Match Review – Brighton 1-0 Newcastle United
My God, Newcastle United like a moan don’t they? We’ve heard from their supporters that they should be beating teams like Brighton and that they didn’t deserve to lose on the day. Rafa Benitez found some phantom foul on one of his players in the build up to the goal to claim it should never have stood. And as for Tomer Hemed’s stamp, well fair play we’ll give them that one.
Hemed’s moment of madness ruined what was one of his best games in an Albion shirt. Regardless of whether there was intent or not, you’d have to be pretty stupid to go in like that on a guy you’ve tangled with minutes beforehand with the full array of Sky cameras offering slow mo replays from every angle and think you are going to get away with it going unseen or unpunished – especially after the flurry caused when a certain Jonjo Shelvey did similar in Newcastle’s opening game of the season.
The result is that Hemed now faces a three match ban. With Sam Baldock and Glenn Murray out for unspecified amounts of time – which, lets face it, means we won’t see them again until Brexit goes through in 2019 – we are looking at games against Arsenal, Everton and West Ham United without one recognised striker. Of course, nobody could have predicted that would happen when we failed to sign one in the transfer window.
But enough of that. Let’s talk about the game and how good the Albion were. With each passing match, the players seem to believe more and more that they belong at this level. This was a classic Chris Hughton side performance – the opposition had more possession, over double the number of shots and over four times as many corners but they couldn’t find a way through. Staying up is clearly going to be built on clean sheets and any fans moaning about defensive solidarity – or indeed, pundits like Jermaine Jenas – should remember it isn’t always about attacking. There is an art to defending too.
And that makes Shane Duffy and Lewis Dunk in particular artists on a par with Monet or Picasso. Once again the two of them were colossus at the heart of the defence. You can still get 20/1 in places for Dunk to make England’s World Cup squad. If he carries on like this then that could be a big price come March time.
Maty Ryan is also starting to look the part in goal, a brilliant one handed save inside the opening five minutes from Mikel Merino being the highlight of his performance. The guy knows how to become a fan favourite as well, wandering to the front of the North Stand afterwards were he spent 10 minutes signing autographs and being in selfies with supporters. You don’t see that from players in League Two, let alone the Premier League. Class.
Other highlights included Davy Propper continuing his trick of getting better with each game played and Solly March being bigged up by Thiery Henry in Sky’s post game analysis. For an Arsenal supporter who thrives on being out on the left, receiving a glowing tribute from Henry is probably as good as it gets for him.
But we must finish by going to back Hemed. He’s been involved in three of our five goals at the Amex this season, which takes his record to a remarkable 20 in his last 23 starts at home (15 goals and five assists). He was everywhere on Sunday, tracking back, harrying defenders and then got his reward when turning home Dale Stephens knock down from another beautiful Pascal Gross set piece.
It’s mad to think that, had we have signed that elusive striker, Hemed would now almost certainly be in the Championship with Cardiff City or Reading. One small positive of not getting somebody in is that we’ve kept a player who is clearly loving his football at the minute, deserves a shot at the Premier League and has a passion for the Albion which is remarkable for somebody who hails from over 3,000 miles away.
There is usually one player in every promoted team who surprises everyone by making the step up to the Premier League with ease when very few people thought he could. Is Hemed ours? Quite possibly. It’s just a shame we’ll have to wait three games to find out more.
