Vote for your October 2022 WAB Brighton Player of the Month

Weird season this, isn’t it? After playing just one game in September because of the passing of The Queen, train strikes and international breaks, Brighton crammed six matches into an October 2022 in which every player was also adapting to a new manager.

The Roberto De Zerbi Era began in thrilling fashion with a 3-3 draw away at Liverpool. In one of his first press conferences, De Zerbi had said that he wanted to help Leandro Trossard improve his goals output.

Lo and behold, Trossard joined a very exclusive list at Anfield of Brighton players to score a top flight hat-trick with only Peter Ward and Gordon Smith having previously managed the feat.

Trossard was the undoubted star that day but he was backed up by a superb team performance from everyone involved. If the Albion could finish, they would have been 4-0 ahead inside of 20 minutes and cruising to victory over a Liverpool outfit who looked shellshocked in those opening exchanges.

If the Albion could finish was a mantra that extended into the next three games of October 2022 when not one Brighton player managed to score.

Spurs, Brentford and Nottingham Forest all parked the bus against the Seagulls to earn clean sheets – and in the case of Tottenham and the Bees, all three points.

Trossard broke Brighton’s scoreless run at Manchester City of all places, where a 3-1 defeat only told half the story. City fans described the Albion as the best side to visit the Etihad this season.

Were it not for two controversial VAR decisions going in Erling Haaland’s favour and a magnificent goal from Kevin De Bruyne, Brighton may have had Pep Guardiola tearing his hair out. Again.

And so to the final game of October, a match nobody is going to forget in a hurry. Graham Potter returned to a hostile Amex where the febrile atmosphere inspired Brighton to heap utter humiliation on Potter, Billy Reid, Bjorn Hamberg, Bruno, Ben Roberts, Kyle Macauley and Marc Cucurella.

Trossard got the party started, Chelsea contributed two own goals and Gross finished a 4-1 routing. The temptation to put Reuben Loftus-Cheek and Trevor Chalobah on the WAB October 2022 Brighton Player of the Month shortlist was real… not to mention Cucurella for playing like a dog chasing a balloon.

Instead, we have settled for six Seagulls. Trossard will probably win it (and then be subjected to a £270 million bid from Chelsea) but there have still been significant contributions from others as the Albion navigated a tough month impressively given the circumstances.

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

Moises Caicedo
The comparisons with Yves Bissouma have come thick and fast so far this season. But the way they are most alike is that when Bissouma played well, Brighton played well. It is the same with Caicedo. His best games of October came against Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea when he anchored the midfield like a bloke who has been playing at Premier League level for six years rather than six months.

Lewis Dunk
Not an easy month for the Albion defence, who faced Mo Salah, Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Ivan Toney and Haaland throughout October. Watching Adam Webster and even Joel Veltman struggle at times made you appreciate just how good Dunk is. That form has pushed him into Gareth Southgate’s provisional 55-man England squad for the World Cup. It seems unlikely the Albion captain will be on the plane to Qatar once the numbers are whittled down to 26, but for Southgate to finally acknowledge his existence feels like a milestone in itself.

Alexis Mac Allister
A disciplined month for Mac Allister rather than a spectacular one as we were treated to through August and September. He has an important role to play in setting the tone for De Zerbi’s faster, one-touch football designed to get on the front foot more quickly which may take some time to get used to.

Solly March
Along with Trossard, March is the Brighton player who De Zerbi has talked about in the most glowing terms since his appointment as Albion boss. A lively presence throughout October, he really shone with an assist at City followed by giving Cucurella such a torrid time that wild-haired former Albion favourite was withdrawn by Potter midway through the second half of the Chelsea hammering.

Kaoru Mitoma
His patient wait for a Premier League start came to an end with involvement in two of the goals against Chelsea. He teed up Trossard for the opener and then put sufficient pressure on Chalobah for the young Blues defender to divert Pervis Estupinan’s cross into his own goal. It was also his driving run after coming off the bench at Liverpool which led to the Albion’s third goal at Anfield.

Leandro Trossard
Brighton have scored eight goals under De Zerbi so far. Gross has one. Two have been own goals. Trossard has the other five. He has established himself as the most important player at the Albion this season and is unplayable on his day. Just ask Chelsea and Liverpool.

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Poll closes at 8pm on Saturday 6th November