Forest 3-1 Brighton: Tired Albion cut down by Tricky Trees

Winning at the City Ground was always going to be tough. It was never been the happiest of places for the Albion to visit, let alone with a squad full of tired bodies and minds after Sunday’s FA Cup semi final defeat against Manchester United. Brighton can therefore be forgiven for suffering a 3-1 defeat against a Nottingham Forest side fighting for their lives.

Seagulls supporters tend to look back on visits to the banks of the Trent through misty eyes because of one moment: Leonardo Ulloa, May 3rd 2014.

Other than that though, trips to Forest never tend to end well. Whether it is Casper Ankergren or David Stockdale making costly individual mistakes or your author getting punched square in the face outside Hooters by an angry Forest fan after a 0-0 draw in 2007, it is not somewhere Brighton tend to enjoy.

Even if the Albion arrived fully rested and refreshed, it still would have been tough. Forest are only in with a chance of avoiding an immediate return to the Championship because of their home form.

Liverpool have been beaten at the City Ground this season. Spurs were eliminated from the League Cup there. Aston Villa and Manchester City held to a draw, so too Chelsea… although that barely seems worth mentioning given how the Blues have turned to shit.

Brighton were far from rested and refreshed. They had gone through 120 gruelling minutes at Wembley just 72 hours earlier. Physically, that would have taken a lot out of them.

Mentally, losing in a penalty shootout on a single kick after two hours of football in which they were the better side against United must have been even tougher.

Then there is the toll of the past nine months. With such a thin squad, Roberto De Zerbi has been loathe to rest players. He has made the third fewest changes of any manager in the Premier League since replacing Glow Up Graham.

It is little surprise that individuals are starting to look jaded and mistakes are creeping in. There is no chance of respite either; Brighton face eight more games in the final four weeks of the campaign.

Qualifying for Europe may still be in the Albion’s own hands mathematically, but none of their rivals for a top seven finish have such an intense schedule. They also have options to rest players without a noticeable drop off in quality, something De Zerbi does not.

De Zerbi himself has not been backwards in coming forwards about the matter. He said in the aftermath of the FA Cup defeat: “When we finish this season, I want to know there is a plan, to understand if we can improve the squad, because we are without a lot of players. I love my players. But we have to be stronger to compete for another year at this level.”

The message from the Brighton head coach is clear – reinforcements are needed this summer to improve the depth of the squad. Over to Tony Bloom and the recruitment team.

De Zerbi’s starting XI for Forest 3-1 Brighton felt almost like a plea for new signings, especially up front. Evan Ferguson remains injured, Danny Welbeck was only fit enough to sit on the bench and Deniz Undav is yet to convince De Zerbi he is good enough for regular Premier League minutes.

That meant there was no recognised striker. Instead, Julio Enciso led the line with Facundo Buonanotte in the number 10 role behind for his full Premier League debut.

Buonanotte was one of the few bright spots as he marked the occasion by putting the Albion 1-0 ahead on 38 minutes. Forest goalkeeper Keylor Navas spilled a Solly March shot and Buonanotte was rewarded for having the foresight to follow up with a tap in.

The game was only a couple of minutes old when the Argentine teenager made his first impression on it. Morgan Gibbs-White took exception to how easily Buonanotte had gone to ground in a tussle and attempted to lift him back to his feet.

Enciso soon arrived on the scene to defend his fellow South American and produced some quite stupendous Latin-footballer-style acting in the ensuing fracas, resulting in a booking for Felipe.

Those handbags did not really do Brighton any favours as it spurred an already loud Forest crowd to become even more raucous, leading to a 10th minute penalty for the Tricky Trees.

Pervis Estupinan tried to dribble his way out of the box, only to gift possession far too easily to Neco Williams. Estupinan clumsily felled Williams in his attempts to win the ball back, offering Forest the chance to take the lead.

The recalled Jason Steele showed everyone why De Zerbi should have brought him on for the penalty shootout at Wembley, plunging to his right to save Brennan Johnson’s spot kick.

That dampened the spirits of the City Ground as Brighton began to dominate the remainder of the first half. The Albion’s best chance before Buonanotte struck came when Kaoru Mitoma left two Forest defenders in his wake on a speedy run down the left.

Mitoma made it all the way to the by-line and pulled back to the unmarked Enciso 10 yard out. Enciso hit a powerful effort which Navas made an extraordinary one handed save from. Who knows how different things might have worked out had that gone in?

Instead, Brighton had only Buonanotte’s opener to show for their efforts as the game entered first half stoppage time and Forest equalised against the run of play via a huge slick of luck.

Renan Lodi’s cross looked harmless enough until it clipped Pascal Gross to leave Steele beaten as the ball flew in at the near post for an own goal.

The less said about the second half, the better. Buonanotte played in Mitoma who was just wide with a curling one-on-one effort but other than that, heavy legs and poor decision making became more and more prevalent from the players in blue and white as the game went on.

So much so that even the normally flawless Moises Caicedo became impacted. For quite possibly the first time this season, Caicedo gave away possession and Forest ruthlessly punished it to take the lead.

Taiwo Awoniyi gained the ball from the Albion’s number 25 and slipped in Danilo. The Brazilian was able to breeze past Levi Colwill too easily before drilling a clinical effort past Steele and into the bottom corner.

Estupinan was clearly struggling and when De Zerbi opted to drop March into defence and bring Welbeck on up top, it was another reminder of the lack of options available. Estupinan remains the only recognised natural left back in the squad.

March forced Navas into a fingertip save on the stretch in a rare foray forward from Brighton, who were by now becoming their own worst enemy in terms of giving the ball away and making other errors.

Colwill was fortunate to escape when his loose pass was worked to Johnson, whose 20 yard effort was not far away from dipping under the crossbar and into the back of the net.

A third Forest goal felt like it was coming and when it did, Lewis Dunk was the culprit. Over came a corner, Dunk leapt into the air with his arms above his head and when the ball hit his hand to divert clear, VAR had a simple decision to make.

Steele was unable to repeat his saving heroics from 80 minutes earlier and Gibbs-White converted to make it Forest 3-1 Brighton.

With only another 72 hours until the Albion are in action again, De Zerbi has quite the challenge on his hands to rally the troops and inject some energy into those weary bodies running on empty.

Three consecutive home games against Wolves, United and Everton now look season defining. Prepare yourselves for a big fortnight of football – followed by one of the most intriguing summers for some time, presuming De Zerbi gets what he is asking for.