An Amex atmosphere like Brighton v Chelsea every week please
As we walked from the Bridge Car Park to the Amex on Saturday afternoon, my wife and I wondered how we would be feeling when making the return journey a few hours later. Grizzling thanks to Graham Potter or jumping for joy?
Who would have thought the Albion would come out and play so well? I did. Chelsea have been playing two games a week with their Champions League commitments and although they have been winning most recently, those exertions were bound to catch up with them at some point.
Then there was the sheer determination shown by our Brighton players. If you could bottle that and feed it to the squad before every game, we would qualify for European football easily. That desire and passion to play for the Albion is something money cannot buy – even Chelsea, with all their wealth.
Blues fans tried to claim that they played badly but nobody should buy that argument. It was the Albion playing exceptionally well which led it to finish Brighton 4-1 Chelsea.
The home support played a huge part too. The atmosphere inside the stadium felt good even before kick off. If there was one lesson to take, it is that we must give the lads 120 percent support in every game at the Amex because it makes a massive difference.
So many games over the past couple of years it has been left to the North Stand to chant. Us in the East Stand and those in the West should be doing just as much to generate noise, as happened against Chelsea with brilliant results.
The tone was set before the game. It seemed like everyone had taken their seats earlier than normal. Maybe this is what we need going forward – everyone in the stadium 10 minutes before kick off to drown out the away supporters. Mind you, it only took six minutes for the players to shut up Chelsea anyway!
Much of the noise was directed at Potter. I think it is important to remember how much the Albion improved under his coaching, so no matter what you might think of him now there cannot be any question that he did a lot of good during his time at Brighton.
The time for Potter to move on was always going to come. Watching that Sky documentary in the summer showed that the writing would be on the wall sooner rather than later.
Throughout his career, Potter has taken up a new challenge once he feels he has achieved his aims. Finishing in the top 10 of the Premier League with Brighton meant his target had been reached. Potter has always switched jobs at the right time in the past, going back to even before he was managing in Sweden.
Roberto De Zerbi quite rightly said in the build up to the game that Brighton had been playing well recently, just without the results to match. Talk about breaking that winless run of form in style.
The Albion had their first chance within a few minutes of kick off. A bad pass by a Chelsea defender was intercepted by Pervis Estupinan and played to Leandro Trossard.
He was quite aware that Kepa Arrizabalaga was off his line and so lobbed the ball towards goal. It looked destined to go in until Thiago Silva headed over the bar whilst stood on the goal line.
The same thing happened again when a Solly March corner went from right to left and Estupinan shot, needing Silva to head away for a second time. Four minutes played and Brighton could have been 2-0 ahead.
Marc Cucurella had his first touch shortly after. It was disappointing to hear him on the receiving end of so much booing. I can understand when someone like Kurt Zouma gets that sort of reaction for kicking a cat, but not a former Player of the Season who was a success story for the Albion model.
That is to buy players young, improve them and then sell them on for a profit. Brighton made £47 million on Cucurella and it is deals like that which keep the club in business. We should not forget this side of the plan when individuals move on.
Booing for Cucurella quickly became cheers for Trossard. March worked the ball into Trossard, a lucky bounce saw it go to Kaoru Mitoma who raced into the Chelsea area and passed three defenders.
Mitoma returned the ball to Trossard. He almost looked wrong footed, however within a second he had worked some space and got his balance back to go around Kepa and fire into the net.
It was a great finish. De Zerbi enjoyed it, dancing on the pitch to celebrate the Albion taking the lead. I was so excited that I missed out on seeing him so excited, only catching that moment again when watching back the highlights.
Next March delivered a good corner from the right, where our old friend Rick O’Shea was waiting to assist the Albion with a second goal. The ball hit the leg of Ruben Loftus-Cheek and flew in, leaving Kepa with no chance.
Get in, I thought. Then I remembered who we were playing. Being 2-0 ahead with just 14 minutes played left Chelsea with a lot of time to strike back, and we know from experience that Potter’s teams have a habit of scoring late goals and never knowing when they are beaten.
Conor Gallagher had a shot which required a brilliant save from Robert Sanchez, one of several he made during the game. The ball rebounded to Christian Pulisic but he could only slice wide of the Albion goal; much to his disgust. He knew it was a big chance for Chelsea and he had blown it.
Sanchez made his best stop from a Gallagher flick, springing like a cat to tip the ball over the bar. Many years ago, Chelsea goalkeeper Peter Bonnetti used to be nicknames the cat. I think we need to resurrect the name for Sanchez.
Moises Caicedo nearly scored with a shot which hit the post and side netting. At that point I felt a third goal before half time would have made life very difficult for Chelsea, but the Blues were surely not going to allow that to happen?!
A super piece of football down the left saw Caicedo play a perfectly weighted pass to Estupinan. He cut inside and put in a cross which Chelsea defender Trevor Chalobah turned into his own goal before the ball could reach an Albion player.
Brighton led 3-0 going into the break and Chelsea had no idea how to cope with the Albion. I wondered what Potter would be saying to Chelsea. De Zerbi had an easier team talk surely; Brighton needed to stay psyched up and not lose concentration.
The Blues made two changes at half time, brining on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and swapping goalkeepers with Kepa replaced by Edouard Mendy.
Chelsea pulled one back right at the start of the second half when Kai Havertz headed in a cross from Gallager. “Oh no, here we go,” would have been the normal though at this time but not on this occasion.
Sanchez made another good save, this time from Aubameyang with 20 minutes left to play. It was actually the Albion who had the better chances to win it after that.
Substitute Julio Enciso broke away, initially on his own and then joined by Trossard to the right. Enciso did not make the best decision, opting to shoot himself when he could have slipped the ball across to Trossard who would have had only Mendy to beat.
Enciso did better with the second chance that came his way, firing in two shots in quick succession which Mendy had to block. The second rebound went to Pascal Gross and he managed to get the ball in the back of the Chelsea goal, just onside with literally a minute to go.
There was no coming back for Chelsea now. The final whistle from referee Andy Madeley was met with an incredible roar as De Zerbi had his first win as Albion head coach.
Now I am going to let you all into a secret. I had tears in my eyes when that whistle went. I felt so emotional, Brighton had played so well for us fans in an important game.
They now deserve all the support we can give them in three big matches before the World Cup starts. Wolves away is followed by a Carabao Cup visit to Arsenal and then back to the Amex against Unai Emery’s Aston Villa.
It is all to play for now De Zerbi is off the mark. Thank you to the Seagulls for an amazing afternoon’s entertainment. Up the Albion!
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
I popped into the Amex superstore before the game to check on the remaining stock of my book covering the 2021-22 campaign, the Seagulls Best Ever Season. There are not many copies left, so please grab one before Christmas whilst you still can. It can also be found on Amazon at this link.
