Chelsea 4-2 Brighton: Palmer pounces on defensive shambles
Who saw Chelsea 4-2 Brighton coming then? Everyone accept Fabian Hurzeler seemingly. Countless Albion fans pondered on the damage which might be caused by playing a high line against quick, quality forwards like Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Jadon Sancho and .
Hurzeler stuck to his guns. The result? A shambolic defensive performance in which Palmer became the first player since Sky Sports invented football in 1992 to score four times in the first half of a game.
It could have been even worse. “I should have had five or six,” Palmer said on Match of the Day. “When I missed the first chance I was upset but with the way they played and their high line I felt we’d get more chances.”
Palmer hit the post and put one wide to go with missing that opening chance of the game. Even as Chelsea swept forward and broke clear at will, the Albion continued to park their high line inside the Chelsea half.
The BBC match report sums it up rather nicely: “Chelsea, who put six past Wolves last month, were again superb going forwards but Brighton’s refusal to change approach after such a flurry of identical chances was bizarre, bordering on naive as young manager Fabian Hurzeler tasted defeat for the first time.”
A first defeat, yes. But not the first time the Brighton high line has been exposed. It has happened in every game under Hurzeler so far. The Albion have just been incredibly fortunate to get away with it.
Manchester United had a goal ruled out for offside in comical fashion at the Amex. Declan Rice getting sent off in Arsenal 1-1 Brighton at the Emirates changed the complexion of that game.
Liam Delap rattled a post for Ipswich Town after surging 70 yards up the pitch with the ball. Even Crawley Town broke through at will in the League Cup at the Amex when they focussed on playing football rather than rugby, forcing Bart Verbruggen into several smart saves.
Hurzeler was quizzed afterwards about his approach. He responded: “They had one amazing player that punished every mistake we did. We should learn about it.”
“We can’t win if we make these easy mistakes, especially in the first half. We have to analyse it, improve and adapt if necessary.”
The big question becomes will Hurzeler adapt ahead of Spurs next weekend? And what will the Albion do in the January transfer window when a different type of defender is needed to play the way Hurzeler wants?
Praise was heaped on Brighton for spending £200 million on players over the summer. But they failed to address one glaring weakness in the squad.
Club has money to burn. Club knows it has just appointed head coach whose tactics revolve around playing a high line. Club knows the squad lacks defenders with pace. Club goes out and buys 27 new midfielders and wingers.
It seems utterly mental the Albion can be the biggest net spenders in world football and yet it sill only takes one injury for Adam Webster to find himself playing Premier League football in 2024.
That is not to criticise Webster. A lot of Brighton fans seem to have laid the blame solely at his feet. Webster though is not the man who signs new players, nor does he pick the team.
He has been a loyal servant and a good player as the Albion established themselves in the top flight. But he is no longer good enough for a club whose chairman wants to challenge for Europe regularly.
Brighton should have brought in a better quality of centre back to challenge Lewis Dunk and Jan Paul van Hecke. They didn’t. One injury to Van Hecke later and Webster becomes the fall guy. He should never have been put in that position in the first place.
Not that the hosts were much better at the back in Chelsea 4-2 Brighton. Robert Sanchez was probably the Albion’s best player. A pretty impressive feat given he left the Amex 14 months ago.
Brighton took the lead after only seven minutes thanks to Sanchez and a helping hand from other ex-Seagulls Moises Caicedo and Levi Colwill.
Caicedo played a risky pass to Colwill. His attempted clearance smashed into the back of Carlos Baleba. The loose ball spun into the air and Georginio Rutter leapt like the proverbial salmon to head over Sanchez haring from his line like a dog chasing a balloon.
Not that the lead lasted long. Palmer had already rattled the upright after galloping clear of the high line when a woeful attempted back pass from Webster put Jackson through. Jackson unselfishly squared to Palmer to fire home.
That was on 21 minutes. Seven later and Palmer made it 2-1. For the second week running, a somewhat clumsy bit of defending from Carlos Baleba gave an opponent an excuse to go to ground.
The lively Sancho made the most of it, referee Peter Bankes pointed to the spot and Palmer did the rest from 12 yards.
Just two minutes after that and it was the the turn of Madueke to break though the high line. Pervis Estupinan subsequently hauled Madueke down and Palmer converted the resulting free kick from 25 yards into the top corner, completing a nine minute hat-trick.
Brighton pulled one back three minutes later, again thanks to Sanchez. The Chelsea goalkeeper tried to pass to Caicedo but Baleba got their first, taking one touch before drilling clinically into the corner.
For all the questioning of Hurzeler’s defensive line, it is there to enable the Albion to aggressively press high up the pitch. Both Brighton goals came from Baleba doing just that and forcing mistakes.
Something which has not really been spoken about anywhere thanks to the total catastrophe taking place at the other end dominating the post-match analysis.
Speaking of total catastrophe, Palmer added his fourth four minutes before half time. Sancho slipped through a clever pass, Webster and Dunk failed to check the run of Palmer with the finish beating Verbruggen at his near post to make it Chelsea 4-2 Brighton.
Needless to say, the second half was far less action packed. Kaoru Mitoma might have had a penalty after being brought down in the box.
Jackson meanwhile was denied by an outstanding Webster block and Palmer fired wide after Dutch duo Verbruggen and Mats Wieffer got in a mess trying to play out from the back.
Chelsea 4-2 Brighton could easily have been Chelsea 8-4 Brighton. The most important thing which can come out of the trip to Stamford Bridge is that Hurzeler does as he said he would – analyse, improve and adapt if necessary.
Wolves, Nottingham Forest and now Chelsea have stuck eight goals past the Albion in three matches by exposing the high line. Every other Premier League team now knows how to score past Brighton at will.
Spurs will fancy their chances of running equal riot at the Amex next Sunday. Over to you, Herr Hurzeler.
