WeAreBrighton.com 2018-19 Season Review: October
October 2018 was the perfect month for the Albion. Nine points out of nine. No goals conceded. Glenn Murray becoming only the second player to score 100 goals for the club. Maty Ryan becoming the first ever Seagull to win a PFA Player of the Month award in the Premier League. New five year deals for Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk – with Dunk earning his first England call up a few hours later.
But perhaps it was too perfect. It was the month when 1-0 victories over West Ham United, Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers should have been seen as a hugely impressive achievement. Instead, they were greeted with that most dreaded of words in football circles – “only”.
Why, some Albion supporters wondered, were we “only” beating teams 1-0? With £50m invested in attacking talent over the past 10 months, should we not be playing on the front foot and winning far more convincingly? Could Chris Hughton not move away from his conservative 4-4-1-1 in favour of something a little more bold to get us the two or three goal wins that we were surely capable of?
Hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it? If we had Doctor Who here with her TARDIS, we could whip back in time and advise everyone to bloody enjoy those three 1-0 wins, because there’d only be another five Premier League victories over the course of the next seven months. And don’t whatever you do put pressure on Hughton to change formation.
Dunk and Duffy penned those extended contracts in the hours leading up to October’s opening game against West Ham and they celebrated by giving a masterclass in defending. They made five blocks and five clearances each while Maty Ryan behind them had to be alert to pull off four good saves over the 90 minutes.
The Hammers had 65% of possession, 17 shots and nine corners. Hughton admitted afterwards that we’d rode our luck at times, but we also had one thing they didn’t – an in form Murray.
The veteran striker loves playing against West Ham. His goal under the Amex Friday night lights not only decided the tie, but it also took him to six goals against the Hammers – two more than he’s managed against any other single opponent in his career.
It was another signer of a new contract who set Murray up. Beram Kayal had committed himself to the Albion until the summer of 2020 in the final throes of September and it was his industry that won possession for the Albion in midfield.
A quick exchange of passes followed which saw Kayal end up with the ball out on the left, from where he delivered a low cross that was shrewdly finished by Murray.
While a lot of players might have blasted the ball when found unmarked in the middle of the penalty area, Murray used all his experience to stroke it past Lukasz Fabianski for goal number 99 for the Albion.
Murray had little chance to seek out his 100th away at St James’ Park in Brighton’s next fixture. He was stretchered off after just nine minutes of the clash with Rafa Benitez’s Newcastle following a sickening accidental clash of heads with Federico Fernández.
Without Murray, Brighton were even more limited as an attacking force than usual. As a result, Newcastle had 68% of possession, 27 shots and 10 corners but for all their pressure, their attack was toothless. Against a side with a half-decent Premier League striker, you suspect that those stats might have translated into something on the scoreboard.
On the couple of occasions Newcastle managed to make their pressure count, they could find no way past Ryan. The Socceroos’ number one made a brilliant one handed stop to keep out Ayoze Perez with the first chance of the game and then he produced two outrageous saves to deny Jonjo Shelvey.
Brighton’s goal had an element of fortune about it as well. It was credited to Kayal but really it was all about Jose Izquierdo.
There had been some controversy surrounding Hughton’s decision to start Izquierdo over September Player of the Month Anthony Knockaert, but the move was justified just before the half hour mark when Izquierdo picked up a loose ball on the edge of the box and riffled a trademark long distance effort goalwards which Kayal deflected past Martin Dúbravka for a first away win for 350 days.
Who would lead the line in the presumed absence of Murray for October’s final game against Wolves a week later dominated the discussion in the run up the fixture.
New signing Florin Andone wasn’t thought to be match fit yet, which meant Locadia seemed likely to get the nod. There were some calling for the inclusion of Aaron Connolly who was averaging over a goal a game for the Development Squad at this point. Playing Duffy up front owing to the two goals he’d already got to his name was another suggestion coming straight from the Mark McGhee guide to management.
As it was, we needn’t have worried. Murray not only made a miracle recovery to lead the line, but he also marked these Lazarus-like powers or restoration with his 100th goal for the Albion and the return of ‘The Glenn’ celebration.
It seemed apt that the century was brought up thanks to a pass provided by another grizzled veteran in Bruno. The Albion captain delivered a mishit cross which fell to Murray at the back post to sweep home. That would prove to be Brighton’s only shot on target all afternoon.
That it was enough to win the game was thanks to an unreal goalkeeping performance from Ryan. He pulled off three stunning saves, the best of which came in stoppage time when he somehow kept out Ryan Bennett’s powerful effort from seven yards with one hand after a scramble in the box.
Before that, he’d readjusted amazingly to turn away Reuben Neves’ shot through a crowded area after a corner wasn’t cleared. Said corner had come about in the first place from Ryan parrying a low Matt Doherty effort around the post.
With performances like that, Ryan winning that PFA Player of the Month award was a foregone conclusion. He’d faced an astonishing 69 shots over October’s three games and yet hadn’t conceded a single goal as the Albion rose to the dizzy heights of 11th in the Premier League table.
Hughton was also up for Manager of the Month and the future was looking bright. With games against Everton, Cardiff City, Leicester City, Huddersfield Town, Crystal Palace and Burnley to come over the next six weeks, there was a genuine feeling that we could push for the top 10 with a run of more good results and a more positive approach.
Little did we know what was lurking around the corner.
October 2018 record: P3 W3 D0 L0 F3 A0
Results: 1-0 v West Ham H, 1-0 v Newcastle A, 1-0 v Wolves H
League position at the end of the month: 11th
WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month: Maty Ryan
