Bournemouth 3-0 Brighton: Can we just end the season now?

A season which should be remembered as the campaign when the Albion created lifelong memories in Europe is in danger of instead being overshadowed by a woeful ending played out in concerning relegation form. Bournemouth 3-0 Brighton made it no win in six and no goal scored by an actual Albion player in the whole month of April.

Roberto De Zerbi said afterwards his players were lacking motivation after being eliminated from Europe. This is not good enough. Each finishing position in the Premier League is worth £3 million.

The difference between finishing eighth and 14th is therefore £18 million. With the way Brighton make signings, that gets you potentially two or three new recruits. From a financial point of view alone, to think there is nothing to play for now is nonsense.

But the bigger problem with his assertion is that the poor form actually started way before exiting the Europa League at the hands of Roma.

The Albion have only three Premier League wins in 15 matches going back to the turn of the year. Two of those victories were against abysmal Crystal Palace and Sheffield United outfits. The other needed an own goal to see off relegation threatened Nottingham Forest at the Amex.

Repeat that over an entire campaign and Brighton will be in severe danger of relegation. That is how bad things have become.

Since the start of March, the Albion have scored just one Premier League goal of their own. Danny Welbeck in the 2-1 defeat away at Liverpool.

Burnley goalkeeper Arijanet Muric has won Brighton Goal of the Month for April by default. Forest defender Andrew Omobamidele is the only other man along with Welbeck and Muric to find the back of the net for the Albion.

What has gone wrong? How long have you got? Injuries have not helped but such wretched performances and results go beyond just that.

Brighton are not the only club suffering from absentees and yet others have managed to cope without their form diving off a cliff.

De Zerbi’s public comments over recruitment and the current playing squad have clearly not helped. The Albion manager has looked a shadow of the inspirational head coach he was last season.

Brighton have shown no capability of a Plan B. Opponents now know how to counteract DeZerbiBall. Throwing on Adam Webster and Joel Veltman as second half substitutes when losing was bizarre.

And for all the club’s consistent patting themselves on the back over record profits, the past two transfer windows now look very poor.

No Premier League-ready reinforcements signed in January preceded by a summer in which Mahmoud Dahoud (already gone), Ansu Fati (unused sub at Vitality Stadium) and Carlos Baleba (teenager with less than 25 professional games under his belt) were marquee signings.

Joao Pedro and arguably Bart Verbruggen are the only new recruits of the past 12 months to work out well. You cannot sell the spine of your team in Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo and expect to compete at the same level.

If alarm bells were not already ringing around the decision makers at the club, they should be now after Bournemouth 3-0 Brighton.

Once these sort of ruts set in, they can be difficult to get out of. A huge summer is needed if the Albion are to maintain their place as a top 10 Premier League club rather than regressing.

And what of De Zerbi’s future? It is hard to think of any Brighton manager ever whose stock has fallen quite so quickly in the opinion of fans.

Twitter was awash with Albion supporters questioning if De Zerbi should be sacked after Bournemouth 3-0 Brighton. It is incredible to think just 12 months ago, he was being hailed the best Brighton manager ever and a head coach who was set to revolutionise the game.

As recently as February, he was on shortlists to take over at Barcelona, Liverpool and Bayern Munich. None of those giants will surely touch him now, having seen Brighton become a side who cannot defend and cannot score goals.

Tony Bloom is far less reactionary than general football fans. He would obviously look at the bigger picture; the injuries, the toll Europe took.

He should also look at whether De Zerbi is right about the club not having done enough in the transfer market. Although as we know, the Albion board do not take well to any sort of criticism.

It would be fascinating to hear what Bloom and Paul Barber OBE have said in private about De Zerbi’s public utterances, his questioning of their approach and telling them they need to learn lessons.

Never dull being a Brighton supporter, is it? A campaign which could have just drifted into mid table mediocrity for its final few months is at risk of ending in full blow meltdown.

The Cherries in contrast are enjoying an outrageous finish to their first season under Andoni Iraola. Bournemouth 0-3 Brighton made it six wins, two draws and only two defeats from their past 10 matches. With three games still to play, the Cherries have already set their highest ever Premier League points total.

They needed only 13 minutes to take the lead against the Albion. Brighton were woeful defending a set piece once again. Full debutant Mark O’Mahony failed to head clear a corner, enabling Marcos Senesi to nod home from three yards.

O’Mahony lasted only 45 minutes before he was replaced by Danny Welbeck. It was tough going for the Irish teenager, who had no service during a first half in which the Albion failed to have a single shot on target.

Welbeck’s first task was to almost watch Brighton go 2-0 down. Bournemouth sliced their way through the Albion defence, only for Justin Kluivert to fire into the side netting when one-on-one with Verbruggen.

That was a warning sign Brighton did not heed. Five minutes later and the Cherries doubled their advantage. Dango Ouattara crossed and this time it was Enes Unal left unmarked to head home.

The Albion mustered their one and only effort on target in response. Simon Adingra saw an effort tipped over by Mark Travers.

Julio Enciso meanwhile entered the fray and decided to shoot at every opportunity. None of his efforts were on target, however, as the Cherries secured a relatively straightforward clean sheet.

The third and final goal in Bournemouth 3-0 Brighton arrived via the impressive Kluivert in the 89th minute. The Albion were again woeful defensively, allowing the Dutchman to waltz through and drill left-footed past his compatriot Verbruggen.

Things do not get any easier from here. Next up, the Albion host Aston Villa. That is top four chasing Villa, who have not lost a game away in Brighton since Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.

Can we just end the season now instead, please?