Yves Bissouma voted WAB August 2021 Brighton Player of the Month

September 8, 2021October 5, 2021 WeAreBrighton.com 0 Comments

Yves Bissouma was voted as WAB Brighton Player of the Month in April 2021. Yves Bissouma was voted as WAB Brighton Player of the Month in May 2021. Yves Bissouma has been voted as WAB Brighton Player of the Month in August 2021.

And that ladies and gentlemen is a piece of history. Nobody else in the 11 seasons we have been running these monthly awards has ever won three in a row. Further proof – not that we need it – that Bissouma is amongst the greatest players we have ever seen play for the Albion.

How he is still a Brighton player is genuinely mystifying. He was linked in the summer with Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain.

If you asked any of the best betting sites around for a price on him remaining at the Albion beyond the summer, then you would have got very long odds indeed.

Not that any Seagulls supporters are complaining. Bissouma continued exactly where he left off at the end of the 2020-21 season, topping the WAB Player Ratings in both the 2-0 win over Watford and the 2-0 defeat against Everton.

Where he really showed his worth though was the opening day victory at Burnley. Graham Potter’s bizarre starting XI included Steve Alzate in the holding role normally occupied by Bissouma with Bissouma playing a little more advanced.

Brighton were woeful in the first half. Once Potter ditched the madcap line up and began using players in their actual positions, the Albion were miles better.

The decision to move Pascal Gross from left back to right wing back garnered much attention, largely because it was bordering on insanity to play Gross in a flat back four in the first half.

Just as important in instigating the Albion’s comeback from 1-0 down to win 2-1 though was Bissouma assuming a deeper position for the second 45 minutes.

With him breaking up play and getting Brighton the front foot with the sort of dynamic display only he can provide, Burnley went from being dominant to looking like relegation fodder.

If you ever need to be reminded of how good Bissouma is, watch those two contrasting halves of football again. There are not many better defensive midfielders right now than Bissouma, who of course also won our WAB Player of the Season 2020-21 award.

Second place in August 2021 Player of the Month went to Shane Duffy, whose 37.59 percent of the vote meant that he and Bissouma combined accounted for 88 percent of the ballots cast by Brighton fans.

The renaissance of Duffy has been the biggest story of the season so far. His Albion career looked over after a dreadful year on loan at Celtic last time out in which he was described as the worst signing in Scottish Pub League history. Some accolade that given that several SPL clubs have previously signed Fran Sandaza.

Ben White’s sale to Arsenal for £50 million, the departures of Leo Ostigard and Matt Clarke to Stoke City and West Brom, and an untimely Covid-close contact for Joel Veltman on the eve of Burnley away gave Duffy an unexpected Premier League return.

It was an opportunity he has grabbed with both hands. A man-of-the-match performance at Turf Moor was followed by Duffy powering home the opening goal against Watford with a trademark towering header.

With Molly Malone’s now closed and the Grosvenor having undergone a rebrand, Duffy could join Bissouma in becoming a regular again in our WAB Brighton Player of the Month shortlists based on what we have seen of him in August 2021.

Neal Maupay rounds off the top three and like Duffy, his opening month of the 2021-22 campaign has been one of redemption.

Maupay finished the previous season watching from the stands. The Frenchman was suspended after picking up a red card following the final whistle of May’s 2-1 defeat at Wolves for calling referee Jonathan Moss “a f**king joke”.

Maybe that was the wake up call that Maupay needed. He has played with a new found maturity in his three Premier League appearances to date, yielding two goals.

The most impressive thing about his decent start is that those goals have come from precisely the sort of chances he missed last season.

Long may it continue as there will be a lot of responsibility on his shoulders this season – Brighton have to get to January at least with only him, Aaron ‘Shoosh’ Connolly and Danny ‘Legs are made of cheese’ Welbeck as striking options.