Match Review: Leicester City 2-1 Brighton
You’ve got to get yourself together, you’ve got stuck in a moment and now you can’t get out of it; Don’t say that later will be better, now you’re stuck in a moment and you can’t get out of it.”
Wise words from Bono, The Edge and the other two blokes in U2 who nobody remembers. And after Brighton’s latest failure to register a Premier League point, it’s a song that could be applied to the Albion’s current predicament.
For we are stuck in a serious moment. A proper rut. One win in 12 league games, a 12 point gap to the relegation zone being wiped out to just three and the only team out of the 92 Football League clubs not to have won a game this calendar year.
We can’t get out of it either. The performance at the King Power Stadium was actually a relatively good one after a disastrous opening 10 minutes in which Demari Gray gave the hosts the lead. We registered 51% possession, had 15 shots and won eight corners. Had Glenn Murray not been guilty of two horrific, out-of-character misses, we should be sat here talking about how a positive showing earned a really good point in the East Midlands.
Chris Hughton keeps saying that later will be better. His post-match press conferences seem to be on repeat at the moment, praising the team for creating chances and saying “on another day”. Unfortunately, creating opportunities and playing well doesn’t open up a gap between the Albion and Cardiff City or Southampton. The Premier League don’t sit there and go, “Do you know what, we’ve watched back Leicester v Brighton and Brighton played really well, so here are a few extra points.”
The defeat leaves Saturday’s home game with Huddersfield Town looking massive now. The Terriers beat Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday, playing with the sort of freedom and fearless attitude that comes when a team knows that they are practically relegated. If they bring that boldness to the Amex to take on a cagey Albion side low on confidence who don’t have a particularly good record in games when the pressure is on with a crowd on their back, it’s not going to be quite as straight forward as many people seem to think. In fact, it could descend into a bloody nightmare.
One thing that surely has to change for the visit of Huddersfield is the formation. Hughton again started with 4-3-3 at Leicester, an absolutely insane decision for anybody who has watched our form fall off a cliff since the formation change, especially given the way that Leicester set up.
One of the most notable problems with the Albion playing 4-3-3 is how exposed the full backs. Against a home side who have wide players of the quality of Demari Gray and Harvey Barnes, lining up with no protection for Gaetan Bong and Martin Montoya was self harm on an industrial scale.
It took just 10 minutes for the Foxes to exploit the space afforded to them down the flanks as both of their wingers and Youri Tielemans linked up to take advantage of Bong being both out of position and exposed, Barnes winning the ball on the halfway line before feeding Tielemans whose pass to Gray was finished off emphatically past Maty Ryan.
Ryan then had to keep out another Gray effort low down to his right after a probing bit of play from left back Ben Chilwell – danger again surfacing from out wide. It was at that point that Hughton abandoned 4-3-3 and, lo and behold, the Albion suddenly became the better side.
Shane Duffy headed over from a Pascal Gross corner, Gross himself saw a long distance effort take a deflection off Harry Maguire which forced Kasper Schmeichel into a sprawling save and the Danish goalkeeper denied Anthony Knockaert on a rare start for the Little French Magician.
Knockaert should keep his place too after one of his of best Premier League performances of the season. Before half time, he set up Propper who shot wide and then delivered a devilish low cross which Ricardo Pereira just about managed to clear before it found it’s way to the lurking Murray.
Murray was lurking again early in the second half when Gross’ clever back heel found him with time and space in the box. All that he had to do was hit the target and Brighton would be level. For a man who is normally so clinical in front of goal, to see him instead balloon the ball over the bar beggared belief.
It also summed up that rut we’re in – if our talismanic forward, who has never let moving between rival clubs, serious injuries and being arrested for tax evasion affect his form is now struggling because of this run, what hope do the rest of them have?
Gross injured himself in the process of creating that chance which should give all those teenagers on Twitter who want to see Yves Bissouma starting in place of the German their wish. One of Bissouma’s first tasks was to watch the Albion go 2-0 down as a sweeping passing move that was Leicester at their best was rounded off by Jamie Vardy. Shame they couldn’t do that against Crystal Palace on Saturday when they instead deliberately lost a game to get a manager sacked. Classy.
Speaking of classy and not in a sarcastic way, it was Davy Propper who pulled one back for Brighton with his first goal for the club. Propper is by far-and-away our most talented footballer but he’s been lacking in the goals department since arriving for £9m from PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 2007. Hopefully, his drilled right finish will change that by being the first of many.
There were chances to grab an equaliser for the Albion after Propper’s strike and there were also moments of sheer lunacy. For all the criticism we’ve made of Hughton’s decision to start with 4-3-3, his most incredible decision was to get Jurgen Locadia and Gaetan Bong over a free kick 30 yards out when chasing an equaliser.
What was the thinking behind that? “We’re good at set pieces. Lewis Dunk and Duffy are real threats. We’ve got a couple of people who can deliver the ball. Right, let’s get Bong and Locadia over it to have a shot.” Needless to say, Locadia’s effort was nearly as bad as his album.
The best of those chances to grab an equaliser fell to Murray, who had changed his boots after that earlier miss. t His new footwear made no difference however, firing wide from a Bong cross when he really should have hit the target at least. And that was that. A fruitless Tuesday trip to the East Midlands, although if anyone backed Night of Sin in the 2.30 at Leicester liked we’d advised in our match preview then they’d have been quids in.
It was an Albion performance that was probably good enough to warrant a point. On another day, it might have done. But we said that against Burnley. We said that against Watford. We can’t afford to be seeing it against Huddersfield on Saturday, too.
We’re stuck in a moment, and we can’t get out of it.
