Brighton 1-1 Newcastle: Unplayable Trossard hits top spot in ratings
Brighton 1-1 Newcastle was the Albion’s most disappointing performance and result of the season so far – unless you happened to be a certain Leandro Trossard, who topped the player ratings by a considerable distance.
The Vampire of Genk was at his unplayable best against the Toon Army. He danced and dazzled his way around the Toon Army defence, earning the penalty and then scoring the penalty which gave Brighton a 1-0 half time lead.
We all know what happened after that – a ghastly second 45 minutes in which Newcastle found an equaliser, Robert Sanchez was sent off and the Amex felt like a morgue until Lewis Dunk perked everyone up by going in goal for five minutes.
Had just one or two of Trossard’s teammates matched his performance levels, then Brighton might have won. Tariq Lamptey got closest, linking up well with the Belgian initially before fading from view along with, well, everyone except Trossard really.
Not a good day at the office but the blistering start that the Albion made to 2021-22 was never likely to be sustainable. Here are your Brighton 1-1 Newcastle player ratings.
Robert Sanchez – 5.38
No debate that he had to bring Callum Wilson down – but did he really need to come haring 35 yards out of his goal in an attempt to cut out the through ball in the first place? Probably not and that decision means the quite terrifying prospect of Jason Steele starting a Premier League game when Brighton go to Aston Villa after the international break.
Joel Veltman – 5.75
Put in a couple of decent crosses when he raided forward from the right. Questions to be asked about the Newcastle equaliser as he was one of several Albion defenders close to Ciaran Clark who failed to prevent the Newcastle man winning the header down which Isaac Hayden smashed home.
Shane Duffy – 6.00
Caught slightly out of position from the Toon break which resulted in Sanchez’s red card and his attempt to recover by stooping to head a ball a couple of feet off the ground was comical at best. Not his greatest game, although it might have been papered over had he done better to test Karl Darlow with a first half header.
Lewis Dunk – 6.63
Two clean sheets in two appearances in goal and still Jordan Pickford, Sam Johnstone and Aaron Ramsdale are ahead of him in the England squad. Try and tell me that Gareth Southgate does not have an anti-Dunk bias now…
Marc Cucurella – 6.50
His worst home performance so far, resulting from Graham Potter using a flat back four. That curbed his attacking intent and he never looked entirely convincing defensively when Brighton fell apart in the final 30 minutes. Did though play an important part in the second half chance for Adam Lallana which was wastefully side footed the wrong side of the post.
Yves Bissouma – 6.13
So much of Brighton’s game plan relies on Bissouma being that dynamic force who wins back possession, turns defence into attack and puts the Albion on the front foot. He struggled to do that here and the Albion were poor as a result. Fingers crossed it was a rare off day and not him being impacted by the boos from the opposing fans as that is something he is going to have to get used to for the next few weeks at the very least.
Adam Lallana – 6.63
His feet are an absolutely joy to watch. You would back him to go far in Strictly Come Dancing should he decide to chase the glitterball when his football career is over. Less impressive was his shooting and he squandered a good chance to double the Albion’s lead early in the second half.
Tariq Lamptey – 7.25
The second highest scoring Albion player in the Brighton 1-1 Newcastle ratings. He was deployed in a far more advanced position than we are used to seeing him in, from where his link up play with Trossard was particularly impressive during the first half.
Enock Mwepu – 5.38
Limped off at half time without really making much impact on the ball. Off it, his intelligent runs between the Newcastle defence and midfield gave the Toon plenty to think about and created space for Trossard in particular to work. No surprise that the visitors were better after the break without The Computer to worry about.
Solly March – 5.88
Some wildly fluctuating player ratings for March, whose scores in Brighton 1-1 Newcastle varied from fours to eights. That summed up his performance nicely; did some decent stuff but not as prominent in an advanced, slightly more central role than he is when used as a wing back.
LEANDRO TROSSARD – 8.00
Based on his showing against Newcastle, the Saudi sportswashing empire could do a lot worse than put in a mega-money bid for Trossard to help kick start their push towards glory. Earned the penalty, scored the penalty and was at the heart of everything good Brighton did.
Alexis Mac Allister – 4.50
A lot of Albion fans have been demanding that Mac Allisters gets more game time and he was given the opportunity here with 45 minutes in place of Mwepu. The drop off in performance between first and second half tells you all you need to know about the impact he had. Disappointing from a player who we know can deliver so much more.
Neal Maupay – 5.00
Brighton were pretty much non existent as an attacking force once he was introduced, meaning that he had no chance of making an impact. Did manage to find his way into the referee’s book.
Adam Webster – 5.75
Needing to get back on the front foot at home against the team bottom of the table and so you bring a central defender on for the final 15 minutes. Poor decision from Potter with the likes of proven creators Jakub Moder and Pascal Gross sat watching on the bench.
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.
