Vote for your March 2022 WAB Brighton Player of the Month

“Should we bother doing a March 2022 Brighton Player of the Month poll?” That was the conversation amongst those who decide the shortlist as we scraped the barrel in looking for somebody from the Albion who had actually done something good over the past three matches.

Three defeats in three games made it six successive losses for the first time since the 2005-06 Championship relegation season. More troubling than the results was how boring watching the Albion has become, especially at the Amex.

Two home matches yielded a single shot on target. Yes, the visitors were title chasing Liverpool and an improving Spurs outfit back in the hunt for the top four, but even so – is testing a goalkeeper at the Amex too much to ask?

Lewis Dunk makes it onto the shortlist by virtue of being the only Brighton player to score a goal in March when powering home a header in the 2-1 defeat at Newcastle United. Pascal Gross is included for providing the only assist of the month.

Solly March was our February 2022 Player of the Month despite only playing 125 minutes of Premier League football and he is back to try and defend his crown after being a rare spot of positivity across the three losses. March winning Brighton Player of the Month for March 2022 also has a rather nice ring to it.

For the other three candidates, we have had to be a little creative. Congratulations then to Mike Dean, who makes the list for not sending off Robert Sanchez in the 2-0 reversal against Liverpool despite it being the most blatant red card you will ever see.

Lord knows what would have happened if Dean had decided that jumping 10 feet into the air and smashing your leg into the face of an opponent was a foul, resulting in Jason Steele trotting on to take over in goal.

Brighton would also have had to battle through more than an hour against the Reds with only 10 men. So yeah, thanks Mike for your part in ensuring the margin of defeat was only two goals.

Kaoru Mitoma is up for his first WAB Player of the Month Award despite not yet being able to enter the United Kingdom illegally.

Mitoma impressed when scoring twice in the space of 10 minutes for Japan against Australia to book the Samurai Blue’s place at the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

The timing of his brace past former Albion goalkeeper Maty Ryan could not have been any better, coming as it did just a few days after Ryan irked some Albion fans by describing himself in as “world class” during an interview with The Athletic.

Presuming Mitoma is granted a work permit for next season, the prospect of watching a player who wants to run at opponents and is not afraid to shoot is a tantalising one. Until Brighton coach that out of him and he instead becomes an expert in the sideways pass, of course.

Last but by no means least, Andi Zeqiri played for 28 minutes as Switzerland lost 2-1 against England at Wembley. He is on the list for managing to nutmeg Crystal Palace left back Tyrick Mitchell in that time.

With Palace having climbed above Brighton in the Premier League table and looking forward to an FA Cup semi final whilst the Albion are in freefall, we have to take any small win over the Eagles we can get at the moment.

The candidates for WeAreBrighton.com March 2022 Brighton Player of the Month

Mike Dean
Quite how he concluded that Sanchez kicking Luis Diaz in the head was not worthy of even a yellow card is an absolute mystery. It saved Brighton from having to play for an hour against a rampant Reds with 10 men and Jason Steele in goal though. Potentially, that could have done untold damage to the Albion’s goal difference.

Lewis Dunk
It might be taking him a lot longer than Brighton would have liked to return to his best following injury, but he still managed to score the Albion’s only goal of March. It was a good one too, powering home a Pascal Gross delivery.

Pascal Gross
With his contract set to expire in the summer, these might be the final few months of Gross as a Brighton player. He remains the Albion’s chief source of assists, including for Dunk against the Saudi Sportwashers.

Solly March
Continued in March where he had left off in February as the only Brighton player whose form and confidence has not dived off a cliff during this six game losing run.

Kaoru Mitoma
For reasons we do not really understand, a number of Brighton fans are still extremely hateful towards Ryan over a year after he left the club. Those people would have enjoyed seeing Mitoma score twice past the ex-Albion goalkeeper during the March international break. And by including Mitoma in this shortlist, we might get thousands of football fans from Japan visiting WAB. Konnichi wa.

Andi Zeqiri
Nutmegged a Palace defender whilst on international duty. Yes, March 2022 has been so bad that putting a ball through someone’s legs gets you on the Player of the Month shortlist.

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Poll closes at 8pm on Sunday 3rd April