Brighton Player Ratings August 2023
August 2023 saw Brighton win two out of three matches, score nine goals and top the Premier League for a week in a hugely encouraging start to the 2023-24 season.
Luton Town were beaten 4-1 at the Amex with Wolves demolished a week later by the same scoreline at Molineux. The only blot on the Albion’s copybook came when suffering a 3-1 defeat against West Ham United… yes, the same West Ham who had not beaten Brighton in 12 previous attempts.
Scoring each of the 19 individuals who turned out for Brighton during the opening month of the campaign, here are our Albion Player Ratings for August 2023.
Kaoru Mitoma – 7.94
Not only does Mitoma top the Brighton Player Ratings for August 2023, but he also won the BBC Match of the Day Goal of the Month award for his Diego Maradona-esque individual effort at Wolves. Chimed in with an assist for the opener against Luton as well to start the new season in the same sort of form as he finished the last.
Pervis Estupinan – 7.84
Estupinan not attracting any serious bids in the summer is a mystery on a par with what happened to Agatha Christie when she disappeared for 10 days. Not that we are complaining. The best left back in the Premier League scored at Wolves, where he also claimed an assist to go with him setting up Evan Ferguson for the fourth against Luton.
Billy Gilmour – 7.48
Had to settle for a place on the bench in the Luton game. Made the most of his starting opportunity at Wolves, misplacing just one pass all afternoon and none in the final third. Combined with a decent showing against West Ham, it was enough to see Gilmour voted WAB August 2023 Player of the Month.
Solly March – 7.10
Solly March, Premier League top scorer. A sentence which written a year ago would have earned you a spell in a secure psychiatric unit. One goal headed past Luton was followed by a left foot and then a right foot finish at Wolves as he ended the month with three to his name.
Pascal Gross – 6.95
Played all three August matches as one of the two holding midfielders. No assists but did score the consolation in the West Ham game and earned his first ever call up to the German national team at the age of 32.
Evan Ferguson – 6.82
Only named on the bench for the opening two matches but that did not stop him getting off the mark for the season in the Luton game. On another day and facing a less inspired goalkeeper than Alphonse Areola, he gets a hat-trick against West Ham.
James Milner – 6.66
Two all-action performances at right back versus Luton and Wolves made it easy to forget that he is just a few years short of collecting his pension. Less impressive in the West Ham defeat, where David Moyes identified Milner’s side of the pitch as a potential weak spot which the Irons subsequently exploited.
Lewis Dunk – 6.61
There was a certain sense of irony that Dunk found himself in the England squad for the September internationals despite not having been at his best during August, as evidenced by him scoring below a 7 in the Player Ratings.
Joao Pedro – 6.59
A debut goal from the penalty spot for the Albion’s £30 million record signing. That it came against Luton would have been particularly enjoyable for a former Watford captain. Plenty of tricks and flicks marks Pedro out as an exciting player to watch.
Joel Veltman – 6.35
The early season form of Milner meant Veltman had to settle for three appearances from the bench. No coincidence than the Albion defence belatedly looked much tighter with him on the pitch.
Danny Welbeck 5.95
His leading the line and link up play was very underrated by a lot of Brighton fans in the Luton and Wolves win. Dropping him in as a number 10 against West Ham to make room for Ferguson did not really work, however.
Jason Steele – 5.94
Did not put a foot wrong in the two games he started against Luton and Wolves. Although Roberto De Zerbi had said in the summer that his goalkeepers would receive a 50-50 split of matches, it was still a surprise to see Steele replaced by Bart Verbruggen for the West Ham game.
Simon Adingra – 5.12
After a goal and assist laden year with Union Saint-Gilloise, Adingra arrived amid much fanfare. Like Pedro, he scored a debut goal against Luton but chances to make an impression were otherwise limited.
Julio Enciso – 4.88
His score of 9.14 against Wolves was the highest score from any Brighton player in any of the ratings through August. It was cruel in the extreme that a knee injury requiring surgery and at least four months out followed immediately after that masterclass at Molineux.
Jan Paul van Hecke – 4.11
Kicked off the season playing alongside Dunk in the Luton game. Could consider himself a little unlucky to be replaced by Adam Webster for the trip to Wolves.
Mahmoud Dahoud – 4.04
Neat and tidy in his sole start against Luton. De Zerbi has said he will need time to get up to speed with the way in which Brighton play, so expect Gilmour and Gross to be the Albion’s midfielder partnership for the foreseeable future.
Adam Webster – 3.94
Good at Wolves before a quite incredible performance in the West Ham defeat saw him culpable in one way or another for all three Irons goals. If you didn’t laugh, you’d have cried.
Bart Verbruggen – 2.71
Not the best start to his Albion career, facing three shots on target and conceding three goals. Admittedly, he was not helped by the poor defensive performance going on in front of him.
Adam Lallana – 2.58
Received his first competitive minutes since January when coming on against West Ham. Some decent scheming even though the game was already up by that point.
The August Brighton Player Ratings have been formulated through our matchday player scores. To play your part, make sure to follow us on Twitter and leave your post game player ratings in the relevant thread.
