Ryan: We're being punished for naive mistakes

Goalkeeper Mathew Ryan feels Brighton have been punished for naive mistakes in the last couple of months.
Mathew Ryan pictured at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day. Picture by Phil Westlake (PW Sporting Photography)Mathew Ryan pictured at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day. Picture by Phil Westlake (PW Sporting Photography)
Mathew Ryan pictured at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day. Picture by Phil Westlake (PW Sporting Photography)

The Seagulls have conceded six goals from set-pieces in their last nine games - including Chelsea's second in the 2-0 defeat at Stamford Bridge on Boxing Day.

Australian international Ryan said: "It's happened too many times. The most disappointing thing is we had a warning shot just before (when Ryan tipped over a header from Marcos Alonso) from the same sort of header from the other side.

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"When you're naive like that, you're not learning from your mistakes and quite often you get punished by one, let alone when you're giving up the same mistake a couple of times.

"We've only got ourselves to blame for that and it's just a bit of a lack of discipline, which is disappointing.

"Everyone is human at the end of the day, so it's all about learning as quick as we can this year and there's little things we need to get better at and keep learning from.

"We need to stop being so naive with things."

Ryan wants Albion to continue to play to the levels they have produced this season as they look to build on the first half of the season, which has returned 21 points from 20 games.

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He said: "The recurring theme seems to be how well we can stick to our levels of play and our consistency. When we've done that, we've been right in games and there's been moments where we've been a little bit naive and it's been the difference.

"The onus is on us and how well we can apply ourselves in games. We have to remain consistent and play at the level which is required to be competitive in this league.

"If we can do that to a high level each week, then I'm sure we're going to win more games.

"We're halfway through the season now and have got a nice collection of points and there's lots of positives to take from it.

"We'll just keep moving forward now. We've got Newcastle away next and we beat them at home, so hopefully that gives us confidence we can go up there and take something from the game."