Match Review: Brighton 0-0 Newcastle United
Several seasons ago, the Doncaster Rovers media team had a brilliant moment. Rovers had just drawn 0-0 at the Keepmoat Stadium and they uploaded the ‘match highlights’, which consisted of the referee blowing the whistle to start the game followed by the referee blowing the final whistle. Brighton really did miss a trick by not doing the same for their 0-0 draw with Newcastle United.
Instead, the Albion released a two minutes and six seconds long video package. Which was about two minutes and four seconds longer than it needed to be.
It was a strange, almost anti-climatic way for Brighton to finally guarantee mathematical safety for a fourth season of Premier League football.
Such an achievement would normally be met with an outpouring of joy. Much of the talk instead focused on it being 95 minutes and 30 seconds of our lives that we would never get back, or how Captain Sir Tom Moore would have injected some pace into a game that was played at the same speed as an Eddie Stobart lorry going up Mount Everest with the handbrake still on.
The lack of celebration was not just down to the mind numbing boredom inflicted by Brighton and Newcastle United drawing 0-0. The Albion have in reality been safe for over two weeks since winning 1-0 away at Norwich City.
Aston Villa, Plucky Little Bournemouth and West Ham United have found some renewed form since Brighton’s win at Carrow Road, but it still would have taken a freaky set of results for them to overhaul the Albion.
It was little wonder then that we got a game which resembled a testimonial. Brighton and Newcastle were already on the beach. The statistics show that there were four shots on target and yet it is hard to recall either Maty Ryan or Martin Dúbravka having to do much at all.
In fact, save for a flying Dúbravka stop in the second half from an Adam Webster thunderbolt, the main talking point involving the two goalkeepers was their choice of head wear.
Thanks to modern stadiums with their massive stands, it is very rare you get to see a goalkeeper wearing a hat in the 21st century.
Playing competitive matches in mid-July has changed all that and both Ryan and Dúbravka sported baseball caps while they were minding the goal at the south end of the Amex. You know it has been a boring evening when a goalkeeper wearing a hat is one of the highlights.
That Webster effort was Brighton’s best chance. Newcastle’s came late in the second half when Andy Carroll managed to escape the attentions of Shane Duffy from a corner, only to put a header from two yards out the wrong side of the post.
From a supporter’s point of view, it might have been a pointless evening – Ryan’s hat aside. From Graham Potter’s point of view, it hopefully provided further evidence of areas which need improvement for the 2020-21 season.
Brighton end the season having won five times at the Amex, scoring just 20 goals. Only Norwich have a worse home record and the Canaries and Southampton are the only teams to have scored less in front of their own supporters.
The Saints can still overtake the Albion’s total if they notch twice in their final match at St Mary’s on Sunday against Sheffield United.
Home performances need to be better. There has been a lot of talk about how the lack of atmosphere at the Amex impacts on the players. Graham Potter and Paul Barber have both addressed the issue, being critical of fan in a way that most managers and Chief Executives wouldn’t dare to be.
While both may have a point, the team also have a responsibility to help build an atmosphere. Flat performances and the failure to beat West Ham United, Southampton, Burnley, Sheffield United, Aston Villa, Watford, Crystal Palace and now Newcastle United aren’t likely to turn the Amex Stadium into Napoli’s Stadio San Paolo.
If Potter improves home form, so too the atmosphere will improve. Last night was prove that football needs fans – you cannot imagine a game being allowed to drift in such a manner if there were 30,000 packed inside the Amex, especially given that there were still nasty tackles flying in and six yellow cards were flashed, which would have riled up supporters.
By the time we are allowed back to watch Brighton, hopefully Potter will have found a way to win at the Amex more regularly than one in every five matches.
Potter also needs to find more support for Neal Maupay. 10 goals is an excellent return for a young striker in his first season in the Premier League, but he needs someone to help ease the burden – especially as Potter doesn’t rate Glenn Murray and Aaron Connolly looks like he would benefit from a loan spell in the Championship.
Of course, every other Premier League club is searching for the exact same thing, making it doubly hard to sign a goalscorer. Perhaps the answer lies from within.
Leandro Trossard has looked lively since the Premier League season restarted, a sign that he is adjusting to the rigours of the English top flight. He should be looking to contribute more than four times next season.
More goals are needed from midfield, too. Davy Propper, Dale Stephens and Yves Bissouma have scored as frequently over the past two seasons as the Pope has sexual relations. Finding a way to eke more from them or signing an actual goal scoring midfielder must be high on Potter’s list of things to do.
Potter has at least acknowledged that, telling Bissouma that he needs to add goals to his game as well as finding more consistency. If Bissouma and Propper could chip in with four or five per season – as they did with Lille and PSV Eindhoven respectively – then suddenly, Brighton are nearly 10 goals up on this season’s total.
Left back remains a pressing issue. Dan Burn has had a solid season there, but he retains the look of a square-peg-in-round-hole solution. Many Brighton fans celebrated young Alex Cochrane being named on the bench for the 0-0 draw with Newcastle, without giving much thought to what that means for the future of Bernardo.
The Brazilian has hardly featured under Potter this season, starting matches only when Burn fractured his collarbone. Bernardo appears to be another who Potter does not rate and he could find himself being usurped by Cochrane in the pecking order if the youngster is as good as people seem to think.
If however Cochrane isn’t ready for Premier League football and Potter doesn’t want to use Bernardo, then Brighton really need to find a new left back this summer. Tony Bloom’s stated ambitions of a top 10 finish will not be achieved with Burn playing out-of-position there in the long term.
The most glaring area for improvement highlighted by the 0-0 draw with Newcastle United was the lack of pace in this Brighton team. Leandro Trossard and Maupay are the only players who can move quicker than a mobility scooter going forward, a situation not helped by Potter teaming Pascal Gross and Aaron Mooy together.
Playing two number 10s has worked on occasions, but sometimes you need pace to unlock teams and create chances. Brighton have none to turn to when that is the case.
Potter needs to ensure that every attacking outlet he brings in this summer possesses speed, otherwise the Albion will be in danger of resembling a walking football team at the King Alfred Leisure Centre rather than a side playing their fourth season of Premier League football.
There is plenty for Potter to think about in the aftermath of Brighton 0-0 Newcastle United – and for us at WeAreBrighton.com too. By the time the game reached the hour mark, we were so bored that we turned our Twitter feed over to deciding which new sofa should be bought for WAB Towers.
Thanks to everyone who took the time to respond. No decision has yet been made, but it looks like the £799 one is now favourite. Don’t worry if the game against Burnley on Sunday is equally dull – we have still got curtains/blinds to decide upon.
A new sofa nearly picked. Maty Ryan wearing a hat. The Albion safe in the Premier League for another season. Maybe Brighton 0-0 Newcastle United wasn’t as pointless an evening as we first thought.
