2019-20 Season Review: June
After 15 long weeks, Brighton & Hove Albion resumed their 2019-20 Premier League season on June 24th.
Nobody really knew what to expect following nearly four months off and with games now taking place in an entirely different environment to what the players were used to, but one thing was certain – the Albion had to turn around their dismal 2020 form if they were to have any chance of avoiding relegation.
Two wins in 19 and no victory since December 28th. We seen to have mentioned those little factoids in every part of our season review so far, but they are worth hammering home again.
Without remembering how bad we were between December and March, you cannot appreciate the turnaround that Graham Potter instigated in the final nine matches.
They were nine tough matches too. Five of Brighton’s opponents still harboured hopes of qualifying for Europe and there were games against Southampton and Burnley thrown in for good measure – two sides who we had not beaten since 2012 and 2013 respectively.
Brighton’s first June opponents were a team who the Albion had a much better recent record against – Arsenal. The December 2019 win at the Emirates Stadium had been one of the highlights of the season, although both sides had been on vastly different trajectories since then.
The Seagulls had beaten only Plucky Little Bournemouth in the intervening seven months. Arsenal meanwhile had appointed Mikel Arteta as manager and arrived at the Amex having lost just twice since New Year’s Day.
Brighton – and in particular, Neal Maupay – showed that none of that mattered in the post-lockdown world in a ridiculously entertaining game which deserved to be played out in front of a full Amex rather than merely Paul Barber’s £20 cardboard cut outs.
Maupay took centre stage just before half time when he challenged Bernd Leno for a high ball on the edge of the box, giving the Arsenal goalkeeper an innocuous nudge. That caused Leno to land awkwardly and do some serious damage to his knee in the process.
Leno and Arsenal fans were livid with Maupay. Suggestions of punishment ranged from a red card to a seven game ban to the French striker having his head guillotined off like Marie Antoinette.
Maupay being Maupay of course ended up getting the last laugh. A stunning goal from Nicolas Pepe gave the Gunners a 68th minute lead. Lewis Dunk cancelled it out seven minutes later, scoring via a slide tackle.
That set the stage nicely for Maupay to fire home a 95th minute winner past Arsenal substitute goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez to make it Brighton 2-1 Arsenal and secure a very big three points for the Albion.
The fun wasn’t done there, either. A spot of handbags broke out after the final whistle, including Sideshow Bob look-a-like Matteo Guendouzi strangling Maupay. So much for social distancing and two metre rules.
Maupay then used his post-game interview to tell Arsenal’s players that they needed to learn humility. On its own, it looked like more classic shithouse behaviour from the striker until a few days later when it was revealed that Guendouzi had spent the game mocking the Albion players for not earning as much as him and being far less likely to win any trophies any time soon.
The sweet, sweet irony of it all – Guendouzi’s weekly wage of £40,000 is less than Maupay, Dunk and Brighton’s other top earners take home and by the time Arsenal lifted the FA Cup, Guendouzi had been dropped entirely with Arteta looking to sell because of his antics at the Amex. Less money and no trophies. Unlucky mate.
There seemed little prospect that the trip to Leicester City three days later could match the Arsenal game for drama. It was another tough outing for Brighton with Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes having spent the entirety of the 2019-20 season up until that point in June in Champions League contention.
Potter sprung something of a surprise with his selection, naming by far Brighton’s youngest ever Premier League team. Alexis Mac Allister made his first Premier League start and while the Argentinian playmaker had attracted all the headlines following his January arrival from Boca Juniors, it was another winter transfer window signing who shone at Leicester.
19-year-old Tariq Lamptey looked like a 14-year-old who had accidentally wandered onto the pitch at the King Power Stadium when he should have been heading for a year nine science class.
Lamptey played though like a Premier League veteran, a fact made even more impressive when you consider that he was up against Leicester’s lively attack of Demari Gray, James Maddison and the Premier League’s eventual top scorer, Jamie Vardy.
The game itself was something of a dull spectacle but nobody could complain about the point Brighton gained from a 0-0 draw. It could have even been all three had Maupay not seen a weak first half penalty saved by Kasper Schmeichel, the third spot kick that the Danish goalkeeper has saved from an Albion player in his career.
Four pretty unexpected points from two tough fixtures meant that the third and final game of June with Manchester United visiting the Amex was something of a free hit for Brighton as their 2019-20 relegation worries had eased considerably.
That certainly seemed to be the way that Potter was viewing it. When he appeared in the dugout, it looked like he had let his wife cut his hair.
It would not have been a surprise if he admitted that she had picked the team too, given that the starting line up was one of his strangest of season. Potter clearly had one eye on the weekend’s trip to bottom club Norwich City.
Lamptey was rewarded for his man-of-the-match debut against Leicester at right back by being shoved forward into an unfamiliar right wing role. Aaron Connolly was deployed as a lone striker and charged with battling Harry Maguire and Victor Lindelof for long balls while Brighton’s chief creators in Leandro Trossard, Aaron Mooy and Pascal Gross all sat on the bench alongside top scorer Maupay.
The Seagulls went into half time trailing 2-0 to goals from Mason Greenwood and Bruno Fernandes. Potter threw his initial game plan out the window at the break, chucking on Trossard and Maupay and although that drew a much improved second 45, United scored a breathtaking third on the counter through Fernandes to ease to a 3-0 victory.
It should be stated that United were in superb form during June and gave the best performance of any opposition side that Brighton faced in the entire 2019-20 season. Potter could have named a full strength side and we still would have been beaten.
The Albion could be pleased with their first three games of project restart, all things considered. A win and a draw was better than most Brighton fans would have been expecting.
Even more encouraging than the points haul was that Potter had clearly gone away and used March, April, May and June to analyse what had worked for Brighton and what had not in the previous seven months of the 2019-20 season.
There had been a subtle change in approach as a result. The Albion now had less possession but were doing more with it. It was a move away from the principals of Potterball and Potter deserved a lot of praise for that; many managers fail because they refuse to deviate from their philosophy.
Potter showed in June that he was willing to compromise his beliefs in the search for points. Players who had flattered to deceive a little at times suddenly began thriving, none more so than Yves Bissouma who became one of the first names on the team sheet on his way to winning our WeAreBrighton.com June Player of the Month award.
Brighton ended June six points clear of the relegation zone. They had gone from looking like a side who were sleepwalking towards the Championship back in March to being just a couple of points away from survival and with six July games left in which to secure them.
Thank God for lockdown.
June 2020 record: P3 W1 D1 L1 F2 A4
Results: 2-1 v Arsenal (H), 0-0 v Leicester (A), 0-3 v Manchester United (H)
League position at the end of the month: 15th
WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month: Yves Bissouma
