Brighton 3-2 Man City: No lower than an eight in Albion player ratings
Well, this is quite the turn up for the books. When Brighton found themselves 2-0 with 40 minutes left to play against Premier League champions Man City, who would have bet that the Albion would end the evening 3-2 winners and with every player scoring an eight or above in the ratings?
That second half of football in front of a raucous crowd of 7,945 was the best Brighton have produced in the top flight.
The irresistible Leandro Trossard led the way with a stunning individual goal and an assist for the winner, but this was a magnificent team effort from all involved – including Graham Potter, who out-thought Pep Guardiola to make the most of the Albion’s man advantage.
Señor Guardiola did not like that, refusing to shake Potter’s hand and storming down the tunnel afterwards. That just added to the sense of achievement. Here was Guardiola, arguably the greatest manager of all time having his cage rattled by little old Brighton.
Pep did not want to admit his billion pound squad had lost to the better team. The proof of how good the Albion were is in these ratings for Brighton 3-2 Man City. Enjoy!
Robert Sanchez – 8.80
‘Had less to do than he might have expected’ has become a stock phrase with which we have opened every paragraph to do with the Brighton goalkeeper in recent weeks. It was true again here though, with his only real intervention when making an unorthodox and yet very double smart save late on which involved denying Gabriel Jesus and then swiping the ball off the head of Phil Foden.
Ben White – 9.07
Foden is one of the best footballers in England and yet he found himself pretty much pocketed by Ben White in the first half, including when White denied the Three Lions’ great new hope via a one world class tackle. White also showed his value when charging forward to join in attacks too with a couple of blistering volleys that required good blocks from the City backline.
Adam Webster – 9.13
There have been lots of question marks over him since his return from injury but this was a return to the colossus he was before being struck down in February. Rounded off with a brilliant header for the equaliser which a seasoned centre forward would have been proud of.
Dan Burn – 9.13
The People’s Princess stole hearts and minds again with another outrageous display. Netting the winner against the reigning Premier League champions is not a bad way to score your first goal for three years and it could not have been a more Dan Burn finish, involving a couple of stumbles like a man who is unsure how his legs work until he finally managed to sort his feet out and beat Ederson at the second attempt.
Pascal Gross – 8.93
Der Kapitan failed to track Ilkay Gundogan for City’s opener inside of 180 seconds. Looked determined to make up for that in the remaining 87 minutes, covering plenty of ground and providing the beautiful whipped cross for Webster to power home the equaliser.
Yves Bissouma – 9.27
If this was his audition in front of the watching Guardiola, then it is fair to say it went rather well. Broke up City’s attacks and always wanted to get the Albion onto the front foot when he had the ball. £60 million of Sheikh Mansour’s spare change this summer rather than the piss-taking £30 million that has been quoted please.
Steve Alzate – 8.73
Whilst Bissouma excelled at both the defensive and playmaking side of the game against City, Steve Alzate was more interested in just doing the unglamorous work of preventing City playing. That the champions’ billion pound squad struggled to trouble Sanchez and his backline too much highlights just what a good if unnoticed job he did.
Jakub Moder – 9.00
Another encouraging display given he is still being used out-of-position at left wing back. Created several good opportunities but we will not see what he is truly capable of until he gets a run of games in the middle of the park.
Alexis Mac Allister – 8.73
His willingness to shoot from distance asked questions of City. Was not able to scheme to the same levels as he did when he enjoyed that purple patch of form back in January, but in the time he was on the pitch he justified Potter’s decision to start him.
Alireza Jahanbakhsh – 8.33
In terms of involvement, this was one of his better performances as he had Oleksandr Zinchenko worried. Let down though by his final ball, most notably when sending two harmless crosses to the chest and then hands of Ederson who looked utterly bemused at how easy it was.
Danny Welbeck – 8.40
Only lasted 30 minutes before his hamstring went. He still managed to have a huge impact on the result in that time, cleverly drawing the last man foul from Joao Cancelo which saw Cancelo heading for a bath after less than 10 minutes work and City facing the rest of the game with 10 men. New contract for Dat Guy please.
LEANDRO TROSSARD – 9.40
When the Belgian is in this sort of mood, he is unplayable and that is why he surged to the top of the Brighton 3-2 Man City ratings despite having started the evening on the bench. Rúben Dias may have been the best defender in the Premier League this season but Trossard put him on his backside three times through pure wizardry in the lead up to his brilliant individual goal and he also claimed an assist for Burn’s winner.
Adam Lallana – 9.07
We have been treated to Adam Lallana’s guile and creativity on plenty of occasions this season. Here we saw another side to his game with a perfectly timed slide tackle in the box on Jesus in the last few minutes. Had he got that wrong, City would have had a penalty and we would be sat here talking about a plucky draw rather than an outrageous win.
Andi Zeqiri – 8.53
Not going to lie, do not recall him doing much once introduced other than holding the ball up a couple of times. A score of 8.53 for a bloke who seemed to hardly touch the ball reflects what a bloody brilliant team performance this was to beat the champions.
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.
