Chelsea 4-3 Brighton: 6 things we learnt from thrilling friendly
Unless it involves 12 pints of beer in the sunshine at a Sussex non league ground and harassing Matt Sparrow to play six-a-side on a Sunday night at The Triangle, WAB has never been that invested in pre-season friendlies. Chelsea 4-3 Brighton has gone a small way to changing that opinion.
This was a surprisingly entertaining 90 minutes of football. Seven goals, one red card, plenty of young talent on the pitch from both sides and a new mortgage required if you wanted to buy a cheeseburger at the Lincoln Financial Field Stadium in Philadelphia.
If the rest of the Premier League Summer Series in the United States provides this much entertainment, then it may well be worth staying up into the wee hours of the morning to watch for all those Albion fans in England.
Here are six things we learned from Chelsea 4-3 Brighton.
Brighton need defensive reinforcements
When the starting XI was announced, Roberto De Zerbi named just two natural defenders. Levi Colwill returning to Stamford Bridge and the absence of Lewis Dunk (presumably not yet fully fit after the injury which ruled him out of England duty in June) meant Adam Webster and Jan Paul van Hecke together at centre back.
Der Kapitan Pascal Gross was at left back and teenage midfielder Jack Hinshelwood was a surprise inclusion at right back, a position he has hardly ever played before in his life.
The 18-year-old son of former Albion defender Adam did well given the circumstances of finding himself in a very unfamiliar role against a strong Chelsea line up.
He even managed to complete the 90 minutes without scoring an own goal past Jason Steele via a wayward backpass from 30 yards, ala his dad in that magnificent moment against Colchester United on Boxing Day 2008.
Already short on centre backs, the problem became even more exacerbated when Van Hecke was show a red card on the hour mark.
Two bookings for the Dutchman and Webster having been hauled seven minutes earlier left half time substitute Joel Veltman as the only natural defender on the pitch for the final 30.
Mykhailo Mudryk, Conor Gallagher and Nicolas Jackson all scored within 16 minutes of Van Hecke’s dismissal to put Chelsea 4-1 ahead, a lead which proved insurmountable despite the Albion rallying late on even with their man disadvantage.
Fighting on four fronts in 2023-24, Brighton need more defensive options to both replace Colwill and increase depth across the back line.
The £15 million signing of Brazilian defender Igor from Fiorentina is apparently imminent. A left footed centre back, he fills the Colwill-shaped hole in the Brighton squad.
That is a good start but further reinforcements look required in the full back positions in the event of injuries and suspensions biting over what could be a marathon campaign if the Albion go far in Europe.
Colour me shocked, a goal from a corner
Brighton were one of the worst teams in the Premier League for scoring from set pieces in 2022-23, notching just six times from corners and free kicks. Only Manchester United were poorer with five.
It was promising then to see the Albion get their first goal of the Summer Series from a well-worked corner routine. Solly March played it short to Gross, who swept a pass back up the line towards Billy Gilmour.
The Scottish international with the fresh head of highlights whipped in a cross, Kaoru Mitoma rose to meet it at the back post with a header back across goal and Danny Welbeck volleyed home.
When was the last time the Albion scored from such a clearly practiced corner routine? Your correspondent genuinely has no idea other than harking back to the days of Paul Watson delivering onto the head of Bobby Zamora at Withdean. It cannot be 20 years though, can it?
A renewed focus on making the most from set pieces can deliver more goals and help keep Brighton in the hunt for European places next season. Scoring from one such scenario 13 minutes into Chelsea 4-3 Brighton bodes well.
Joao Pedro on penalties
Alexis Mac Allister and his good penalty taking record had helped stop Brighton fans breaking out in a cold sweat whenever the Albion were awarded a spot kick.
The days of Gross and Welbeck each missing from 12 yards in the space of an hour during defeat at West Brom were starting to fade from memory.
One of the biggest concerns from Mac Allister moving to Liverpool therefore centred around his successor as penalty taker. Chelsea 4-3 Brighton provided an early opportunity to ally fears of a return to the dark days.
New £30 million signing Joao Pedro was brought down in the box on 79 minutes by Colwill of all people following a skilful run into the area.
Pedro dusted himself down and despite Kepa Arrizabalaga diving the right way, the resulting spot kick had enough power and precision to find the bottom corner relatively untroubled.
Colwill was not the only former Brighton player to be involved in an Albion goal. 10 minutes after Pedro converted his penalty, the Brazilian forward turned provider when jinking past a couple of challenges and laying off to Deniz Undav.
Marc Cucurella was in close attendance but could not deal with Undav, who escaped the attentions of the curly haired snake to make it Chelsea 4-3 Brighton.
Albion show resilience to almost comeback from the dead
Those three Chelsea goals in 16 minutes in the aftermath of Van Hecke heading for an early bath should have it meant it was game over.
The Albion though have gained a reputation for never knowing when they are beaten over the past two seasons, and we saw that again in Chelsea 4-3 Brighton.
When Undav cut the deficit to one, the Blues were visibly worried. Had the game had longer to run, chances are Brighton would have found the equaliser they deserved.
Chelsea will be much more of a force in the Premier League this season with an elite manager like Mauricio Pochettino at the helm. Brighton will certainly not take six points from them as easily as they did in 2022-23.
To compete so well playing a man down and with less match practice than the Blues is a promising sign for the campaign ahead.
American fans are mad
American sports fans are not everyone’s cup of tea. We saw that first hand from the reaction to the crowd signs photographed in support of Brighton.
The idea of a combined “Seagulls and Eagles” banner in reference to Lincoln Financial Field being the home of NFL side Philadelphia Eagles was well-intentioned but perhaps not fully thought through, given who the Eagles in England’s Premier League are.
Signs which did not reference Crystal Palace included the simple yet effective “GO BIRDS” and a personal favourite of “GULLS GET GOALS”.
yikes #bhafc pic.twitter.com/527QbV2Rls
— alex (@bhafc_alex) July 22, 2023
Inspired by our Stateside friends, I will be the man in the West Stand Upper at the Luton Town home game on Saturday August 12th with a “GULLS GET GOALS” sign.
Pray Paul Barber did not see the price of food
Friend of WAB and Price of Football podcast host Kieran Maguire has taken a temporary break reporting on transfer amortisation to relay the Price of Football Food from the US.
A cheeseburger and fries at Lincoln Financial Field set supporters back by $27. Stop reading now if you do not want to know what that is in GBPs are current exchange rates… £21.
Let us pray to God that Paul Barber did not clock those extortionate prices. One can only imagine how much a bag of Starbust will be at the Amex this season if he has…
