Brighton 0-0 Ipswich: Brilliant Baleba miles clear in player ratings
Carlos Baleba, take a bow. The midfielder finished a whole 1.44 points ahead of any Albion teammate in the Brighton 0-0 Ipswich Town player ratings. Or as one Seagulls supporter put it: “Baleba was brilliant. The rest, meh.”
The Tractor Boys arrived to frustrate Brighton and defend their way to a result. Despite having 21 shots, the Albion could find no way through.
Neither Graham Potter nor Roberto De Zerbi ever found a convincing way for Brighton to overcome a low block. Fabian Hurzeler will now be aware of the scale of the problem. Can he do what the other two could not in future?
There will be plenty of question marks over that. More certain is Baleba becoming a midfield regular after his performance. It was like watching a combination of the best traits of Yves Bissouma and Moises Caicedo.
Baleba carried the ball forward into dangerous positions, akin to Bissouma. But he also displayed Caicedo’s knack for being in the right place at the right time to win back possession when shielding the back four.
A special showing from a special player was the obvious highlight of Brighton 0-0 Ipswich – and here are your player ratings.
Bart Verbruggen – 6.67
Never forced into a meaningful save by the Tractor Boys, who came closest to scoring when an astonishing run from Liam Delap saw him advance 80 yards and smash the post.
Joel Veltman – 6.67
Felt like he completed 100 percent of his passes successfully – which were crucial in trying to get Brighton playing.
Jan Paul van Hecke – 7.00
So composed on his first Albion appearance since becoming a full Dutch international. Retained the ball well and was always looking to get Brighton on the front foot.
Lewis Dunk – 6.00
Reasonably untroubled at the back. But please, please, please stop letting him take free kicks in promising shooting positions.
Jack Hinshelwood – 6.00
Used the lack of adventure shown by Ipswich to get forward a lot from left back. Still not convinced it is his best position but he seems likely to stay there until Pervis Estupinan gets to full match fitness.
Yasin Ayari – 7.00
A showing which split opinion based on one Brighton fan scoring Ayari a three and another a nine. He was generally neat and tidy but without possessing the quality to play a killer pass which could have unlocked Ipswich’s mass defence.
CARLOS BALEBA – 8.44
Rolls Royce performance in midfield. Baleba set the tone for his afternoon with a technically magnificent volley inside the opening 10 minutes which draw an excellent save from Arijanet Muric. Covered every blade of grass after and will be undroppable if he maintains anywhere near this level of form from now on.
Yankubu Minteh – 5.33
Not his afternoon as he ended up going down some blind alleys and making poor decisions. Surprise he lasted as long as he did before Hurzeler turned to Simon Adingra.
Georginio Rutter – 5.56
His shot was the first in what turned out to be a fine double save from Muric. Had a half-chance after the break. Did some decent things but Brighton clearly missed the injured Joao Pedro.
Kaoru Mitoma – 5.00
Below par and that allowed Tractor Boys left back Leif Davis to mark Mitoma out of the game. Should have done miles better with what was effectively an open goal from the rebound after Muric saved from Rutter, only to put the effort far too close to the recovering Ipswich goalkeeper. Good save, poor miss.
Danny Welbeck – 5.67
An early downwards header at the far post was just about kept out by Muric. Some good hold up play and worked hard, although it was frustrating that none of the Albion’s better chances fell to him.
Simon Adingra – 5.78
Introduced as part of a triple change alongside Julio Enciso and Ferdi Kadioglu with 25 minutes remaining. Brighton never really managed to get him into the game.
Julio Enciso – 5.44
Couple of good moments and he didn’t try and shoot every time he had the ball in the vague vicinity of the Ipswich goal.
Ferdi Kadioglu – 5.00
Brighton debut for the £25 million signing from Fenerbahce and it came at left back in place of Hinshelwood. Almost gifted Ipswich a goal when he failed to control a simple pass which slipped under his foot, allowing the Tractor Boys to break forward at pace. On the flip side, he looks bloody cool.
Evan Ferguson – 5.56
First Albion appearance since undergoing ankle surgery back in April. He almost marked it with a goal despite only being on the pitch for five minutes, curling an effort just wide of the post.
The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.
