Brighton 0-0 Brentford: Lots of shots, few boos, zero goals

Brighton 0-0 Brentford was an interesting evening at the Amex as the Albion continued their run of disappointing form from a so-called ‘easy’ run of fixtures.

Cast your mind back to the final week of November. Brighton sat fourth in the Premier League standings with an upcoming run of games which read Southampton (H), Fulham (A), Leicester City (A), Crystal Palace (H), West Ham (A) and Brentford (H).

Only one of those sides sat in the top 10. Three were genuine relegation candidates, four if you would be so bold as to include West Ham in that list.

The mind boggled over where Brighton would sit after those six ‘easy’ matches. In title contention? Comfortably ensconced in the top four?

No and no. A somewhat poor return of four points out of a possible 18 has dissolved a fair amount of the early season optimism Fabian Hurzeler sprinkled around the Amex. The honeymoon period is well and truly over.

We know this because there were audible boos at the end of Brighton 0-0 Brentford. And because some bloke behind me in the West Upper said afterwards “Do you think Bloom still has Roberto De Zerbi’s phone number?”

There was also an incredible revelation from Paul Barber OBE in his programme notes that some Albion supporters had emailed the CEO and deputy chairman complaining about recent performances.

What happened to the good old days when we would all leave Withdean Stadium on a number 5 bus after another disappointing afternoon sat in the rain, dissect what happened in the pub for about an hour and then forget it all until the following weekend?

Nobody ever thought to pop Martin Perry or Dick Knight a letter moaning over a 4-0 home defeat to Crewe Alexandra. Maybe we should have done…

Most Brighton fans – those who were there at Withdean and the Amex generation – know what happens next anyway. An away game against Champions League outfit Aston Villa? Followed by hosting title chasing Arsenal at the Amex?

Six points out of six are incoming for the same side who failed to beat Southampton and Brentford at home; two opponents who arrived in Sussex with the worst away records in the Premier League so far this season.

This is the Brighton & Hove Albion way. It even happened under the great Mister De Zerbi. Brighton 1-5 Everton followed by Arsenal 0-3 Brighton. Everyone should be used to it by now, right?

Given how disappointing Brighton 0-0 Brentford was by the full time whistle, it is easy to forget the Albion actually started quite well.

Julio Enciso rattled the post inside the opening five minutes following a layoff from Joao Pedro. That was the start of a busy evening for Encsio, who provided much of the entertainment almost single-handedly.

Seven more efforts came from Enciso over the next 40 minutes, meaning he went into half time having taken eight shots. This was apparently some sort of joint Premier League record for a player in a first half of football.

These efforts varied wildly. Enciso should have done better with a free header put straight at Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken. There was also an ambitious overhead kick which was so sliced as to nearly go out for a throw.

My personal favourite was Enciso shooting from 25 yards and wheeling away to celebrate, before realising his effort had in fact gone 20 yards wide.

At times, it was like watching a Sunday League player who had dropped his last MDMA bomb at 4am before a 10.30am kick off at Waterhall. Some might find that frustrating; I found it magnificent. Long live Enciso.

He was not the only one to squander chances, of course. Kaoru Mitoma shot into the side netting and Matt O’Riley had a couple of good opportunities. One of those looked like it would open the scoring, only for a light deflection to take it just wide of the post.

Brentford were dealt a blow when Flekken went off injured midway through the first half. Jan Paul van Hecke did not endear himself to the Bees travelling support, initially complaining that Flekken was time wasting rather than hurt.

But off he limped, replaced by Premier League debutant Hakon Valdimarsson. Brighton now had the best part of an hour to test a 23-year-old Icelandic goalkeeper whose only previous experience of English football was against Colchester United and Leyton Orient in the Carabao Cup.

No need to guess what happened. As soon as Valdimarsson entered proceedings, it seemed grimly predictable that he would enjoy a comfortable night. And so it proved as the Albion barely managed a shot on target in the second half of Brighton 0-0 Brentford.

It could have been much worse for the Seagulls too. If it isn’t too late to send a nice Christmas hamper out, Fabian Hurzeler should consider doing so to whoever was the VAR official.

Brentford had a 14th minute goal disallowed for offside when Yoane Wissa raced away from Van Hecke and Lewis Dunk to clinically beat Verbruggen. The video assistant, however, spotted Wissa was offside and so parity remained.

Pedro could then consider himself a lucky boy to escape sanction after swinging an elbow at Yehor Yarmoliuk, who was holding the Brazilian forward’s shirt.

Had Pedro made contact, he would have certainly been shown a straight red card. He probably deserved one for the intent in any case.

Pedro though survived the incident, which came shortly after he had been waving his arms in the air to try and drum up some noise from the crowd.

By that point, Brighton were doing precious little to elicit any sort of atmosphere in a dull second half. Hurzeler did not help, making a series of bizarre substitutions. Taking off Mitoma but leaving Enciso on was plain strange.

The noise levels did go up a notch with two minutes remaining when Solly March returned after an ACL injury, two knee surgeries and 14 months out.

But even that substitution was weird; Hurzeler introducing March in a straight swap for Joel Veltman at right back. It is a role March has scarcely filled in his 11-year Albion career; to use him there after over a year on the sidelines left many supporters baffled.

Having said all that, March did nearly have a fairy tale return. Virtually the last kick of the game fell to him on the edge of the Brentford box.

The Bees offered an insane amount of space, allowing March to set himself for an effort from a good position which sadly flew into the North Stand rather than bothering Valdimarsson.

March deserved a goal for what he has been through this past year. Whether Brighton deserved to win at the end of a ponderous second half was more questionable. As was whether the Albion deserved the boos which greeted the final whistle.

Hurzeler said afterwards he did not agree with the reaction of those supporters. In English football though, you silence the doubters by winning matches.

How very Typical Brighton it would be to do so against Villa and Arsenal having failed to beat Southampton, Fulham, Leicester, Palace, West Ham and now Brentford.