Match Review: Southampton 1-1 Brighton
Bruce Forsyth used to say points mean prizes and Brighton & Hove Albion’s 1-1 draw at Southampton took them a step closer to the prize of a fourth consecutive season of top flight football.
We have written this before, of course. A little under two weeks ago, Brighton beat Norwich City 1-0 at Carrow Road and everyone assumed it was job done. The Albion being the Albion, things obviously could not be so simple.
A combination of losing to a combined scoreline of 8-1 against Liverpool and Manchester City and West Ham United, Plucky Little Bournemouth and Aston Villa all finding some form had us looking over our shoulders again.
Drawing 1-1 at Southampton makes the gap between Brighton and Bournemouth and Villa six points with two games left to play. They would now both need to win their final two matches at the same time as finding nine and 11 goals respectively on the Albion. And that is presuming we fail to pick up a point from Newcastle United at home and Burnley away.
For all of that to happen, Graham Potter would need the sort of bad luck that only comes with accidentally smashing everything in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Keep him out of French palaces and we are as good as safe.
There was something rather apt that it was four of the players who have been written off this season who contributed most to the 1-1 draw at Southampton which effectively seals another season of top flight.
The headline news before kick off was that Potter had finally decided to give Glenn Murray a place in the 11, just his fourth start since September.
Potter’s inability to see what Murray brings to the party has been a constant source of frustration this season, especially as the Albion have created plenty of opportunities which have been squandered by wasteful finishing.
Aaron Connolly has not netted since October and has been bereft of confidence to the point that he has gone from being compared to Wayne Rooney to looking like he needs to spend next season in the Championship.
All the while our Glenn sits on the bench, patiently waiting but the recipient of just eight minutes out of a possible 640 since the Premier League restarted.
Murray and Maupay could have been a fruitful partnership, the classic big man, little man combination. It looked like Potter would deny us the chance of ever finding out, given that they have partnered each other for a grand total of 383 minutes and made just one start together all season.
Writing Murray off is a dangerous game though, especially against a team who he loves playing like Southampton. Midway through the first half and he showed Potter that, drifting into space to flick a header to Maupay.
No other player in Brighton’s squad possesses the skill set to provide that sort of assist and Maupay duly gobbled up the chance, beating Alex McCarthy to make it 1-0.
Murray now has one goal and one assist from his four starts in 2020, which have delivered two crucial points. We are yet to lose a game this calendar year in which he has started either. Potter needs to use him more.
Maupay himself was player number two to prove the doubters wrong, who in this instance were Arsenal fans. Is that who his cheeky crying celebration was aimed it?
We probably won’t find out unless Maupay tells us, but you can guarantee that Le Petit Francais Shithouse was targeting somebody to wind up. That is just what he does.
You go after Maupay at your peril, as Matteo Guendouzi has found out. The Arsenal midfielder has not featured for the Gunners since throttling Maupay, taking the piss out of how much money Maupay earns and his future career prospects.
Oh dear. Guendouzi looks likely to be sold by Mikel Arteta while Maupay was busy netting his 10th goal of the season, a superb return for a 23-year-old in his first top flight season after stepping up from the Championship.
That makes him the sixth Frenchman to hit double figures in his debut Premier League season, joining a pretty impressive list of Eric Cantona, Thierry Henry, Olivier Giroud, Anthony Martial and Alexandre Lacazette.
Speaking of players stepping up from the Championship, this felt like a coming of age performance from Adam Webster, who was player number three to quieten those who had written him off.
Lewis Dunk’s incredible goal line block from Che Adams was the single defensive moment that was most talked about afterwards, but it was Webster who was the pick of the Brighton defenders in the 1-1 draw with Southampton.
He looked every bit an £18 million player, a far cry from the centre back who resembled a dog chasing a balloon whenever the ball was in the air seven months ago.
Webster was always likely to come in for criticism as the man who broke up the popular Dunk ‘n Duffy partnership. And he was always likely to make mistakes; remember how frequently Dunk himself was sent off or did something unexplainable when he was a 25-year-old in the 2015-16 season? That was at a lower level than the cut throat world of the Premier League as well.
Webster tackled everything, he headed everything and he made one stunning block that was arguably even better than Dunk’s when he threw himself in the way of a Southampton shot, getting the faintest of touches to divert it into the side netting.
He missed out on the praise that deserved thanks to referee Andre Marriner awarding a goal kick by mistake. Not that we were complaining.
Webster battled through the pain barrier too, taking a nasty whack on the ribs from Maty Ryan as Ryan came through a crowd to punch clear.
With Potter having already used all his subs, Webster was forced to return to the field and spent the final five minutes hobbling around up front. Only Brighton could effectively go down to 10 men through injury in an era when you can use five subs to change half your team.
The fourth and final individual to prove the doubters wrong was Ryan, who made the most telling contribution of any Brighton player in the 1-1 draw with Southampton.
Ryan’s goal had been living a charmed life throughout the second half. Southampton rattled the frame on a couple of occasions either side of Danny Ings taking advantage of some poor defending from Tariq Lamptey to equalise for the Saints.
Brighton were under serious pressure and with 18 minutes left, it appeared to the world like Jannik Vestergaard had fired a winner as his shot sped towards the very top left hand corner of Ryan’s net.
Out of nowhere, a blur of black came flying through the air. It looked like Batman when he opens his cape and drops in on an unsuspecting villain to save Gotham from disaster, only this was Ryan rather than Bruce Wayne and the danger was a football which might have seen Brighton leaving St Mary’s empty handed.
Ryan got a finger onto the ball to push it onto the bar for what was one of the best saves made by any Brighton goalkeeper ever. The distance he had to cover to get there, the agility to do just about enough to get a touch… it was an extraordinary piece of goalkeeping to go with the Michel Kuipers double save at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Ben Roberts at Bradford City in the top tier of stops made by Albion keepers.
It could not have come at a better time for Ryan. The reaction to his efforts from some Brighton fans over recent weeks would make you think that Graeme Smith was back conceding four times at home to Stockport County, not that Ryan had an off-day against Liverpool and City, two of the best sides in world football.
All goalkeepers go through rough patches. That doesn’t mean they should be sold in the summer or replaced by David Button or Jason Steele.
Not many goalkeepers in the Premier League could make a save like Ryan’s. It won Brighton their treasured point and served as a reminder that we are lucky to have a goalkeeper of such talents, even if some supporters have inexplicably decided that he isn’t up to the job. They are wrong, by the way.
Actually, we will throw in a fifth player to prove the doubters wrong while we are here – Dale Stephens. The return of the Stephens and Davy Pröpper partnership was one of the more questionable aspects of Potter’s selection – especially as Yves Bissouma has been one of Brighton’s better players since the restart and Pröpper had a pass completion rate of -29% in the 5-0 defeat against City.
Stephens has been the boo boy’s favourite this season. His statistics as Brighton drew 1-1 with Southampton – 21 completed passes and five ball recoveries, the most and second-most of any Albion player – reminded everyone of what he can bring to the party.
Brighton might even have won it late on, Bissouma squandering a wonderful opportunity when he sliced wide from 12 yards with just McCarthy to beat.
It would have been harsh on the Saints had that gone in. The hosts were arguably the better side over the 90 minutes, but take nothing away from the Albion who produced the sort of brave defensive performance that was their trademark under Chris Hughton.
Southampton is a tough place to go and Ralph Hasenhüttl has moulded an exciting team who press aggressively and play good, attacking football. You suspect that is what Potter wants Brighton to look like eventually.
Based on this, we may not be far behind them in that regard. That is not bad going for a club who were written off and installed as one of the favourites for relegation when Tony Bloom took the decision to replace Hughton with Potter last summer.
Keep proving those doubters wrong, Brighton.
