Chelsea 3-2 Brighton: Officials and set pieces cost Albion

Another week, another Premier League game where the Albion are at the centre of refereeing controversy. Some unbelievably bad officiating from Craig Pawson and his team helped send Brighton to a 3-2 defeat against Chelsea.

We say helped, because it was not the only reason the Albion went down at Stamford Bridge. The first two Blues goals were a result of Brighton’s struggles to sufficiently defend set pieces.

The Seagulls then failed to make the most of 68 percent possession, 18 shots and playing for an entire half of football against 10 men.

It was not Brighton’s best afternoon but that is okay. We have said it before and we will undoubtedly say it again – if losing Premier League games like this and finishing in the bottom half this season is the trade off for playing in the Europa League, then it is a price worth paying.

There were many visibly tired faces scattered amongst the away end before Chelsea 3-2 Brighton; a result of the travelling, Mythos, ouzo and tear gas involved in the trip to Athens.

And if supporters were struggling to keep up with the relentless schedule, imagine what it must be like for the players? Not that there is much opportunity to rest with such a long injury and suspension list.

Chelsea of course have injuries of their own. The difference being that Todd Boehly has spent £1 billion in 12 months on players. That should give you a squad capable of coping with most things thrown at it.

For Brighton to have arrived in west London three places and six points higher than the Blues in the standings is testament to the job Roberto De Zerbi is doing.

Despite all those players unavailable and the experiencing the relentless schedule of playing Thursday-Sunday football for the first time, the Albion are still just four points off sixth. It is astonishing really.

But it does not mean De Zerbi or the players are above criticism. One area where many supporters are becoming more vocal in their concerns is with the Albion’s policy of rotating goalkeepers.

Before Chelsea 3-2 Brighton, Bart Verbruggen had kept two clean sheets in three matches. He made a match-winning save right at the death of the 3-2 win over Forest and then pulled off a string of excellent stops against AEK, without which the Albion could have suffered a heavy defeat in Athens.

Jason Steele returns at Stamford Bridge and the defence looks shaky and uncertain at having to adapt once again to a different goalkeeper with different strengths playing behind them.

Some might point to the absence of Lewis Dunk for the reason the Seagulls back line looked like rabbits in the headlights at times against Chelsea, but Brighton have not kept a Premier League clean sheet all season even with Dunk playing.

The numbers show that both Steele and Verbruggen’s clean sheet and save percentages are down on last season. Goalkeeper is a unique position where consistency helps both the individual and the defence collectively; that is the reason no other manager in the world rotates their goalkeepers.

To point that out is not to criticise Steele or Verbruggen, or to say one is better than the other. Steele made an excellent save towards the end of the first half to prevent Igor Julio putting through his own net.

Be it Steele or Verbruggen, De Zerbi needs to pick one of them and stick with it. Conceding two or three times every match makes it much harder to win games of football – and it is fairly obvious that the chopping and changing of goalkeeper is contributing to the Albion’s poor defensive record.

Brighton found themselves 2-0 down in a little over 20 minutes against Chelsea and both goals were entirely preventable.

Conor Gallagher swung over a corner for the first, Benoit Badiashile was able to win a far post header and then had the time and space to watch the ball drop before hooking it back across goal for the unmarked Enzo Fernandez to nod in from close range.

Goal number two saw another deep Gallagher corner won at the back post by Nicolas Jackson. This time, Levi Colwill of all people was left free to head home in spite of the best efforts of Billy Gilmour to clear off the line.

In one of the more entertaining moments of the afternoon, Colwill started celebrating before remembering he had just scored against the club he spent last season on loan with.

He almost looked apologetic towards the away end. Unlike Robert Sanchez, who decided to start shrieking like a banshee at the Brighton fans come the full time whistle whilst also getting into a confrontation with Dunk.

Enjoy yourself, Robert, because we will undoubtedly have the last laugh when Boehly spends £100 million on a new goalkeeper and you find yourself throwing toys out of your pram from the bench again.

Chelsea could feasibly have run away with it after Colwill struck. Brighton though found some composure, followed by two incidents in the final five minutes of the first half offering a route back into the game.

Carlos Baleba and Adam Lallana worked the ball out to Facundo Buonanotte on the right. The Argentine teenager has come in for his fair share of criticism this season from those who seem to forget he is only 18-years-old and still adapting to a strange foreign country far from home.

Buonanotte took the opportunity to remind everyone of his talent here, cutting inside and bending an unstoppable effort beyond Sanchez to half the deficit.

Minutes later and Chelsea were reduced to 10 men. Gallagher had already been booked for putting his hands in the face of Buonanotte and when the Chelsea captain went lunging in on Gilmour, Mr Pawson whipped out a second yellow and the home captain was off. Game very much on.

De Zerbi made a quadruple substitution on 57 minutes. Kaoru Mitoma, James Milner, Joao Pedro and Pascal Gross all came on in something resembling more of an ice hockey line change than a football substitution.

Milner was soon into the action, challenging Mykhailo Mudryk in the box. Nobody in their right mind considered it a foul, including Mr Pawson waving play on.

But then VAR got involved. Mr Pawson was sent to the screen and changed his mind, awarding the softest penalty you will ever see.

Virtually everyone watching was flabbergasted. Fernandez though made the most of the gift, smashing the spot kick down the middle to put Chelsea 3-1 ahead.

To make matters worse, Moises Caicedo could consider himself lucky to stay on the pitch. Had that ridiculously soft penalty not been awarded and the Blues been down to nine, who knows how different Chelsea 3-2 Brighton might have turned out?

The Albion dominated from that point on but it was not until the first of 10 minutes injury time that they found the back of the net. Milner took a corner and Pedro headed in his 10th goal of the season.

Brighton now laid siege to the Chelsea goal, leading to another excruciatingly terrible piece of officiating from Mr Pawson in the 99th minute.

Simon Adingra crossed and the ball quite clearly hit the head of Colwill and went behind for a corner. Mr Pawson appeared to point to the penalty spot with VAR advising him to take another look.

He then realised the error of his ways, meaning a drop ball as per the rules. Had Mr Pawson not got the initial handball decision so wrong, then Brighton would instead have had another corner from which to put further pressure on the Chelsea goal.

De Zerbi refused to be drawn on Mr Pawson’s performance afterwards, saying: “No, please, I don’t want to speak about the referee. Football, yes, but about the referee I didn’t see anything. No problem. I have to accept every decision.”

Don’t worry Roberto, we will speak about the referee for you. He was shit. Not for the first time this season, it has conspired to cost Brighton.