Brighton 1-1 West Ham: 25 points now dropped from winning positions
Well, it has happened again. Another game, another couple of points dropped from a winning position as Brighton surrendered a 1-0 lead within 185 seconds of Danny Welbeck giving it to them to draw 1-1 with West Ham.
When people talk about this strange 2020-21 season for the Albion, all the ifs, buts and maybes surround what Brighton might have achieved if they had a clinical striker and could perform to their xG.
Just as big a problem for Graham Potter and Brighton though has been appalling game management and an inability to see out matches with Said Benrahma’s 87th minute equaliser making it 25 points surrendered so far.
Add those onto the Albion’s current total of 38 and 17th spot in the Premier League table suddenly becomes fifth. That indicates the scale of the problem and highlights a glaring weakness in Potter’s management which will surely put off bigger clubs like Spurs until he addresses it, no matter what the bookies might think.
Potter at least appears to realise this. He told the BBC afterwards: “It’s always a bit disappointing when you’re 1-0 up with not long to go and don’t hold on. We didn’t manage that situation well and they scored. That’s been a fault of ours over the season – too many winning positions dropped – and that’s something to improve.”
Step back from the disappointing manner of the draw and Brighton 1-1 West Ham was actually a decent result for the Albion. The Hammers are sixth in the table and knocking on the door of Europe, so to take a point from them whilst missing four key players represented a decent evening’s work, even if the finish to the match meant many people could not see that immediately.
Joel Veltman, Lewis Dunk and Neal Maupay all missed out with Adam Lallana only fit enough for a place on the bench. Gareth Southgate produced a first class piece of trolling by ignoring the FA Cup final and rocking up to the Amex the one week that Dunk is suspended. He really cannot stand the Albion captain, can he?
In the lead up to the game, so many absentees looked like it would give Potter the perfect chance to experiment. Albion supporters hoped and wondered whether we might see Andi Zeqiri, Percy Tau, Michal Karbownik or Moises Caicedo given a chance to prove themselves in the Premier League.
Potter though played it safe. Steve Alzate came into central midfield, Pascal Gross moved out to right wing back and Alireza Jahanbakhsh was pushed into attack to replace Maupay. Dunk’s place in the back three was taken by Dan Burn with Jakub Moder recalled at left wing back.
There was at least some interest in who took over as Der Kapitan from Dunk, Gross being rewarded for his consistent season with the armband ahead of Adam Webster. Oh to have been a fly on the wall in the homes of the pAsCAl gRoSs iS a sET pIecE meRChAnT crowd when that was announced.
Florin Andone’s inclusion as a substitute also came as a surprise – and would have sparked panic on the trading floors of betting companies across the world as they scrambled to reprice booking points odds in the event that the Romanian made it onto the pitch.
If Potter’s starting XI felt boring, then it was nothing compared to the opening 80 minutes. It took until five minutes before half time for the first shot on target to arrive for either side, Robert Sanchez beating away a Tomas Soucek effort.
To say that Brighton v West Ham was not quite living up to the thrill of Leicester beating Chelsea to win their first ever FA Cup earlier in the day would be a slight understatement.
In fact, trying to guess whether a man dressed as a professional wrestler was lip syncing or actually had the voice of Michael Ball on BBC One’s ridiculous new Saturday night gameshow I Can See Your Voice had never appeared such an attractive option, given the lack of entertainment on show from the Amex.
The second half was at least a mild improvement. Jahanbakhsh was proving a lively presence and he had a couple of attempts blocked by Lukasz Fabianski followed by dropping a volley agonisingly across the face of goal after beating the West Ham goalkeeper to a lovely cross field pass from Burn.
It took Potter turning to his bench for Brighton to find the inspiration needed to break the deadlock. Lallana, Zeqiri and Tau were all introduced to boost the Albion’s attack and it was the Lion of Judah who made the difference, claiming his first Albion assist having not been seen in the Premier League since January’s 1-0 win over The Leeds United.
Tau collected possession in midfield before spotting a gap and threading an excellent pass through the West Ham defence. Welbeck had timed his run to perfection as per normal and dinked the ball over the onrushing Fabianski to make it 1-0 with only six minutes of regulation time remaining.
Based on what we have seen so far this season, no other Brighton player could have produced a finish like that. It was a reminder that when Welbeck is fit and firing, he is the best striker the Albion have by some distance, a fact now backed up by him being the Seagulls’ top scorer from open play with six goals.
With each week that has passed since his October signing on a free transfer, the case for Welbeck being offered a longer stay at the Amex has grown stronger.
Brighton should make keeping Dat Guy one of their overriding priorities this summer, especially as there may well be interest from other Premier League clubs who have watched his revitalisation at the Amex.
Brighton, the wider Sussex area and the whole of South Africa were still wildly celebrating Tau and Welbeck’s link up for what should have been the winner when West Ham notched their equaliser to make it 1-1.
Tomáš Souček delivered a cross from the right that was not convincingly cleared as Webster and Ben White appeared to run into each other. The loose ball found Benrahma on the edge of the box and he hit a stunning curler into the top corner for his first goal in West Ham colours since signing from Brentford for £25 million.
There was no time – or indeed inclination – for the Albion to try and find a second after that. 1-1 was undoubtedly the correct result but one which was not much use for either side.
For West Ham, it means their hopes of Champions League football are all but over. Brighton meanwhile face a battle to set a new record top flight points total, needing four from their final two matches against champions Manchester City and Arsenal to eclipse last season’s 41.
That total could have been surpassed with ease if Brighton knew how to hold onto leads. Another frustrating element of a somewhat frustrating season.
