Brighton 0-0 Forest: Dunk and Caicedo topping ratings says it all
It says everything about Brighton 0-0 Nottingham Forest that topping the WAB Player Ratings for a game against the side bottom of the Premier League table were a defender and a holding midfielder.
Lewis Dunk and Moises Caicedo took the honours, reflecting the fact that the Albion became more toothless the further forward you went.
To hammer home that point, the lowest rating of the night was awarded to Danny Welbeck with Pascal Gross not far behind.
Brighton had 19 shots against Forest and yet could find no way through. That made it a grand total of 54 efforts across the Spurs, Brentford and Forest matches without scoring.
The rest of the Premier League is realising (again) that if you sit deep and defend when facing the Albion, you have a really good chance of getting a result.
Even if you are as bad a team as the Tricky Trees. Here are your Brighton 0-0 Forest ratings
Robert Sanchez – 6.25
The easiest clean sheet he will keep this season. Forest managed a grand total of zero shots on target.
Joel Veltman – 6.67
Solid defensively after having a bit of a nightmare away at Brentford. His most telling contributions came at the other end. He should have at least hit the target when firing over the bar from six yards out before producing a really good cross for a Welbeck chance.
LEWIS DUNK – 6.83
Bit of a surprise to see him joint-top of the Brighton 0-0 Forest ratings as he didn’t actually have much to do. Perhaps Albion fans are scoring Dunk so highly in a late attempt to convince Gareth Southgate to include the Seagulls captain in England’s provisional 55 man squad for the World Cup?
Adam Webster – 6.08
Like Veltman, he put a good opportunity over the bar. Looked more assured than in recent weeks, largely helped by Forest being non-existent as an attacking threat.
Solly March – 6.17
Roberto De Zerbi’s decision to play a bloke who has not scored a Premier League goal since November 2020 up front for the final 30 minutes raised a few eyebrows – especially as March had done a lot of good work at right wing back during the first half.
MOISES CAICEDO – 6.83
Strong in midfield and played an important role in some of the delightful one-touch, fast passing moves Brighton put together on the edge of the Forest box.
Alexis Mac Allister – 6.75
The Argentinian midfielder was the instigator of most of those aforementioned passing triangles. Brighton could have done with him being a bit more present in the final third as a potential route to goals.
Leandro Trossard – 6.50
Went missing after the break. His first half was good though and he was unlucky to hit the bar. Saw another shot denied by a smart Dean Henderson save and put in some teasing crosses.
Adam Lallana – 6.17
De Zerbi took the unusual step of confirming 24 hours before kick off that Lallana would start. Displayed some nice touches during build up play. It was probably no coincidence that the Albion looked less threatening once he was withdrawn.
Pascal Gross – 5.67
Der Kaiser has so far been the player most impacted by Graham Potter’s departure. Responsible for two poor efforts which he would have buried if he were in the flying form of May and August when he claimed back-to-back WAB Player of the Month awards.
Danny Welbeck – 4.67
All the while Brighton were scoring, Welbeck could get away with not finding the net himself. Now the goals have dried up and his good work in linking play and brining others in is starting to be overshadowed by the fact we are three months into the season and he is still yet to notch. Which is a shame.
Tariq Lamptey – 6.17
Lamptey’s introduction brought pace and directness as a new approach to try and find a way through. Made it to the by-line a couple of times to play in dangerous balls which nobody was able to do much with.
The WAB Player Ratings are formulated using marks out of 10 given by Brighton fans via Twitter. To have your scores included, follow We Are Brighton on Twitter and look out for the player rating thread after each game.
