Brighton Player Ratings September 2023
September 20233 proved something of a mixed bag for Brighton. On the one hand, there were victories over two of last season’s top four as Newcastle United were beaten at the Amex and Manchester United at Old Trafford. In stunning style too.
Then there was the total car crash of a 6-1 defeat at Aston Villa and a somewhat disappointing debut in the Europa League, when AEK Athens showed the Albion that European football is as much about experience and nous as it is being a good English team.
Roberto De Zerbi heavily rotated throughout the month, which may have been part of the reason why results and performances were so inconsistent.
This chopping and changing and lack of minutes combined with the shambles at Villa Park which attracted astonishingly bad marks means nobody scored more than a seven in our WAB Player Ratings for September 2023.
Billy Gilmour – 6.96
A good time for Gilmour who completes the double, topping the Player Ratings at the same time as being voted WAB Brighton September 2023 Player of the Month. Evan Ferguson took the headlines after the Newcastle victory and Kaoru Mitoma from the win over Plucky Little Bournemouth, but Gilmour was just as integral to those successes.
Joao Pedro – 6.96
No way Pedro! Contributed three goals through September 2023 to finish on the same score as Gilmour as he continues to make a promising start to his Brighton career. A high quality strike at Old Trafford was followed by two penalties which he won and converted in the AEK defeat.
Kaoru Mitoma – 6.51
There is making an impact from the bench, and then there is scoring within 20 seconds of coming on. An outrageous showing following his half time introduction in the Bournemouth game pushes the Japanese Bullet Train into third place in the Brighton Player Ratings for September 2023.
Jan Paul van Hecke – 6.14
The highest scoring centre back in the September 2023 Player Ratings tells you everything you need to know about the month Van Hecke had when selected at the heart of the Brighton defence.
Pascal Gross – 5.81
Popped up with his traditional goal against United, making it a scarcely believable seven past the Red Devils in his Albion career so far. If anybody doubted how important he is to the Seagulls, then the way Brighton were completely overrun in midfield without him in the Villa debacle offers some indication.
Danny Welbeck – 5.80
Bit of a surprise to see Welbeck riding so high to be honest. It is largely on account of his performance at Old Trafford, where he scored in front of the Stretford End and stretched the home defence all afternoon.
Lewis Dunk – 5.74
Don’t let Gareth Southgate see this rating, it will only give the England manager more cause to select Harry Maguire over Dunk. The Albion captain’s score is badly impacted by what happened at Villa Park… and he is not the only one, as we are about to see.
Joel Veltman – 5.67
Excellent against Newcastle and kept Marcus Rashford quiet for the most part when Brighton went to United. Awful in the Villa game, however… and you know it is bad when the dependable Dutchman has a mare.
Simon Adingra – 5.66
Only started two matches but both of those resulted in 3-1 wins away at United and home to Bournemouth. De Zerbi is clearly easing him into the Premier League slowly. Once he gets properly unleashed, expect fireworks.
Evan Ferguson – 5.59
Joined a very elite club of 18-year-olds to score a Premier League hat-trick with his treble to sink the Saudi Sportswashers. Was sent home from international duty a few days later with an injury and then struggled throughout the rest of the month. De Zerbi later revealed Ferguson had some sort of illness.
Ansu Fati – 5.55
When everyone was getting giddy about the Albion signing Barcelona’s number 10, nobody could have imagined we would see him produce an Aaron Connolly style miss. That though is what we got at Chelsea, followed three days later by a much improved finish to net the consolation against Villa.
Tariq Lamptey – 5.54
Updated song needed please… Lamptey is no longer a starman playing on the right, but a starman playing on the left. Two assists from his new role when Pervis Estupinan was rested for the United game and he was one of the few players to come away from Villa Park with any sort of credit having come on at half time.
Adam Lallana – 5.27
Ran the show on his one start of the month against United. Some decent cameos otherwise.
Bart Verbruggen – 5.01
Produced a terrible error to gift Bournemouth their goal at the Amex. Made up for it with a couple of important second half saves and was undoubtedly the best Albion goalkeeper through September.
James Milner – 4.98
Limped out of the AEK game injured. Restricted to substitute outings against Newcastle and United prior to that with Veltman preferred at right back.
Pervis Estupinan – 4.81
Estupinan was the biggest victim of that Villa game, recording a frankly impressive 1.89 for his 45 minutes work before De Zerbi hauled him. That completely ruined his month.
Carlos Baleba – 4.42
The calls for Baleba to be given more game time increased through September, especially after a brilliant performance from the bench in the Bournemouth win. Went onto be one of the better players when Brighton exited the Carabao Cup in a 1-0 reversal at Chelsea.
Jason Steele – 4.39
Not a particularly good month for Steele as his three starts saw the Albion ship nine goals… from what felt like nine shots on target. It is something of a surprise more questions are not being asked about De Zerbi’s policy of rotating goalkeepers.
Solly March – 3.75
March finds himself a long way down the Player Ratings on account of two of his three September 2023 starts coming in games Brighton lost to AEK and Villa.
Facundo Buonanotte – 3.69
Buonanotte looked in his brief appearances very much like a young player who should have gone out on loan this season to play regular first team football. Injury to Julio Enciso scuppered that plan.
Igor Julio – 3.32
Two starts for the £15 million summer signing from Fiorentina and two defeats. His struggles in September summed up by the booking he picked up against AEK when having to cynically pull back a forward who had escaped him far too easily for a free run at goal.
Jack Hinshelwood – 2.98
Was given a surprise full debut at Villa Park. Given the circus going on around him, he actually did alright.
Adam Webster – 2.63
Speaking of the circus at Villa Park and players who did alright… Webster was not one of them. Hardly a surprise that a man who famously needs a run of games to find his best form struggled when there was so much rotation going on through the month.
The September 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.
