Match Review: Burnley 1-2 Brighton
There was something very 1980s about Brighton & Hove Albion’s 1-2 win away at Burnley on the final day of the 2019-20 Premier League season.
Obviously, there was the kit. The Albion debuted their new home shirt and for the first time since 1987, it is all blue. The similarities to the kit worn in the 1983 FA Cup Final cannot be missed and while traditionalists were aghast at the lack of the stripes, at WeAreBrighton.com Towers we bloody love it.
Paul Barber can rip us off to the tune of sixty notes immediately – just don’t mention the fact that the last time Brighton wore a blue shirt with white pinstripes, they were relegated from the top flight.
Yves Bissouma then got right into the spirit by scoring an opening goal that Jimmy Case himself would have been proud of.
One of the most iconic images about that 1983 FA Cup run was Case smashing in unstoppable shots from distance. He did it at Liverpool in the fifth round and repeated the trick against Sheffield Wednesday in the semi finals.
Bissouma channelled his inner case at Turf Moor by twatting the ball into the top corner of Nick Pope’s goal from a full 25 yards. Alireza Jahanbakhsh might have some late competition for Goal of the Season.
Aaron Connolly’s winner was nearly as impressive, but for different reasons. Whereas Bissouma’s had the power and distance to make the net bulge, Connolly scored what you might describe as a classic Thierry Henry goal.
The young Irish striker picked up the ball out on the left channel, shrugged off a challenge by Kevin Long and cut inside to beat Pope from a tight angle.
VAR had a look, but that was a bigger waste of technology than when I send a Twitter DM to Taylor Swift asking if she fancies a steak dinner at the Harvester in Haywards Heath.
Nothing was ruling Connolly’s goal out, his first since Brighton beat Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 in October. At times since that heady day when he marked his full Premier League debut with a memorable brace, Connolly has looked a little lost.
That shouldn’t be a surprise, really. He began the season as fifth choice striker behind Neal Maupay, Glenn Murray, Florin Andone and Jurgen Locadia.
Graham Potter’s decision to lend the latter two out after the English transfer window had shut meant that Brighton had no chance to sign replacements, effectively promoting Connolly to third choice.
When Potter then decided he liked Murray less than Meghan Markle does the Royal Family, Connolly became de facto number two. Suddenly, he found himself thrust into the starting line up as a first team regular in a side which at that point in time was struggling in the Premier League.
Little wonder he has struggled with a nagging injury not helping. Connolly’s goal here served as a reminder though of what he can do and he should be a better player for the experiences and challenges of this season.
While there is still an argument that he might benefit from a loan spell in the rough-and-tumble world of the Championship, a lot of that will hinge on what Brighton do in the transfer window.
Sign a mythical striker or two and Connolly might find himself dropping down the pecking order; replace only Murray this summer and Connolly will be needed to lead the line again next season.
Ah yes, next season. Two young players in Bissouma and Connolly scoring goals weren’t the only reasons to get excited by Burnley 1-2 Brighton.
Potter offered a glimpse of what a Brighton team with Ben White in it might look like by reverting to a back three. Lewis Dunk, Adam Webster and Dan Burn played as three central players with Tariq Lamptey and Solly March as wing backs in a 3-4-1-2.
How do you keep White, Dunk, Webster, Burn, Shane Duffy and the somewhat forgotten Matt Clarke – crowned Derby County’s Player of the Season – happy? The answer looks like it might be by playing three central defenders and selling one of those not in use.
That looks increasingly like it will be Duffy. He didn’t travel with the matchday squad for Burnley 1-2 Brighton on account of having had four teeth out and being in too much pain, according to Potter.
A few hours later and Duffy was uploading videos to his Instagram account of people singing, dancing and downing pints of Guinness in a pub.
Had Potter made up the story about Duffy and his teeth? Did Duffy decide to treat his mouth to some medicinal alcohol? Or was he uploading videos from a pub which somebody else had sent him?
To be honest, we don’t really care. It was one of the most Shane Duffy things Shane Duffy has done and that is why we love him. If he does depart the Albion this summer as seems likely, he will go with everyone’s blessings.
A wonderful servant, an excellent player who would run through a brick wall for the club, a great bloke and a constant source of entertainment.
We will all have to make double the effort to visit Molly Malone’s and the Grosvenor Casino to keep those local businesses going should they lose the money which Mr Duffy pumps in on a regular basis.
It would have been nice to give Duffy a proper goodbye with a rare start – and Murray for that matter, who was afforded a few seconds of second half injury time – and Turf Moor would have provided Duffy with the perfect place to do that.
Brighton had to dig deep to earn their 1-2 win over Burnley late on as the Clarets flooded forward to try and force an equaliser. They thought they had one when Jay Rodriguez netted but VAR ruled it out – one for Gaetan Bong.
Sean Dyche’s side may have been injury hit, but they could still call upon the strike power of Rodriguez, Chris Wood, Dwight McNeil and then Matej Vydra – it was the sort of battle that Duffy would have relished.
The Burnley goal that was allowed to stand came right on the stroke of half time from Wood, scoring as he always seems to do against the Albion. The former Brighton forward took advantage of a rare slip from Dunk, who was otherwise outstanding.
Dunk may well have been another making his farewell Brighton appearance. He turns 29 in November, so this transfer window looks like his last chance to secure a big money move to a club who can offer him the chance to win trophies and further his England career. Dunk is another player who would leave with every Albion fan wishing him well for the future.
It wasn’t all goodbyes though at Turf Moor. Adam Lallana looks set to be announced as a Brighton player at some point in the coming days, the signing of a Champions League and Premier League winner a real statement of intent over where Brighton want to go next season.
Potter’s 3-4-1-2 formation in the 1-2 victory at Burnley featured a number 10, a curious development given that this season he has rarely used a single player in the hole for Brighton. When he has wanted to deploy a 10, he has tended to play Pascal Gross and Aaron Mooy in tandem in a 4-2-2-2.
Imagine a fit-and-firing Lallana in that role, feeding Maupay and either Connolly or another striker. Yves Bissouma playing as well as he has post-lockdown in central midfield, Tariq Lamptey rampaging up and down the right flank and White, Webster and Dunk or Clarke providing a back three even more robust than the current defence, which has conceded less goals this year than Chris Hughton’s negative side did last season. That isn’t a bad team at all.
2019-20 has been a good year for Brighton. A record Premier League points haul of 41, a 15th place finish and all achieved in a transformative campaign in which Potter has blooded younger players and attempted to overhaul playing style and culture.
Those changes do not happen overnight and while there have been occasional moments of worry – New Year’s Day to mid-February was particularly grim – Potter seems to have used lockdown to his advantage to assess what worked in the first 29 games of the season, what didn’t and adjust his approach accordingly.
The result has been a tweak in playing style – Brighton have had less possession since March but they have done more with it. Potter deserves a lot of credit as many managers are too stubborn to change their approach, which is where trouble comes from.
We saw that with Hughton last season, who doggedly stuck with his new 4-3-3 for four months when even Stevie Wonder could see it wasn’t working. That ultimately cost Hughton his job.
Not so Potter. His willingness to change has seen the Albion finish seven points clear of relegation. Who would have predicted that when Crystal Palace were winning 1-0 at the Amex and Brighton were on a run of two wins in 19 games?
Potter’s Brighton are a very different team now to the side who started the campaign last August with that astonishing 3-0 win at Watford. Who knows how they will evolve over the 2020-21 season?
It’s an exciting time to be an Albion fan. Roll on September for the boys in the old Brighton blue.
