Post Match report for the Wolves game - Sunday, 8th December 2019

PREMIER LEAGUE: Brighton v Wolves - 8/12/19, P16.

ALBION CAUGHT NAPPING BY HUNGRY WOLVES


VENUE: the Amex, Falmer - eighth home match of sixteen fixtures to date.
RESULT: 2-2 ~ Maupay, Propper . (h-t 2-2) . SHAPE: 4-3-2-1
REF: another big name official and achieved a fair level of respect on a combative occasion.

PRE-KICKOFF: teatime ko on Sunday was something Brighton fans had gotten used to these days for their ongoing Prem fix, whether experienced live or from various media broadcasts.
Seagulls shop was full, concourses thronged and buzz around the community stadium took on an upbeat seasonal feel.
December is a busy month all round and at end of it, proof of the proverbial pudding would be in the very digestion.
GATE: 30,189 . WEATHER: cold & breezy winter evening.


GRAHAM POTTER has expounded modern theories of Prem life relativity, so now these were directly going to be put to further test. The club identity and what is fashionably described as personality would be on show immediately.
His preferred first eleven was fielded, which sets a trend similarly completing remaining fixtures up to the halfway stage.
Connolly was left out due to a slight tug. Jahanbakhsh joined other substitutes.

TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. 46 Alzate, 15 Webster, 5 Dunk, 33 Burn
. . . . 24 Propper, 6 Stephens, 18 Mooy
. . . . . 13 Gross, 7 Maupay, 11 Trossard

BENCH: 27 Button, 22 Montoya, 30 Bernardo, 4 Duffy, 8 Bissouma, 16 Jahanbakhsh (68), 17 Murray (68).


GOALS: 28 - 0-1. Visitors took advantage of blue & white losing the ball and scored with simple no.9 offense.
34 - 1-1. MAUPAY drove in a low punt to catch the keeper inside the post after chasing a long ball from Stephens at the back.
36 - 2-1. PROPPER headed home a Trossard chip following good work by Burn & Mooy out left.
44 - 2-2. Another giveaway in midfield saw locals at sixes & sevens as predators gobbled up their freebie.


INCIDENTS: 61 - a huge scramble in hosts area saw players rolling on the turf. VAR checked for a possible penalty - not given.

YELLOWS: Dunk & Webster took men out for the team. Stephens got his fifth card and misses next match.

SUBS: 68 - Jahanbakhsh for Gross & Murray for Trossard. Albion went closer to 433 with Murray central.
Consequences of these alterations were minimal as required high crosses for the point man failed to materialise.


ANALYSIS: on a basic post-game review list, several boxes had been ticked: win = no, points = 1, position = 12, goals scored = 2, conceded = 2.
Additional stats measured overall display: poss 62%-38%, on target 4-5, off target 9-8.
Secondary considerations on a 1 to 10 scale, from low bad to high good were: team performance = 7, tactics = 7, control/management = 6, discipline = 6, subs impact = 5.
All this amounted to quantifying ninety plus minutes of football which to emotional fans, logical pundits, Sunday afternoon tv audiences or radio listeners and socials users was a Brighton show that often flattered to deceive.
What can be derived from facts & feelings is that football is not an exact science and random moments of cut & thrust can have more influence than overall game plan.
MoM - Mooy, creative and almost unlocked Wolves 541 massed ranks.


HOME FAN: we had home advantage but handed out a couple of early Xmas presents to nullify two great goals scored in open play at pace.

AWAY FAN: this continues our unbeaten run and we keep scoring goals. It does not really matter how we get them.

NEUTRAL VIEW: a lively and entertaining open game where either side could have taken all the points at any instance.

FS