Post Match report for the Brentford game - Wednesday, 6th December 2023
PREMIER LEAGUE 23/24: Brentford V Brighton - 6/12/23 P15
* * * * * A PLEASANT OPEN-AIR NIGHT OUT * * * * *
RESULT: 2-1 ~ Gross, Hinshelwood . (h-t 1-1)
VENUE: the Amex, Falmer - eighth home match of 15 fixtures to date . Wed 8:00pm.
BEFORE KICKOFF: so far midweek evening contests had been the province of floodlit Thursday Europa League group games during past months.
Now we turned up on a Wednesday night for domestic Prem action.
Well, those that did not have to use railways.
Albion home form had recently resulted in three straight score draws against clubs we maybe let off the hook.
WEATHER: cold . GATE: tba . ATMOSPHERE: not everybody got to party.
ROBERTO de ZERBI was pumped in preparation for a very busy December which also had that final Europa League tie included for good measure.
RdZ responded to pressure by selecting from those available to play and tinkered with the previous starting eleven.
INJURED: 2 Lamptey 4 Webster 7 March 10 Enciso 18 Welbeck 30 Estupinan 31 Fati
SQUAD: 14 Lallana 38 McGill (gk) 43 Samuels . BAN: 5 Dunk 8 Dahoud
STARTING SHAPE: 4-2-3-1
TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Steele
. 41 Hinshelwood 29 van Hecke 3 Julio 13 Gross (C)
. 24 Adingra 11 Gilmour 20 Baleba 22 Mitoma
. . . . . . 40 Buonanotte . . . 9 Pedro
SUBS: 6 Milner (69), 28 Ferguson (69), 34 Veltman (73), 15 Moder (84), 47 Baker-Boaitey (84)
BENCH: 1 Verbruggen (gk) 52 Kavanagh 53 Barrington 55 OMahony
GOALS:
0-1 - 27 . van Hecke brought down the attacker and Ref pointed to the spot. Steele guessed the wrong way.
1-1 - 31 . GROSS smacked in a shot to the far corner following a series of passes down the pitch. Assist Mitoma.
2-1 - 52 . HINSHELWOOD opened his account with a header back across the area from a lofted assist by Gross.
YELLOWS: van Hecke, Buonanotte, Gilmour
CHANGES: 69 Milner & Ferguson for Buonanotte & Pedro . 73 Veltman for Hinshelwood
84 Moder & Baker-Boaitey for Baleba & Adingra
FIRST HALF: visitors took an unlikely lead but otherwise did not carry much of a threat.
Hosts soon restored parity.
SECOND HALF: going ahead was fair return from the amount of possession and build up play from back to front.
IN THE END: a routine home victory on balance and plenty of scope to maintain control via this match-day group.
NUMBERS: poss 62%-38%, on target 7-2, off target 11-6, corners 7-3,
fouls 10-8, yellows 3-1, subs 5-4, shape 4231-442 . . . . . gd5 pt25 po8
FS
BROWSING: via Stats page tabs -
all History & Travel, Squad, Archive - players, plus updated Clubs records.
