Dan Burn v Adama Traore wins Strangest Tactical Decision of 2020-21

Big Dan Burn has been a Brighton scapegoat on more than one occasion in the 2020-21 season, so it is refreshing to see that Albion supporters can recognise when a horror show performance was not entirely of the 6’7 defender’s own making – like when Adama Traore came to the Amex.

Things were going reasonably well for Burn and the Albion in the opening 30 minutes against Wolves in January. The game was nicely poised at 1-1 and Burn had done a decent job of keeping the dangerous Traore quiet with the help of Solly March covering. So far, so good.

What happened next in the mind of the Brighton manager was bizarre to say the least. Graham Potter decided to swap March and Leandro Trossard over, leaving Dan Burn ruthlessly exposed against Adama Traore.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been a questionable decision. Given that it came less than four weeks after Burn had been torn apart when trying to deal with Leicester City’s collection of quick and direct wingers in a 3-0 defeat at the King Power, it was bordering on insanity.

Over the course of the next 40 minutes, Burn scored an own goal, gave away a penalty, got booked and was finally hauled off after a chastening experience that would have given a lesser man PTSD.

It was one of the all-time great Brighton performances that people will be talking about for years to come, up there with anything the wonderful Colin Hawkins ever managed.

Nobody can therefore argue with Potter’s needless tinkering which left Burn in such a hopeless situation as being a worthy winner of the Graham Potter Strangest Tactical Decision of the Season 2020-21 award, taking 40.47 percent of the vote.

Christmas and New Year was clearly not a good time for the Albion manager as his second strangest decision was adjudged to have come four days earlier when Arsenal were the visitors to the Amex.

The Gunners arrived in Sussex below Brighton in the table and in pretty bad form. The Albion meanwhile needed to win to avoid setting a club record of 13 home games without a victory, eclipsing the 12 recorded by the Class of 1997-98 – aka the worst Brighton team ever.

You would have thought then that Potter would send out his strongest side in a winnable match. Instead, we were treated to a line up which featured no recognised centre forward as midfielder Alexis Mac Allister and winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh were charged with leading the attack.

Needless to say, Brighton failed to score as Arsenal left with a 1-0 victory – their first over the Albion in five attempts. It was a team selection strange enough to secure 22.42 percent of the vote.

Rounding off the top three was another negative setup in another winnable home game. When West Brom came to the Amex in October, they were yet to secure a single point on the road in the Premier League.

Brighton should have been targeting three points against one of the favourites for relegation and yet Potter named five defenders in his starting XI, including White in midfield.

It finished Brighton 1-1 West Brom with the Seagulls not even managing to score for themselves – it took a comical own goal from Jake Livermore to give Brighton a first half lead which was cancelled out seven minutes from the end by Karlan Grant.

WeAreBrighton.com Graham Potter Strangest Tactical Decision of the Season 2020-21 – The Results

Dan Burn against Adama Traore v Wolves (H) – 40.47%
Alexis Mac Allister and Alireza Jahanbakhsh front pairing v Arsenal (H) – 22.42%
Five defenders in starting XI v West Brom (H) – 18.38%
Bernardo central midfield v Arsenal (H)- 12.14%
Leandro Trossard lone striker v Spurs (A) – 3.70%
Pascal Gross holding midfield v Leicester (A) – 2.86%

Previous Winners: Leaving Glenn Murray on the bench at Bournemouth (2020)