Brighton 0-0 Wolves: Wingless Albion find no way through

Moments of quality were very thin on the ground during Brighton 0-0 Wolves. Come full time, there were two ways you could choose to view the preceding 90 minutes.

I had a lot of time for the bloke in the West Upper who bellowed at the final whistle “I took a night off work to watch that shit.” Concise, to-the-point analysis which pulled no punches.

And if we are honest, the football did not warrant a night off work. Nor did it warrant sitting in the freezing cold when EastEnders or a humdinger of a Championship promotion clash between Leicester City and Ipswich Town were on the other channels.

It certainly did not warrant spending £4.40 on a 330ml can of non-alcoholic Heineken. Dry January keeps rolling, but we might just have discovered an even bigger Amex Stadium rip off than the infamous £3.20 bag of Starburst or £5.50 scotch egg.

Yet in spite of all that, was Brighton 0-0 Wolves a decent result for the Albion? The Seagulls might have been coming off the back of a much-needed 16 days rest, but Roberto De Zerbi was still without the players most important to his way of playing football – wingers.

Since Kaoru Mitoma, Simon Adingra, Solly March and Ansu Fati were all ruled out at the same time, Brighton have played three Premier League fixtures. They have failed to score in two of them.

We hailed De Zerbi’s Wingless Wonders for the way they went about beating Spurs 4-2 at the Amex in the first game without any of that fearsome foursome.

With the benefit of hindsight, that result now looks more down to ‘Angeball’ and the suicidal high line Tottenham deployed than anything else.

Joao Pedro was frequently able to gleefully gallop into acres of space that night as the Albion ran riot. Spurs seemed to view defending as an optional extra rather than a necessity.

In contrast, both West Ham United and Wolves have now sat deep and invited Brighton to break them down. The Albion enjoyed plenty of possession against Irons and Old Gold, but have been unable to find a convincing way through without the pace, width and directness offered by their wingers.

The good news is that Mitoma and Fati are due back from injury next month. Just before Brighton 0-0 Wolves, Adingra came off the bench for Ivory Coast in their 4-0 AFCON defeat to Equatorial Guinea.

Ivory Coast are now on the verge of elimination from their host tournament unless they manage to scrape through as one of the best third-placed sides based on results elsewhere.

Adingra could therefore be back with the Albion in time for Luton Town away next week or more likely, the visit of Crystal Palace to the Amex on Saturday 3rd February.

Another reason to be positive from Brighton 0-0 Wolves comes in the Albion recording a second consecutive clean sheet. Having gone 25 games without a Premier League shutout before the 0-0 draw with West Ham, like the proverbial London Bus, the Seagulls now have two in as many matches.

If Brighton can maintain their newfound penchant for clean sheets at the same time as the return of Mitoma, Adingra and Fati brings about a resumption of the free-scoring form seen before they were all ruled out, the second half of the season could yet turn out to be very special.

Wolves too deserve credit for the way they played at the Amex. Gary O’Neil has done an outstanding job having only taken over on the eve of the season when former Spain and Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui quit because of a lack of signings.

The Old Gold were a million miles away from the side Brighton had beaten 4-1 at Molineux back in August. They were compact, defended well and played some good stuff on the counter. Jason Steele was made to work harder than his Wolves counterpart Jose Sa.

It is rare Albion fans find themselves disagreeing with De Zerbi, but most Seagulls supporters felt his comments that Brighton deserved to win were wide of the mark. The visitors certainly came much closer to victory than Brighton.

Bizarrely given the boredom which had set in by full time, the game went off at breakneck speed. “This could finish 4-4” was a genuine comment heard from more than one corner of the stadium as a brief period of free flowing football and plenty of sights of goal lured supporters into a false sense of optimism.

Within 10 seconds of kick off, Wolves had their first shot of the evening when Pablo Sarabia found himself in the Albion box for a low shot lacking too much power to bother Steele.

Joao Pedro saw a shot blocked, Jack Hinshelwood’s cross could not be converted by either Lewis Dunk or Jan Paul van Hecke before Brighton’s best chance of the 90 came with 12 on the clock.

Danny Welbeck flicked on a Pervis Estupinan corner to the unmarked Facundo Buonanotte at the far post. The ball was a couple of inches off the ground; all Buonanotte needed to do was swing a leg at it to score from four yards out.

Instead, he threw himself to the floor in an attempt to produce a diving header. It was a comical piece of decision making which allowed Tommy Doyle to clear off the line.

Comedy would end up dominating good football once the blistering opening 20 minutes was over. Following Buonanotte’s squandered opportunity, Pedro Neto shot inches wide with Steele beaten and Sa tipped over a Van Hecke header.

A Wolves player twatting a corner straight out for a goal kick without getting remotely close to even reaching the neat post marked the end of the good stuff.

Pedro then went onto run the ball straight out for a goal kick when in a promising position. Into the second half and the Brazilian striker had a clearance smashed into his face, causing him to take a ridiculous slow-motion tumble to the ground before the assistant referee rubbed salt into the wounds and flagged him offside.

Next it was Dunk’s turn to provide some laughs/groans. Steele came and claimed a high ball, inadvertently clocking his captain on the back of the head.

Minutes later and a still-dazed Dunk did very much not want to be receiving possession in a passing triangle. He subsequently smashed the ball straight into the West Upper.

When Pascal Gross tackled his own teammate and then stubbed his toe kicking the pitch when attempting a shot with added time looming, you just sensed it was going to be one of those nights.

If even Gross and Dunk – two of the most reliable and consistent Albion players – were not immune to these strange moments, what hope the rest?

Recognising Brighton needed more width and pace, De Zerbi introduced the returning Tariq Lamptey on the right midway through the second half. The Albion then opted to launch every attack via James Milner down the left.

In amongst the comedy and ridiculousness, both sides had chances in the final 15 minutes. Steele made an excellent save from Neto and then charged 30 yards from his goal after the same played skinned Dunk.

The Amex held its breath as Neto went around Steele. The Brighton goalkeeper though had done enough to force Neto a long way wide, meaning the danger passed.

As for the Albion, the Amex crowd had grown frustrated at the team not taking on early shots long before the ball fell to Pedro 12 yards out, front and centre of the goal.

Instead of pulling the trigger, Pedro opted to do an impression of Michael Flatley and produced 16 stepovers whilst going nowhere. He eventually fell over and Wolves cleared the danger.

Which pretty well summed it up. Brighton could have been out there until midnight and still not scored. The Albion have been good for late goals under De Zerbi which always makes leaving early a risk; the fact the stadium was half-empty long before the full time whistle on this occasion told its own story.

The sooner Brighton get their wingers back, the better.