Roberto De Zerbi remains positive about Albion’s future.

And he knows the quality which will be key to further progress playing the way they do.

It is the quality which took the club to undreamt of heights about a year ago.

To sixth place in the Premier League and into Europe.

To great wins at Arsenal and Chelsea, a draw with Manchester City, victories over Liverpool.

Now he wants to keep showing it through a tough time.

The quality is bravery. That is why he took on Manchester City in the way he did – with thoughts on long-term progress of players and team.

Albion’s depleted side went down 4-0 to a City outfit who already have a lot going for them and were given some further help by their hosts and by some of the officiating.

De Zerbi had no qualms about the efforts of his team in the match.

But he also spoke at length about the bigger picture for his young players - and looked back to the heady times of last year.

He said: “They gave their best. In terms of attitude, behaviour, they were good, I think.

“We have to improve from this game.

“You can improve losing and then we move on and we change our focus on to the last five games.

“Last season, we reached the Europa League showing an incredible courage, an incredible mentality, an incredible bravery.

“We won 3-0 against Arsenal away and we defended man-to-man for 90 minutes.

“I think the secret of qualifying for the Europa League was the courage we showed, the attitude we showed.

“If you work with a lot of young players, you can defend against City in the last 20 metres, but you can lose anyway.

“Or you work in the mentality, in the style, the DNA of Brighton and you take some more risks.

“Because the fourth goal, Valentin Barco forgot Kyle Walker.

“The third goal, in build-up, there were two mistakes.

“The first one by Carlos Baleba, because he was bad with the body shape. And Valentin Barco as well.

“We have to analyse the long term, not this game.

“We can’t forgot what we did and we can’t forget where we want to go in the future.

“I think with Valentin Barco, with Baleba, with Joao Pedro, with Adingra as well, I think playing and working with this attitude, with this bravery, in the future - with me, without me, I don’t know – will be the crucial part of Brighton.”

De Zerbi accepted he is not happy with recent results but added he sees a bright future.

He said: “We have to analyse the players, the level of the players, the experience of the players, how many players we lost in the transfer market.

“How many injured players we have had? So, so many problems.

“It is a part of this club and we have to accept.

“If you ask me about the result, I am disappointed.

“About the last results, I am really disappointed.

“But, if you ask me if I am positive for the future, yes, because we are working for the future of our club.

“I would like to compete every game like last season and the first part of this season.

“But, at the beginning of this season, the first five games, four wins and one defeat against West Ham, shooting 25 times per game.”