Neal Maupay dropped as he was “carried away with his own success”

Neal Maupay being dropped completely from the matchday 18 for Brighton & Hove Albion’s 2-1 defeat at Spurs was because he was getting “carried away by his own success”, according to reports in the Daily Telegraph.

The paper’s Football News Correspondent Matt Law reveals that Graham Potter took the decision to omit Maupay to “bring the striker back down to earth” and “remind Maupay that no one player is more important than the team.”

Also contained within the Daily Telegraph report is unconfirmed speculation that Maupay has fallen out with at least one of his Brighton teammates in training as a result of this Billy Big Bollocks attitude.

When asked about Maupay’s absence on Sunday night, Potter said that it was due to “tactical reasons”. This did not wash with many Albion supporters; you might drop your top scorer from your starting line up for tactical reasons, but you would still have him on the bench unless there was a deeper problem. Potter instead named Danny Welbeck and Andi Zeqiri among the substitutes.

The rumour mill duly sparked into life regarding Maupay’s absence with a positive Covid-19 test, a disciplinary incident or an attitude problem being the early frontrunners.

Should the Daily Telegraph’s version of events turn out to be true, then it looks like the latter is currently afflicting Neal Maupay and was the reason he was dropped.

Obviously, there will be those who cast doubt on the claims in the article and with most clubs, this sort of report could easily be dismissed as just a rumour. Nobody comments on it and it is up to the reader to make their own mind up.

Brighton though have shown that they will challenge any made up stories in the national press, successfully claiming a retraction from the Daily Mail in the summer after that rag falsely reported that Lewis Dunk had asked the club to stop being so public in their opposition to playing at neutral venues.

If the Albion do not now challenge and gain a similar retraction from the Telegraph (or any other newspaper carrying reports such as this in the future), it will suddenly add a whole lot of weight to the story which would never have existed if the club just ignored these sorts of articles.

In a weird way, challenging the Daily Mail for their FAKE NEWS! in one story has created a rod for the club’s back. They now have to do it for every story which has no basis in fact; when they do not challenge the newspaper carrying the article, you can probably assume that what is being reported is true. The Albion’s response to the Telegraph story will therefore be telling.

This seems like a good time to remind everyone that Maupay has scored 14 Premier League goals in 43 career appearances. Whilst that is a reasonably good return for a 24-year-old with a little over a season of top flight experience under his belt, it is hardly a record that can justify the sort of arrogance that the Telegraph’s report implies is behind Maupay’s banishment.

There are also the countless opportunities that Maupay has squandered so far this season. It would be very strange for a man who must know he needs to become more clinical to be getting carried away with his own success, although you can imagine that this may well have sparked an issue on the training pitch.

An egotistical attitude from a player who has been unable to capitalise on the good approach play of his teammates is sure to have pressed some buttons.

Potter be hoping that dropping Maupay sparks a reaction. Maupay now has a point to prove against Burnley (if selected) and given that the Albion are in desperate need of three points against the division’s bottom club on Friday night, if Maupay bags a couple of goals to prove Potter he was wrong for dropping him then it works out well for the Albion.

Of course, things could go the other way and Maupay could take Potter’s decision completely the wrong way. Just look at Mark McGhee’s attempts to curb the arrogance of Leon Knight and coax improved performances from him by dropping him from time to time.

All this seemed to do was send Knight mad, causing a host of disciplinary issues which culminated in McGhee throwing Knight off the team coach in the middle of the New Forest before Southampton away in 2006.

The good news is that whereas McGhee drank a pint of whiskey and would chuck someone off the bus every six months, Potter has a Master’s in leadership and emotional intelligence.

If there is a manager who should know how to get the best out of his players mentally, then it is Potter. A hat-trick incoming against Burnley from Neal Maupay in response to being dropped against Spurs? That would be nice.