Brighton 1-2 Southampton: Fans return to the same old story

There was something strangely reassuring about the outcome of Brighton 1-2 Southampton. Whilst our way of life has changed immeasurably in the nine months since supporters last witnessed live Premier League football at the Amex, the Albion have not. It is as frustrating as it had always been.

When Brighton supporters last saw a competitive home match, the Albion took on Crystal Palace back on February 29th. A good first half performance was followed by a pretty woeful second half. The Seagulls were not able to take advantage of their countless opportunities before some woeful defending allowed Palace to win the match.

The matchday routine may now involve social distancing, 28,000 empty seats and wearing a mask, but the football at least remains familiar. Against the Saints, there was a promising first half, a poor second half, plenty of chances to put the game to bed and a cheap goal to concede from a free kick.

Brighton are still throwing away points through their own fault, although this time the intervention of VAR provided a convenient scapegoat for fans to latch onto.

Forgetting the result for a second, it was just fantastic to hear a crowd back inside the stadium. As a supporter who found themselves in group four of the ballot and therefore with more chance of a date with Ariana Grande than getting a ticket, the sound of supporters sarcastically cheering every Southampton cock up and chanting “You don’t know what you’re doing” at the referee was a sign that, slowly, life might be returning to normal.

That first half atmosphere certainly seemed to inspire the players. It should be remembered at this point in time that Southampton are no slouches; we are nearly a third of the way through the season and they are in the hunt for European football for a reason.

To outplay them in the opening 30 minutes is no mean feat, especially as at times we did so by using their own trademark against them – a high press which meant they could never settle into any sort of rhythm.

As usual though, a good start did not translate into something solid on the scoreboard. Three glorious opportunities to score were spurned inside the opening 11 minutes, and that was with the chief of wastefulness Neal Maupay sat on the bench after last week’s penalty-miss-followed-by-substituting-himself antics in the 1-1 draw with Liverpool.

Danny Welbeck was the first to falter in front of goal when he tried to side foot past Alex McCarthy when really he should have put his laces through Solly March’s pass. The lack of power in the finish allowed McCarthy to save.

Pascal Gross was then denied by McCarthy after a raking pass from Yves Bissouma and Adam Webster needed to do much better with a free header from a trademark Gross free kick.

Southampton’s Moussa Djenepo meanwhile looked like a red card waiting to happen as he decided that the best way to stop Brighton would be by going on a one man crime spree.

An early booking arrived after a foul on Tariq Lamptey. Brighton should have done more to target Djenpo after that in a bid to get the Saints reduced to 10 men but the Albion failed to take advantage of the situation.

The Brighton opener arrived from the penalty spot after James Ward-Prowse did an excellent impression of Michael Jordan by sticking his hand up into the air and attempting to catch the ball as Welbeck flicked it over the Southampton midfielder.

Quite what Ward-Prowse was thinking nobody knew but it was clear-as-day penalty even under the old handball rules. Gross confidently despatched the spot kick to continue his fine form, which now reads two goals and two assists in five games since returning to the starting line up against Tottenham Hotspur at the start of November.

What the Albion needed to do at this point was push on and find a second. One goal was never going to be enough; Brighton cannot defend corners or free kicks for love nor money and Ward-Prowse is one of the best set piece takers in the Premier League, so you did not need to be Apollo to see that at some point Southampton were going to score.

After Gross’ penalty, the Saints were shell shocked and there for the taking. Which makes it even more frustrating that the Albion took their foot off the gas almost immediately and allowed the visitors to come back into the tie.

For a manager who is meant to be attack minded, it is baffling that Potter’s Brighton do not attempt to ramp up the pressure after scoring when opponents are particularly vulnerable.

No prizes for guessing how Southampton equalised with 60 seconds of the first half remaining. Ward-Prowse swung over a free kick and Jannik Vestergaard scored a towering head to make it 10 goals conceded from set pieces in 2020-21.

Brighton have looked as convincing as Boris Johnson’s oven-ready Brexit deal when it comes to defending corners and free kicks and yet Potter continues to deploy zonal marking.

Surely he can see that as another goal goes in from a set piece, something needs to change in terms of how we approach defending or the work that happens on the training ground? It is bordering on reckless to continue ignoring the problem, especially when it is proving to be so costly.

Maty Ryan’s role in all this is coming under increasing scrutiny with his lack of height consistently being highlighted. The theory goes that the Albion need a dominating goalkeeper to take the pressure off when we face a delivery into the box.

And whilst that might be true, it should not gloss over the fact that the likes of Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster and Joel Veltman are being paid in excess of £40,000 a week for their defensive services. The least they should be able to do for that sort of money is mark and stay with a man from a free kick.

Within minutes of Vestergaard’s equaliser, Potter had his players in the changing room with the chance to inspire them with words of wisdom and get them back to playing how they had in that opening half hour.

Instead, Brighton gave a performance so sluggish that it looked like somebody had mistakenly put rohypnol in the players’ half time tea. Nobody could argue with the full time score of Brighton 1-2 Southampton, given how poor the Albion were after the break.

This is not the first time this season that the Albion have been dire in the second half, either. The 1-1 draw against struggling West Bromwich Albion was equally bad. Whatever gets said at half time does not seem to work.

It was Danny Ings who made it Brighton 1-2 Southampton from the penalty spot with nine minutes remaining. March tangled with Kyle Walker-Peters on the edge of the box and after referee David Coote initially awarded a free kick, VAR took another look and somehow concluded that the foul had taken place inside of the area.

Once again, Brighton found themselves at the centre of VAR controversy. What technology gives with one hand, it takes away with the other; two contentious penalty decisions in the last minute have gone our way in the past two matches against Liverpool and Aston Villa, so we were obviously going to be on the end of a shocker sometime soon.

As with that old adage about how luck evens itself out over the course of a campaign, so VAR is your best friend just as much as it can be that bastard neighbour who insists on blocking your car in at every opportunity.

It may have finished Brighton 1-2 Southampton because of VAR, but that does not change the fact that the Saints deserved the three points. The shouting and screaming about technology has rather detracted from the second half performance poor and that Potter has now overseen no win at the Amex in 10 and just one so far in 2020.

That is a run of form which is not really good enough. A woman who had a baby in January and got pregnant again immediately after will have given birth to more children in 2020 than Brighton have managed home wins so far.

The Albion at the moment feel like they take a one step forward followed by two steps back. Four unexpected points from Villa and Liverpool with 180 minutes of excellent football followed by Brighton 1-2 Southampton and another Amex game without a victory.

There was an interesting point made on BBC Radio Sussex afterwards – would Potter be under a lot more pressure if fans had been allowed to attend matches over the past nine months?

It is easy to shrug off a defeat when you have watched it from the comfort and warmth of your own home, putting very little effort into supporting the team.

Imagine though taking the time and spending the money to turn up at the Amex on a freezing cold Monday night in December for an 8pm kick off, only to see your side fail to win for the 10th consecutive home match. Imagine having gone to 18 games at the Amex in 2020 and having seen just one victory.

It seems pretty unlikely that the crowds of 2,000 and 4,000 – which the Albion will be restricted to for the foreseeable future – are likely to turn on the manager anytime soon. People are quite rightly just grateful to be able to go and watch live football regardless of results.

But with matches against Fulham and Sheffield United to come before Christmas – two of the four sides below the Albion in the table – we are entering a crunch period for Potter’s Brighton project.