Kaoru Mitoma voted WAB January 2023 Brighton Player of the Month

February 7, 2023February 7, 2023 WeAreBrighton.com 0 Comments

History is made. With his victory in the WAB January 2023 Brighton Player of the Month poll, Kaoru Mitoma becomes the first man ever to be voted the winner in three consecutive awards.

It says much about just how good the Japanese forward has been that this originally looked like being one of the toughest Player of the Month contests ever.

The Albion had navigated January 2023 unbeaten, climbing to sixth in the table and eliminating holders Liverpool from the FA Cup to make safe passage to the fifth round of the competition.

Roberto De Zerbi was nominated for Manager of the Month and Solly March on the shortlist for Premier League Manger of the Month.

Yet despite being up for the league-wide accolade, March had to settle for second spot behind Mitoma in our WAB award just as he had in the December 2022 Player of the Month vote. Brighton’ wingers are thriving under De Zerbi.

Mitoma scored three times in January. The first two were goals which came via his calling card of cutting in from the left hand side, meandering to the edge of the opposition penalty area and bending the ball into the far corner.

Both Everton and Leicester City must have known what was coming. The problem is Mitoma is that good that he is impossible to stop.

The speed, the balance, the poise and the directness he displays when running with the ball is mesmerising. That university thesis he famously wrote on dribbling must be some document.

Mitoma’s third of the month was good enough to win FA Cup Goal of the Fourth Round. Brighton were seemingly heading to Anfield for a replay with Liverpool’s second half tactics of kicking anything in blue and white that moved looking set to pay off.

That was until the 92nd minute when a Pervis Estupinan ball into the box found Mitoma at the far post. His first touch was incredible, slicing across the ball so that it spun perfectly over the head of Joe Gomez.

Mitoma then followed up by smashing an unstoppable volley past Allison. The Amex exploded in celebration and the Albion were a step closer to Wembley with Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea already eliminated from the competition.

15 days prior to their FA Cup win over Jurgen Klopp’s Redmen and Brighton had beaten Liverpool 3-0 at home in the Premier League.

March was the star of the show that day, scoring twice and assisting Danny Welbeck for the third. It was March’s first career brace and sparked talks of an international call up for the next set of internationals in, er, March. March marching into the England squad in March?

He also scored in the 4-1 victory at Everton, giving him more goals in the month since top flight football returned from the winter break than he had managed in the previous three-and-a-bit seasons under Graham Potter.

It has long been said of March that he would become a frighteningly good player if he could add an end product to his game.

De Zerbi has done a lot of good work since his appointment as Brighton boss, but unlocking goals and assists from March is up there as one of the greatest achievements of new head coach so far.

Evan Ferguson completes the top three of the WAB January 2023 Player of the Month poll behind Kaoru Mitoma and Solly March.

The teenager was handed a surprise full debut against Everton. He more than repaid the faith shown by De Zerbi, becoming the youngest player since Michael Owen 25 years earlier to score and assist in the same Premier League game.

Even more important was his contribution at Leicester. Introduced from the bench midway through the second half, Ferguson met an Estupinan cross with a towering bullet header from 18 yards out buried into the bottom corner.

It was the sort of goal that the greatest target men to have played the game would have been proud of, let alone an 18-year-old with less than seven career Premier League appearances under their belt.

Expect to see a lot more of Ferguson in the top three of Player of the Month awards going forward. He is going to be some player.