Newcastle 1-1 Brighton: Excellent Enciso excels in player ratings

The Albion took a slightly different approach for their trip to St James’ Park, opting to play more on the counter attack than we have seen before under Roberto De Zerbi. Brighton coming away from Newcastle United with a 1-1 draw suggests it worked, thanks to some solid defending and a lively performance from Julio Enciso good enough to top the player ratings.

Enciso had a particularly important role to play at number 10, turning defence into attack for the Seagulls on the break.

It was a job he excelled at, especially through a first half in which Brighton could have added a couple more goals to go with Joel Veltman’s 18th minute opener.

At the other end, Bart Verbruggen and his back four withstood plenty of Toon pressure. Newcastle were averaging over three goals a game at St James’ since January before Brighton arrived on Tyneside. Keeping the Saudi Sportswashers down to one was impressive from the Albion.

Here are your Newcastle 1-1 Brighton player ratings.

Bart Verbruggen – 7.29
Three important saves played a big part in the Albion coming away with a point. Kept out a corner from close range and denied a one-on-one in the first half. Then just about managed to tip a sliding block from Tariq Lamptey over the bar when it looked like it was about to loop in for a comical own goal.

Joel Veltman – 7.00
Would probably have scored higher if he lasted longer than 40 minutes before injury struck. Put Brighton ahead with his first goal in 14 months and was doing some good work defensively against the dangerous Anthony Gordon before his withdrawal.

Adam Webster – 6.57
Not as commanding as in last week’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa but he and the rest of the defence could certainly be pleased with restricting a free scoring Newcastle side to a solitary goal.

Lewis Dunk – 7.00
One really important sliding block prevented a cross reaching Alexander Isak in the first half. That helped set the tone for the Albion’s hardworking defensive display.

Igor Julio – 6.57
Newcastle threatened down both flanks early on. Igor soon warmed to the task of dealing with Jacob Murphy, whilst also making some telling contributions on the ball.

Pascal Gross – 6.14
The newly crowned Brighton 2023-24 Player of the Season struggled to have much impact in open play. It was though his corner flicked on by Danny Welbeck which Veltman turned home for the Albion goal. If anyone should be able to claim an assist for the assist, it is Gross.

Billy Gilmour – 6.86
Worked tirelessly in front of the defence and took one for the team when picking up a yellow card for a tactical foul. A big part of the reason Brighton were able to contain Newcastle relatively effectively.

Facundo Buonanotte – 6.57
Had a first half sight of goal but the hosts were alert to the danger and managed to crowd him out. Some nice stuff in possession otherwise.

JULIO ENCISO – 7.57
A real threat throughout the opening 45 minutes. He drove forward with the ball and made the right decision with almost every pass, most notably when playing in Welbeck one-on-one. The only criticism was he should have done better when screwing a free header off target in acres of space.

Simon Adingra – 6.86
Definitely looks more effective down the left flank compared to the right. Linked up well with Enciso to cause Newcastle problems with his pace and directness.

Danny Welbeck – 6.86
Flicked on Gross’ corner, enabling Veltman to open the scoring. Came close to adding a second Brighton goal himself when latching onto Enciso’s through ball. Martin Dubravka just about managed to get a hand on it to prevent Welbeck having an empty goal to aim at.

Tariq Lamptey – 5.71
Veltman’s injury meant Lamptey entering proceedings far earlier than Brighton would have liked on his return to fitness. Never easy coming into a game unexpectedly as a defender with half time mere minutes away, as seen when Gordon led Lamptey on a merry dance in the build up to the Newcastle equaliser.

Benicio Baker-Boaitey – 5.86
His longest Premier League runout so far. Wanted to attack down the right, although that was easier said than done as the Toon ramped up the pressure towards the end.

Jakub Moder – 5.57
With Enciso not fit enough to complete a full 90 yet, De Zerbi introduced Moder at number 10. Given the way the Albion were setup to play on the counter, Ansu Fati looked a more suitable replacement. The rumours of Brighton not playing Fati so as to avoid triggering a bonus payment clause in his loan from Barcelona continue to strengthen.

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.