Post Match report for the Southampton game - Sunday, 24th April 2022
PREMIER LEAGUE 21/22: Brighton V Southampton - 24.4.22 P34.
* * * * * ALBION STILL HOPELESS AT HOME * * * * *
RESULT: 2-2 ~ Welbeck, og . (h-t 2-1) . . . SHAPE: 4-4-2
VENUE: the Amex, Falmer - seventeenth home match of thirty-four fixtures to date . Sun 2:00pm.
PRE-MATCH: even non church-going faithful prayed to see Brighton win at long last here this year and so record our biggest points tally since joining Prem ranks.
Surely that was not too much to ask on a Sunday lunchtime in late April.
WEATHER: sunny & warm . GATE: tba . ATMOSPHERE: went quickly from happy to lethargic.
GRAHAM POTTER talked about fine margins and other things to emphasise it is no walk in Stanmer park at this level.
He also praised Brighton fans for their fortitude in the face of a disappointing slog to & from Falmer over many previous months.
GP chose to reinsert Maupay, with a double spearhead ahead of two variable banks of four. On paper it looked ok.
INJURED: 15 Moder . BAN: 8 Bissouma . SQUAD: 2 Lamptey, 28 Roberts, 42 Leonard.
TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Sanchez
. . . . 34 Veltman, 4 Webster, 5 Dunk, 3 Cucurella
. 11 Trossard . . 12 Mwepu, 10 Mac Allister . . 25 Caicedo
. . . . . . . . . . 9 Maupay . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Welbeck
SUBS: March (61), Gross (62), Samiento (85).
BENCH: 23 Steele (gk), 24 Duffy, 14 Lallana, 17 Alzate, 57 Offiah, 58 Ferguson.
GOALS: 1-0 - 2 . WELBECK was on the deck with the keeper following a scramble in the area.
2-0 - 44 . an OG got registered after Trossard was trying to assist Welbeck in a goal-scoring opportunity.
2-1 - 45+4 . a f-k eluded the defensive home wall and beat Sanchez at bottom of his right-hand post.
2-2 - 54 . a quality move from visitors found their hot-shot talisman free outside the area and guess what...
NOTED: plenty of kick & rush but not a lot of quality going from back to front.
A similar incident to the opening goal saw the ball evade another tap in.
Gross netted from distance but VAR chalked it off for offside.
YELLOWS: Cucurella.
CHANGES: 61 March for Mwepu . 62 Gross for Webster . 85 Sarmiento for Maupay.
FIRST HALF: scoring inside opening moments appeared to alter a previous domestic trend but just created a false dawn.
Lady luck helped double the lead, although failing to maintain a clean sheet by the break handed impetus to opposition.
SECOND HALF: Seagulls were better at defending than attacking and needed to be as travellers upped the ante, backed by vocal support.
It all became like an end of season affair once changes to personnel kicked in.
In fact when Potter moved Gross into midfield there was more momentum going forwards. Otherwise passing failed to reach standards required of the Prem.
Injuries made things a tad stop-start and Ref might have had a better game.
However onus is on hosts to impose their home advantage upon visitors and this again seemed lacking, if not almost a vice versa situation.
Albion cannot be considered a counter-attacking side and left Welbeck up-field until away pressure finally meant he had to supplement rearguard.
Somehow Potter got into a reactive phase and locals never gained desirable control of a scrappy contest.
A point each increased frustration for blue & white support who hardly gave vent to any probable victory-like sing song.
NUMBERS: poss 49%-51%, on target 5-5, off target 3-13, corners 6-6,
fouls 12-7, yellows 1-0, subs 3-3, shape 442-442 . . . . . gd-11 pt41 po11
FS
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