Vote for your November 2022 WAB Brighton Player of the Month
With the eyes of the footballing world on Qatar and the great sportswashing World Cup taking place in the desert, it is easy to forget that Brighton played three matches in November 2022 – and we therefore have a WAB Player of the Month award to give out.
For those of you who do not remember, the Albion beat Wolves 3-2 in a thrill-a-minute game at Molineux followed by eliminating Premier League leaders Arsenal from the League Cup via a 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium.
The only blemish came when Aston Villa left the Amex with a 2-1 victory. That should not have been much of a surprise; you have to go back to 1980 to find the last time the Seagulls beat Villa at home.
With 33 percent of games in November 2022 coming in the League Cup where Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi made wholesale changes, it means that the Player of the Month shortlist features a few guys who have struggled for Premier League game time.
Naturally, this includes WAB favourite and The Station Pub Hove’s number one client, Jason Steele. Tariq Lamptey was also excellent at Arsenal and Levi Colwill played so well at the Emirates as to earn a place in the starting XI for the Villa game.
Kaoru Mitoma scored two goals in league and cup and will surely be Japan’s first Ballon d’Or winner. Adam Lallana shone before injury struck and Pascal Gross remains as valuable to De Zerbi as he was Potter and Chris Hughton.
So, take your eyes off the World Cup for one minute and cast your vote in our WAB Brighton November 2022 Brighton Player of the Month poll.
The candidates for WeAreBrighton.com November 2022 Brighton Player of the Month
Levi Colwill
The young centre back from Chelsea has had to be very patient waiting for an opportunity, such has been the form of Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster and Joel Veltman. Colwill passed his first test against Premier League opposition at Arsenal with flying colours and followed it up with a very assured Premier League debut against Villa with Webster ruled out. His ability on the ball in particular has stood out.
Pascal Gross
Showed his versatility through November. Scored the winner in the 3-2 victory at Wolves from right back. Came on against Arsenal as a holding midfielder in the second half, helping the Albion exert real control on the game as they found two goals to progress.
Adam Lallana
De Zerbi’s change to 4-2-3-1 has seen Lallana given a run of games in the number 10 role he used to fill for Liverpool and Southampton. He was central to everything good Brighton did at Molineux, even scoring a rare goal. No coincidence that the Albion where nowhere near their best in the Villa match after he limped off injured with only four minutes played.
Tariq Lamptey
A few eyebrows were raised when Lamptey started at left back in a four-man defence against Arsenal. No bother; he looked like he had been playing there all his life. It was his best game in a Brighton shirt for some time, rounded off nicely when he galloped forward to score the Albion’s third goal.
Kaoru Mitoma
Unplayable at Wolves. He scored one of Brighton’s goals, was involved in the other two and left the Old Gold to face the entire second half with only 10 men after causing Nelson Semedo to be sent off. Notched again four days later at the Emirates with his absence then keenly felt in the Villa defeat.
Jason Steele
A thoroughly entertaining 90 minutes against Arsenal rightly earns Steele his first Player of the Month nomination of the campaign. Some hairy moments in possession sewed chaos and confusion but there were two brilliant early second half saves when the score was locked at 1-1, without which the outcome could have been very different.
Loading ...Poll closes at 8pm on Sunday 4th December
