Vote for your WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month for February 2020
Brighton haven’t exactly made the best of starts to 2020 as a winless January was followed by a winless February, leaving another pretty bare shortlist for our WeAreBrighton.com Player of the Month award.
Three of the month’s four fixtures were draws and all of those involved the Albion coming from behind, helped in part by own goals from West Ham United’s Angelo Ogbonna and Watford’s Adrian Mariappa.
Brighton began February 2020 at the London Stadium where Graham Potter finally gave the player who is the Albion’s best finisher his first start since September as Glenn Murray was recalled to the starting line up.
Murray rewarded that decision with a 79th minute equaliser as Brighton came from 3-1 down with 15 minutes remaining to draw 3-3.
The game turned on Graham Potter’s decision to introduced Ezequiel Schelotto and Solly March, both of whom were outstanding. Pascal Gross netted the Albion’s second after some questionable home defending following Lukasz Fabianski punching a Gross corner into the face of Ogbonna for an own goal.
A week later and it was Mariappa’s turn to put through his own net as the Albion snatched a 1-1 draw against Watford. There seemed to be little danger when January Player of the Month Alireza Jahanbakhsh fizzed a low cross into the box until Mariappa brilliantly turned past Ben Foster under absolutely no pressure to earn Brighton their second point of February 2020.
The third and final point arrived following a week off for the Premier League’s winter break. Potter abandoned some of the principles of Potterball, instead naming a side that was set up to counter the threat posed by top six chasers Sheffield United.
As a result, the Albion picked up an impressive 1-1 draw at Bramall Lane. Neal Maupay scored his first goal since December on his return to the starting lineup and Maty Ryan made three excellent second half saves.
The less about the final Brighton fixture of the February 2020, the better – only one player came out of the defeat to Crystal Palace with any credit and he didn’t even get on the pitch.
Unused substitute Schelotto was booked for winding up Wilfried Zaha to the point where Palace’s golden child spat at and then started pushing him.
That completely messed with Zaha’s head, leading him to act more like a petulant little brat than normal. He even managed to miss an open goal from less than five yards; not that it mattered as the Albion had already contrived to miss four excellent opportunities and give a soft goal away to Jordan Ayew, who delivered Palace’s first win at the Amex since 2012 as a result.
Lewis Dunk
February 2020 may not have been the Brighton captain’s best month, but he still remains a player that Gareth Southgate should be taking a serious look at ahead of Euro 2020. The England manager was at Bramall Lane for the draw with Sheffield United where Dunk defended superbly against the Blades’ difficult front pairing of David McGoldrick and Ollie McBurnie.
Solly March
Made his return from several months out following groin surgery with some real live wire performances. It was his introduction against West Ham which sparked the turnaround at the London Stadium and he was arguably the Albion’s best player in the defeat to Palace, which made Potter’s decision to withdraw him all the more baffling.
Neal Maupay
Only started two games in February 2020 but such are the lack of options for our Brighton Player of the Month award that he makes the shortlist anyway. Scored his first goal since December in the draw at Sheffield United and was a constant threat against Palace, although the less said about the standard of this finishing that day, the better.
Glenn Murray
We’ll never know how close he was to leaving the club in the January transfer window, but needless to say it’s a bloody good job he didn’t. Responded to Potter giving him a first start since September with the crucial equaliser at West Ham and clearly has something to offer in the relegation battle ahead – providing the Albion boss actually uses him.
Maty Ryan
The Albion goalkeeper’s best contribution to the month came at Sheffield United, where he made three excellent saves to help secure a point. He perhaps could have done better with some of the goals conceded, most notably against West Ham and Palace but he hasn’t had too much help from a defence which has been out-of-sorts by and large.
Ezequiel Schelotto
The rebirth of Schelotto continued to amaze and astound in February. He started both the Watford and Sheffield United matches and had a game-changing cameo at West Ham. Already something of a cult hero, he increased his popularity among the Amex faithful with a brilliant portrayal of the pantomime villain in winding up Zaha by pretending to cry when Palace came to town.
Poll closes at 8pm on Sunday 8th March
