Southampton 1-1 Brighton: Who said lightning doesn’t strike twice?
How many Brighton fans who made the 64.3 mile journey to Southampton for the South Coast Derby did so expecting to see a carbon copy of Wednesday night’s 1-1 draw with West Ham?
Absolutely no-one would be my guess. Drama like that is meat to happen once or twice a season. And yet for the second time in under 72 hours, the Albion were thanking their lucky stars for a late, late Neal Maupay goal to rescue a point in a game they ended with only 10 men on the pitch.
This is turning into a pretty weird season. A 1-1 draw with Southampton means that Brighton have now not won for 10 top flight matches, equalling an unwanted club record set in the 1982-83 relegation season.
And yet despite having not been victorious for approaching three months, the Albion are still in the top 10 of the Premier League. That simply should not be possible.
A large number of Brighton fans still criticise and berate Maupay. And yet he has six goals for the season including 89th, 95th and now 98th minute equalisers.
Without him, the Albion’s fine looking record of only three defeats by the time this year’s advent calendar is half-opened (or already fully devoured if you happen to be my missus) reads six losses. Graham Potter might then be less perplexed with supporters becoming frustrated.
Things are not going to get any easier over the remainder of December, either. The fixture list is tough enough on its own with matches against Spurs, Wolves, Manchester United and Chelsea all to come before champagne corks start popping on New Year’s Eve.
To make matters worse, Potter goes into the busiest period of the season with an injury crisis brewing. Lewis Dunk missed Southampton 1-1 Brighton with rumours abounding that he will be out for three months. Leandro Trossard was stretchered off at St Mary’s, leaving the Albion to face those final 10 minutes a man down
Jeremy Sarmiento, Adam Webster and Adam Lallana all limped out of West Ham 1-1 Brighton. Danny Welbeck has not played since September. And Shane Duffy now faces a one match ban for picking up his fifth yellow card of the season
Bar Yves Bissouma and Neal Maupay, Potter has essentially lost the spine of his team. It is widely acknowledged that this is the strongest squad the Albion have ever had. The next few weeks will be a test of just how strong.
Real questions are yet to be asked surrounding this winless run, partly because Brighton are not losing many – eight of the last 10 have ended in draws – and partly because of the euphoria Maupay is providing with his last minute interventions.
When the Albion score right at the death, a draw feels like winning. Limbs went flying at St Mary’s and the excitement lasts long into the evening – even when all the trains back to Sussex are a mess.
Nobody wants to come back down to Earth by asking in the immediate aftermath whether a scraped draw against the side 16th in the table and on a ghastly run of form is good enough, especially when the performance itself was not great either.
Brighton have also needed luck on their side to avoid defeat against West Ham and Southampton. At the London Stadium, VAR earned a spot on the Albion’s Christmas Card list by seeing an offside against Michail Antonio which nobody else was looking for, stopping the Hammers taking a 2-0 lead which surely would have been curtains for Brighton.
Alex McCarthy and James Ward-Prowse should now expect a nice meat and cheese hamper from the Seagulls too for the roles they played in the equaliser.
McCarthy was injured and so could not dive effectively, leading him to call Ward-Prowse back to cover the left side of his goal as Jakub Moder prepared to strike a free kick in the dying moments.
Maupay spotted what was happening and showed great awareness and intelligence to push himself closer to McCarthy, knowing that Ward-Prowse was playing him on.
The extra yards he gained had him perfectly positioned in the event of the ball ending up loose in the box, which is exactly what happened when Moder’s strike cannoned off the wall and the Polish midfielder then sent the rebound back into the area.
With no Southampton player near him, Maupay simply took a touch and fired into the bottom corner. Those who choose to file Maupay under the nOt goOd eNOUGh banner because of his finishing and the chances he misses often overlook everything else he brings to the party.
He showed his intelligence with his goal in Southampton 1-1 Brighton. Then there is the way he links play and his work rate. The Albion desperately need a new striker but to complement Maupay, not replace him.
Whilst Brighton have to thank McCarthy and Ward-Prowse, Saints boss Ralph Hasenhuttl was livid. He told the BBC afterwards: “If you have a goalkeeper that is not 100 percent fit in that moment and cannot jump and then you send someone back into the line, then the rebound that comes out is normally offside.”
“But Prowsey is there, so Maupay has a free shot at goal. This is something we cannot accept. There must be a message, ‘I cannot jump’, and then we can make a change.”
“Today I had one change left and I couldn’t take it because he didn’t say anything and this, for me, is not acceptable.”
At the other end, Robert Sanchez did not exactly cover himself in glory when Southampton took the lead on the half hour mark. His poor kick was returned forward by the head of Ward-Prowse and Duffy then expected his goalkeeper to come and intercept the danger.
Sanchez though was glued to his line and Duffy’s hesitation allowed Armando Broja to collect the ball, send Duffy sliding into a Portsmouth postcode and then beat Sanchez to make it 1-0.
Southampton deserved it having been the better side by that point. Sanchez had earlier made a double stop from Broja and Che Adams. Brighton’s best chance of the opening 30 minutes came when Trossard found Enock Mwepu whose low shot was turned away by McCarthy.
Without Webster and Dunk, the Albion were struggling to deal with Broja. He should have had a second early in the second half when Brighton summer transfer target Tino Livramento went scampering forward to deliver a low cross. From eight yards out, Broja somehow scuffed wide.
Opportunities became few and far between as the game wore on and tiredness seemed to creep in. Potter introduced Aaron Connolly, Solly March and Jakub Moder in three attacking changes to try and wrest a leveller.
A driving run 30 yards down the left from March fed Connolly and he played a low pass into the path of Maupay, whose shot was repelled by the legs of McCarthy.
Trossard being stretchered off led to a lengthy delay and left Brighton ending the game with 10 men. Repeating the trick of salvaging a point despite playing short handed was a huge ask.
That the Albion managed it serves as a reminder that although they are not winning games, you can never write this Seagulls side or their attitude off.
The goal came in the eighth minute of 10 added on. Captain Duffy celebrated in front of the travelling support losing their minds at the dramatic finale to Southampton 1-1 Brighton.
Maupay meanwhile tore away to silence the St Mary’s crowd, adding Saints fans to the ever-growing list of opposition fans who hate Le Petit Shithouse Français.
Arsenal, The Leeds United, Crystal Palace. Maupay must be the most despised Frenchman amongst the people of England since Napoleon Bonaparte.
There are still some Albion fans who would include themselves in that bracket. For how much longer remains to be seen as Maupay must surely be winning around even the biggest doubters now. If he was to be exiled to Saint Helena, then the Seagulls would be a far less effective football team.
Twice in a week he has rescued Brighton. Who said lightning doesn’t strike twice?
