Match Review: Brighton 0-1 Southampton

Before Southampton’s visit to the Amex, Brighton and Hove Albion were having a relatively good March on the face of it. Six Premier League points out of six and a spot booked in the semi finals of the FA Cup – results wise, you couldn’t really ask for much more.

But those of us who have been watching closely know that the real story isn’t anywhere near as rosy. Those victories include one scraped at home against a Huddersfield Town side who have been relegated with six weeks of the season still to play and in a derby game with Crystal Palace, the sort of fixture when form and league table goes out the window.

As for the FA Cup, well the only reason we weren’t eliminated by a side in the bottom four of the Championship was thanks to one of the most catastrophic mistakes you’ll ever see from a professional goalkeeper in the very last minute. Put simply, March’s results have papered over the cracks somewhat of what has been a terrible second half of the season.

Southampton exposed those cracks and with it, did significant damage to the Albion’s hopes of still being in the Premier League next season. The last two weeks has been filled with talk of Wembley tickets, special edition commemorative shirts and paying £15 to use a bar that is normally free.

All the while the relegation zone is just five points away and, thanks to losing to the Saints and Burnley beating Wolverhampton Wanderers at home, only goal difference separates Brighton from occupying 17th in the league and the spot immediately above the dreaded dotted line. The eye appears to have been taken well and truly off the Premier League ball.

Play like we did against Southampton, and we’ll deserve to go down. Especially with Cardiff still to visit the Amex in a little over two weeks time. Lose to Neil Warnock’s Bluebirds – and that is what will happen with a showing as lacklustre as this one – and trips to Luton Town and Rotherham United in the 2019-20 season will suddenly become a very real prospect.

Only two Albion players could leave the Amex on Saturday evening feeling satisfied with their afternoon’s work, and it says much that they were the two full backs. Martin Montoya on the right was absolutely outstanding, giving easily his best performance since his £6m arrival from Valencia in the final throes of the summer transfer window.

Nothing got past him at one end of the pitch and he had Brighton’s best chance of the game at the other, cutting inside before crashing a shot from nowhere against the crossbar from 30 yards out. Bernardo on the left was equally impressive and both dealt well by and large with the threat of Nathan Redmond, whose balding head was popping up all over the place. How his hairline has receded so much by the age of 25 is a genuine mystery, but he could really do with getting hold of the people that Gordon Greer used to sort his shiny bonce out.

Despite his lack of coverage on top, Redmond was still the best player on the pitch. He had the only shot that either side could manage in the first half when forcing Maty Ryan into a near post save before teeing up Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg for the only goal of the game eight minutes into the second half. It didn’t come as a surprise.

Brighton had been sloppy in possession all afternoon and that reached it’s nadir when Yves Bissouma gifted the ball to Redmond, who set up a devastating counter which Hojbjerg finished off neatly. Nobody seems to be mentioning Bissouma’s part in the goal, possibly because you aren’t allowed to criticise him due to the fact he likes to dance on the pitch on the rare occasions that we win or because he has a catchy song.

But the Mali international was at fault here, offering a reminder at the same time that he is far from the finished article. For all the clamour among supporters for Bissouma to be starting every game that built up throughout February, this was the ultimate example of why Chris Hughton has been reluctant to trust him to start matches. Pascal Gross – the man who many think Bissouma should be replacing – would never have given the ball away so easily. Bissouma clearly has the potential to be an outrageously good footballer, but he isn’t there yet and we’d all do well to remember that.

He wasn’t the only one, of course. Dale Stephens couldn’t find a blue and white shirt even if it was six yards away in a space more open than a lady of the night’s legs. Alireza Jahanbakhsh decided that getting a ball under control wasn’t for him, and so tried to flick everything which, somewhat predictably, didn’t end well. Solly March, match winner at Millwall lest we forget, was Southampton’s best player when he came on and Anthony Knockaert spent most of the game as an isolated figure strutting around with his chest poking out like a pigeon.

Even Davy Propper had a rare off day, surrendering possession and putting routine passes out of play. No matter what incompetent twattery is going on around Propper, it never normally afflicts his own personal game and so you know it was a bad Albion performance when even he was impacted. The Dutchman’s struggles were best summed up in the second half when he found himself with a clear sight of goal inside the box but rather than get a shot away, he fell over the ball.

It was astonishing to see such a classy player have such a donkey moment. Nobody in the Amex could believe it, with the entire crowd assuming that there must have been a foul on Propper by Hojbjerg who was in attendance. Referee Michael Oliver received a lot of abuse as a result – including a “F**k off Michael Oliver” from our Twitter account – but it turned out he got the decision spot on. Had we have salvaged a draw from a penalty awarded then, it would have been harsh on Southampton given the Albion managed just one shot on target across the whole 90 minutes.

That lack of attacking intent was particularly frustrating for Glenn Murray. The veteran striker clearly had the beating of the Saints defence in the air and must have won 90% of the balls hit long to him. With that in mind, you’d think that two wingers hitting early crosses into the box for him to attack might have been a prudent tactic, but there wasn’t so much of a hint of Hughton looking to change things up.

With Jahanbakhsh down one side fairying around by dangling a leg out here and there and Knockaert constantly wandering off his flank in search of possession, Murray was starved of the service we all know he thrives on. It’s another problem to add to the growing list of reasons why the change to 4-3-3 initiated by Hughton in mid-December isn’t working.

This was a game crying out for 4-4-1-1 – or even 4-4-2 if Hughton could get over his severe phobia of it – with two out-and-out wingers delivering crosses. Instead, we got the same old tactics and the same old substitutions coming in the same old time frame. Jose Izquierdo meanwhile sat on the bench twiddling his thumbs.

Once everybody had calmed down and had a pint afterwards, there were plenty of comments saying it would be “typical Brighton” for us to go and follow up an abject 1-0 home defeat to Southampton by either winning away at Chelsea or beating Manchester City. Memories of September 2008 began resurfacing, Micky Adam’s Albion losing 1-0 at home to nine-man Walsall before pulling off one of the greatest upsets in League Cup history to knock City out four days later.

Could history repeat itself a decade on? Stranger things have happened. But based on Saturday, the more likely comparison to make with the 2008-09 season is that the Albion survived relegation on the last day of the campaign by the skin of their teeth. If we want to avoid the sort of nerve shredding, nail biting finish that we went through 10 years ago when the trapdoor to League Two was well and truly open, then things need to improve and fast.