Brighton 0-0 Norwich City: Gallows humour at another scoreless game
Whisper it quietly, but it would appear that patience is beginning to run thin with the current rut that the scoreless Seagulls are stuck in. That is the opinion we were starting to get in the pubs of Brighton & Hove following another game at the Amex without a goal as the Albion drew 0-0 with Norwich City.
It is now more evident than ever that Brighton need a striker who can do something radical like put the ball in the back of the net.
Nobody can question the financial commitment of Tony Bloom in sinking £420 odd million of his own personal fortune into the club since May 2009. Likewise, losses of £270 million racked up in four completed Premier League seasons are eye watering.
And yet the feeling has never never been stronger that this summer, Brighton need to find a way to buy the one player who can take them onto the next level.
Deniz Undav might yet provide the answer, although no centre forward who has yet arrived at the Amex via the Netherlands or Belgium has possessed the required quality to make the sizable step up to the Premier League.
Striker issue aside, there is also a growing feeling that Graham Potter is not doing enough to help this team score goals.
Build up play is slow and ponderous. How can it be that Premier League footballers earning an average of £50,000 per week can put only four of 31 shots on target? What exactly do they do on the training ground Monday to Friday, because it clearly is not shooting practice?
Not many people are being so brazen as to call for Potter’s sacking at the moment. If he had that striker he needs and Brighton still could not beat a dreadful Norwich side at home, then it might be a different story.
But the talk of the town on Saturday evening was what would you do if another club made a move for Potter in the summer?
That more than a few people seemed nonplussed about the idea of Potter leaving the Albion in exchange for money and a new man with new ideas was a telling swing in views brought about by this dreadful run of form.
Of course, results can change all that. Pick up a win away at Arsenal, Spurs or Manchester City before Southampton visit the Amex in three weeks time and Potter’s stock will rise again.
Brighton fans might then say that Bloom should do everything in his power to keep Potter if Manchester United, Everton or another come calling.
Right now though, results are shit. People are tired of going to the Amex every home game expecting there to be no goals.
Brighton 0-0 Norwich was entertaining in that the Albion were so dominant, but at the same time it was laced with frustration that we could not beat woeful opponents who will finish bottom of the table. For the second time this season too after the 0-0 draw at Carrow Road in October.
When football supporters start employing gallows humour and laughing at their own team, it is a dangerous moment. Often, the joke does not remain funny for long before anger starts bubbling to the surface.
We saw it in the final month of Chris Hughton reign’s, when Plucky Little Bournemouth won 5-0 at the Amex. It existed throughout the Sami Hyypia era and when Micky Adams Mark II nearly dragged the Albion into League One.
One bloke in the West Upper gained cheers and guffaws when he turned around, threw his arms up and looked to the sky screaming “JUST ****ING SHOOT” as if looking for God to intervene with Brighton stroking the ball around the edge of the box.
At half time, another chap said to his friend in the gent’s toilet as the second half kicked off: “Thought I might miss a goal going for a piss now but there’s no ****ing chance of that.” And there was as much laughter when Brighton predictably missed a penalty against Norwich as there was despair.
Fans are wondering if we are going to win a game again this season. Should the Albion not be victorious over the remaining eight matches, then their record since September would read three wins in 26 matches.
Repeat their average of 0.84 points per game over the entire 2022-23 season and Brighton will finish on 32, a number which would leave them in severe danger of relegation.
We all might have thought that the Albion were merely in a rut since February when Dan Burn was sold and Adam Webster injured, but results have been pretty crap for seven months now. Last minute equalisers bringing joy and celebration on the road has seemingly masked that.
Visitors Norwich were shit. There is no other way to put it. Most at the Amex on Saturday agreed that they could not remember seeing a poorer opposition side visit Sussex in the four seasons the Albion have been a Premier League team. Reminder again here that the final score was Brighton 0-0 Norwich.
The Albion have notched just 10 goals at home all season. Only four of those have come from open play, that is to say they were not delivered from corners, free kicks or set pieces.
Potter’s quote about needing a Brighton “history lesson” when a handful of fans booed following November’s 0-0 draw with The Leeds United is being made to look increasingly silly with each passing week. He is currently on course to oversee the Albion’s worst home season in 121 years. How is that for history?
In drawing 0-0 with Norwich, Brighton as already mentioned recorded 31 shots. That in itself suggests the Albion played well and those who were not there or supporters of other clubs might think Brighton unlucky.
Season ticket holders though are paying through the nose, taking the time and making the effort to go to the Amex and the rewards are non-existent.
After three seasons of Potterball – lots of possession, lots of sideways passes, very few goals – an increasing number of fans are starting to become bored.
They say it on social media. They say it on North Stand Chat. It is reflected by empty seats and the quiet atmosphere at the Amex.
Boredom is of course what many Albion supporters cited as the reason for believing the sacking of Hughton was justified.
Away days were crap and the Albion would just try and defend their way to 1-0 wins. What we would give for a 1-0 win now – or any sort of goal.
And Hughton of course still remains responsible for the club’s highest finish in their current Premier League of 15th.
It looks increasingly likely that Potter will not exceed that in the current campaign, leaving the argument that we may now pass the ball well in pretty triangles but progress in what really matters – wins, points and climbing the table – has been non existent.
Only four of those 31 shots Brighton managed against the Canaries were on target, which is another problem. The best chance Brighton had to ensure it didn’t finish 0-0 was when Norwich gave away a comical first half penalty, but the Albion could not even get that on target.
Neal Maupay blasted a ball that was last seen flying over Rottingdean on route across the English Channel to France.
Whilst no professional football can be excused for failing to at the very least hit the target with a free shot from 12 yards, Maupay should never have been taking the spot kick in the first place.
His penalty record is questionable at best. Alexis Mac Allister and Leandro Trossard were both on the pitch, playing well, brimming with confidence off the back of good international performances and having scored their most recent spot kicks for the Albion.
Potter is to blame for electing Maupay as his penalty taker. In doing so, he has potentially shattered the confidence of his top scorer and a man who has contributed over 35 percent of the Albion’s goals in the Potter Era. If Maupay cannot score, then nobody else will.
Poor Neal looked a broken man when he was substituted with 11 minutes remaining. He trotted past the East, North and West Stands all singing his name with not so much as a look towards the crowd.
Some Brighton fans were disgusted with that, ala the famous incident when Glenn Murray did not clap the away end at Brentford in 2009.
Maupay though was clearly distraught at what had happened, which shows how much he cares. Give me that over a player enjoying himself and basking in the adulation despite missing a penalty in a team that has not scored a home goal since mid-January.
Of the Albion’s four shots on target, only one was a genuine scoring opportunity. Tim Krul made an outrageous reaction save when Joel Veltman headed a Solly March corner towards goal.
It seemed destined for the back of the net until the former Brighton goalkeeper stuck out an arm to turn the ball over the bar from close range.
Tariq Lamptey hit a tame first half effort from distance which was easy for a number one of Krul’s ilk to deal with. Solly March had a similar 20 yarder saved following the Veltman chance and Krul produced a save for the cameras late on when punching away a Mac Allister drive.
27 other shots were high, wide or handsome. At the other end, Robert Sanchez did not have a save to make, although he still nearly contrived to give away a goal when flapping a first half cross which looked like it should have been a routine catch.
Things might have become even worse for Brighton had Milot Rashica not done a passable impression of an Albion player in the final 10 minutes.
He lifted over the bar when found completely unmarked at the back post by a Temmu Pukki cross, a result of Dean Smith’s very clear game plan which every Premier League manager knows works against Brighton.
Sit deep because chances are that the Albion will not score. Then wait until Brighton present you with an opportunity of your own to strike on the counter.
Had it worked and the final score been Brighton 0-1 Norwich rather than 0-0, the gallows humour and laughter might have turned to something more sinister.
Brighton need a striker this summer. They need a victory before the end of the season. Potter needs to find a way to get his side scoring goals, be that by a change in approach or tactics.
If he really is the best English manager in the world as Pep Guardiola once said, then he should be able to do that. Right?
