Brighton & Hove Albion 2023-24 Season Review: January

January had the look of a pivotal month in the 2023-24 season with the winter transfer window giving Brighton a chance to strengthen Roberto De Zerbi’s injury-ravaged squad.

De Zerbi said in December 2023 that he felt the Albion needed three or four new faces. He ended up with only one. 19-year-old left back Valentin Barco arrived for £7.8 million from Boca Juniors.

Barco’s age and inexperience though meant De Zerbi was reluctant to use him in Premier League action until the final month of the season, once he had acclimatised to English football.

So, whilst Barco does look a ridiculously exciting talent / future Ballon d’Or winner, the Seagulls made no immediately ready first team signings.

Tony Bloom instead gave an interview in the middle of January in which he said every injured Brighton player would return by the middle of February, except Solly March who was out for the rest of 2023-24.

Bloom was seemingly dampening down expectations of a busy window. For someone as shrewd as him, assuming all absentees would return along with there being no more injuries to further decimate De Zerbi’s squad seemed a bizarre position to take.

De Zerbi was left frustrated. Ultimately, it was this difference in opinion between head coach and chairman over transfer policy which led to their parting of ways five months later.

Miracle of miracles, Brighton keep a clean sheet

January kicked off for Brighton away at West Ham United, where a first clean sheet of the 2023-24 season was recorded. It ended a club record run of 25 games without a shutout, going all the way back to the 3-0 win away at Arsenal in May.

Both Jason Steele and opposite number Alphonse Areola but this was largely a dull game in a dull stadium played out to a dull atmosphere.

Doing it on a cold January in Stoke

The third round draw for the 2023-24 FA Cup gave Brighton a chance to prove they could do it on a cold January day in Stoke. And they duly did do it, winning 4-2 in a six goal thriller.

De Zerbi promised to name a strong side at the Bet365 Stadium. He was true to his word, the only non-regular in the XI being Jakub Moder making his first start since suffering a devastating ACL injury in April 2022.

The message was clear. De Zerbi and the Albion were treating the FA Cup seriously. They wanted to avenge the previous season’s cruel semi final defeat on penalties to Manchester United.

Not that things got off to the best of starts. For much of the first half, Stoke were the better side. They probably should have led by more than just a comical 11th minute own goal from Jan Paul van Hecke.

Lewis Dunk sparked the interesting chain of events leading to the Potters taking the lead. Dunk passed straight to home defender Ki-Jana Hoever.

Hoever in turn released Bae Jun-Ho down the right flank and his low cross was struck clinically past Bart Vebruggen by Van Hecke.

Brighton needed a goal out of nothing to draw level. Pervis Estupinan latched onto a Billy Gilmour header, hitting an unstoppable rocket into the top corner just before half time.

A clever short corner routine put the Albion ahead early in the second half. Pascal Gross and Estupinan exchanged a one-two, Gross whipped over a cross and Dunk headed home at the back post.

Dunk’s interesting afternoon continued when he handled a Stoke corner, gifting the hosts a penalty in the process. Lewis Baker smashed home to leave a replay looming large with 25 minutes remaining.

Joao Pedro clearly didn’t fancy a second match against the Potters as his quickfire double booked Brighton their place in round four.

In the process, he saved many a Dry January. There is absolutely no way Seagulls supporters would have made it through a midweek home game against Stoke without drinking a litre of cooking sherry beforehand.

Pedro first headed home another ball into the box from Gross. The Brazilian forward then slid home a low cross from Van Hecke, who found himself breaking through the Stoke defence for an assist which atoned for the earlier own goal.

“I took a night off work to watch that shit”

The Premier League winter break meant Brighton had 16 days off between their win at Stoke and the visit of Wolves to the Amex.

Most Albion fans hoped the rest would leave a refreshed squad ready to push for Europe, starting with victory against opponents whom Brighton had scored 13 goals past in three wins under De Zerbi.

One Seagulls fan overhead saying “I took a night off to watch that shit” in the West Upper afterwards was telling that things did not quite go according to plan.

But a 0-0 draw with Wolves was by no means a terrible result either. The Old Gold were in good form under Gary O’Neil. Steele keeping back-to-back Premier League clean sheets was also promising after such a long wait for one. London Buses and all that…

Of concern though was Brighton failing to score in consecutive Premier League games for the first time in 2023-24, underlining the importance of the January transfer window.

The Albion looked toothless with all four of their wingers unavailable. Little did we know this would go onto be a running theme for much of the second half of the campaign.

Five star Albion blunt Blades

In contrast to their efforts against Wolves, Brighton had no problem at all hammering Sheffield United 5-2 to book their place in round five of the FA Cup.

Joao Pedro was the headline maker. His first hat-trick in English football moved him onto 18 for the season. Had he not gone onto miss eight weeks between February and April, Pedro surely would have beaten Michael Robinson’s record of 22 goals in a top flight season.

Facundo Buonanotte opened the scoring in spectacular style on the quarter hour mark. A feint and a shimmy saw him cut from the left to blast an unstoppable effort into the top corner from 20 yards.

12 minutes after that and Pedro doubled the advantage with a trademark perfectly taken penalty. It was all a little too easy. Or at least it was until the Albion decided to gift United a way back into the tie.

Verbruggen was at fault for the first Blades goal on 44 minutes. William Osula crossed low into the box. When Verbruggen made a mess of gathering, Gustavo Hamer fired home.

Eight minutes of first half stoppage time were added. In the last of those, Adam Webster suffered a total brain malfunction.

Jayden Bogle crossed and rather than try and cut the ball out, Webster decided to push Osula into the path of it.

When Osula put a free header beyond the out-of-position Verbruggen, Webster then raised his arm into the air and began hopping around appealing for offside. Lovely stuff for fans of weird and wonderful defending.

Presumably having been read a riot act by De Zerbi during the interval, Brighton set about re-establishing a lead. Seven minutes had elapsed when Buonanotte crossed and Bogle handled as he challenged Ferguson.

Brighton had their second penalty of the afternoon confirmed following a third extended VAR intervention. Pedro stepped up and made 3-2.

The hat-trick goal followed not long after. Substitute Danny Welbeck had only been on the pitch five minutes when he picked out Pedro on the edge of the box.

Pedro was well-attended to by several red and white shirts but his first touch was sublime in creating enough space for a shot which he duly tucked just inside the post.

Welbeck added the icing to the cake in the seventh minute of second half stoppage time with the clock now well past 5pm.

Anyone booked on a 5.30pm train out of Sheffield would have missed Dat Guy escape down the right past one Blades defender before beating Grbic at the near post with a clinical finish.

Horror show against the Hatters

January was rounded off with the most diabolical Brighton performance of 2023-24, coming just 24 hours before the transfer window shut.

The Albion’s trip to Luton Town was done and dusted inside of 180 seconds. Less time than it takes to boil a very soft egg, drive 3.5 miles on a motorway, brush your teeth or listen to Wannabe by the Spice Girls.

Luton took the lead after only 18 seconds It went something like this. Brighton kicked off. Played a couple of passes around. Buonanotte lost the ball.

Luton worked possession to Chiedozie Ogbene. He crossed from the right. Carlton Morris headed down. Elijah Adebayo got there before Steele and flicked home.

Two minutes later and the Hatters doubled the advantage. Adebayo hit a through ball down that same channel where the Albion had already gone to pieces conceding the opener.

Steele came haring 30 yards off his line to try and beat Ogbene to the pass. No Dry January for the Albion goalkeeper; his decision making was the sort only a man who has consumed 15 pints of Stella Artois makes.

With grim predictability, Steele was a distant second in his race against Ogbene. The Luton winger rounded Steele and was left with the simple task of rolling into the back of the net.

Hatters goal number three arrived just before half time. De Zerbi opted for a 3-4-3 formation over his normal 4-2-3-1 to try and account for still having no wingers to pick from.

The decision though proved a disaster. Yet another gap appeared down the left between Igor and Estupinan. Ross Barkley picked out Adebayo to beat Steele at his near post.

There were still 30 minutes to play when Luton added their fourth. Pedro flicked on a Hatters corner. Adebayo was lost by Gilmour and Jan Paul van Hecke, allowing the Hatters forward a free header to complete his hat-trick.

Just what the doctor ordered ahead of the small matter of February kicking off with Crystal Palace visiting the Amex…

January 2024 record: P5 W2 D2 L1 F9 A8
Results: 0-0 v West Ham (A), 4-2 v Stoke City (A), 0-0 v Wolves (H), 5-2 v Sheff United (A), 0-4 v Luton (A)
League position at the end of the month: 8th
WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month: Joao Pedro