Brighton & Hove Albion 2023-24 Season Review: April

Now I am not saying April was the worst month of the 2023-24 season for Brighton or anything. But the Albion failed to win a game, did not manage a single goal of their own and our WAB Player of the Month award went to the Burnley goalkeeper.

Arijanet Muric racked up 57.06 percent of the vote on account of his own goal as the Albion drew 1-1 at Burnley being the only time Brighton found the back of the net.

A sorry record read five games played, zero victories, two draws, three defeats, one scored, 11 conceded. Any hopes Brighton had of ending 2023-24 in the top six and qualifying for Europe again were well and truly extinguished in April as the campaign began petering out into nothingness.

Bore draw at Brentford

In a sign of what was to come, April kicked off with a 0-0 bore draw away at Brentford. Home goalkeeper Mark Flekken did not have a save to make as Brighton failed to have a meaningful shot on target all night.

The highlights on the Albion website lasted a little over two minutes. 30 seconds were dedicated to an incident where Lewis Dunk wanted a first half penalty. Just 90 seconds of action in a video package was telling of how dull it all was.

Were there any positives? A point kept the Albion only two behind West Ham United in seventh. Bart Verbruggen kept another clean sheet.

And there was no repeat of the scenes from the Gtech Stadium from last season, where Dick Knight could not get his ticket work, shouted “I’m the president of this fucking football club” and then gave himself a ‘voluntary’ 10-game ban.

Arsenal easily outgun Albion

12 months ago and the Albion had won 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium to all-but end any hopes Arsenal had of being crowned Premier League champions.

There was to be no repeat at the Amex the following April as the Gunners easily beat Brighton by the same scoreline to remain very much in the 2023-24 title race with Manchester City.

Arsenal were that good on a wet and windy Saturday evening at the Amex that referee John Brooks could be absolutely God-awful and yet it still felt like the scoreline reflected the game.

Mr Brooks came to the fore when awarding Arsenal a first half penalty after Tariq Lamptey brought down Gabriel Jesus in the box. Bukayo Saka duly converted to give the Gunners the lead.

Other baffling decisions included allowing Arsenal to take a quick free kick 10 yards further forward from where the original foul had taken place.

Mr Brooks also let Ben White falling to the ground clutching his throat after a brush with Pervis Estupinan go unpunished.

White deserved at least a yellow for trying to claim he had been attacked by The Undertaker in an attempt to get Estupinan in trouble. Utterly embarrassing and very deserving of Alan Shearer calling White a pratt (other descriptions like cheating bastard are available).

Kai Hazertz added a second for Arsenal after the break when Julio Enciso gave the ball away. Leandro Trossard then rubbed salt into the wounds by galloping clear to notch the third on his first return to the Amex since scuttling off to Belgium on the Eurostar to force through a transfer the previous January.

Arijanet to the rescue

Burnley 1-1 Brighton was hardly a surprising outcome. The stalemate made it 10 draws in 16 matches between the Clarets and Seagulls, although on this occasion Brighton could consider themselves very fortunate to claim a point.

The hosts were the better side throughout, deservedly taking a 74th minute lead via a gift from the Albion. Carlos Baleba played a woefully under hit back pass which subsequently became a perfect through ball for Josh Brownhill to latch onto and beat Bart Verbruggen.

Muric though proved to be in an equally generous mood just three minutes later. There was no Brighton player within 30 yards of the Burnley goalkeeper when he received a simple back pass from Sander Berge.

All Muric had to do was control the football. Somehow, it slipped straight under his boot and trickled across the line.

Those in the away end did not know whether to laugh or cheer. With hindsight, they should have done both. There would be precious little else for Brighton fans to enjoy through the rest of April.

Naïve Brighton crushed by City

With 2023-24 having been one never-ending injury crisis, Brighton fans greeted the April news Estupinan and Evan Ferguson were now out for the rest of the season with a mere shrug of the shoulders.

Nobody held much hope ahead of hosting Manchester City at the Amex either. That proved wise as the alleged financial cheats from the Etihad Stadium strolled to a 4-0 victory.

Roberto De Zerbi set up to play City at their own game. A brave decision when you have a full strength XI. A suicidal one with a team ravaged by injury and nine key players out.

Identity and principles are all well and good. Sometimes though it is okay to break from your philosophy and try another way. It was hard to defend De Zerbi against the charge he had no Plan B afterwards.

Kevin De Bruyne headed City into the lead after 17 minutes. Nine minutes later and Phil Foden doubled the advantage in controversial fashion.

Foden had slipped on the wet turf when running towards goal, which referee Jarred Gillett somehow concluded was worth a free kick. Foden took, the Brighton wall fell apart and Jason Steele was left helpless as the ball flew past him.

Five minutes later and it was three. Full debutant Valentin Barco gave the ball away as the Albion tried to pass their way out from the back and Foden pounced to score his second and City’s third.

Going at a run rate of one goal every 10 minutes through the first half hour, City could feasibly have racked up a 9-0 win. At half time, that sort of scoreline seemed entirely plausible.

The Albion though stemmed the flow. City added only one more when a long pass over the top put Kyle Walker in. Steele managed to challenge the England right back, only for the ball to fall straight to Julian Alvarez who guided into the net.

Capitulation against Cherries rounds off miserable April

Brighton ended April with one of the grimmest days of their 2023-24 season. A 3-0 defeat against Plucky Little Bournemouth was bad enough.

But then De Zerbi came out and said his players were lacking motivation because they could no longer qualify for Europe. Hardly what fans spending hard earned cash in a cost-of-living crisis and taking an entire Sunday to travel and watch the team want to hear.

De Zerbi’s team selection at the Vitality Stadium was interesting to say the least. Odel Offiah (newphew of rugby legend Martin) and Mark O’Mahony both came in for their full Premier League debuts.

His substitutions were even more bizarre. Trailing 2-0 and De Zerbi introduced Joel Veltman and Adam Webster from the bench.

Bournemouth needed only 13 minutes to take the lead. Woeful defending from a corner enabled Marcos Senesi to nod home from three yards.

Five minutes after the break and the Cherries moved 2-0 ahead. Dango Ouattara crossed and this time it was Enes Unal left unmarked to head home.

The third and final goal arrived via the impressive Justin Kluivert in the 89th minute. The Albion were again woeful defensively, allowing the Dutchman to waltz through and drill left-footed past his compatriot Verbruggen.

And so as April gave way to May, a 2023-24 season which had promised so much for Brighton was at risk of ending in total meltdown.

Would De Zerbi be sacked? Would he walk? Who would get injured next to further underline the club’s poor work in the previous two transfer windows?

Where was the next win coming from? Because with all four May games against clubs above the Albion in the table, it was hard to see any more points being collected.

April 2024 record: P5 W2 D0 L3 F3 A9
Results: 0-0 v Brentford (A), 0-3 v Arsenal (H), 1-1 v Burnley (A), 0-4 v Man City (H), 0-3 v Bournemouth (A)
League position at the end of the month: 12th
WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month: Arijanet Muric