Post Match report for the Man City game - Thursday, 25th April 2024
PREMIER LEAGUE 23/24: Brighton V Manchester City - 25/4/24 P33
* * * * * HARSH REALITY BY COMEDY OF ERRORS * * * * *
RESULT: 0-4 . (h-t 0-3)
VENUE: the Amex, Falmer - sixteenth home match of 33 fixtures to date . Thur 8:00pm.
BEFORE KICKOFF: on a cold late April evening Brighton fans arrived for a hosting of north-western serially successful multi-competition winners.
Much earlier in this tough campaign we had seen our own heroes slip from a pedestal bathed in southern sunshine, as realisms of the moment were revealed under shadow-less floodlight.
WEATHER: rain . GATE: 31,596 . ATMOSPHERE: away stand singsong.
ROBERTO de ZERBI based his mantra on scoring goals rather than not conceding, so today would be another huge test of arguments for and against.
RdZ gave his fixture-free squad some time off recently for required rest & recuperation.
Meanwhile he consulted player lists of goals scored and thus selected a supposed optimum match-day group.
INJURED: 2 Lamptey 6 Milner 7 March 11 Gilmour 22 Mitoma 28 Ferguson 30 Estupinan 41 Hinshelwood
SQUAD: 38 McGill (gk)
STARTING SHAPE: 4-3-2-1
TEAM . . . . . . . . . 23 Steele
. 34 Veltman 29 van Hecke 5 Dunk 19 Barco
. 20 Baleba 14 Lallana 15 Moder 13 Gross
. . . . . . . . 18 Welbeck . . . . 9 Pedro
SUBS: 24 Adingra (45), 42 Offiah (45), 3 Julio (56), 55 OMahony (75)
BENCH: 1 Verbruggen (gk) 4 Webster 10 Enciso 31 Fati 40 Buonanotte
GOALS:
0-1 - 17 . visitors first came via a low header from an unmarked attacker that rose to tuck in under the bar.
0-2 - 26 . a f-k on the D got deflected & dispatched after Dunk had spent quite some time setting up the wall.
0-3 - 34 . atrocious attempts to play out from the back was punished by the ball rolled home with total ease.
0-4 - 62 . more ludicrous defending as Cityzens tapped in for another very easy score.
YELLOWS: Veltman . Baleba
CHANGES: 45 Adingra & Offiah for Lallana & Veltman
56 Julio for Moder . 75 OMahony for Welbeck
FIRST HALF: three down at the break and the game was up for locals, who could not lay a glove on visitors.
SECOND HALF: damage limitation was needed as hosts toiled to play any attacking football while City ran riot.
IN THE END: the score-line suggests it was men versus boys, although in truth travellers bossed every aspect of play.
NUMBERS: poss 35%-65%, on target 3-6, off target 4-8, corners 4-4,
fouls 10-3, yellows 2-0, subs 4-5, shape 442-4141 . . . . . gd-2 pt44 po11
FS
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