Brighton 1-1 Sheffield United: Welbeck tops ratings for 24 minutes work

If you want to know how poor Brighton were in their 1-1 draw with Sheffield United, then our WAB player ratings give a good indication.

Top of the charts was Danny Welbeck, a player who was only on the pitch for 24 minutes. 0.06 points behind Welbeck in second was Robert Sanchez.

It is a pretty damning indictment of where Brighton are right now that in a match against a side who had arrived at the Amex with one point from 13 matches and played for an hour with 10 men, the Albion’s goalkeeper was the second highest rated player for the hosts.

At the other end of the scale, it will come as surprise to nobody that Neal Maupay, Aaron Connolly and Alireza Jahanbakhsh were the lowest scorers. All three forwards missed easy chances with Connolly and Jahanbakhsh’s efforts being so bad that you cannot really do anything other than laugh.

Here are how the 14 Albion players who helped to record an 11th home game without a win rated in Brighton 1-1 Sheffield United.

Robert Sanchez – 6.75
Sanchez’s second place in the ratings was largely down to a world class save at full stretch from David McGoldrick’s first half free kick, without which things might have been even more embarrassing. That stop aside, he claimed crossed confidently and impressed with his distribution.

Adam Webster – 5.38
A score of 5.38 is a little harsh on Webster – although the boo boys do need a new scapegoat with Maty Ryan now dropped and Dale Stephens sold to Burnley. There was little he could do about the deflection which took Jayden Bogle’s shot past Sanchez. Proved his worth up the other end by heading onto Welbeck for the Albion equaliser and as one of the few Brighton players willing to take a shot rather than make a sideways pass.

Lewis Dunk – 5.81
Did not do much wrong but did look vulnerable when Sheffield United were countering in the second half. Asked the referee to take a look at a possible offside for the Blades’ goal in a desperate attempt to do anything to avoid the embarrassment of going 1-0 down to the team rock bottom of the Premier League. Did not work, unfortunately.

Ben White – 5.50
One of his poorer games of the season, not helped by the fact that he spent the second half as an orthodox right back following Potter’s switch to 4-4-2. Sacrificed for debutant Andi Zeqiri with 20 minutes to play.

Joel Veltman – 5.13
He lasted 45 minutes before being replaced by Jahanbakhsh at the break as Potter switched from 3-4-1-2 to 4-4-2. Drew the foul which saw Lundstrom sent off but in a winnable home game against opponents with a leaky defence, selecting a centre back to play out-of-position as a right wing back was a questionable decision on the part of Potter. Brighton badly missed Tariq Lamptey.

Yves Bissouma – 6.44
Failed to hit the ridiculously high standards he has set for himself this season. This was one of the games when Brighton really could have done with his drive and passing range yet he instead spent most of the game stroking the ball sideways across the pitch. Still managed to be Brighton’s third highest scoring player, mind.

Adam Lallana – 5.18
Reverted back to a central midfield role as opposed to playing in the number 10 position as he had in the 0-0 draw at Fulham on Wednesday. That made him less influential on proceedings, although he did hang up some decent crosses into the box including the one which led to Jahanbakhsh somehow managing to head against the post from three yards out in the final seconds.

Solly March – 6.13
Brighton’s most dangerous looking player in an attacking sense. You could question his end product for the first time this season but he did at least always want the ball and tried to make things happen.

Leandro Trossard – 5.69
His best outing since injury in October wrecked his bright start to the season. Delivered the cross which led to the Brighton equaliser and had Maupay not been quite so wasteful, he might have had a couple of assists. Still looks like he needs a lot of vitamin C, so hopefully somebody has popped to Holland & Barrett for Christmas.

Neal Maupay – 4.38
Something remains not quite right with Brighton’s record signing as he missed a couple of easy first half chances. The way he has played since October, you would not back him to finish his dinner at the minute.

Aaron Connolly – 4.19
An astonishing second half miss summed up his day as he managed to put a header off target from only two yards out and dead centre of the Sheffield United goal. It is hard to recall a more incredible miss in Albion history, which is quite the achievement at a club for whom Craig Davies played 23 times.

Alireza Jahanbakhsh – 3.94
The lowest scoring Brighton player in the ratings for the 1-1 draw with Sheffield United. He was a bit all over the place in his 45 minutes on the pitch after replacing Veltman which, depending on your viewpoint, was either down to the fact he is not very good or Potter had not been clear in his instructions and was misusing Jahanbakhsh. You could not blame the Brighton boss for the winger almost eclipsing Connolly’s miss right at the death, however.

DANNY WELBECK – 6.81
Dat Guy Welbz topped the player ratings for Brighton 1-1 Sheffield United despite only being on the pitch for 24 minutes. He was clinical with his 87th minute equaliser which spared Potter serious embarrassment and nearly had a winner, only for George Baldock to head off the line.

Andi Zeqiri
You have a £3.5 million summer signing from Swiss side Lausanne-Sport who is a 6’1 target man. So how do you use him on his debut? As a left winger, obviously.

The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.