SOBS V BRIGHTON
The Lads welcomed the Seagulls to Wearside and... barely ruffled their feathers.
Despite our numerical advantage for a third of the game, the opposition always looked as if they had more players, and for the first time I didn't understand what Le Bris was thinking. Add to that the fact that when Xhaka has a poor game, the team does - and he had a rotter. Perhaps staying in the Swiss squad and ticking over for the last fortnight might have been a good idea.
What with an international break seemingly longer than pre-season, there had been plenty of time to discuss the Man City nonsense. There'd also been plenty of time to polish my matchday footwear, especially considering that the lad who'd searched me outside the Etihad had said "nice boots" - I feel even more obliged to look after them now.
As well as getting the chance to watch Bishop play a few games, and plan European travel, I got to watch our various internationals play, score goals, keep clean sheets, and twang hamstrings. One day, we'll end an international break with a clean bill of health. Perhaps.
As it was, on a sunny and blustery afternoon, we lined up...
Roefs
Hume Danso Mukiele Reinildo
Xhaka (c) Sadiki
Meunier Le Fee Angulo
Isidor
… and a bench of Ta Bi, the other Angulo, Fofana, O'Nien, Methalie, Alderete, Rigg, Mellborg, and Talbi.
On a blustery and sunny afternoon, we kicked off north towards an impressive away following - certainly more into it than their home crowds of my experience.
Let's save a lot of time here: they swarmed all over us and we couldn't build anything from our midfield despite the usual tireless efforts of Sadiki. Perhaps having three right backs on the field was a problem. Our wide players couldn't get a cross in, while Meunier just didn't look comfortable in the roving midfield role that Le Bris has created and that Hume can handle. They should have been switched after ten minutes, really.
Anyway, we did win a corner after six minutes and when Enzo hit it to the near post there were shouts for handball but even from 100 yards away I thought it wasn't- but hey, in these days of VAR, you never know. Unless it's Anderson for Man City, of course...
Roefs did well to block a Brighton attack in the edge of his box, then he had to punch a corner away from under the bar for another corner. We needed some solid defensive work from Reinildo to keep the visitors out, and when he cleaned it we won a free and then a corner - except the ref gave a goal kick. Not his first or last negative contribution to the game, he was so heavily reliant on VAR covering his back that Monty the bus dog would have been more effective as an official.
There were a few Mukiele long throws, from which we did create a bit of confusion in the Seagulls' defence, but any chances we created seemed to fall to Meunier and his natural reaction wasn't to shoot- which rather spoiled things, and it wasn't just Tommy. Just have a penk, Lads! If you don't shoot, you won't score - and when Issy did get in at the back post, a sliding challenge put it out for a corner on our right. Meunier got in again not long after, but having decided to shoot found a Brighton leg in the way of his effort.
At this stage, we were shouting for him to go to fullback and let Hume do the mystery role, but Regis obviously couldn't hear us. Against a well-drilled Brighton side, we needed a change but when it came it was due to Meunier pulling up hurt... or just miffed. You decide - anyway, on came Fofana (hardly a like for like swap) to give us, on paper, a more positive approach on that side, as he went to the left and Angulo went right.
Didn't change our performance much, unfortunately. Look, everyone is excused and off day, and Xhaka was having one - caught in possession, picking the wrong pass, it just wasn't his afternoon. It did look hopeful when there was a yellow for a foul on Hume near halfway, but the free went nowhere. There was the third extremely dodgy offside decisions against us, but blaming the officials for our lack of.... anything much, is a bit cheeky. We had the ball a lot, but the last 25 yards were pretty much a disaster.
Apart from a Brighton yellow for a foul on Hume in the centre circle, and a Mukiele blast from distance that was saved low, that was it for the first half. Oh, and a couple more offsides that nobody but the officials spotted and two added minutes that brought us no reward.
No changes for the second half, although many of us thought that Rigg should have been on to rove about midfield when Tommy went off but – 45 minutes of options. However, it was Roefs who was called into action first with a decent save before Fofana was barged over in the box but no foul was called. These things happen, but you do get a bit angry when an identical challenge seconds later in the centre circle was deemed a foul. Anyway, we huffed and puffed, much like the first half, but couldn’t create any chances but when Brighton came down our end and swept a low one across the box we couldn’t cut in out and it was planted past Roefs for 0-1 on 52 minutes.
Plenty of time to change things and get back into it, we thought, but when a rugby tackle on Issy a few yards outside the box was ignored, 47,196 people rolled their eyes in disbelief. However, when the ball went for a throw, the ref got the call and he went to the telly, had a good look, and rightly sent their man off. To be honest, that was the perfect opportunity to replace the ref as well, as he’d been pretty awful since the off (without making much difference to the result, to be fair). Xhaka hit the free beyond the wall (which included the now obligatory draught excluder, none of which have ever been hit with the ball) only to see it saved and the rebound come off Angulo for a goal kick, which summed up our afternoon. They brought on Dunk to shore up their back line just before Xhaka fired well over, then Roefs started his walkabouts. Standing in the centre circle isn’t where you want your keeper to be, and we let him know.
After a couple of Brighton subs, we brought on Methalie and Ta Bi for Reinildo and Angulo, making us wonder what Rigg and Talbi had done to be ignored. Still, twenty minutes to make a difference. Which they didn’t, really. Still lots of possession, still looking numerically disadvantaged with their number 24 being a pest just as he was last season. Ta Bi danced about to no great effect, and Methalie basically did what Reinildo had been doing and Brighton stood firm at the back, hitting a couple of really long ones when Roefs wandered forward but thankfully missing the target.
We gave the other Angulo a go for the last ten, in place of Enzo, but he couldn’t get the better of the visiting defence. The fact that our wide men couldn’t get in a decent cross all afternoon probably contributed to that – if you’ve got a 6’ 4” centre forward in the box, get the ball to his head, it’s not complicated. Seven extra minutes were announced, and halfway through them we made a mess of getting the ball away from a goal kick, Brighton burst forward and it was 0-2.
Man of the Match? Not a case of who played well, but who was the least bad. I’d probably go for Mukiele, as he at least got upset and tried to carry it forward, just ahead of Sadiki who did his usual daft amount of work but on the day had nobody able to apply the crucial bit when he’d done his bit.
All in all, a horrible afternoon but on the positive side, Brighton scored three against Arsenal and only two against us, he said, clutching at straws.
