Neal Maupay voted WAB September 2021 Brighton Player of the Month

October 5, 2021October 5, 2021 WeAreBrighton.com 0 Comments

Shane Duffy is not the only Albion player to have undergone a renaissance in the 2021-22 season. Although not quite as dramatic, the much-maligned Neal Maupay has been transformed from pantomime villain at the end of the previous campaign into a man playing well enough to be voted as our WAB Brighton Player of the Month for September 2021.

Maupay ended the 2020-21 in pretty ignominious fashion, picking up a red card after the final whistle of May’s 2-1 defeat away at Wolves for calling referee Jonathan Moss a “f**king joke”.

Four goals in six months prior to his outburst at Molineux did not exactly make for great reading, either. Maupay’s struggles were arguably the biggest single reason why most Albion supporters would have sold their own mothers in exchange for a new centre forward in the summer.

And yet here we sit, two months into the new season. With seven Premier League matches played, Maupay has already equalled half of his entire goal haul from 2020-21 and now he has a first ever WAB Player of the Month award to his name.

Scoring a last minute equaliser to snatch a point from your arch rivals is always likely to count in your favour, but Maupay being the Albion’s best player in September 2021 was about much more than what happened in those finals seconds of Crystal Palace 1-1 Brighton.

The most frequently used phrase to describe Maupay so far this season is that he is scoring chances he would have missed last year. How many times did we see him go through on goal, as he did at Selhurst Park, only to fluff his lines?

Thankfully, there was no repeat of that when Palace let Joel Veltman’s volley over the top bounce (why did they do that?) and Maupay was left one-one-one with Vicente Guaita. Maupay was as a cool as you like, lobbing the ball over the stranded Palace goalkeeper to spark mental scenes of celebration.

That phrase can be applied to his penalty against Leicester City, too. The last time Maupay faced Kasper Schmeichel from 12 yards, he was denied by the Foxes captain when the sides drew 0-0 at the King Power Stadium in June 2020.

There was no repeat of that at the Amex. Maupay was as confident as you like, sending Schmeichel the wrong way to set Brighton on their way to an excellent 2-1 victory.

The world and his wife knew that if the Albion could find a more clinical striker to make the most of their xG, they could fly up the Premier League table in 2020-21. That is why we were all so desperate for reinforcements.

How many thought that Maupay could be that man and that after the first two months of the season, Brighton would sit sixth, two points off top spot as a result? Certainly not us. Vive la Petite Shithouse Française.

We mentioned Duffy at the start and for the second month running he had to settle for being the bridesmaid rather than the bride, having been runner up to Yves Bissouma in the August Player of the Month vote.

Part of a defence who recorded a hard earned clean sheet at Brentford, Duffy then went onto earn the penalty which Maupay converted at home to Leicester via a trademark towering header which struck the hand of Jannik Vestergaard.

There would have been quite the meltdown had rumoured Brighton summer transfer target Odsonne Edouard notched for Palace against the Albion. That he did not was largely down to Duffy, who marked his former Celtic teammate out of the game.

Brighton may have failed to sign a senior striker during the transfer window, but they did complete a £15 million deal with Getafe for Marc Cucurella.

That already looks like money well spent as the left wing back secured a Player of the Month top three finish from his first four matches as an Albion player.

Cucurella was largely restricted to defensive duties as Brighton came under a lot of pressure in the games at Brentford and Palace.

That he stood up to it well showcased his abilities as a defender. Against Leicester, we saw his capabilities going forward with a swashbuckling performance that saw him top the WAB Player Ratings on his home debut.

New signings under Graham Potter have traditionally been bedded in slowly, taking time to make an impact as they adapt to English football.

Cucurella being thrown in at the deep end and taking to it like a duck to water makes you wonder how much better he is going to get once he becomes used to the life in the Premier League. What a bloody exciting prospect.