Adam Lallana voted WAB March 2021 Brighton Player of the Month

March 29, 2021March 29, 2021 WeAreBrighton.com 0 Comments

It is March 2021, Brighton & Hove Albion have found a way to get Adam Lallana fit and completing 90 minutes for three matches in a row and lo and behold, the former Liverpool man is voted as our WAB Player of the Month.

When Lallana arrived at the Amex in the summer, the footballing world viewed it as a good signing if he could avoid injury. That was a pretty bloody big if as three seasons spent hopping in and out of the Anfield treatment room was testament to.

The gamble Brighton took on Lallana is now paying off handsomely. Praise for a Brighton playmaker does not come much higher than being compared to Vicente and yet Adam Lallana was so good in March 2021 that his performances were eerily reminiscent of El puñal de Benicalap.

Vicente’s magic came from him being of a quality that was miles better than anything else on the pitch. Lallana was in the same bracket in the victories over Southampton and Newcastle United and even the defeat against Leicester City, when he opened his Albion account with a well-taken goal.

He became the first player this season to top the WAB Player Ratings for three matches in a row this season and his leadership cannot be underestimated either, particularly in such a young team who have shown a fair bit of naivety at times.

Whilst Graham Potter bleats on about positives and learning after every game, Lallana came out and gave a brutally honest appraisal of the manner in which Brighton blew the half time lead he had given them over the Foxes, questioning his teammates mentality in thinking the game was won after 45 minutes. You can see why Lallana is marked out as future manager material.

Second place in March behind Lallana went to the winner of February’s Player of the Month, Joel Veltman. The Flying Dutchman showed his versatility, playing the first half of the month as a right wing back before switching to the left sided centre back in Potter’s back three midway through the win at St Mary’s.

With Veltman playing in his natural central berth, Brighton are yet to concede a goal. That more defensive role could not stop him claiming an assist either; it was Veltman’s excellent long pass out of defence which set up Leandro Trossard for the Albion’s opener against Newcastle.

Speaking of Trossard, the warmer weather brought by Spring led our favourite vampire to clamber out of his coffin and finish in third place, just three percent behind Veltman in the voting.

Trossard also scored the winner at Southampton with both his March goals being of the highest quality, lashed home with the sort of power and precision sorely lacking amongst Brighton forwards this season.

The Belgian international’s form was even good enough to see him nominated for Premier League Player of the Month. That he was only considered to be the third best Albion performer in March says a lot about what an excellent month the Albion enjoyed, with the relegation zone now a healthy six points away ahead of the final nine matches of the campaign. Onwards and upwards.