Brighton 0-2 Everton: Bissouma tops the player ratings… again

Three days before the summer transfer window slams shut and Yves Bissouma was again showing the footballing world his frightening amount of ability by topping the player ratings in Brighton 0-2 Everton.

This was the second Premier League game out of three so far in the 2021-22 campaign that Bissouma has been the Albion’s best player, carrying on where he left off in a 2020-21 season which saw him as a landslide winner of our WAB Player of the Year award.

How Bissouma remains a Brighton player is something of a mystery. He has a list of suitors longer than my missus’ receipt of unnecessary crap whenever she comes out of The Range and yet here we are with nobody having made a bid for Bissouma, let alone one approaching the £60 million plus it would surely cost to prise him away from the Amex.

Liverpool have been strongly linked with a £40 million move before the August 31st deadline, but there is no way Tony Bloom would consider selling at that sort of price – even with Bissouma having only two years left on his contract.

Jurgen Klopp will need to seriously up his offer. If Bissouma remains a Brighton player, it will be arguably Brighton’s best bit of business of the summer.

Brighton 0-2 Everton highlighted other areas in which the squad needs improving – namely out wide as these player ratings are testament to – and so fingers crossed we are in for a busy few days; none of which involves the outstanding Bissouma moving to Anfield, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Paris Saint Germain or Real Madrid…

Robert Sanchez – 6.57
A mixed afternoon for the Albion goalkeeper. Commanded his area brilliantly and made a number of smart saves to ensure that this did not end up being a hammering, all of which was enough to see him named as the sponsor’s man-of-the-match. It did however look like he should have done better with the first goal and he was very lucky that Lucas Digne did not punish a terrible error after Sanchez passed him the ball in the box.

Adam Webster – 4.93
Got put on his arse by Demarai Gray when Everton opened the scoring. Made a couple of charges forward and alongside Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy, the defence did reasonably well at coping with the sizable threat posed by Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

Shane Duffy – 5.86
The biggest test of his recent renaissance against a Toffees attack who were a step up in class on Burnley and Watford. Some important blocks and headers were made on his way to being the highest rated Albion defender in Brighton 0-2 Everton but he should have put a free header from a Pascal Gross corner at least on target.

Lewis Dunk – 5.21
A testing afternoon up against Calvert-Lewin meant he had to focus all his attentions on keeping the England striker quiet rather than trying anything fancy or playmaking from the back. He did that reasonably well, something which Calvert-Lewin might like to tell Gareth Southgate when he reports for international duty this week.

Pascal Gross – 4.71
There are games when Gross is a suitable pick as a right wing back and there are games when he should never be put in that position. Asking him to deal one-on-one with a winger as quick as Gray was always going to be a complete mismatch and so it proved as the £1.7 million signing from Bayer Leverkusen (one point seven million!) opened the scoring. Came closest to scoring for the Albion with a deflected free kick which Jordan Pickford did well to keep out.

Adam Lallana – 5.07
Brighton were their own worst enemy at times with the way in which they consistently gave the ball away. You know it is bad when a player as controlling and calm as Adam Lallana is impacted. He kept plugging away but was unable to make much headway against an Everton side he would have been desperate to beat because of his Liverpool links.

YVES BISSOUMA – 7.36
Head and shoulders above anybody else in blue and white once again as Brighton 0-2 Everton saw him top the player ratings for the second week running. Constantly retrieved possession when it had been squandered by his teammates, always looked to get the Albion on the front foot and showed his new-found maturity by never rising to that little wanker Richarlison’s attempts to wide him up. A dynamic display from a dynamic player even as those around him faltered.

Jakub Moder – 5.29
Took over from the injured Solly March at left wing back but as with Gross, using central midfielders in wide positions against an Everton side playing 4-4-2 with two out-and-out wingers was a mistake. Andros Townsend got a lot of joy out of him and he struggled to make an impact in an attacking sense.

Alexis Mac Allister – 5.14
The sacrificial lamb at half time when Potter realised he had to switch to a back four to counter Everton’s threat. A harsh decision perhaps as Gross and Moder would have been many people’s preferred choices to make way for Joel Veltman, but the Argentine had done little of note in his 45 minutes.

Leandro Trossard – 5.21
A typical mixed bag from the Vampire of Genk. Made a livewire start to require treatment twice inside of the opening five minutes, nearly scored when connecting to a Veltman cross and caused Pickford more problems than most. All of that alongside long periods of the game when he was not involved.

Neal Maupay – 5.36
The biggest surprise of the afternoon came with the Albion’s medical team actually getting an estimated return from injury correct as the French striker was fit after injuring his shoulder last week. Not able to add to his two goals so far this season, whistling one effort over the bar in the first half and then dragging wide in the second.

Joel Veltman – 4.43
Introduced to shore up the right side of defence where Gross had struggled against the pace and intent of Gray and Seamus Coleman. Within nine minutes, he made a clumsy challenge on Coleman in the box which gifted Everton their second from the penalty spot. A rare poor performance from the normally reliable Dutchman.

Danny Welbeck – 4.64
Last season showed us that when Dat Guy returns from injury, he needs a couple of games to get himself up and running. A decent cameo in that regard as he worked the channels to shake some of that ring rust.

Taylor Richards – 5.07
A Premier League debut for the youngster signed from Manchester City for £2.5 million two summers ago. Show his ability on the ball by gliding past a couple of Everton players and looked neat and tidy in possession. It will be interesting to see where he fits in over the course of the season, presuming he does not join the 475 players that the Albion have sent out on loan before the transfer window shuts.

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.