7 positives from Brighton losing 7-0 against Nottingham Forest

Having been extremely hurt by some public complaints that WAB were too negative about Brighton suffering their heaviest league defeat for 67 years when losing 7-0 at Nottingham Forest, we have decided to try and redress the balance.

So here are seven positives from the Albion losing by seven clear goals for the first time since Saturday 23rd August 1958.

Forest 7-0 Brighton… but in xG

We all know that Tony Bloom places significant weight on xG when it comes to decision making. It is why Glow Up Graham Potter never really came under pressure despite the many long runs without a victory he oversaw.

Johnatan Parrish – sports writer at Sportbet.one team – has looked at the subject before: “Where there is a positive xG, it shows a strong underlying performance not always evident in a final score or to supporters watching for whom the result is all that matters.”

“Results can be skewed by poor refereeing. An unlucky bounce. A goalkeeper having their best game of the season. xG strips all that away.”

“It suggests the next game with better refereeing, a lucky bounce or a goalkeeper performing averagely will go the way of the team whose xG remains consistently strong.”

“Brighton under Graham Potter are the best example we have of this in the Premier League. The xG always suggested the Seagulls were on course to become a good team under Potter.”

“Thus Tony Bloom always had confidence in his head coach, even during times in Potter’s first two seasons when Brighton were only just above the relegation zone.”

What would Bloom have made of the xG from Forest 7-0 Brighton then? The Tricky Trees finished with an xG of 3.45. Brighton on 0.93.

On another day, it is only a 3-1 defeat at the City Ground for the Albion. Result.

More minutes for Diego Gomez in Forest 7-0 Brighton

The intensity and speed of the Premier League is unlike any other in the world. Which is why it takes players arriving from foreign lands time to adjust and adapt.

They can only do so by getting competitive minutes under their belts. New £12 million signing Diego Gomez got just that at the City Ground, with his half time introduction offering him 45 precious minutes for his longest runout in an Albion shirt since arriving from Inter Miami.

And having played against Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in training at Miami, he might even be used to being on the end of the occasional seven goal defeat.

The players accepted responsibility for Forest 7-0 Brighton

There were no excuses from Brighton when it came to accepting responsibility from losing 7-0 to Forest. The easy thing to do would have been skulk off at the final whistle via the briefest of claps to the travelling support.

Plenty of Albion teams of the past have done that after losing. There are probably Brighton fans of a certain vintage, still livid now about the players scarpering at full time when Stoke City won 5-1 at Withdean on the final day of the 2005-06 season.

Followed by Mark McGhee coming out and saying it didn’t matter anyway because we were already relegated. You can imagine how that went down with people who had paid their hard earned cash without knowing McGhee didn’t think the game mattered.

For the record, I was not one of those angry with McGhee. That pint of whiskey drinking Scotsman can do no wrong in my eyes.

Back to matters at hand. Positives from losing 7-0. At full time, unlike the Class of 2006 post-Stoke, most of the squad came and stood in front of the away end as some sort of apology.

It was, admittedly, a bit weird. WAB contributor Marco Rof said: “I don’t think many were fans clapping the players, we just stood there staring at each other like a cowboy stand-off.”

“If a cowboy stand-off ended with one set of cowboys taking off their shirts and giving them to younger cowboys on the opposite side.”

Joe Knight in a matchday squad for the first time

Going to be honest here, I’d never heard of Joe Knight before his name popped up amongst the substitutes ahead of Forest 7-0 Brighton.

A quick Google though leads me to conclude I very much like the cut of his jib. Nine appearances for the Under 21s so far this season have yielded an impressive six yellow cards.

Potentially the kick-anything-which-moves successor to Charlie Oatway we have been waiting 20 years for. Get him in the team, Herr Hurzeler.

Lewis Dunk moves closer to Premier League record

Forget Alan Shearer’s long-standing 260 goal Premier League record. The scoring landmark any player worth their salt should want to usurp is the record for most own goals.

After spanking a cross past Bart Verbruggen to open the scoring in Forest 7-0 Brighton, Lewis Dunk is now up to second in that particular list.

It was the seventh own goal the Albion captain has netted in the Premier League, tying him with Martin Skrtel, Jamie Carragher and Phil Jagielka.

Richard Dunne remains someway clear on 10. At 33-years-old and with questions over his form at times this season, every own goal now really counts if Dunk is to overhaul Dunne before the sad day arrives when he plays his final game for Brighton.

Gallows humour in the away end

You can never accuse Brighton fans of not having a sense of humour. As Forest kept adding to the scoreline, so the level of gallows humour intensified on the terraces.

The fourth Forest goal was followed by chants of “We’re gonna win 5-4.” The fifth Forest goal was followed by chants of “We’re gonna win 6-5”. Sadly, the sixth and seventh arrived in injury time, so there was not really the time for “We’re gonna win 8-7.”

As the game ticked towards its conclusion, the away end also began counting down the seconds out loud. A desperate plea for the torture to be over, so we could all go to Hooters or that pub with a canal running through the middle of it. Depending on whether chicken wings and waitresses wearing very little or narrowboats tickle your fancy.

This self-depreciation and never taking ourselves too seriously is one of the things I love most about Brighton fans.

Imagine supporting Arsenal, for example? And having to watch all seven goals over and over again to find some small, tiny, miniscule reason why each one was the fault of the officials to prove there is a PGMOL conspiracy against you?

Must be absolutely draining when you could just admit, actually, we weren’t very good today.

The Gedling Inn

By far and away the biggest positive from Forest 7-0 Brighton, however, is anyone who watched the game in The Gedling Inn would have been absolutely hammered without needing to spend a single penny.

The Nottingham based pub announced before kick off they would be giving away free pints for each goal Forest scored.

As the goals rained in, so the beer flowed. Brighton conceding seven times was estimated by the landlady to have cost the pub around £1500 in free beer. The publicity afterwards when the offer went viral though? Priceless.

Fair play to the Albion for putting The Gedling on the map and helping the people of Nottingham get punch drunk for an outlay of £0 in the middle of a cost of living crisis.