Brighton blown away by Burnley but season remains on track

Trees and bins were not the only things blown away by the worst storm Sussex had seen for 30 years – the footballers of Brighton & Hove Albion found themselves on the wrong end of a 3-0 defeat at the hands of Burnley.

It seemed like a long time since we had last visited the Amex for a home game and with the chaos caused by the weather, I did have my doubts about whether we would make it to the stadium.

There are rarely problems when Seagulls Travel are involved however and they had us delivered to the Amex in perfect time for a pre-game meal of a lovely hotdog and a packet of Albion wine gums.

Burnley did not enjoy such a smooth journey. Their flight south was cancelled and so they had to make the trip via coach. Maybe their players wanting to stretch their legs after the long journey was why they ran rings around Brighton on the pitch?

The Clarets started the day bottom of the table in the relegation zone, as we all knew. Therefore there was a natural expectation amongst supporters (and perhaps players) that Brighton should win the game.

Graham Potter knows better and he constantly eludes to there being no easy matches in the Premier League. The lower teams are desperately fighting for their survival and that is exactly how Burnley looked. They wanted it far more than the Albion.

A Brighton fan wrote on social media after the game that it looked like some sort of domestic had taken place in the Albion changing room even before Robert Sanchez and Shane Duffy had their little contretemps on the pitch.

Sometimes, emotions spill over. This is especially true when everyone is having a bad day at the office, as happens from time-to-time in all professions.

A bad day is exactly what Brighton 0-3 Burnley looked like for the Albion. Nothing more than that, and importantly the players have a chance to prove it in front of the Amex crowd straight away when Aston Villa come to town in a rare example of back-to-back home matches.

Potter and his coaching team will analyse what went wrong and as Adam Lallana said, everyone involved will learn from it. We all know this squad can play so much better than what they showed on Saturday.

The crucial thing for me is that we started the day in ninth place in the Premier League table and we finished the day in ninth place in the Premier League table.

We have to appreciate what the aim for this year was. I believe Tony Bloom wants to establish Brighton as a top 10 club, which we are still on target to achieve. The season remains on track even after a heavy defeat to Burnley.

Brighton are never going to win every game they play. Not even Manchester City do that, as we saw when they were beaten at home by Spurs.

Coming into the game, I felt the first goal was crucial. If we scored first, I was hopeful that confidence would sore and we would go onto win by a decent margin. If we fell behind to opponents who needed three points so badly, then I worried we would be in trouble.

Burnley seemed to cope far better with the conditions in the first half when the wind swirled and the rain poured.

We saw just how strong the wind was when Sanchez was stranded by a Connor Roberts effort which thankfully blew onto the top of the crossbar and behind for a goal kick.

The first Burnley goal came from good football finished off by new striker Wout Weghorst with a clinical finish that left Sanchez no chance.

In amongst all the doom and gloom, a lot of people have forgotten that Brighton rallied well after going behind. The stats showed the Albion dominating possession with some nice passing.

Jakub Moder had a decent effort and might have won a penalty when Aaron Lennon hauled him to the ground in the box.

Not for the first time, referee Kevin Friend was no friend of the Albion – even though watching the highlights back, it appeared that it took quite an effort from Lennon to bring Moder down.

A great passage of play ended with Lallana heading the ball just past the post in an example of another chance getting away from Brighton.

It was poor defending that gave Burnley their second, allowing Josh Brownhill to literally roll the ball into the goal, much to even the visiting player’s surprise.

No doubt that it should have been prevented but with Duffy and Sanchez having already had their argument, this was turning into one of those days.

The second half started with a great Tariq Lamptey run down the East Stand touchline and an excellent volley attempt from Neal Maupay.

A difficult chance for the French striker, but one we have seen him score several times already this season. Alas, it was not to be against Burnley.

Lennon made it three shortly after, putting the ball in the top corner with another shot which Sanchez did not seem to have a chance with.

It was another great goal from Burnley, just kissing the underside of the bar as it went in. Undoubtedly, the sort of opportunity that our players should look back on and think we can do that as well.

We just couldn’t do it against Burnley. Potter was not willing to blame Sanchez, Duffy or any of his players for the poor display.

“I have to take the blame for today,” he said afterwards, presumably talking about the formation which most pundits and Brighton fans pinpointed as the issue.

Time to put Burnley behind us and for Brighton to bounce back against Villa. Up the Albion.

Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony