Brighton & Hove Albion 2023-24 Season Review: December
On the positive side, December brought three wins for the Albion. On the negative side, December brought more injuries and Roberto De Zerbi began to publicly air the frustrations which would ultimately lead to his departure from Brighton at the end of the 2023-24 season.
De Zerbi was speaking a day before the Albion visited Crystal Palace in their last fixture before Christmas. After confirming Joel Veltman was to join Ansu Fati, Julio Enciso, Solly March, Tariq Lamptey, Adam Webster and Pervis Estupinan on the long-term injury list, the Italian head coach revealed what he wanted the club to do in January.
“About the transfer market, I explained what we need,” said De Zerbi. “Not only full-back. We need, I think, in three, four positions.”
“But, at the end, it is the owner, the club, to decide to bring anyone or not. I can say my opinion, I can say my idea, I can explain what we need if we want to compete in this way. Otherwise, we have to accept the different opinion.”
De Zerbi was never likely to get those three or four recruits he wanted. Tony Bloom dislikes doing business in January.
In any case, the Albion recruitment model focusses on young players with potential. Not first-team ready full backs or midfielders who can come in and make an instant impact replacing the likes of Veltman, Lamptey, Estupinan, Enciso or Fati.
What De Zerbi’s comments achieved was ratcheting up expectations amongst Albion fans of a big transfer window. At the same time, it put pressure on Bloom.
When the Albion did not make those three or four signings, everyone would know of the difference in opinion between board and manager.
Brighton do everything they can to project an image of a perfect football club where all is well. De Zerbi had brought that into question, at the same time as offering not-so-thinly veiled criticism of the Albion board.
And if there is one thing the Brighton board hate, it is criticism. Little did we know at the time, but that press conference on December 20th set the wheels in motion of Brighton losing the most successful manager in their history by the completion of the 2023-24 campaign.
Set piece struggles continue at Stamford Bridge
There was plenty of football played in December before all that, starting with Brighton making their second visit of the 2023-24 season to Stamford Bridge.
The Albion had been eliminated from the Carabao Cup in 1 -0 defeat against Chelsea in September. It was a similar story again as the Blues edged past Brighton by a single goal, this time winning 3-2.
There were many visibly tired faces scattered amongst the away end. A result of the travelling, Mythos, ouzo and tear gas involved in the trip to AEK Athens which rounded off November 2023 for Brighton.
And if supporters were struggling to keep up with the relentless schedule, imagine what it must be like for the players?
Brighton found themselves 2-0 down in a little over 20 minutes against Chelsea. Annoyingly, both goals came from set pieces and were entirely preventable even for a fatigued and weary set of players.
Conor Gallagher swung over a corner for the first. Benoit Badiashile was able to win a far post header and then had the time and space to watch the ball drop before hooking it back across goal. The unmarked Enzo Fernandez nodded in from close range.
Goal number two saw another deep Gallagher corner won at the back post by Nicolas Jackson. This time, Levi Colwill was left free to head home.
Facundo Buonanotte pulled one back with a fine effort bent past Robert Sanchez. Chelsea were reduced to 10 men shortly after, Gallagher earning a second yellow card for a lunge on Gilmour.
Brighton now had the whole second half to play against 10 men. Chelsea though were handed a controversial opportunity to extend their lead to 3-1 when VAR awarded the Blues a penalty.
Nobody in their right mind considered James Milner’s tackle on Mykhailo Mudryk a foul other than those at Stockley Park. Craig Pawson was sent to the screen.
The softest spot kick ever seen was given as a result. Everyone watching was flabbergasted. Fernandez made the most of the gift, smashing the spot kick down the middle.
Brighton dominated from that point on but it was not until the first of 10 minutes injury time they found the back of the net again.
Milner took a corner and Pedro headed in his 10th goal of the season. Unfortunately, it proved nothing more than a second consolation.
Hinshelwood announces his arrival by stinging Bees
Three days later and the second game of December saw one of the lowest Amex attendances of 2023-24 as Brighton fans stayed away due to a Wednesday night train strike.
Those who did make it along were treated to Jack Hinshelwood scoring his first Albion goal as the Seagulls beat Brentford 2-1.
De Zerbi had already showered Hinshelwood with praise, calling him the next Pascal Gross. It was with his fantastic header against the Bees though that the teenager really announced his arrival on the Premier League scene.
Brentford took the lead via a Bryan Mbeumo penalty midway through the first half. There could be no Brighton complaints after Jan Paul van Hecke took the interesting approach of rugby tackling Vitaly Janelt to the ground.
The Bees were ahead for only five minutes. Joao Pedro fed Kaoru Mitoma, he rolled inside to Gross on a drive forward and Der Kaiser picked out the far corner with unerring accuracy from the edge of the box.
With that, Brighton became the first team to score and concede in the opening 15 games of a top flight season since Wolves in 1934-35. A rare record acknowledged from a time before Sky Sports invented football in 1992.
Before netting what proved to be the winner, Hinshelwood was involved in a key moment at the other end when clearing off the line from Yoane Wissa.
Five minutes later and Hinshelwood charged forward, finding himself at the back post to meet a Gross cross with a towering header.
Young Trafford steals the show
You have to go back to the 2013-14 season for the last time the Albion had beaten Burnley at the Amex. Brighton were unable to end their barren run against the Clarets a decade on as their December meeting in the 2023-24 campaign ended 1-1.
This was largely down to Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford. A superb display of shot stopping earned the visitors only their eighth point of the season. Remind me again how Vincent Kompany has been given the Bayern Munich job?
Wilson Odobert put the Clarets into the lead on the stroke of half time. Simon Adingra headed home a Gross cross 13 minutes from time for the equaliser.
A disappointing afternoon was rounded off when the club cancelled the planned full time light show due to strong winds.
Wind of course famously impacts on flashing electric lights. The cancellation obviously had nothing to do with the Amex being half empty long before the end as supporters – rightly – assumed Brighton were not going to find a way past Trafford.
Pedro puts Albion top of Group of Death
The only Europa League fixture played in December saw Brighton round off the group stage of the competition with victory over Marseille as the 2023-24 season’s unforgettable European adventure rolled on.
A win for the Albion would see them top Group B. Marseille would qualify in first place if they avoided defeat. The carrot for winning the group was the significant advantage of skipping the round of 32 and moving straight into the last 16. The idea of two less games was music to the ears of an already stretched Brighton squad.
As expected, Marseille tried every trick in the book to eke out the draw they needed. Timewasting. Play acting. You name a type of gamesmanship, they did it.
For 88 minutes, it looked like it would work. But then Adam Lallana and Gross combined to find an opening in the Marseille defence through which to slip a pass.
Pedro burst through. Two touches, a swivel of the hips and a vicious left footed strike later and the ball was flying into the top corner to make it Brighton 1-0 Marseille.
Cue bedlam around the Amex. A flare went off. Pedro dived into the East Stand to celebrate. De Zerbi was in the West Stand crowd.
There was no time for Marseille to respond and salvage a draw. All that timewasting had come back to bite them. Brighton marched onto the last 16 on another unforgettable European night.
Outgunned by the Gunners
After the euphoria of Thursday came a not unsurprising 2-0 defeat at Premier League leaders Arsenal. Just like at Chelsea earlier in December and as a running theme through 2023-24, Brighton looked tired in the immediate aftermath of European exertions.
At the Emirates, it meant the Albion failing to score for the first time in 32 league matches to end a much-heralded club record streak.
Brighton could consider themselves fortunate to only ship two at the opposite end. Bart Verbruggen made a number of important saves whilst Lewis Dunk was a one-man defensive machine at times, seeming to single-handedly stop wave after wave of Arsenal attacks.
Gabriel Jesus opened the scoring in the first half with a header from a Gabriel Martinelli corner. No prizes for guessing the Albion’s marking was woeful.
The second came when Brighton were caught on the break by a quick counter attack led by Martinelli. The Brazilian slipped in Kai Havertz, who clinically beat Verbruggen whilst Dunk and Van Hecke appealed for offside.
Welbeck is Dat Guy against Palace
Having already spoken of his desire to see Brighton make three or four January signings, De Zerbi’s mood darkened further when Kaoru Mitoma and Simon Adingra were both injured in the 1-1 draw against Palace.
It was the fifth year in a row Seagulls and Eagles shared the spoils at Selhurst Park. Would anyone be against the two clubs just shaking hands on a draw beforehand in future, like in cricket?
This would give both teams 90 minutes valued rest and save Albion fans the time and effort of going to Selhurst, risking catching TB and every other disease from the 1800s and getting treated like cattle by the Metropolitan Police.
Entertainment was in short supply. A Verbruggen error gifted Palace the opening goal just before half time. The Dutch goalkeeper passed straight to Michael Olise when attempting to play out from the back.
Olise duly made the most of the early Christmas gift, crossing to the back post for Jordan Ayew to head Palace into the lead.
Two of Brighton’s more experienced players combined to bail out their young teammate for his mistake with 10 minutes remaining.
Gross crossed – a running theme of December – and Welbeck marked his return after two months out with a spectacular looping header placed into the very top corner of the Palace goal.
Further fireworks followed from De Zerbi afterwards in a Gus Poyet-esque post-match interview which appeared to question the club’s transfer policy.
“We concede another bad goal and we can play better and we can’t lose the ball in that way. We have to accept the policy of the club is to play with many young players,” De Zerbi said.
Wingless wonders thrash Spurs
Once De Zerbi had finished channelling the spirit of Poyet, his task was to formulate a way to beat Spurs without a single available winger. No Mitoma, no Adingra, no Fati, no March.
With wide players so pivotal to the success of Brighton playing DeZerbiBall, the final game of December was arguably when the 2023-24 injury crisis hit its peak.
De Zerbi’s answer was to pack out the middle of the pitch, pass through Spurs and try to take advantage of the suicidal high line Ange Postecoglou was making Tottenham’s trademark.
And it worked beautifully. Milner, Gilmour, Gross and Buonanotte played some magnificent one-touch stuff, knocking the ball around a dazed and confused Spurs with ease.
Welbeck and Pedro playing as a front two found themselves with frequent opportunities to gallop into 40 yards of space between the Tottenham defence and goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.
Pedro set up Hinshelwood to put Brighton 1-0 ahead. Pedro himself made it two from the penalty spot after Welbeck was hauled down.
Estupinan added the third with a 25 yard rocket. Another Pedro penalty earned by Evan Ferguson made it 4-0.
“We want five” the Amex chanted as Spurs fans began streaming out. Better than a fifth goal would have been a first Premier League clean sheet of the season. The Albion though blew that, conceding twice in the final 10 minutes to Alejo Veliz and Ben Davies.
That made it 23 domestic matches without a shutout. De Zerbi threw a water bottle in frustration at one point late on over those defensive frailties – although that was small fry in comparison to the exasperation the January transfer window was set to bring.
December 2023 record: P7 W3 D2 L2 F11 A10
Results: 2-3 v Chelsea (A), 2-1 v Brentford (H), 1-1 v Burnley (H), 1-0 v Marseille (H), 0-2 v Arsenal (A), 1-1 v Palace (A), 4-2 v Spurs (H)
League position at the end of the month: 8th
WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month: Jack Hinshelwood
