Everton 4-2 Brighton: The Albion’s set pieces shambles continues

Everton 4-2 Brighton. Brighton 2-3 Manchester United. Brighton 1-3 Chelsea. On the face of it, three expected results against teams who will all be eyeing up top four Premier League finishes in 2020-21.

We will learn much more about what to expect from the Albion in a gentler run of games following next week’s international break. Crystal Palace, West Bromwich Albion, Burnley and Aston Villa are all to come. If this is not to be another slog against relegation, then Brighton need seven points at the very least.

Is that achievable? Yes and no. Brighton have played some lovely football this season and if they turn it on in those four fixture, the Seagulls are good enough to win 12 points out of 12. So that is a yes.

But – there’s always a but – pretty football won’t get you very far if you cannot defend set pieces. And conceding stupid goals due to individual errors and players being unable to carry out the most basic of marking tasks is something which the Albion are specialising in at the moment.

By the end of Everton 4-2 Brighton, you almost expected the Toffees to score with every free kick or corner they were given. In the 21st century world of Premier League football where analysis and scouting is key, every single opponent will now be targeting Brighton’s inability to defend set pieces.

Two of Everton’s goals came from such scenarios. Dominic Calvert-Lewin opened the scoring with his ninth goal of the season, a free header at the back post from a Gylfi Sigurdsson short corner.

The Toffees’ second arrived right on the stroke of half time when Solly March gave away a cheap free kick. James Rodriguez delivered and there was Yerry Mina completely unmarked to make it 2-1.

A terrible Jordan Pickford error had gifted the Albion a way back into the game minutes before Everton’s second when he dropped the ball at the feet of Neal Maupay.

The French striker reacted quickest of anyone to slam home the loose ball as he made it four goals from four games to continue his fine start to the campaign.

Everton’s speedy response in reclaiming the lead is another problem that Brighton currently have. Every time we score a goal, the players switch off and we allow the opposition to net almost instantly.

Four minutes separated Maupay’s Brighton equaliser and Mina putting Everton back into the lead in the Toffees’ 4-2 win. Against Manchester United a week earlier, Maupay gave the Albion the lead and a Lewis Dunk own goal levelled things up almost instantly.

Forget the controversial nature of United’s late penalty winner that day for a second and you will recall that we gave away a penalty – from a corner, of course – two minutes after Solly March scored.

Leandro Trossard’s equaliser early in the second half when Chelsea came to the Amex had Brighton level for less than five minutes before Reece James re-established the Blues’ advantage.

This is not the sort of defending that we imagined would be on display when a lot of Brighton fans were crowing in the summer about the Albion’s strength in depth at the back.

Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster, Ben White, Joel Veltman and Dan Burn were meant to be one of the strongest pools of centre backs in the Premier League. A defensive roster worth well over £100 million who would provide the bedrock for a season which involved more than a relegation fight.

And yet here we are with 10 goals conceded in four game and some fans looking longingly at Celtic Park and Pride Park where Shane Duffy and Matt Clarke are out on loan. Brighton have played three quality opponents so far, but we look a mess at the back even taking that into consideration.

Nobody could seriously complain about Dunk not making Gareth Southgate’s latest England squad as he has been a shadow of usual self. Webster’s excellent form post-lockdown seems to have deserted him and whilst White’s former Leeds United teammates are taking points from Manchester City and riding high in fifth place in the table, he’s finding the step up from Championship to Premier League a lot harder than many imagined.

It’s a problem for Graham Potter. Is three at the back contributing to Brighton’s problems? The three may not be the issue, rather the order in which they are played.

White and his ability on the ball might be more suited as the central player with Dunk and Webster either side. Or does one of them need to be taken out the firing line altogether to give Veltman or Burn a chance?

Potter will likely do none of those things. The current back three looked extremely comfortable when keeping a clean sheet at Newcastle United and the Albion’s next few fixtures are against teams of that sort of calibre. If we are still conceding an average of three goals a game after Palace, West Brom, Villa and Burnley, then it will be time to panic.

Luckily, none of those opponents possess a player of Rodriquez’s quality. Everton signing him for £20 million in a transfer market where Ollie Watkins is costing £28 million is already proving to be an incredible piece of business.

Rodriguez sewed up the 4-2 win for Everton seven minutes into the second half when finishing Alex Iwobi’s cross with a simple finish at the back post.

Again, the defending was terrible and the move begun by Brighton being sloppy in possession as Leandro Trossard played a loose pass to surrender the ball.

Rodriguez added his second and Everton’s fourth with 20 minutes still to play. Another straightforward goal saw Iwobi scamper down the right, he found Abdoulaye Doucoure whose low pass was tapped in by Rodriguez in an almost identical position to the Colombian’s first.

Yves Bissouma pulled one back with a trademark stunner from distance in injury time. The Malian’s effort was one of only three shots on target that Brighton managed all afternoon, another disappointing aspect of the performance.

Against a goalkeeper looking as shaky and out-of-form is Pickford currently is, that is not really good enough. The Albion should have been peppering his goal, shooting on sight to try and force mistakes from the England number one.

That lack of cutting edge served as another reminder that Brighton need a striker before the transfer window shuts on Monday. If a 21-year-old who scored 17 goals in the mighty Swiss second tier last season is who the Albion are relying on to complement and improve on Maupay and Aaron Connolly, then that seems like a huge risk – especially given the alarming rate at which we are conceding.

Potter and the club almost seem to have buried their head in the sand on the issue, reacting to questions and supporter’s worries over the lack of firepower as if we are all insane.

It isn’t just fans who are concerned though. Warren Aspinall, a refreshingly honest and astute pundit on BBC Radio Sussex, said after the 4-2 defeat at Everton that Brighton have to find a striker. Aspinall knows, we know, most of the football world knows; you would hope Potter knows too.

The Albion boss does at least seem to acknowledge the issues at the back. Gone from his post-match interviews are his stock catchphrases of “taking the positives” and “move on and learn from it”.

Instead, Potter has been critical of Brighton’s defending after every defeat so far. Potter said of defeat at Everton: “I don’t think Everton had so many chances but we helped them, second half certainly.”

“To concede just before half time was a blow for us and then we didn’t start the second half so well. I think we contributed a little bit to our downfall today and that is something we need to be better at.”

Potter now has two weeks to try and find solutions. As well as defending set pieces and being more clinical in front of goal, the Brighton boss also needs to take a look at what his side do with corners and free kicks which come their way.

Five attacking corners in a row were taken short by Brighton in the 4-2 defeat against Everton, all of which unsurprisingly came to nothing.

Adam Webster and Lewis Dunk were Brighton’s third and fourth top scorers last season as a result of goals scored from set pieces. Why on earth aren’t the Albion delivering the ball into the box for those two to attack?

We would rather go back to Withdean Stadium circa 2008 and watch Dean Cox repeatedly failing to beat the first man than see these short corners which often end with the ball back at Maty Ryan’s feet. It’s just a waste.

On the subject of Ryan, he copped some criticism for the issues which unfolded in front of him. Would Brighton be better at defending set pieces if they had a big, dominant goalkeeper who came off his line and relieved some of the pressure by collecting everything? Maybe. Christian Walton is certainly that type of keeper, so it will be intriguing to see what happens when he returns from injury.

There may be question marks over Ryan’s dominance of the box, but nobody could doubt his shot stopping ability. Twice in the first few minutes at Everton he pulled off sensational saves to prevent the game being over before it had begun.

Bissouma gave the ball to Calvert-Lewin inside of two minutes with Ryan coming to the rescue with an outstretched leg. The Australian number one then parried away a powerful Seamus Coleman drive. Without Ryan’s interventions, Brighton would have conceded more than four.

Not many teams will go to Goodison and score twice this season but not many will go there and defend like the Dog & Duck in Sussex Sunday League Division Five either.

And there lies Brighton’s problem. For all the talk of needing a striker to score more goals, losing 4-2 at Everton meant that Brighton forwards have delivered eight in four Premier League games so far, five of which were against teams who have European football in their sights.

What is letting the Albion down is the defence. You would have got long odds on that at the start of the season. Potter needs to sort it ahead of a run of games from which points have to start arriving. If he doesn’t, then this could be another long winter.