Man City 3-0 Brighton: Goodbye and good riddance yellow kit

Brighton were always going to lose 3-0 at Man City. Not because City are the reigning Premier League champions. Or because they have a squad bought for a billion petrodollars by their Abu Dhabi owners for sportswashing purposes.

The Albion have never won away against City, but that was not the reason either. No, Brighton were condemned to defeat the moment they decided to wear that bastard yellow and blue kit.

It was confirmed by the club that the trip to the Etihad would be the last time we saw it. Well, good riddance. Every sane football fan knows that games are often not decided by who has the better players or tactics, but on whether a lucky kit is being worn.

Brighton stood no chance anytime they wore that monstrosity. In two seasons, the Seagulls failed to win a single Premier League game when sporting yellow.

The only victory it delivered came back in January, when Brighton eliminated West Brom from the FA Cup. Even that was not a win in 90 minutes though, seeing as a strong Albion side needed extra time to see off a Baggies second string.

11 matches. Zero victories. Three draws. Eight defeats. If the yellow kit was a Sami Hyypia, a Martin Hinshelwood or a Mark McGhee with that sort of record, it would have been sacked long ago.

Speaking of Mr McGhee, did you see the incredible story from earlier this week about how he plans to lead Dundee to victory over St Johnstone in a huge SPL relegation clash this weekend?

The whiskey-loving former Albion boss has said he has turned all his central heating off to focus his mind. McGhee will be sat in his flat asking himself “Why am I cold?” The answer is because it will remind him he wants to win against St Johnstone.

McGhee is also going on a crash diet to starve himself. “Why am I hungry?” Because he is hungry to beat St Johnstone and keep Dundee in the top flight.

It sounds absolutely ridiculous, but then this is a man who played Adam Virgo up front (with great success) and chucked Leon Knight off the team bus in the middle of the New Forest before Southampton away (not so successful). Nothing McGhee does should surprise us.

Graham Potter is not a manager you could ever imagine advocating such an approach. And freezing oneself or deliberately living off a diet consisting of three small portions of salad per day is unlikely to make much difference when faced with opponents the quality of Manchester City.

No, what you need to have to take a result against Pep Guardiola’s richly assembled world-class outfit is to play at your very best, hope City have an off day and that you get the sort of luck needed to win a game of online Baccarat.

Unfortunately, good lady fortune deserted Brighton in their 3-0 defeat at Man City. Having largely frustrated the Citizens for much of the first half, the Albion found themselves conceding a couple of unlucky goals on their way to defeat.

Robert Sanchez had another wobbly evening after seeming to have put a questionable run of form behind him when Brighton claimed six points from Arsenal and Spurs away in the past 11 days.

The Albion goalkeeper teed up City for their first opportunity of the evening. A terrible pass fell straight to the feet of Riyad Mahrez, who looked certain to score until Moises Caicedo put in an incredible goal-saving challenge to avert the danger.

Caicedo was only making the third Premier League start and yet he looked like a bloke who has been playing at this level his entire life.

Yves Bissouma took the best part of 18 months to establish himself as a Brighton regular at the age of 23. Caicedo now appears undroppable four months after his return from a loan spell in Belgium and aged just 20.

Caicedo is streaks ahead of where Bissouma was at the same stage in his development. We all know how good Bissouma has become over the past two seasons, making the potential Caicedo has scary.

Everyone knows we never get too carried away here at WAB in either victory or defeat, but Caicedo will win a Ballon d’Or one day.

He is under contract until June 2025 but it would be a surprise if he remains at the Amex that long before one of the biggest clubs in the world comes sniffing. Enjoy him whilst you can Albion fans because we are watching someone very, very special.

Kevin De Bruyne was next to find that out when Caicedo prevented the Belgian playmaker from getting a shot off at Sanchez. The Brighton goalkeeper made his first meaningful save on 30 minutes, clawing away a Bernardo Silva effort.

City needed to win to return to top spot after the demolition job Liverpool did on Manchester United the previous evening.

At half time, you could sense the tension around the Etihad Stadium. Brighton may have been non-existent as an attacking threat, but they were well in the game and had shown numerous times this season the ability to strike late and claim points.

The longer it went on without the Citizens being able to break the deadlock, the more likely it became that Potter could mastermind another impressive result against one of the European Super League Elite Six for his CV.

And then, the Albion’s luck ran out. 10 minutes into the second half and Mahrez found himself in on goal. The finish initially looked a weak one, until it took a heavy deflection off the hapless Joel Veltman and City had the lead they desperately needed.

Should Brighton have prevented Mahrez from having the shot in the first place? Perhaps. They were poor in possession to gift the ball to De Bruyne and then should have been more convincing in trying to wipe out the Belgian, picking up a “one for the team” yellow card if necessary.

De Bruyne instead rode two half-hearted challenges from Marc Cucurella and one from Caicedo. Someone like Mo Salah would have done a Tom Daley impression from to earn a free kick.

The reward for staying on his feet and not attempting to con Mike Dean was De Bruyne advancing far enough to find Mahrez, who did the rest via Veltman.

Danny Welbeck put a header straight at Ederson from a Pascal Gross corner as Brighton had a rare sight of goal in an immediate response to going behind.

It was game over though when City netted from a second deflection 12 minutes after the first. Phil Foden was the lucky beneficiary this time.

Brighton failed to pick the England forward up as he collected a corner driven low to the outside of the area. Foden tried his luck from 25 yards and it struck the boot of Enock Mwepu on its way through.

Sanchez was heading the other way and although he managed to stop his dive, he simply found himself sitting on the floor like a naughty schoolchild as the effort hit the back of the net.

It was Foden’s fifth career goal past the Albion, more than he has managed against any other opponent. Stockport’s favourite son loves playing the Seagulls.

Bad luck could not be blamed for goal number three. Sanchez again played a questionable pass into a dangerous area. Mwepu was too slow to react and Oleksandr Zinchenko won possession to find De Bruyne.

One deft flick later and Silva was firing in from the edge of the box an effort that seemed to catch Sanchez by surprise, beaten at his near post.

The positives from Man City 3-0 Brighton? The first half was excellent, helped by Potter adopting similar tactics to that which had worked at Arsenal with a 3-3-3-1 formation to deny City’s playmakers’ the space they thrive in.

A dogged performance annoyed the hosts and Guardiola. The City boss talks about Potter being the best English manager in the world only when his side pick up three points from the Albion.

Going into the break, Guardiola must have been getting ready to admonish Potter, as he had done when Brighton had the nerve to beat the Citizens 3-2 at the Amex last season. Nothing like a gracious loser, ay Pep?

Caicedo was clearly another positive. As was Lewis Dunk marshalling the defence well, making those bizarre claims about his demise when he initially returned from two months out seem all the more outlandish.

The biggest plus of all though from Man City 3-0 Brighton? No more yellow kit. Get in the bin.