Brighton need a cure for their Sean Dyche kryptonite
Oh God. It is him again. Sean Dyche is back at the Amex having not lost when visiting Brighton for 11 years, stretching all the way back to when his Burnley side were beaten by Oscar Garcia’s Albion in August 2013.
Not only does Dyche never taste defeat when swinging by Sussex by the Sea, but he usually wins. And wins handsomely. Brighton 1-5 Everton last season was easily the worst home game of the Roberto De Zerbi era so far.
Lewis Dunk and Jason Steele in particular looked like they had never played football before in their lives. What made the hammering even more impressive was that it came off the back of beating Wolves 6-0 and Manchester United 1-0.
Go back another 13 months and Brighton 0-3 Burnley was the worst home game of the Graham Potter era. The Clarets were rock bottom, had won just once all season and were victory-less on the road. And yet they decimated Brighton, leaving the Amex half-empty with 20 minutes still to play.
Whilst Potter loved talking about history lessons and crowd reactions, he must know he would have been booed out the ground come full time of that shit show by any other set of fans (or those who remained at least) in the country.
Go back another three years and Brighton 1-3 Burnley was one of the worst home results of the Chris Hughton era. We say results rather than games because the Albion actually played alright, only to come up against Tom Heaton in formidable form between the sticks for the Clarets.
To rub salt into the wounds, all the Burnley goals were scored by players from Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named’s League One title winning Seagulls squad. Chris Wood bagged a brace and a penalty from Number Nine Ashley Barnes completed the rout.
Dyche’s decade-long unbeaten Amex recorded is completed by a 1-1 draw in 2019-20, a 2-2 draw in 2015-16 and a mind-numbingly dull 0-0 in 2020-21.
That was another evening when Potter might have expected discontent amongst the crowd with the Albion having won just one of their opening eight games of the campaign. He was saved on that occasion by empty stadiums thanks to lockdown.
Having gone through all those gory details of results against Dyche-managed opponents, the next question to ask must obviously be why?
How is it that he has such a grip when it comes to Brighton, no matter who he manages or which Albion head coach is his opposite number?
The answer is nobody knows. It is one of those quirks of football, like Brighton only losing six league games ever to Wolves despite the Old Gold finishing above the Albion in the football pyramid in over 100 different seasons.
What it does mean is the much-mentioned fact that Everton are winless in eight matches and on the verge of getting sucked back into the relegation battle count for absolutely nothing.
If anything, the Toffees being on such a sticky run makes it more likely they will walk away from the Amex with a much-needed three points.
They had not won in seven prior to May’s annihilation of the Albion, were without a victory on the road in six months and had scored only 12 goals away from home all season.
There has been a real feel-good factor around Brighton this week. A 5-0 win over Sheffield United, flights booked to Rome for the Europa League round of 16, Roberto De Zerbi hosting pasta parties for the players at his home.
History and bitter experience though tells us there is one man who can ruin and has ruined all that in the past – Dyche.
He is kryptonite to the Albion. And whereas no cure exists for Superman from kryptonite, De Zerbi is tasked with finding a way for Brighton to overcome the man with a spectacular stranglehold over the Seagulls.
De Zerbi is under no illusions of the challenge facing his players. He told his pre-Everton press conference: “We have to be ready not to concede counter-attacks, to keep the ball and move the ball in the right way, to have patience during the game.
“We have to be prepared to defend set-pieces, the long ball, to win the second ball, and then they are good players,” the Albion head coach said before adding admiration for the way the Toffees defend.
At the other end, Everton can call upon Dominic Calvert-Lewin. Whilst much of the focus has been on Dyche and his formidable record against Brighton, Calvert-Lewin has been a thorn in the side of the Albion on more than one occasion in the past.
You can count on one hand the number of opposition strikers Dunk has struggled against in the Premier League. Aleksandar Mitrovic, obviously. Elijah Adebayo when Luton Town thrashed the Seagulls 4-0 at Kenilworth Road last month.
And Calvert-Lewin, who usually seems to get the better of Dunk. If the Brighton captain (or Jan Paul van Hecke for that matter) can keep Calvert-Lewin quiet, then the Albion will stand a much better chance of finally ending Dyche’s formidable record at the Amex.
Calvert-Lewin has not scored for 19 matches now, so we can probably all see what is going to happen when Everton come to the Amex. This lack of goals from the England international partly explains why the Toffees are in such a rut of form.
So… stop Calvert-Lewin. Stop Dyche. Don’t concede five goals this time. Easy, right?
