the quality we have shown in the three games we deserve much more but football is like that."

Looking ahead to Nottingham Forest at home on Tuesday (October 18), De Zerbi said he does not need to make any personnel changes.

"We don't need [to make] changes because the game was good. Sunday morning we will see the condition of the players. Some players can maybe be tired and any other problems," he added.

Brighton now sit seventh in the Premier League on 14 points, one ahead of Brentford.