Refreshed Brighton start second half of season facing the Wolves
How is everyone feeling after the winter break? Fit and refreshed? If anyone cares, I’ve lost six-and-a-half pounds through Dry January. Fingers crossed all that good work is not undone by a Brighton horror show against Wolves to which the only answer is scuttling to drown sorrows at the pour your own Moretti machine.
Whilst Albion fans in Sussex have been enduring dark nights, freezing cold weather and the longing for a glass of Merlot over recent weeks, Roberto De Zerbi and his players jetted off to Dubai for some warm weather training.
They did the same during last season’s winter break, held in tandem with the World Cup. And no Albion fan needs reminding of what happened when the domestic season resumed in late December.
2022-23 had been good before the World Cup. After it? Bloody hell. Brighton were capable of going toe-to-toe with everyone in the Premier League, went all the way to semi finals of the FA Cup at Wembley, secured a record-breaking sixth place finish and the European football which came with it.
De Zerbi has credited that trip to Dubai last December with being the catalyst for the super second half of the campaign.
“Last season was a very important period in Dubai because we had time to know better the players and improve style and relationships,” the Brighton head coach said in his Wolves pre-game press conference.
On this season’s repeat trip, De Zerbi added: “I think it has been a good period for us. We worked not so many days but we worked well, we didn’t lose any other players which is important for us.”
That is the other benefit of going over two weeks without a game. The respite has given the Albion’s lengthy injury list a chance to clear.
Adam Webster, Igor Julio and Tariq Lamptey could all be in the Brighton squad against Wolves. Ansu Fati is back in training.
The likes of Kaoru Mitoma, Simon Adingra and Julio Enciso are all expected back next month. Even Solly March flew out to Dubai, pouring cold water on social media tittle tattle that his career was over.
De Zerbi managing to keep Brighton in eighth spot and within touching distance of Europe through so many injuries is a piece of management which has not got the credit it deserves.
It also sets the Albion up for a very exciting second half of the campaign. If the Seagulls can avoid further injuries, they will again be a match for anyone both domestically and in the Europa League – just as they were last season, post-Dubai.
Standing in the away dugout when Wolves come to the Amex will be another manager whose achievements so far this season have also gone under the radar.
After a summer of disruption which saw Julen Lopetegui quit days before the campaign got underway because of a lack of new signings, the Old Gold looked like genuine relegation candidates.
Brighton hammered that point home in emphatic style, winning 4-1 at Molineux on the second weekend of the season and sparking an absolutely incredible meltdown from home fans in one of the hospitality boxes directly being the away end.
Not many would have predicted on that sunny August day that come the return fixture in Sussex, Wolves would be just three points behind the Albion.
That though is testament to the work Gary O’Neil has done. A job which a former Spain and Real Madrid manager viewed as too difficult and so quit to leave Wolves massively in the lurch has been made to look easy by O’Neil.
We probably should not be surprised by this. O’Neil was thrown into a similarly seemingly hopeless position last season at Plucky Little Bournemouth, taking over after Scott Parker oversaw a 9-0 defeat at Liverpool and effectively said in public his side was shit.
Bournemouth of course went onto survive, rewarding O’Neil with the sack. The Cherries’ loss has been Wolves’ gain.
All of which means Brighton can expect a much tougher test against Wolves than on the previous two occasions these sides have met.
As well as the 4-1 win away from home earlier in the campaign, the Albion hammered the Old Gold 6-0 at the Amex back in April. That was despite resting all of Alexis Mac Allister, Moises Caicedo and Mitoma.
It was Brighton’s biggest ever top flight win and extended their ridiculous league record over Wolves. In 40 league meetings between the sides, the Old Gold have won just six.
What makes this more remarkable is that Wolves have almost always been the bigger and better club, finishing above the Albion in the football pyramid in 107 of the 123 seasons in which Brighton have existed.
With O’Neil at the helm, however, and the improvement the Old Gold have shown under his management, Brighton starting the second half of their season with three points is no foregone conclusion.
Wolves are a tough nut to crack these days. Victory for Brighton would be a bigger result than it would first appear and set the Albion up perfectly for another memorable second half to the season.
And it would keep Dry January intact. No pressure or anything…
