Leicester 2-2 Brighton: Another catastrophic Albion capitulation

“You cannot explain it. Everyone in the stadium thought the game was done,” said Fabian Hurzeler after Leicester City 2-2 Brighton.

Except not quite everyone did think the game was done, Herr Hurzeler. There were 3,000 Albion supporters inside the King Power Stadium whose memories extend as long ago as, er, six weeks.

They remember what happened when Wolves trailed 2-0 in the 85th minute and yet still managed to leave the Amex with a point.

To blow a 2-0 lead held with five minutes of normal time remaining against relegation threatened opponent once in a season is bad. For it to happen twice in six weeks is an absolute embarrassment.

Come the full time whistle and Tony Bloom must have been cursing that he had not flown over to Cork. His star horse, Energumene, returned from 20 months out injured by winning the Hilly Way Chase.

Bloom could have been witnessing that special moment and a shaking up of the Cheltenham Champion Chase Market.

Instead, he watched as the side he invested £193 million worth of summer signings in made it five points from a possible 18 against Ipswich, Forest, Wolves, Southampton, Fulham and Leicester.

Where did it go wrong at the King Power? How long have you got? We asked our social media followers what they thought the problem was.

Bad substitutes? Poor attitude thinking the game was won? Fragile mentality? Lack of leadership? Individual mistakes you cannot legislate for? Or all of the above?

The most common answer was all of the above. Telling you the Albion have a number of issues, all of which come to the fore whenever facing a club from the lower half of the Premier League table.

On a totally unrelated note, Brighton face 16th place Crystal Palace next. Hurzeler needs to find answers and fast.

If you thought the spectacular and wildly entertaining head loss we saw after Leicester 2-2 Brighton was extreme, imagine what happens in a week if the Albion produce another catastrophic collapse against the Eagles…

Things started reasonably well at the King Power. Hurzeler ditched the back three which was a major contributary factor to the 3-1 defeat at Fulham on Thursday night in favour of a much more familiar 4-2-3-1.

As a result, the Albion were utterly dominant through the first half and much of the second. Brighton could and probably should have led by three or four going into the break, rather than just the one provided in spectacular style by Tariq Lamptey.

Wastefulness should have been added to the list of reasons why they only returned to Sussex with a single point in the bag.

Lamptey had an excellent game at right back. He teed up Joao Pedro for an early opportunity put wide by the Brazilian forward. It was the sort of chance you would normally bet your house on a finisher as clinical as Pedro putting away.

Foxes goalkeeper Mads Hermansen saved from Yasin Ayari and Pervis Estupinan twice. Estupinan was denied again with a distance free kick and none of Jan Paul van Hecke, Kaoru Mitoma or Evan Ferguson could convert in a goal mouth scramble after Lewis Dunk returned a set piece into the box.

When Mitoma then fired over from 12 yards out, you began to wonder if it was going to be one of those days in front of goal for Brighton.

But then Lamptey opened the scoring. The wind carried an Estupinan cross all the way over to the right hand side, where Lamptey had pushed forward to pick up the pieces.

Lamptey cut in and struck left-footed. Was it meant to be a cross? Or was it a deliberate shot designed to pick out the opposite top corner of the Leicester goal?

All we know is that it left Hermansen grasping at thin air, Lamptey with a Goal of the Season contender and Brighton deservedly 1-0 ahead.

Hurzeler felt the need to haul Carlos Baleba at half time to prevent him getting sent off. The young midfielder had inexcusably waved an imaginary card at referee Stuart Attwell in an attempt to get a Leicester player booked, resulting in a yellow for himself.

Had Baleba not been so immature and remained on the pitch for the full 90, would it have finished Leicester 2-2 Brighton? He was also withdrawn by Hurzeler in the Wolves debacle when the Albion were 2-0 ahead. As fantastic a player has Baleba is, he still has a lot to learn.

His replacement was Mats Wieffer, who ended up being one of the big positives of the afternoon. Wieffer gave his best performance yet as an Albion player, including having a big role when Brighton doubled the lead on 79 minutes.

Wieffer played a lovely ball into fellow replacement Yankubu Minteh, whose twisting and turning in the box left Victor Kristiansen on the ground. Minteh subsequently lashed past Hermansen – and that should have been that.

Except this is Brighton under Hurzeler and no lead is truly safe. Jan Paul van Hecke lost Jamie Vardy, giving the Red Bull swigging striker the space he needed to volley a Bobby De Cordova-Reid cross past Bart Verbruggen.

It has been a hallmark of the Hurzeler reign so far for Brighton to concede one, sheer panic set in across the team and then ship another in close succession.

Maybe that is why The Youngest Permanent Manager in Premier League History opted to send Igor Julio on and switch to a back five with two minutes plus injury time remaining?

The personnel and tactical change only succeeded in sewing more confusion, however. Not least in Igor, who chose the worst possible instance to have one of those brain dead moments he trots out at least a couple of times a season.

Under the cosh defending a one-goal lead with minutes left to play is not the best time for a centre back to try and dribble the ball out of defence and around the opposition.

Igor did make it past two Leicester players in fairness, only to then fall over when attempting to go around a third.

10 seconds later and Stephy Mavididi and Vardy combined to tee up De Cordova Reid to make it Leicester 2-2 Brighton.

Europe again, ole ole? Fucked it up again, ole ole, more like.