The WAB Brighton Power Rankings: October 2021
October was a winless month for the Albion but there were still some impressive performances in defence and attack, as summed up by the best Brighton player according to the WAB Power Rankings being a man who excels at both.
Take a bow, Marc Cucurella. In five October matches, he has managed to be the Albion’s best attacking outlet before going onto pocket the most in-form forward in world football right now.
September was a solid start to his Albion career. In October though, Cucurella showed us that the £15 million paid to Getafe for his services this summer might be the best bit of business Brighton have ever done for a player.
Anyway, enough about Cucurella. There are 21 other Albion players as well as the man with the wild hair to rate for their efforts in the third month of the 2021-22 Premier League season. Here are your WAB October 2021 Power Rankings.
1) Marc Cucurella – 72.93
Showed what a marvellous all-round talent he is with strong demonstrations of both the attacking and defensive sides of his games to be rated as the best Brighton player in October. Tore Arsenal apart going forward and if the Albion’s forwards could finish, he could have left the Amex that day with five or six assists. Then marked Mo Salah out of the game at Anfield as the second-best Egyptian player of all time after Adam El-Abd failed to score in a match for the first time since August.
2) Lewis Dunk – 69.77
The most consistent month of the season so far for the Albion captain. Led the defence to clean sheets against Arsenal and Norwich and had an important leadership role to play as the Seagulls came from 2-0 behind for it to finish Liverpool 2-2 Brighton on Merseyside.
3) Alexis Mac Allister – 66.22
You can see why Albion fans are clamouring for Mac Allister to start now. Ranked as the third best Brighton player in October despite starting only one game out of four, he has consistently impressed from the bench including when scoring the consolation at home to Manchester City. Time to shake off this impact sub tag and nail down a place over the coming months.
4) Joel Veltman – 64.86
Mr 7/10 was at it again in October with a set of 7/10 performances every week. It did not matter whether he was used as part of a back three, at right back or as a right wing back, he barely put a foot wrong.
5) Pascal Gross – 64.54
Did not feel like Herr Gross’ best month and yet he still finishes in the top five of the WAB Power Rankings, so clearly he still did something right in October. And that is despite ending the month on the bench for the game at Liverpool.
6) Leandro Trossard – 59.05
A strange October for the Vampire of Genk, although we seem to say that every month when the colder weather rolls around and his inconsistency comes to the fore. Good in Brighton 0-0 Arsenal, struggled at Norwich, anonymous in the first half against City, brilliant in the second and then inspired the comeback at Liverpool. Scored the equaliser at Anfield and then nearly had the winner, only to stray an inch offside in the build up.
7) Shane Duffy – 57.06
His strongest moment of October came in the one game he did not play. Dropped for the visit of Manchester City because of concerns about his ability on the ball against the champions’ aggressive press, Brighton were 3-0 down inside of 30 minutes with the game all but over. The Albion were a mess defensively which just highlights what an important player he has become since returning from that nightmare year at Celtic.
8) Adam Lallana – 56.59
Remains a joy to watch, especially when he glides so effortlessly around the pitch as he did when Arsenal visited the Amex. Reminded Liverpool fans of what he is capable of by being involved in Trossard’s goal and nearly beating Alisson himself before being afforded a fantastic reception from the Kop, both as he was substituted off and after the full time whistle.
9) Dan Burn – 53.33
Turned into prime Bobby Moore against Norwich with two perfectly timed, last ditch tackles to deny the Canaries very good scoring opportunities. Without him, the Albion could have suffered the embarrassment of becoming the first time to lose to Daniel Farke’s rock bottom side in the Premier League this season.
10) Jakub Moder – 52.94
A player rather like Mac Allister in that some exciting cameos from the bench had seen him promoted into the starting XI. Struggled to make much impact in October however and found himself back amongst the substitutes once Yves Bissouma returned from injury.
11) Solly March – 52.30
Looks like he needs to find a new role in the team with Cucurella so impressive down the left. Had a go at right wing back against City but that is not his strongest side. Was then given a free role to float behind Trossard at Liverpool. Anfield was his best scoring game in the Brighton player ratings in October, so maybe a more advanced, central position is where his future lies?
12) Neal Maupay – 50.12
Could not add to his four goals so far this season in October and found himself dropped for Liverpool after the Albion enjoyed such success in the second half against City playing Trossard as a false nine with Enock Mwepu and March in support. Missed a penalty in the Carabao Cup shoot out exit away at Leicester, which hopefully will not have destroyed his confidence too much after such a promising start to the season.
13) Robert Sanchez – 48.45
Clean sheets against Arsenal and Norwich but there can be no doubting that the Brighton goalkeeper was a player performing below his best in October. At fault for arguably two of Manchester City’s four goals and then was ridiculously lucky that his clearance off his own line hit Sadio Mane on the arm as it rebounded into the net to be ruled out for handball.
14) Enock Mwepu – 47.86
The winner of our WAB October 2021 Player of the Month vote would have been much higher in the Player Ratings had he made more than one start and two substitute appearances. In less than 180 minutes on the pitch, he still managed to claim one assist in the City game and score against both Leicester and Liverpool.
15) Tariq Lamptey – 43.12
Three substitute appearances for the future Ballon d’Or winner as he continues to work his way back from 10 months out injured. Topped the WAB Player Ratings against City despite being on the pitch for less than 45 minutes with one particularly spectacular moment seeing him send Jack Grealish into another postcode with a dazzling piece of skill in front of the East Stand.
16) Yves Bissouma – 28.58
Was sorely missed whilst out injured, making his return in the League Cup game at Leicester before getting through an hour or so against Liverpool. His ability to score one long range effort in every 25 he takes is finally being recognised by Brighton fans, who shouted “SHOOOOOOOOOT” every time he got the ball at the King Power.
17) Jeremy Sarmiento – 13.75
It says much about the exciting young Ecuadorian international that he was 100 percent responsible for one of Leicester’s goals with a terrible piece of play – and yet he still came away from the King Power with good reviews. An exciting talent who looks to offer something different to the Albion’s other forward options. We will watch what happens to him with interest in the coming monthts.
18) Haydon Roberts – 12.75
Having seen Brighton use teenage defenders across their League Cup campaign without so much as a worry, it was telling that Roberts was the only one Graham Potter trusted to start once the Albion came across Premier League opponents. A decent showing at Leicester.
19) Adam Webster – 12.50
We know he takes a while to get up and running after any time out injured and it looked very much like he needed more minutes than the game at Leicester afforded him to shake the ring rust, despite the fact that he opened his account for the season with the first Brighton equaliser.
20) Jurgen Locadia – 11.50
DJ Jurgen spent most of October getting ready for the launch of his new fashion line next month. Graced us with his presence at Leicester, making his first start since August 2019 and still managed to score higher in the Player Ratings than Aaron Connolly.
21) Aaron Connolly – 11.25
Poor at Leicester before another injury ruled him out at the end of the month. Luckily, I am old enough to remember when Richie Mills from Sussex Live wrote a piece a year ago wondering if Connolly was injury prone and Connolly responded saying “Worst thing I have ever read.” Wonder if our Love Island extra still feels the same now?
22) Jason Steele – 10.75
A classic Jason Steele performance at Leicester in the League Cup. Couple of decent saves, dived the same way for every penalty in the shootout, had an absolute howler for one of the goals. Still, at least we will not have to see him in a Premier League game anytime soon…
The WAB Power Rankings are 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.
