In-form Brighton star sends firm warning to teams wanting to press Albion - and makes honest admission about European 'dream'

Albion put on a footballing masterclass as they dismantled Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on Saturday (January 14). March scored twice in a 3-0 win – the 28-year-old’s first Premier League brace and and fourth goal in his last four Premier League appearances.

Brighton dominated from start to finish at the Amex, to move above Liverpool into seventh in the league. It was only their second home league victory against the Reds in history after a 3-1 win in the second tier in 1961.

Speaking to reporters post-match, March said it was ‘up there’ as one of the best games of his own career, adding: “I scored two goals and I've never done that before.”

March said he sensed the visitors were ‘getting frustrated’ during the match.

"When they are pressing and we are playing around them with one touch football it's hard to play against,” he said.

He said there were no concerns in the dressing room at half-time when the score was 0-0, despite the hosts missing a hatful of chances.

March added: “We said we just needed to be more clinical. Be patient, wait for final ball. It seemed to work well.”

March was asked if he was surprised by how ‘passive’ Liverpool were.

"I think it's a credit to us to be honest,” he said. “They tried to press. It's the way we play. A lot of teams will come here and if they press like that, we will play around them.”

March, the second longest-serving player in Albion's current first team after Lewis Dunk, said ‘can’t put a finger’ on the reason for his purple patch in front of goal – but believes he is playing the best football of his career.

"I think I am,” he said. “Everything has come together. We are working hard on the training ground and its coming to fruition.

"I'm just working hard. It's the nature of football. You can have highs and lows and it changes really quickly."

March was also asked about the impact of Robert De Zerbi, who revealed during his press-conference that he set the wide man a target of ten goals for the season.

March said: “He [De Zerbi] said something before the Everton game, ‘how many goals can you get?’ and I said eight but I don't know, let's see what happens. I’ve just got to keep going and take each game as it comes and try and get in those positions.

“He's animated, isn't he? That's a good thing and we see it on the training pitch, when we make a mistake. We love it.

"His whole life is football. He sends some of the lads texts at 1am with clips and things they could do better. That’s the hard work he puts in and everybody enjoys playing for him.”

March joked that he hadn’t yet received one of those late-night/early-morning messages, adding: “I don’t want to be woken up. My wife wouldn’t be happy.”

The Eastbourne-born winger it ‘was a shock’ when Graham Potter left the club but has been left impressed by how the club ‘done their homework and appointed someone who is going to fit the club's philosophy’,

He said: “It seems to be paying off and we are getting the benefits of that now. Everyone enjoys playing for him. We've got a lot of togetherness. We are all together, whatever happens.”

On the possibility of achieving qualification to a European competition next season, March said: “I don't see why not. We've got to be positive and have high expectations. We will take each game as it comes. If we train hard and have performances like that, we can get close.”

Speaking to Premier League Productions, he added: “We want to dream. There's a long way to go and we're working hard so I hope so."

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