Graham Potter insists he has "nothing to apologise or say sorry for" after being booed by Brighton fans on his return to the Amex.
The Seagulls humbled Potter's Chelsea 4-1 on Saturday afternoon thanks to strikes from Leandro Trossard and Pascal Gross, as well as own goals from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Trevoh Chalobah. Kai Havertz scored a second-half consolation for the visitors.
Potter left Brighton to become the new Chelsea boss at the beginning of September and didn't lose any of his first eight games. Yet the Englishman's fine start was emphatically ended on his old stomping ground, much to the glee of Brighton supporters.
"I have nothing to apologise or say sorry for," insisted Potter at full-time. "I think I did a good job at the club and left it in a good place but people are entitled to their opinions.
"It's part of the process. You have to suffer and feel pain in order to grow and get better. Nobody said we were the finished article. We have to take the pain today and learn from it."
In fairness to Potter, Brighton finished ninth in the Premier League last season - their best ever result in the club's 121-year history. The Seagulls were also fourth in the table before he accepted the Chelsea job - an opportunity few managers would turn down.
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On the 4-1 loss, Potter added: "Yes of course the score line and the defeat is a painful one. We didn't really recover. Once the crowd were so engaged it was a difficult one for us. The score line was painful. Brighton played a good game, especially in the first half.
"You can always look at goals and think you can do better. We have to take responsibility a bit in the first half. We have had a lot of football but that's no excuse. We couldn't quite get to that level. We didn't take our opportunities in attack and they did.
"We had some opportunities to attack them too but unfortunately we missed the pass or didn't execute, then the score line was a painful one. When you lose you can always do better."
The result leaves Chelsea fifth in the Premier League, three points behind Newcastle in fourth with a game in hand. Brighton, meanwhile, are up to eighth in the table. Potter's successor at the Amex Roberto de Zerbi expressed his delight at full-time.
"I am very happy for the players, for the club and the people working with our team and these great fans," he told Sky Sports. "They were the best player on the pitch. They helped us a lot and I am very happy. In the first 20-25 minutes we were fantastic.
"We played like men. We have a style and the first 20-25 minutes was fantastic, really fantastic. We prepared the team with one-to-ones. All players were fantastic. No I don't want to celebrate anything. Next Saturday there is another game... but I'm happy."
