Brighton & Hove Albion 2020-21 Season Review: April
Everyone knows that winning Manager of the Month is a curse but if your name is Graham Potter then merely being nominated is equally as bad. How else can you explain Brighton going from having their best month of the 2020-21 season in March to failing to win a game in April?
Okay, so the fixture list did throw up some pretty tough matches. There were trips to European Super League (more on that shortly) elite clubs Manchester United and Chelsea to contend with, but there was also a visit to already relegated Sheffield United and an Amex date against injury hit, out-of-form Everton. Two points from a possible 12 was a not a great return, all things considered.
That total might have been better had the trip to Old Trafford for the opening game of April not featured some of the appalling refereeing that was a staple of Manchester United v Brighton games in the 2020-21 season.
Back in September and the Red Devils were aided and abetted in stealing a 3-2 win at the Amex by a 97th minute penalty awarded by VAR after the final whistle had blown.
Although the scenes were not quite as farcical at the Theatre of Dreams, the video referee denied the Albion the most blatant penalty you will ever see when Harry Maguire grabbed Danny Welbeck, pulling him back just as he was about to connect with Neal Maupay’s low cross with only Dean Henderson to beat.
Brighton may have had a terrible 2020-21 season when it came to converting easy opportunities from inside the six yard box, but Welbeck was pretty reliable all year and in particularly good form in April and May.
He surely would have converted without Maguire’s illegal intervention halting him and so a spot kick was the clear and obvious outcome – although having missed two penalties in the space of an hour at West Brom back in February, there were obviously no guarantees that the Albion would have converted it.
Maupay and Welbeck had earlier linked up to good effect when Dat Guy gave Brighton a first half lead. The W-M formation with split strikers which Graham Potter had deployed to such good effect against in the 3-0 win over Newcastle United to round off March proved its worth again, Maupay delivering a brilliant cross from out on the right to find the head of Welbeck arriving in the box from out on the left.
Henderson did well to keep out Welbeck’s initial effort but Dat Guy was not to be denied and he put the ball into the back of the net at the second opportunity. In doing so, he became the first ever ex-United player to score against his former club at Old Trafford on three separate occasions.
Brighton were totally dominant in the first half. Henderson had to pull off an excellent save at full stretch to tip a Lewis Dunk header from a Pascal Gross free kick over the bar and with Yves Bissouma the best player on the park, United barely had a sniff.
Jakub Moder had an effort on the stroke of half time deflected wide before United came out a much better side after the break. The start of the second half was rather like the Alamo and Brighton did well to survive for 15 minutes before Marcus Rashford levelled things up.
A loose touch from Joel Veltman sent Bruno Fernandes on his way and although Veltman managed to recover and tackle Fernandes, the ball fell to Rashford who opened up his body to drill in another goal against Brighton – he loved scoring against the Albion in 2020-21 almost as much as he did forcing the government into embarrassing u-turns about feeding hungry children.
The penalty incident arrived on 70 minutes and the hosts made the most of their reprieve 13 minutes later, Mason Greenwood scoring the winner via a stooping header after an attempted volley spooned off Paul Pogba’s shin.
Four days after Manchester United 2-1 Brighton and the Duke of Edinburgh sadly passed away. As a result, the BBC cancelled all its scheduled programming to pay tribute, leading some to complain about it being the most boring television event of the year.
A further four days after Prince Phillip had made his free transfer to the palace in the sky, Brighton and Everton managed to outdo the wall-to-wall coverage of the Duke’s death by playing out the most boring game of not just April, but the entire 2020-21 season.
This led to some debate over whether Brighton 0-0 Everton was a good result or not. On the one hand, Everton arrived riddled with injuries and with their hopes of Champions League football fast evaporating. They could have been there for the taking.
On the other, the Toffees had the best away record in the Premier League and could still call upon the services of players like Richarlison and James Rodriquez who, contrary to the best WhatsApp rumour there has ever been, had not secretly transitioned to a woman in the preceding few months.
The most notable aspect of the 90 minutes of sheer boredom was the praise that came Bissouma’s way at the final whistle. Gary Lineker described Bissouma as an “exceptional footballer” and after the game, Jamie Carragher in the Monday Night Football studio was singing the midfielder’s praises too.
Unsurprisingly, Bissouma would end up winning our WAB April Player of the Month award by an absolute landslide. He was outstanding again in the Albion’s next match, a 0-0 draw away at Chelsea which was completely overshadowed by the aforementioned European Super League.
48 hours before Brighton’s Tuesday night date at Stamford Bridge, 12 so-called elite clubs including the Premier League’s big six announced that they were to form their own European Super League.
Only those 12 clubs could enter, sparing the likes of Arsenal and Spurs the embarrassment of failing to qualify for the Champions League each season by finishing below clubs such as Leicester City and West Ham United operating on a fraction of the big boys’ budgets.
The reaction to the plans was condemnation from fans, players and pretty much everyone across the football world. Chelsea supporters turned out in their numbers to protest against their club’s decision to sign up for the European Super League ahead of the Albion’s visit and a peaceful sit in meant that neither team coach could reach the stadium, resulting in kick off being delayed by 15 minutes.
It took the appearance of Chelsea legend and current technical director Petr Cech in the carpark to clear the streets so that both buses could fight their way through. Cech told the gathered masses: “Let me sort this out. Let the bus go in. Give people time.”
Cech was called a traitor in response, a remarkable label for supporters to use for a bloke who won four Premier League titles, three FA Cups and a Champions League in his playing days for the Blues. Nobody could be any doubt about the strength of feeling against the European Super League with language like that.
Brighton for their part did not hold back on their feelings either. Graham Potter spoke brilliantly before the game, the uncontroversial and somewhat dull persona he normally cloaks himself in during interviews was momentarily removed and we got some brutal honesty from the Albion boss.
“To create a situation where you have got a closed shop, a cartel if you like, an oligopoly, an organisation where they are putting profit ahead of the consumer or the football supporter. That’s the sad thing.”
“They mistake the fan for the consumer and if you do that then we are in real, real trouble.” There was a certain irony in Potter’s words if you are old enough to remember when Paul Barber caused such a furore by referring to fans as customers when he first arrived at the Amex in 2013.
Brighton’s players wore t-shirts during their warmup with messages reading “Champions League earn it” on the front and “Football is for the fans” on the back, although not those who want to take flasks to games obviously.
The biggest statement that the Albion made though was by holding Chelsea to a 0-0 draw, the first time any Brighton side has left Stamford Bridge with anything to show for their efforts.
How could the Blues consider themselves an elite club worthy of a place in a closed-shop European ‘Super’ League when they could not even beat a Team Like Brighton at home?
The Albion might even have won it once Adam Lallana was introduced for the final 20 minutes. The midfielder created numerous good opportunities in his short time on the pitch, including teeing up Welbeck for a curling effort from 20 yards which beat Kepa Arrizabalaga but not the upright.
There was one scare late on when Callum Hudson-Odoi looked like he might have been about to gallop clear, only for Ben White to produce a tactical foul to halt him just inside the Albion half.
White had already been booked and so Stuart Attwell had little choice but to send him off. As far as red cards go, it was one of the most sensible you will ever see and the definition of taking one for the team with only seconds remaining – a sign of how good White’s footballing intelligence is.
By the time the full time whistle blew, it was not only Chelsea’s 100% record over Brighton at the Bridge which had crumbled. So too had the European Super League as Liverpool resigned after a player revolt led by Jordan Henderson, Ed Woodward stepped down as CEO of Manchester United and the Albion’s hosts confirmed that they too were pulling out.
There was of course only one way that Brighton could follow up a superb point against the future Champions League winners – by losing their final game of April 1-0 away at Sheffield United, whose relegation from the Premier League had been confirmed with five matches of 2020-21 still to play.
The Blades had suffered six consecutive defeats coming into the game, five of which had come under caretaker boss Paul Heckingbottom who was yet to earn a single point as United manager. And they had scored only once in that sequence.
To make the outcome even more predictable, Brighton knew that victory at Bramall Lane would pretty much guarantee their own top flight survival after a run of only one loss in the previous six – that undeserved defeat at Manchester United.
In an all too familiar story, the Albion were woeful in front of goal with Maupay the main culprit. He was denied twice by Aaron Ramsdale before producing a simply astonishing miss in the second half, hooking the ball over the bar from three yards out after a cross from Alireza Jahanbakhsh.
Brighton fell behind on 19 minutes to a goal brought about by defending perfectly suited to the Benny Hill theme tune. A heavy touch from Adam Webster as United tried to break from an Albion corner played the ball perfectly into space for a home advance on Robert Sanchez’s goal.
Ben Osborn took advantage, crossing into the box where Veltman’s unconvincing clearance was then sliced by Gross straight to David McGoldrick who swivelled on the ball to beat Sanchez diving the wrong way.
There was at least the sight of Jose Izquierdo ending two years of injury hell by coming off the bench for a late cameo. He nearly had a fairy tale return too, cutting inside in trademark style before unleashing a vicious 25 yarder which Ramsdale had to be alert to parry away.
Had that gone in, it would have been a fine way to bring down the curtain on his Albion career. It also would have made a strange April slightly more tolerable – instead Brighton went into the final month of the 2020-21 still looking to secure their Premier League survival.
April 2021 record: P4 W0 D2 L2 F1 A3
Results: 1-2 v Manchester United (A), 0-0 v Everton (H), 0-0 v Chelsea (A), 0-1 v Sheffield United (A)
League position at the end of the month: 16th
WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month: Yves Bissouma
