Match Review: Brighton 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday
There will be no trip to Wembley this season. Brighton 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday saw to that as the Seagulls exited the FA Cup at the earliest possible opportunity with a performance which drew ire and criticism from across the board.
We’re not going to dwell too much on what happened. The game was decided by Adam Reach’s deflected effort just past the hour mark, one of the only bits of action worth noting in a game that can definitely be filed under the “Alexa, show me a way to waste 90 minutes of my life” category.
More interesting has been the fall out from the result. It’s raised plenty of questions about how seriously should the Albion take cup competitions, is Brighton’s squad strong enough to cope should it pick up a couple of injuries and where does Glenn Murray’s future lie?
Do Graham Potter or the Albion care about cup competitions?
Based on what we’ve seen this season, no. Potter treated the League Cup with utter contempt. The average age of the side he fielded in the third round defeat to Aston Villa was 21.5 with 10 of the 14 players used that night being development squad members making their debuts.
The team that Potter sent out against Wednesday did have a more senior look to it, but it was still largely made up of reserve players. Anybody trying to claim it wasn’t a weakened side is either lying to themselves or deluded.
Of those who played, only Adam Webster, Dale Stephens, Pascal Gross and Neal Maupay have started at least half of the Albion’s Premier League games so far.
David Button, Leon Balogun and Gaetan Bong are on a big, fat zero. Alireza Jahanbakhsh and Ezequiel Schelotto – one. Bernardo – two. Yves Bissouma – five.
Imagine if illness ravaged the squad ahead of Everton away next week, forcing Potter into naming exactly the same starting line up at Goodison Park. And we then lost 3-0.
Such a heavy defeat would quite rightly be put down to the fact that we were forced into naming a second string side. If it would be considered second string next week, then it’s second string this week.
Having said that, the team that Potter named should however have been good enough to beat a Wednesday side who themselves made six changes from their regular Championship line up. The difference between the two was that the Albion players looked like they couldn’t give a toss.
And who can blame them for that? When the message from the management is that they very clearly don’t care about the FA Cup, why should the players? Sloppy passes, a lack of effort, Schelotto taking it upon himself to play in every position he could possibly think of. None of it mattered to those on the pitch because it didn’t matter to the club.
Potter and the Albion would rather rest players to finish 13th in the Premier League than finish 15th and go on a cup run. That’s not Potter’s fault – his bread and butter and the competition which keeps him in a job is the Premier League.
Rather, it’s a sad indictment of money-orientated modern day football where the balance sheet is more important than creating memories like last season’s semi final at Wembley or having the chance to put silverware in the trophy cabinet.
Last season’s FA Cup run wasn’t the reason for the Albion’s relegation battle
Many people are citing that run to the last four of the competition as a reason to be glad that we’re out of this year’s competition so early. The theory goes that Chris Hughton and the players got distracted by the FA Cup when they should have been concentrating on the Premier League.
Which is bollocks, frankly. There was no extra effort or determination saved for the FA Cup – we were woeful in every competition from January onwards.
It took a replay and Glenn Murray’s penis to see off West Bromwich Albion, who had half their youth side on the pitch at various points over the 120 minutes. We then only managed to salvage a penalty shoot out at Millwall because of the worst goalkeeping error you’ll ever see.
It wasn’t so much a march into the semi finals as a stumble, a trip and in the curious case of David Martin at the Den, a drop.
Hughton’s switch to 4-3-3, negative tactics and the players appearing to down tools were the reasons why we ended up avoiding relegation by the skin of our teeth. Not because we scraped wins over Bournemouth, West Brom and Derby County and drew with Millwall.
Is this Albion squad as strong as we first thought?
One of the most impressive aspects of the Potter era so far has been the way in which he’s managed his squad. Every time the clock shows that we’re just 75 minutes from kick off, we wait with baited breath to see what madcap team he’s picked this week.
Four centre backs in the starting line up? Three wingers? Five central midfielders? Potter is always coming up with innovative ways to use the players at his disposal and that is what makes him such a good manager.
These sweeping changes from week-to-week have led some into believing that this is the strongest group of players that we’ve ever had.
Losing to Wednesday chipped away at that mirage a little. Bong, Balogun and Schelotto looked like Championship players at best. As good as Jahanbakhsh has been in the past two games, two swallows do not make a shag – we need to see those levels of performance consistently from him in the Premier League over the coming months.
If our back ups like Bong, Balogun and Schelotto can be made to look like such plodders against a second string side from the second tier, how on Earth would they fare playing regularly in the Premier League? An injury to Bernardo and Martin Montoya and we could find out.
Brighton’s 18 best players are more than good enough to compete in the Premier League. Take a few of those out though, and we’re not as strong as we look. Potter’s challenge now in the transfer windows ahead is to improve the depth of the squad.
We also saw just how important Brighton’s three best performers so far this season are to Potterball. Without Lewis Dunk, Davy Propper and Aaron Mooy, nobody seemed to be able to play a five yard pass. There was no real leadership, quality or creativity.
Those three are the spine of the team and the beating heart of how Potter wants us to play. Which makes it even more imperative that the Albion tie down Mooy to a permanent deal as soon as possible.
Glenn Murray’s Brighton career looks to be over
There were some interesting reports in the week leading up to the game surrounding Murray. The most intriguing was when Potter said that he would ask Murray if he wanted to play, given that becoming cup tied may lessen his chances of securing a loan move to a Championship club.
Murray missing out on the 18 man squad appears to confirm that we’ve seen him in a Brighton shirt for the last time. Potter said in his post-match press conference that it was a “slight knock” that has caused Murray to miss out, at which point Potter’s nose began growing alarmingly and a man called Mister Geppetto turned up looking for his wooden puppet.
If Murray is to depart, then in some ways it’s a good thing he didn’t feature. Being involved in such a shit shower would have been a terrible way to say goodbye to one of the greatest strikers that the club have ever had.
Hopefully, we do get a chance to thank Murray for everything he has done for the Albion during his seven seasons with the club. As only the second ever man to score over 100 goals for Brighton, he deserves that at least.
The generational gap between Albion fans
One thing that this sorry display did throw into sharp focus was the difference in opinions between generations of Albion fans about the club’s attitude to the FA Cup.
The majority of those who wanted the club to take the competition more seriously were longer-suffering Brighton supporters. Those who were happy to sack it off in favour of having a better chance at finishing higher in the league, the Amex generation.
For those who watched at the Goldstone, Gillingham and Withdean, the FA Cup was a rare opportunity to see Brighton take on the best teams in the land.
Liverpool in 1991 – Johnny Crumplin Football Genius. Manchester United in 1993 – a game which helped save the club as the Albion’s share of the gate receipts from the tie at Old Trafford paid off the taxman.
Tottenham Hotspur in 2005 – Richard Carpenter’s free kick. West Ham United in 2007 – Carlos Tevez versus Kerry Mayo. Even Aston Villa as recently as 2010 was a huge deal. That’s why the competition holds such romantic appeal.
For those who have grown up watching Brighton at the Amex, playing in wonderful stadiums against the big six is the norm – they haven’t had to rely on the FA Cup to make that magic happen.
But this generational gap is also a sad reflection of the demise of the FA Cup in general. Older supporters love it because it used to be the biggest event in the football calendar. They remember the BBC’s all-day coverage and cup final songs, a time when it truly was the greatest competition in the world.
In the past 20 years, it’s been completely devalued. Clubs play second-string sides and stadiums are half empty – the Amex was one of the only to record an attendance figure of over 20,000 across the third round on Saturday.
Is it any wonder then that there is a generation of football fans who don’t care about the competition anymore? For whom finishing a couple of places higher in the Premier League table trumps an FA Cup run?
The FA Cup used to be important. That’s why losing to Wednesday and the manner in which it occurred drew such a fiery response.
After all, what will you celebrate more wildly? Solly March’s free kick hitting the back of the Millwall net and the missed penalty that sent Brighton to Wembley or an equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Burnley on the final day of the season which means finishing 13th rather than 15th?
Saturday showed us what the Albion prefer. Modern football at its worst.
