Brighton 0-4 Man City: Barco bounces to top of ratings on full debut
Shall we talk about Valentin Barco? Brighton 0-4 Man City was a pretty awful experience but the 19-year-old from Argentina did at least provide a positive by topping the player ratings.
Roberto De Zerbi has spent the past four months saying Barco is not yet ready for Premier League football. It therefore came as a surprise for him to be handed his full debut against Manchester City of all teams. Talk about being thrown in at the deep end.
Barco did not get off to the best of starts, being responsible for the third City goal on 34 minutes. His loose pass gifted the champions possession in the Brighton box; something you don’t really want to be doing. A matter of seconds later and Phil Foden was picking out the bottom corner.
City’s fourth then came down the flank Barco was patrolling. He was caught a long way up the pitch, leaving Kyle Walker to latch onto a 70-yard pass from Ederson and tee up Julian Alvarez.
Two mistakes of a type which are easy to cut out with experience. Where Barco impressed was with his character and determination.
There were some lovely little touches and clever passes. He undoubtedly has a lot of potential and the sort of personality which can make him a cult favourite with Albion fans.
Unfortunately, we now have to talk about the other Seagulls involved in Brighton 0-4 Man City – here are your player ratings.
Jason Steele – 4.38
Not sure there was much he could do about any of the first three City goals. But with Bart Verbruggen playing so well recently, Steele was on a hiding to nothing being recalled by De Zerbi for this particular game.
Joel Veltman – 3.88
People around me in the West Upper were asking if we were seeing the end of Veltman’s Brighton career with him looking so off-the-pace against City. Right back definitely looks like a position where the Albion must strengthen this summer.
Jan Paul van Hecke – 5.00
Being part of a defence which has conceded four goals is never a good look. Put in a couple of decent tackles on his way to outshining Lewis Dunk.
Lewis Dunk – 4.88
The movement of City saw him dragged out of position a little too often. Should have done better with a headed chance when City only led by one. It probably would not have made much difference to the outcome, but might have at least livened the Amex up for a bit.
VALENTIN BARCO – 6.13
De Zerbi called Barco the best Albion player on the pitch and with first place in the Brighton 0-4 Man City ratings, Seagulls supporters agreed. He looks like a player guaranteed to bring entertainment.
Jakub Moder – 3.00
Swapped roles with Pascal Gross as Der Kaiser played as a 10 and Moder alongside Carlos Baleba. Spent most of the game following Kevin De Bruyne. Whether that was by De Zerbi design or just how the game ended up playing out, it was a poor performance.
Carlos Baleba – 4.75
De Zerbi has spoken about how this young Brighton squad will be improved next season after the experience of playing against the best players in the world. Baleba will have certainly learnt a lot from trying to deal with De Bruyne and Foden. Totally overrun in the first half before gaining a foothold after the break, although he was admittedly helped by City easing off.
Adam Lallana – 3.00
Retirement beckons at the end of the season if this was anything to go by. Game completely bypassed him before being replaced by Simon Adingra at half time as De Zerbi looked to inject some much-needed pace into the Albion.
Pascal Gross – 4.38
He wanted a penalty after getting into the City box and being pulled to the ground by Rodri. Tried to lead from the front but it never really happened for him.
Joao Pedro – 6.00
The other bright spark along with Barco. Ran tirelessly throughout, including when bursting through and getting fouled in the area by Josko Gvardiol. Jarad Gillett not awarding a penalty was one of a number of atrocious decisions by the Australian referee.
Danny Welbeck – 5.25
Brighton actually started relatively well until City went and scored three times in 17 minutes. Welbeck was central to this and had the first chance of the game, forcing Ederson into a routine save.
Odel Offiah – 5.25
Not many people would have expected the nephew of ruby legend Martin Offiah to come on at half time. He did well on his first Albion appearance since heart problems cut short a loan spell with, ironically, Hearts.
Simon Adingra – 4.50
Adingra has looked in need of a rest for weeks and yet De Zerbi picked the one game where his pace was needed to put him on the bench. Bizarre.
Igor Julio – 5.00
Igor! Igor! Igor! His introduction saw Brighton switch to a back three with Barco pushed further forward.
Mark O’Mahony – 5.25
A home Premier League debut for the next Evan Ferguson. With Brighton so short of other attacking options, he should get further game time over the remaining five matches.
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.
