Enock Mwepu: The Computer is booted up and looks the real deal

What a week for Brighton & Hove Albion’s £22 million midfielder Enock Mwepu. An assist against Manchester City, a goal against Leicester City and a goal against Liverpool were all put on the board as Mwepu introduced himself to English football in some style.

Now, we are not ones to get carried away here at WAB Towers – especially when a player has impressed in only three matches – but Mwepu looks the real deal.

The Computer has been running on an operating system so advanced that he has looked the best player on the pitch against two of the best teams in the world. A good game against a Norwich or The Leeds United is one thing. Outclassing City and Liverpool? That is something else altogether.

It is also a reminder that patience really is a virtue when it comes to young players moving to the Premier League. Cast your minds back to Burnley 1-2 Brighton on the opening day of the campaign and you will recall Mwepu looking frighteningly off the pace before being hauled at half time at Turf Moor.

Remarkably, there were Albion fans who wrote him off after that. Clearly, nothing has been learned from the experiences of Alexis Mac Allister, Jakub Moder and even Yves Bissouma. All took time to adapt to the unique challenges of English football stemming from its frenetic pace and blood-and-thunder nature.

In the case of Bissouma – now considered one of the best defensive midfielders in the Premier League – it took 18 months for him to look at home. That Mwepu is making such an impression in three months is a scary thought.

We should not be surprised at the way the Albion have managed Mwepu. Brighton have proven themselves the masters at bringing in young players from abroad and carefully introducing them to the Premier League.

Just as one swallow does not a summer make, one bad 45 minutes on your debut in a new country does not make you a terrible signing. The Computer is proving that now, along with showing everyone why he earned that moniker from Zambian football followers.

For the uninitiated, Mwepu is called The Computer because he possesses footballing intelligence beyond what is normal.

When he first arrived at the Amex, a lot of Albion fans probably wondered whether this was actually the case, or if it was another set of enthusiastic fans from a football nation overegging the pudding of one of their countrymen, ala future Ballon d’Or winner Percy Tau.

Mwepu’s contribution against City, Leicester and Liverpool have answered that particular question. Against City, he was introduced from the bench in a more advanced role than we had seen him used in before, supporting Leandro Trossard who was playing as a false nine.

Trossard got so much joy against City from dropping into the space between the Citizens’ defence and midfield. City’s centre backs did not know whether to push up and follow him, nor did their midfield know if they should drop deep and pick him up.

Also occupying this space was Mwepu. Watch The Computer off-the-ball and you witnessed him arrive in pockets the exact moment they appeared.

He was playing the game in his head before it happened, predicting where there would be space to exploit and heading into it before any City opponent could react.

Only the very best players in the world possess that sort of intelligence, and here was Mwepu making it look easy. Against Manchester City of all teams.

The penalty he won was a result of cleverness too. Again, he found a gap in the champions’ defence, this time to get in on goal. The angle was too tight though; it looked like Mwepu was going to run out of pitch and dribble the ball off as he attempted to go around Ederson.

Appearances can be deceptive. Instead, Mwepu managed to lure Ederson into diving at his feet in an attempt to nick the ball. The Computer simply had to allow himself to be caught and Kevin Friend would have a decision to make.

Remarkably given his performance over the rest of the 90 minutes, Mr Friend made the correct one and Alexis Mac Allister had the opportunity to smash home a consolation from the penalty spot. It was the least Brighton deserved for their second half efforts once Enock Mwepu and Tariq Lamptey had been introduced.

Four days later and it was Mwepu’s reading of the game that led him to get on the end of Marc Cucurella’s cross at Leicester. A clever glancing header beat Danny Ward and The Computer had his first Albion goal. Not only that, but Brighton had an all too rare midfielder on target in open play.

Better was to come at Anfield, of course. An exchange of passes with Solly March as half time approached gave Mwepu the ball 30 yards out from the Liverpool goal.

In seconds, The Computer had calculated that Alisson was off his line… because nobody in their right mind would be expecting a shot from that distance. Mwepu also realised that the Liverpool number one had a tricky sun peeking over the Kop potentially impeding his vision.

Brighton fans will be talking about what happened next for years to come. Mwepu hit a looping effort which caught Alisson completely unawares.

It dipped perfectly between the cross bar and the flailing arms of the Brazilian goalkeeper, setting the ball rolling for the Albion to recover from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Liverpool.

Unbelievably, there was something of a debate afterwards about whether it was a cross or a shot from Mwepu. Those who are aware of The Computer know that nothing happens by accident. It was a sublime effort that will surely win our WAB Goal of the Season award come May.

Enock Mwepu clearly has an eye for goal and this may yet prove even more valuable to Brighton than his footballing intelligence. When the Albion’s xG nightmare was analysed last season, the blame was largely laid at the doors of the strikers. Hence the desperation over the summer to sign a new centre forward.

It almost went unnoticed that Brighton’s midfield hardly covered themselves in glory on the goal scoring front. Pascal Gross aside, no central midfielder managed more than one Premier League goal in 2020-21.

A similar story unfolded in 2019-20, 2018-19 and 2017-18. The returns of Brighton midfielders have been paltry ever since the Albion joined the elite.

If one central midfielder was capable of chipping in with five goals a season, it would relieve the burden a little on the strikers.

In Enock Mwepu, Brighton might finally possess a midfield player with an eye for goal. That has the potential to make a huge difference to the Seagulls’ prospects of finishing higher up the Premier League table.

So, here comes a bold prediction based on seven days of October football – within three seasons, Enock Mwepu will not be a Brighton player. He will have been sold for a club-record fee to one of the biggest clubs in Europe.

Watch out Premier League, The Computer is only just booting up.