Brighton 1-2 Chelsea: Ratings show Boehly will want Barco next
If Todd Boehly uses the player ratings from Brighton 1-2 Chelsea to decide who his next big purchase from the Albion will be, Tony Bloom should prepare himself for a £273 million summer bid for Valentin Barco.
The teenager from Argentina was a half time introduction for the injured Lewis Dunk. And in his 45 minutes on the pitch, Barco was magnificent.
He was fearless going forward and not afraid of a challenge. The defensive side of his game needs a bit of work but if he can master that, Brighton have another superstar on their hands.
Joining Barco in the scoring seven club were Joao Pedro and Danny Welbeck. Almost everyone else polled sixes, suggesting this was a solid enough showing against a Chelsea outfit costing one billion pounds.
With a little more luck, the Albion might have taken something from the game. Simon Adingra rattled a post and was denied what appeared a stonewall penalty early in the second half. Bias refereeing in favour of the European Super League Elite Six at its finest.
Here are your Brighton 1-2 Chelsea player ratings.
Bart Verbruggen – 6.86
Not much he could do about the Chelsea goals. Made one superb first half save which gets better every time you watch the replay as Malo Gusto hit a swerving, dipping drive which also deflected off Igor Julio. Not saying he appeared fortunate to escape a red card when haring from goal and bringing down Nicholas Jackson, but Netflix are already casting for a true crime drama about it.
Tariq Lamptey – 6.71
The Albion looked most dangerous attacking in wide positions. Lamptey was a huge part in that. He delivered the cross for Joao Pedro’s first half header kept out by Dorde Petrovic and the ball which Pascal Gross poked wastefully wide of the near post midway through the second 45.
Adam Webster – 6.86
Three strong performances in a row now from Webster since his recall to the starting XI for the win over Aston Villa. One brilliant piece of defending saw him appear from nowhere to slide clear a cross which otherwise would have left Nicholas Jackson with a tap in.
Lewis Dunk – 6.29
Was already struggling a bit with Jackson before his enforced half time substitution. No diagnosis of what the problem is yet but fingers crossed it isn’t serious. For Dunk to have finally forced his way back into the England squad only to miss out on Euro 2024 through injury would be crushing.
Igor Julio – 6.71
Igor! Igor! Igor! A good job at left back and then when moved to centre half after Dunk went off. His best bit of work was undoubtedly clattering that money grabbing snake Marc Cucurella to the absolute delight of every Albion fan present.
Pascal Gross – 5.71
So reliable with his finishing normally, Gross was the man you wanted on the end of that inviting Lamptey cross. It was as surprising as it was disappointing to see him off target with it.
Billy Gilmour – 5.43
Never really got going against his former club. Gilmour was overrun by Cole Palmer and Connor Gallagher, although he did at least manage to stop Moises Caicedo having much of a say in proceedings.
Facundo Buonanotte – 6.14
Got his sliding tackle in the box on Cucurella just right to win the ball, although it needed VAR to overturn Michael Salisbury initially awarding Chelsea a penalty. Showed a more physical side to his game than we have seen before.
Julio Enciso – 6.71
Not the livewire he was at Newcastle on Saturday but still had some good moments. Came close with a header and one searing run halted illegally by Moises Caicedo caused the former Albion midfielder to be booked.
Simon Adingra – 6.14
With Lamptey threatening down the right, Adingra did likewise on the left. A score of 6.14 in the Brighton 1-2 Chelsea ratings seems harsh. On another day with a competent referee, he gets that early second half penalty and his cushioned volley goes in off the post rather than bouncing back out.
Joao Pedro – 7.00
Clever assist for the Welbeck goal and almost scored himself earlier in the evening. He caused his fair share of problems running at the Blues defence.
VALENTIN BARCO – 7.71
Such an exciting, joyous player to watch. It was impossible to know what he was going to do next, leaving Mauricio Pochettino worried enough to summon Chelsea captain Reece James from the bench to try and deal with Barco. You could make the case that James having no clue how to stop Barco led his frustration to boil over and manifest itself in a silly red card for kicking out at Pedro.
Carlos Baleba – 6.43
Came on for the final 20 minutes and looked a powerhouse in midfielder, doing a much better job than Gilmour.
Danny Welbeck – 7.00
Welbz is Dat Guy. Celebrated signing a new Brighton contract 24 hours earlier by converting Pedro’s cross from close range in the 97th minute. Presumably his relatively late introduction was because De Zerbi is saving him to face Manchester United at the weekend.
Ansu Fati – 5.29
He is alive! The rarer spotted Fati came off the bench in the closing stages. Will it be enough to stop the rumours that Brighton are not playing him to avoid triggering some sort of bonus payment in his loan from Barcelona?
Odel Offiah – 5.57
More Premier League minutes for the nephew of rugby legend Martin Offiah.
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.
