Brighton 0-4 Man City: Awful Albion matched by awful officiating

We have all seen the Albion hammered before. We have all seen the Albion lose because of terrible refereeing before. But Brighton 0-4 Man City must be the first time we have ever seen the Albion rightfully thrashed in a match where the officiating was even worse than the Seagulls’ performance.

Brighton deserved to lose heavily. The Albion were sloppy at the back and paid the price for trying to play the champions at their game. Roberto De Zerbi got almost everything wrong.

Yet so too did Jarred Gillett. He awarded a free kick when Phil Foden slipped over from which City scored their second. He refused to give the Albion at least one clear penalty.

De Zerbi should probably send Mr Gillett a nice bottle of Sangiovese to thank him for taking most of the attention off what was another terrible performance by Brighton and their head coach.

The Albion starting XI was interesting to say the least. Choosing the visit of City to bring Jason Steele back into the starting XI when Bart Verbruggen has played so well through six consecutive games felt like De Zerbi throwing Steele under the bus.

Likewise handing Valentin Barco his full debut against the champions. De Zerbi has spent the past three months saying the 19-year-old from Argentina is not ready for the Premier League yet. And then he picks the toughest possible game to pitch him into.

A lack of Plan B has been a major gripe with De Zerbi for much of the season. That was in evidence again during Brighton 0-4 Man City.

The Albion were never going to out-pass City. Attempting to play out from the back cost Brighton the third goal.

Identity and principles are all well and good. Sometimes though it is okay to break from your philosophy and try another way.

Facing City when you have nine first choice players out is that time. The fact De Zerbi either cannot or will not adapt – along with the Albion’s disappointing defensive record – is why none of those top European managerial vacancies available this summer are likely to come his way.

Some might point to Brighton 1-1 Man City from last season and say the Albion have gone toe-to-toe with the Citizens whilst playing DeZerbiBall.

That though was an evening of football played under very different circumstances. Brighton had Kaoru Mitoma and Pervis Estupinan fit and firing. Moises Caicedo and Billy Gilour patrolled the midfield.

There was the carrot of securing a sixth place finish and Europa League football dangling in front of the Albion. History could be made.

City meanwhile had already secured the title. They had one eye on the upcoming FA Cup and Champions League finals as they attempted to secure a treble.

Hence why they followed up drawing at the Amex by losing away at Brentford in their final game of the Premier League campaign.

This time around, the Citizens needed the points to hold off the challenge of Arsenal and retain the title.

At least Brighton 0-4 Man City raised the prospect of Piers Morgan turning redder in the face as each Citizens goal flew in.

The Arsenal-supporting Sussex resident tweeted beforehand how he was now backing his local team in the hope they took points off City. Having Morgan’s support was almost enough to make you want the Albion to lose.

Brighton actually started reasonably well, knocking the ball around with plenty of involvement for Steele with his feet. One opening saw Danny Welbeck get a shot away for a routine save from Ederson.

But when the Albion had a goal kick, it became evident Pep Guardiola had done his homework. City pushed every player high into the Albion half, starting with Kevin De Bruyne, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez all positioned on the edge of the 18 yard box.

The aim was to stop Brighton playing out from the back. Most other opponents do not take the bait when it comes to the Albion’s risky passing in defence attempting to draw the press and create space through which to break forward.

City though knew they were good enough to press Brighton, force mistakes and win possession. This is where the Albion needed a different approach.

Go long. Use Welbeck’s ability as a target man. Surprise City by catching out a defence positioned dangerously high up the pitch.

Instead, Steele passed to Lewis Dunk. City pounced and after a couple of passes between blue and white shirts, the ball went out for a Citizens throw only 18 yards away from the Albion goal line. Rinse and repeat.

17 minutes had elapsed when City took the lead via a brilliant Kevin De Bruyne diving header. De Bruyne is a wonderful footballer, which makes it such a shame he is now stained by City’s 115 FFP charges.

You watch him play and you should be marvelling at his ability. Instead, you end up thinking about those accusations of fraudulent accounting and questioning if he only plays for City because they cheated and cooked their books.

Nine minutes later and Foden doubled their lead thanks largely to Mr Gillett. Foden was not even looking for a foul as he went to ground after slipping on the wet surface. It wasn’t even a dive.

Yet Mr Gillett gave City the free kick. Foden took it, the Brighton wall collapsed and a deflection off Pascal Gross turning his back wrongfooted Steele.

Another five minutes on and it was three. Barco gave the ball away as the Albion tried to pass their way out and Foden took ruthless advantage. Two more goals for his ever growing collection against Brighton.

The game was done and dusted and only 34 minutes had played. Gallows humour took over in the West Upper, where a dad said to a misbehaving child: “If you carry on like this, you’re coming to every game that’s left”. That is how bad Brighton are. Watching considered punishment for a 7-year-old.

There also remained the prospect we could see a record Brighton defeat. City were going at a run rate of one goal every 10 minutes. Had they kept that up, they would have won 9-0 (or 10-0 if you take into account time added on).

Brighton therefore deserve some credit for stemming the flow – even if they were helped by City taking their foot off the gas.

The champions found the back of the net just once more. Ederson played a lovely ball 80 yards down the pitch into the path of Kyle Walker on the hour mark.

Walker had the freedom of the Amex to run into with Barco miles out of position and Dunk nowhere to be seen. Walker advanced to be challenged by Steele, from where the loose ball fell to Julian Alvarez to guide into the back of the net.

The clearest Brighton penalty shout denied by Mr Gillet came in the final 20 minutes. Joao Pedro drove into the City box, going down under a challenge from Josko Gvardiol.

Had it been Dunk on Foden at the other end, Mr Gillett would have pointed to the spot without hesitation. That is what you get when you are a state owned club so rich and powerful you can break spending rules, end up with 115 charges of cheating against you and still expect you will get away with it.

The Albion cannot compete with that. But they can do much better than they showed in Brighton 0-4 Man City. Away to Plucky Little Bournemouth on Sunday afternoon would be a good start.