Brighton 3-1 Bournemouth: Albion show their bouncebackability
It was 2004 when former Crystal Palace manager Iain Dowie combined the words bounce back ability and turned it into a single phrase which entered the Oxford English Dictionary. Fast forward two decades and Brighton have taken ownership of the term, their latest response to defeat being to beat Plucky Little Bournemouth 3-1 at the Amex.
Since losing 3-1 at Manchester City last October, the Albion have lost 11 games. On each occasion, they have bounced back to win their next fixture. That is the sign of a class team and a class head coach to illicit that sort of response to setbacks.
Compare it to what used to happen under Graham Potter. A poor result or performance would be followed by weeks and months of the same; hence why Glow Up is the proud owner of both the longest winless home run in Brighton history and the worst ever start to a top flight season.
Not to mention those sequences of three months without a goal at the Amex. Or six consecutive defeats. Or no win between September and Boxing Day. You get the picture.
And Brighton 3-1 Bournemouth was not merely about the Albion showing bouncebackability from the reversal on their Europa League debut against AEK Athens.
The Seagulls also had to recover from a poor first half performance. De Zerbi made nine changes as he continues to heavily rotate his squad and that led to a disjointed showing throughout the opening 45 minutes.
An own goal in injury time was the only reason Brighton went into the break level with the Cherries. De Zerbi was bold at half time, taking off teenagers Evan Ferguson and Facundo Buonanotte in a double change which saw Kaoru Mitoma and Ansu Fati come on.
The result was instant as Mitoma scored straight from kick off at the start of the second 45. The Japanese Bullet Train added his second and the Albion’s third with 13 minutes remaining to wrap up the three points.
Perhaps unsurprisingly after all the high drama of Thursday night, Brighton 3-1 Bournemouth was slow to get going. The Cherries stood around doing nothing, refusing to be drawn into pressing Brighton.
In turn, the Albion did not really seem to know what to do in order to find a way through. Nothing summed this stalemate up better than Bert Verburggen being allowed to walk with the ball at his feet until he was 15 yards outside his box.
On the one occasion when Bournemouth did finally press, they caught Verbruggen by surprise to take the lead. As Verbruggen was closed down by Ryan Christie, he gifted possession to the Cherries midfield. That gave Dominic Solanke the chance to lob into a now-empty goal, which he duly took.
Some sections of the North Stand responded to this by jeering Verbruggen when Brighton looked to play out from the back again.
This seemed like an utterly bizarre response, even if the game was slower and more ponderous than normal. It certainly did not sit well with Lewis Dunk, who told the crowd what he thought about their reaction.
De Zerbi demands Brighton play this way and it is where all of the Seagulls’ subsequent success over the past 12 months has come from.
To audibly complain about the Albion’s otherwise much-vaunted approach because of one below par 45 minutes was not particularly helpful to anyone.
Thankfully, the mood began to turn just before the break when Brighton were gifted an equaliser. Billy Gilmour swung a cross into the box from out on the left flank and Milos Kerkez produced a brilliant glancing header to send the ball beyond his own goalkeeper.
Even with that leveller, De Zerbi knew something had to change at the break. His answer was to inject the pace of Mitoma and Fati in an attempt to break through the deep sitting, massed ranks of Bournemouth shirts.
The Cherries got the second half underway with Fati instantly winning possession. The ball fell to Mitoma, he worked it wide to Fati who had since drifted to the left.
Fati made some ground, played a low pass into the box which Mahmoud Dahoud superbly dummied and that left Mitoma to beat Neto one-on-one. 15 seconds in total from kick off to Mitoma scoring.
It was another Albion substitute who made the third. Carlos Baleba was only a matter of minutes into what was a very exciting cameo when a firm but fair challenge won the ball for Brighton in midfield.
He then drove forward, only to be dispossessed himself. Baleba though was back on his feet in a flash and another perfectly timed tackled regained the ball for a second time.
Gilmour duly released Pervis Estupinan down the left and his cross was headed beyond Neto by Mitoma. For all the publicity that Mitoma writing a university thesis on dribbling gets, his ability in the air is almost as impressive.
Bournemouth belatedly did some attacking after falling 3-1 behind and would have added to their score were it not for some top class goalkeeping and defending from Brighton.
Verbruggen atoned in part for his earlier cock up with a fine one handed save to deny Antoine Semenyo with Dunk then scrambling the follow up from Solanke off the line.
And that was that. Long gone are the days when Bournemouth were a bogey side for Brighton, the three points lifting the Seagulls into third spot in the league ahead of a Carabao Cup third round tie away at Chelsea & Hove Albion on Wednesday night.
It would be a real shame if Brighton were to heap further misery and problems on their B team at Stamford Bridge, wouldn’t it?
