Post Match report for the Tottenham game - Thursday, 28th December 2023

PREMIER LEAGUE 23/24: Brighton V Spurs - 28/12/23 P19


* * * * * LATE GIVEAWAYS AFTER BOXING DAY * * * * *


RESULT: 4-2 ~ Hinshelwood, Pedro 2, Estupinan . (h-t 2-0)


VENUE: the Amex, Falmer - tenth home match of 19 fixtures to date . Thur 7:30pm.
BEFORE KICKOFF: it was 2 days after Boxing Day and traditionally we often play metropolitan Xmas opposition.
Bizarrely Albion had already hosted a club from the capital this festive month and will have visited a fourth London outfit after end of the calendar, just into New Year
Following a very busy December schedule we would be halfway thru the campaign on the final whistle.
WEATHER: damp . GATE: tba . ATMOSPHERE: nervy end to 2023.

ROBERTO de ZERBI liked Christmas, although our Victorian traditions did not always translate directly into best practice.
RdZ opened his mind to likely challenges and decided against new-age radicalism.

INJURED: 2 Lamptey 4 Webster 7 March 10 Enciso 22 Mitoma 24 Adingra 31 Fati 34 Veltman
SQUAD: 38 McGill 43 Samuels
STARTING SHAPE: 4-3-1-2


TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Steele
. 41 Hinshelwood 29 van Hecke 5 Dunk 3 Julio
. . . . . . . 13 Gross 11 Gilmour 6 Milner
. . . 40 Buonanotte . . . 18 Welbeck . . . 9 Pedro

SUBS: 30 Estupinan (45), 20 Baleba (59), 28 Ferguson (69), 15 Moder (69), 14 Lallana (93)
BENCH: 1 Verbruggen (gk) 8 Dahoud 47 Baker-Boaitey 53 Barringhton


GOALS:
1-0 - 11 . HINSHELWOOD arrives in the area via the right channel and strikes a pass from Pedro high into the net.
2-0 - 23 . PEDRO slots home a spot kick following VAR advice to Ref concerning a foul on Welbeck in the box.
3-0 - 63 . ESTUPINAN drives a shot from outside the box, with assist by Milner following a corner routine.
4-0 - 75 . PEDRO converts a second penalty after Ferguson is fouled.
4-1 - 81 . visitors pull one back as hosts are too slack at the back.
4-2 - 85 . visitors score again quickly when locals are again unpredictable in defence.


YELLOWS: 43 Buonanotte, 70 Moder, 81 Dunk (ban!)

INCIDENTS: 3 Steele takes, 5 Welbeck pop, 6 Buona try, 6 Welbeck try, 8 visitors effort, 17 Pedro effort, 20 van Hecke header, 20 Dunk dig, 27 visitors try, 32 Milner drive, 33 visitors try, 36 Buona o/s, 39 visitors try, 45 Pedro chance, 45+ visitors three times wide,
49 Dunk header, 53 visitors miss, 56 visitors try, 58 Dunk miss, 71 visitors try, 90 visitors miss, 90+ visitors woodwork, 90+ visitors multi tries.

CHANGES: 45 Estupinan for Julio . 59 Baleba for Buonanotte
69 Ferguson & Moder for Welbeck & Milner . 93 Lallana for Pedro


FIRST HALF: hosts scored twice within half an hour and were good for more but twice hit the woodwork.
Seagulls overall display was comprehensive enough and also managed to keep a forty-five minute clean sheet.
SECOND HALF: blue & white cruised into a four goal lead three quarters of the way thru.
But the away outfit took advantage of hosts weak replacements and began to control latter phases.

IN THE END: lack of experience and depth in the squad was shown to ill effect during closing stages.

NUMBERS: poss 46%-54%, on target 9-3, off target 6-13, corners 7-6,
fouls 18-6, yellows 3-2, subs 5-3, shape 4312-4231 . . . . . gd5 pt30 po8

FS


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