West Ham 1-1 Brighton: Ghost of Graham Potter haunts Albion

Charles Dickens used to like a drink in East London. As an author whose most famous work revolves around festive hauntings, he would have taken great joy in the Ghost of Graham Potter returning as Brighton drew 1-1 away at West Ham United.

A tentative link to cram in a reference to A Christmas Carol? Oh yes. And if you think that is bad, wait until the later comparison between Albion goal scorer Mats Wieffer and Ebenezer Scrooge.

The second half and the final 10 minutes in particular at the London Stadium were peak Potterball xG nightmare from the Albion.

How Brighton did not find a winning goal is as mystifying as it is frustrating. Kaoru Mitoma, Evan Ferguson and Yasin Ayari all should have stuck the ball in the back of the net.

There were also shades of how mind numbingly boring Potterball could be through a first half in which nothing happened. The Albion were happy to play sideways pass after sideways pass, often keeping possession for possession sake.

Maybe Fabian Hurzeler had been copied into the email sent to Brighton supporters earlier in the week, warning about bad behaviour and how the Stasi would be watching for anyone surging if the Albion scored a goal?

Big respect to him and the players for deliberately making the opening 45 minutes so dull that there was no chance of having anything to celebrate.

It all made for a frustrating afternoon at the London Stadium. And a reminder for those handful of Albion supporters who have openly suggested Potter return in place of Hurzeler to be careful of what you wish for.

The Youngest Permanent Manager in Premier League History came into the game under a little pressure after four matches without victory, three of which came against the bottom six.

Whether you view West Ham 1-1 Brighton as two points dropped or one gained will inform your opinion of whether any of that pressure has lifted.

If the Albion want to return to Europe, they need to be winning games like these in which they have plenty of chances against poor opposition sitting 15th in the table.

Hurzeler knows this, judging by his post-match interview in which he said his view was two points dropped and disappointment.

That was at least a departure from Potter, who would have told everyone what a magnificent result a point at West Ham is.

The underlying tones of which would be us Brighton fans should be grateful for Potter’s genius in securing it, seeing as our football club has been rubbish for much of its 123-year existence. History lesson, etc, etc…

But in fairness to Potter (oh God, what have I said?!) he may have had a point on this occasion. In one of the most competitive, tightest Premier League seasons for over a decade, a draw away from home can still be seen as a good result – presuming the Albion follow up by beating Brentford at home on Friday night.

A pretty big presumption given recent form and performances, granted. Maybe the annual big money bonus offered by Tony Bloom for getting one over arch rival Matthew Benham will be enough to inspire Brighton out of their current rut?

The opening 45 minutes of West Ham 1-1 Brighton had plenty of supporters genuinely considering popping over to neighbouring Westfield to complete their Christmas shopping rather than watching the second half.

It was a game which badly needed a goal from either side to spark things into life. Six minutes after the restart, Wieffer provided that moment.

Pervis Estupinan delivered a cross into the box. Lukasz Fabianski got in a mess trying to collect it under pressure from Lewis Dunk.

The loose ball dropped to Wieffer, who produced a technically brilliant and very calm volley into the back of the unguarded net.

Christmas is the time for redemption stories. From Scrooge seeing the error of his ways to Wieffer scoring his first Brighton goal to banish the memories of that cock up in the 2-2 draw with Wolves eight weeks ago.

Problematically for Brighton, that ended up being Wieffer’s final involvement. The magnificent rumour doing the rounds was that he got injured knee sliding in celebration at the goal; maybe the club’s email would have been better directed at players than supporters?

Whatever the reasoning, Wieffer was forced off and Yasin Ayari took over. Goal aside, Wieffer had been doing a magnificent job sitting in front of the Albion back four.

His withdrawal and the disruption it sparked represented a big blow to Brighton hopes of pulling off a Christmas miracle and actually holding onto a lead.

The Hammers subsequently equalised just six minutes later. Jan Paul van Hecke had been bandaged up during the first half after his head was split open, leaving him to look like a blonde haired, Dutch version of Steve Foster.

Van Hecke unfortunately did not defend like Foster with a headband when he put a header on halfway straight to Tomas Soucek.

Danny Dyer’s son-in-law Jarrod Bowen was sent away by Soucek. Bowen shot, Bart Verbruggen parried straight to Mohammed Kudus and despite Estupinan being in close attendance, the one-time Albion target headed West Ham level.

From Van Hecke’s awful header to Verbruggen doing an impression of Wayne Henderson and pushing the ball back into a danger area to Estupinan offering nothing in making things difficult for Kudus, it was a poor goal for Brighton to concede. Again.

Hurzeler responded by throwing on Tariq Lamptey, Yankubu Minteh, Julio Enciso and then Evan Ferguson in attacking changes designed to find a winner.

Ferguson’s impact in particular has gone under the radar. A major factor in the first half being so ponderous was Joao Pedro and Georginio Rutter both dropping deep and wanting to play as number 10s.

Brighton had no focal point to their attack, enabling the West Ham defence to push 10 yards further up the pitch and squeeze the space available to the Albion.

Pedro never did this when used as a number nine last season by Roberto De Zerbi, so the natural assumption to make is that it is an issue resulting from the way Hurzeler sets up.

The presence of Ferguson gave the Hammers back line an out-and-out centre forward to worry about, opening up space for others and leading to a flurry of Albion chances.

Minteh crossed but Mitoma somehow failed to connect sufficiently when stood unmarked in the middle of the West Ham area, no more than five yards out.

All Mitoma had to do was tap home. And yet the ball cannoned off the post and away to safety. You could imagine Potter watching somewhere, sucking on his teeth and muttering to himself “It is what it is.”

Ferguson should have made contact himself with crosses from Estupinan and Minteh. The sort of chances which Danny Welbeck gobbles up for breakfast.

A clever Ferguson flick set up Yasin Ayari but much like his bad miss at Arsenal in August, the young Swedish midfielder’s finishing lacked composure as he put the ball in an area Fabianski could save.

One final chance saw Aaron Win-Bissaka bravely clear from the line when Lamptey was lurking to convert an Enciso cross.

At which point Albion fans probably knew deep down this was going to be one of those days. Especially if you remembered the days of Potter…