Vote for your WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for December 2012
An unbeaten November that looked like it would reignite Brighton and Hove Albion’s promotion bid was followed by a winless December as the Seagulls had arguably their worst month since Gus Poyet took the helm just over two years ago.
It began with yet another horror show away at Crystal Palace, this time the Albion losing 3-0 at Selhurst Park to their arch rivals with Lewis Dunk seeing red and Glenn Murray scoring twice for Palace.
That performance was only marginally worse than the win which ended December, a 3-1 home defeat to an albeit hugely impressive Watford side who were argubaly the best team we have faced all season.
The months only three points came in a 0-0 home draw with Nottingham Forest and a couple of 2-2 draws. The first of those was away at Charlton Athletic where Craig Mackail-Smith and Kazenga LuaLua were on target and the second at home to Millllllllllllll, LuaLua again netting with David Lopez looking like he could supply the answer to the “Who can take a penalty and not miss the bloody thing” conondrum that has been going on since our League One title winning season.
Liam Bridcutt
Arguably the only central midfield player to emerge with any credit from a December in which we really did struggle in the middle of the park, he was superb again in the middle of the park, breaking up play and creating chances from the holding role.
Wayne Bridge
His importance to the Albion cause could not have been better highlighted than at Palace away, a game he missed through injury which led to a 3-0 defeat and our worst defensive performance of the deason. When he did return from that knock he didn’t look the same player as beforehand, but he remains a cut above the rest of the Championship’s left backs.
Adam El-Abd
Another whose absence played a part in the Palace debacle, his replacement at Selhurst Park was Lewis Dunk who managed to last all of an hour before seeing red. El-Abd was immediately returned to the starting line up as a result and helped eke out a clean sheet at home to Nottingham Forest.
Tomasz Kuszczak
The goalkeeper played every minute of December and without him three points could have been even less. There wasn’t much he could do about the Selhurst Park defeat, but he played a huge role in securing the clean sheet at home to Nottingham Forest and had to be alert when the Albion were under a lot of pressure at Charlton.
David Lopez
Spanish Dave finished as the months join top-goal scorer after emphatically converting two penalties in the draw with Millllllllllll and the defeat to Watford. His free-kicks and efforts from distance also proved a constant menace to opponents, particularly visitors to the Amex.
Kazenga LuaLua
This was probably his best month since his permanent arrival from Newcastle United last August. It saw two trademark goals netted from distance in the points-earning matches against Charlton and Millllllllll. If he can continue this sort of form, then hopefully he can get back to being something like the unplayable winger he was in League One.
