Brighton 1-3 West Ham: Irons burst the Albion’s bubble
Sometimes, a wake up call is a good thing. Brighton 1-3 West Ham United was certainly that as the Albion reminded the watching world that they are far from the finished article in their toughest game of what has so far been a gentle start to the campaign.
Brighton came into the match top of the Premier League table with two wins from two. Those successes came against a Luton Town outfit who some are predicting will secure even less points than Derby County in 2007-08 and Wolves, who look equally troubled on account of a managerial change a whole four days before the campaign started.
Everyone had become a little too giddy over two victories from two matches, the likes of which you would be seriously concerned about if the Albion had not won.
One podcast even went so far as to hail Brighton as being potential Premier League title winners come the end of the season.
As much as we all love the Albion and as good as they have been in the 11 month reign of Roberto De Zerbi, I would love to know what the chaps on that particular show have been smoking. And more importantly, where I can get some.
West Ham have subsequently displaced Brighton to take over top spot, as their fans delighted in singing between predictably tedious bouts of homophobia.
It all seems a far cry from last season, when the Hammers finished 14th and many supporters were calling for David Moyes to be sacked… until he delivered the Europa Conference title.
That night in Prague and a first piece of major silverware for over 40 years has done wonders for West Ham. Seriously buoyed by it, they will surely not struggle as much in the league this time around, even having sold Declan Rice for £105 million.
Moyes spoke in the build up to Brighton 1-3 West Ham about the unique challenges an opposition side faces when going up against DeZerbiBall.
The West Ham boss had clearly done his homework. He came up with an effective game plan which ultimately blunted the Albion going forward and relied on ruthless counter attacking football to cause damage at the other end.
James Ward-Prowse spoke about it afterwards. The England international midfielder told Match of the Day: “A lot of effort went in to the game plan, you have to respect Brighton.”
“We denied Brighton space and were compact and clinical. We had the composure to make the most of our chances when we had them – we executed our game plan perfectly.”
When DeZerbiBall works, it works brilliantly. When it does not work however, it tends to go badly wrong. There is no middle ground.
Brighton either swim spectacularly – like when beating Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea last season – or sink excruciatingly. See Brighton 1-5 Everton for Exhibit A
The West Ham game unfortunately joins that sticky 90 minutes against the Toffees in the latter category. Albion fans have been quick to criticise referee Anthony Taylor, but he was not the reason Adam Webster looked like he had never played a game of professional football in his life.
Nor was Taylor to blame for the fact that Brighton turned 79 percent possession into only one goal. Taylor did not select Bart Verbruggen for his Premier League debut either.
Although there was little the young Dutch goalkeeper could do about any of the goals, you never normally see a manager rotate the gloves in the bread and butter of league football, especially with Jason Steele playing so well and Brighton having won two games from two.
De Zerbi said in pre-season he would be switching between Verbruggen and Steele regularly this season beyond having one designated as a league goalkeeper and the other playing in cups, as is the norm.
The jury is very much out on how wise that is, even though De Zerbi has more than enough credit in the bank to do whatever he wants having delivered the best football and the greatest season we have ever had as Brighton fans last time out.
Billy Gilmour had the first real chance of the game when drilling an effort just wide minutes before West Ham took the lead via some rather interesting work from Webster.
Firstly, he passed the ball straight to Tomas Soucek. When Soucek then chipped a pass up the line, Webster was first to it. His attempted back pass to Verbruggen instead became a lovely through ball for Michail Antonio, who subsequently squared to Ward-Prowse to finish.
By the 30 minute mark, Brighton have completed 220 passes. West Ham just 13. None of that translated into something tangible like a goal, with the Albion only going close on two occasions after falling behind.
Evan Ferguson drew a save from Alphonse Areola and Gilmour had another drive at goal, this time blocked by the flying body of Ward-Prowse. He looks like a very shrewd addition for West Ham.
The Albion were doing enough with the ball for there to be considerable hope at half time they would find a way back into the game.
Indeed, the biggest concern at the interval surrounded what was going on in the West Upper concourse. What is the point of the new Moretti and pizza bar if it shuts at half time?
And why has it now been decided to keep the red wine on top of the pie cabinets, rendering it boiling hot? Whilst wine lovers all rejoice that the ghastly A Day at the Vineyards has finally gone, nobody wants what is effectively a mulled wine without any of the spices involved in mulling.
The disgusting wine and a quick call to the bank regarding a loan to free up some capital to afford the extortionate price of a sausage roll were made insignificant when West Ham scored twice in five minutes either side of the hour mark to take total control of the game.
Ferguson had been denied a header by a fine save from Areola within a minute of the restart after Kaoru Mitoma hung up a cross to the back post.
Had that gone in, it might have been a different second half. Instead, Antonio fed Said Benrahma with a pass which took advantage of some pretty questionable positioning from Webster.
Benrahma had been introduced as a 39th minute substitute after Soucek got two fist punched in the face by Verbruggen.
Bizarrely, the North Stand booed Soucek as he headed off on account of him “making a meal out of it” according to one bloke on Twitter. Such a meal that he had to be instantly substituted.
Soucek having concussion worked out pretty well for West Ham, as Benrahma crossed to the unmarked Jarrod Bowen at the back post.
Bowen took a lovely first touch, followed by a deft finish with the outside of the boot past Verbruggen. It was the sort of goal you expect from a man whose father-in-law is Danny Dyer.
It was Bowen’s turn to be the provider for the third goal. He hit a forward ball from the right flank which found Antonio in way too much space.
No prizes for guessing Webster was meant to be marking the Jamaican forward. When Webster did eventually get close to Antonio, he ended up being turned inside out. Antonio made the space required and drilled a powerful shot across Verbruggen and into the bottom corner.
Pascal Gross looked the most likely player to get the Albion back in the game. Areola had to make a sprawling save from Der Kaiser before it became Brighton 1-3 West Ham with 10 minutes remaining.
Gross collected a Solly March pass, bamboozled Benrahma with some nifty footwork and picked out the bottom corner. In doing so, Gross overtook Glenn Murray and Neal Maupay to become the Albion’s leading Premier League goal scorer on 27.
11 more will see him pass Michael Robinson to become the player with the most top flight goals in Brighton history. Nobody deserves that record more than Gross for everything he has done in establishing Brighton in the Premier League.
There were further chances to add to Gross’ goal. Brighton might have had a penalty when a Pervis Estupinan cross was blocked by the sliding hand of Vladimir Coufal.
In the real world, it was never a spot kick. But in the world of VAR, it was almost identical to the penalty Luton Town were awarded at the Amex two weeks earlier for handball against Lewis Dunk. Where is the consistency?
Still Areola had to stand tall to turn a Ferguson shot over the bar and keep out a Joel Veltman effort. As the game entered injury time, you just knew it was one of those days.
After 12 winless matches against the Albion in the Premier League, West Ham had finally ended their Brighton hoodoo and burst the Seagulls’ bubble.
A disappointing afternoon for the Albion, but if Brighton 1-3 West Ham brings everyone back down to earth and focusses minds on what is needed in the transfer window before it slams shut this week, then perhaps that is no bad thing.
