Pascal Gross voted WAB August 2022 Brighton Player of the Month

September 7, 2022September 7, 2022 WeAreBrighton.com 0 Comments

Just like a bottle of the finest Spätburgunder wine, Pascal Gross is getting better with age – as proven by Der Kaiser being the overwhelming winner of WAB August 2022 Brighton Player of the Month.

Three goals and one assist from five appearances helped Gross rack up a massive 68.62 percent of the vote, a continuation of the form he had shown towards the end of the 2021-22 season which also saw him victorious in the Brighton May 2022 Player of the Month poll.

Graham Potter went so far as to say that Gross was playing the best football of his career. It is hard to imagine how anyone can disagree wit h that statement.

The campaign got off to the perfect start for Gross as he scored twice at Manchester United, taking his ridiculous record against the Red Devils onto six goals from eight starts.

Both efforts were clinically despatched, the sort of finishes that often escape Albion players. They delivered a first ever win at Old Trafford for the Albion.

Successes against West Ham United are much more frequent. Gross played his part in another memorable afternoon at the London Stadium, setting up the second as Brighton beat the not-so-happy Hammers 2-0.

If Kevin De Bruyne produced the deft flick around the corner which set Leandro Trossard away, then Sky Sports would be hailing it the greatest assist of all time.

Scandalously, Gross’ visionary touch to split the Hammers defence and play in Trossard went under the radar by the wider footballing public. Not Brighton fans though, who lauded Der Kaiser for his silky skills.

Not even the world’s biggest football club could find a way to stop Pascal Gross in August 2022. His third goal of the month provided a shock Brighton win over 1996 Coca Cola Cup runners up The Leeds United, sending the Albion top of the Premier League for four brief minutes until Manchester City took the lead against Crystal Palace.

The Albion eventually finished August in fourth place in the table. Also central to the Seagulls sitting in a Champions League spot were Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo.

Just 0.65 percent separated the two South Americans in the Player of the Month poll, with Mac Allister just doing enough to take second place.

The Argentinian midfielder has undergone something of a reinvention so far in 2022-23, playing in a deeper role following the sale of Yves Bissouma to Spurs.

He looks a natural there. Mac Allister started the move leading to the first half penalty at West Ham, which he then duly converted. He was also involved in the second goal, feeding the ball to Gross to flick onto Trossard.

Mac Allister even managed to come out of the 2-1 defeat at Fulham in credit whilst virtually everyone else in “crimson” at Craven Cottage faltered. He scored his second spot kick of the campaign, solidifying his place as Brighton’s penalty taker.

How refreshing is it to have reasonable confidence in an Albion player netting from 12 yards, rather than watching penalties cowering through fingers for fear of a terrible miss being on the cards?

Caicedo’s performances in August saw him linked with big money moves as the transfer window prepared to slam shut. First United and then Liverpool were rumoured to be interested, the latter for a fee of £42 million.

Potter slapped those away, saying that £42 million might get Jurgen Klopp one of Caicedo’s boots. Caicedo may be just 13 games into his Premier League, but already he looks destined to move to one of the world’s biggest clubs in the not-too-distant future.