Albion have been told to do “the right things” for longer if they are to climb the Premier League table.
The Seagulls hope to return to the top half by beating Bournemouth at the Amex this evening (8pm).
Fabian Hurzeler was pleased with his side’s efforts in two recent games in Manchester but disappointed to see United score from a corner late in the FA Cup tie.
Albion's form across individual matches has fluctuated this season but Hurzeler wants them to keep doing the basics even during the tougher periods.
The head coach said: “I think we have to understand that really playing 90 minutes a perfect game is difficult, especially when the opponents are so good.
“They are just good in the Premier League, no matter who you face.
“Therefore I think we have to get away from trying to play the perfect game.
“It's more like doing the things for 90 minutes on our highest level you can control and you can influence.
“So, for example, how to defend a personal duel, how to defend the box, how to attack the box, how to defend as a team, sticking to the match plan.
“These are all things you can control and these are things we should do for 90 minutes.
“That's the thing we keep working on and I think we are getting more and more to the 90 minutes.
“Also, against United, we had this goal we conceded in the last minutes out of nowhere where we could have defended the set-piece better. These are all the things I mean.
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“Set-pieces are so important. You can control them, to defend better.
"We are working on these kind of things. We know that small margins will make the difference.
“That's our challenge now for the second part of the season, to make sure that we have more performances where we are doing the right things for longer periods of time during the game.”
Yankuba Minteh is an option to start against Bournemouth but Mats Wieffer is still ruled out by a toe injury and there was some illness in the squad last week.
