The Spurs dig in pays a compliment to Brighton
We were blessed with a lovely sunny Saturday afternoon but no trains to the Amex for Brighton v Spurs. A huge number of Albion supporters overcame the travel problems but unfortunately, the team were not able to do likewise to a stubborn Spurs defence.
Look at the stats afterwards and you see just how much Tottenham dug in. Antonio Conte decided the best way to beat Brighton was by defending, even though Spurs have the scoring talents of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. Playing that way is a big compliment to the Albion.
Trains and Tottenham defending were not the only problems. There were reportedly very few buses to get people to and from the Amex and local roads were understandably extremely busy.
The early bird catches the worm and so I set out at 2.50pm from North Sussex to ensure an early arrival time at the Amex, a bowl of chips and a look around the Seagulls Superstore.
This was a moment of great pride for me as my book is now being stocked in the club shop. A schoolboy dream had come true.
With hardly any promotion, it has now sold over 100 copies. Hopefully, that number will increase with it now on sale at the Amex and in the Churchill Square popup shop. A big thank you again to WAB and Scott for helping to make it happen.
Any game against a Conte team is tough and the Dazn Bet had us down as underdogs. Spurs had added motivation following a dreadful blow in the week, the death of their 61-year-old fitness coach Gian Piero Ventrone.
A one minute applause was held before kick off for Ventrone and the grief in the Spurs squad was evident on the faces of the players and Conte. Both sides wore black armbands out of respect.
It was also the Premier League’s No to Racism weekend. All players took the knee before kick off, one of the games this season when the gesture will be observed. It was greeted with the normal fantastic applause.
From the kick off it was obvious that Spurs were going to give a better performance than those seen against Arsenal and Eintracht Frankfurt. Brighton started slowly in contrast, misplaced passes in midfield and giving the ball away too easily in other areas causing a few issues.
The Albion seemed to have less space than normal. Tottenham were always in the right place at the right time, closing our players down through relentless running. A fitting tribute to Ventrone’s work as fitness coach.
There was an early error from the match officials when Matt Doherty claimed a corner and they went with his appeal. Eventually, the correct decision of goal kick was made.
Doherty then placed a good cross from Ryan Sessegnon over the bar. Brighton had their first chance next, Danny Welbeck hitting a low shot only about a foot wide of Hugo Lloris’ post after the Albion sliced through the Tottenham midfield.
Kane was booked for a clear piece of cheating when he used his right hand to push the ball into his path as he rushed towards the Albion goal.
Robert Sanchez had to use his hands next – legally of course as the goalkeeper – to brilliantly keep out a rocket from Rodrigo Bentancur following a good Son run.
It was Son’s cross which provided Spurs with their goal halfway through the first half. Kane lowered his body to the ground and helped it into the back of the net with a clever finish. VAR checked but there was nothing wrong and Tottenham led 1-0.
A certain Yves Bissouma joined Kane in the book with a really bad tackle on Alexis Mac Allister. It was totally unnecessary and quite rightly earned Bissouma a yellow card.
Brighton had some good chances to equalise before half time. Lewis Dunk nearly converted a corner but he was just unable to get over the top of his header.
A cracking shot from Solly March then flew just wide of the post. Roberto De Zerbi has said he wants to see March score more goals and I am sure it will happen for him soon.
Lloris made a good save from Welbeck as the Albion finished the half strongly. Now it was time to see if the new manager could install further enthusiasm in the players and find a way through the stubborn Spurs defence.
March was very active down the right early in the second half, putting some great crosses into the box which Spurs had to deal with.
Brighton momentum was broken a little when Joel Veltman was booked for a tackle on Son which he was in total control of and won the ball.
To make matters worse, Dunk picked up a yellow for the same incident as he pointed out to referee Tony Harrington what a terrible decision had just been made.
Some indecision in the Albion defence gave Kane a chance which he should have scored. De Zerbi decided that made it time for a change and on came Kaoru Mitoma.
He was quickly into the action with some of those left wing charges which Brighton fans have already fallen in love with.
Mitoma is such an exciting player to watch; every time he gets the ball you expect something is going to happen.
Spurs fans probably feel similar about Son. He took a free kick which was headed just past the post, causing Sanchez to produce one of his cat-like dives just in case.
Son beat Sanchez with his next effort, a cracking shot which flew into the back of the net. It was very clearly offside however and so the goal was correctly ruled out.
Welbeck fizzed one past the post for another near miss as the game prepared to enter its final 10 minutes. Brighton have been so good at scoring late goals that I still believed an equaliser would be found before the full time whistle.
There were a couple more valiant efforts from the Albion but none which ended with the ball slotted past Lloris.
A first home defeat of the season was no disaster and a quick chance to bounce back at Brentford on Friday night, presuming we can keep Ivan Toney quiet. Up the Albion.
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
Thank you to everyone who was purchased my book covering the 2021-22 season, The Seagulls Best Ever Season. It can be found on Amazon at this link.
