Clean sheet and plenty of positives from Albion draw at West Ham
I am a very positive person who is always optimistic. After some of the doom and gloom which followed Brighton drawing 0-0 at West Ham, from now on I am going to call myself The Albion Spin Doctor.
A number of Seagulls fans seemed to think the result at the London Stadium was not a good one. But I believe it was, bearing in mind what has happened over the last few months.
There was a first Premier League clean sheet of the season. Conceding goals in every game has been something of a concern, so to finally record a long awaited zero in the against column was tremendous.
And to think it was achieved without Lewis Dunk, Igor Julio, Joel Veltman and Tariq Lamptey to name just a few of the absent players who could play in defence.
All the injuries Brighton have is another reason to be pleased with a point away from home against a side who are above us in the Premier League table.
Roberto De Zerbi continues to work miracles, finding new ways for the Albion to play to overcome the circumstances.
Yes, it could have been a more positive result if one of those second half chances had gone in. And yes, victory could have lifted Brighton above the Hammers into sixth spot in the table.
But just because Brighton could have won, it does not mean a draw is a bad outcome. Far from it, in the context of the season.
The Albion sit seventh in the Premier League on 31 points. We are of course through to the last 16 of the Europa League and there is all to play for in the FA Cup, starting with the trip to Stoke City in the third round this weekend.
As the The Albion Spin Doctor, I see this as an amazing position to be in at the start of 2024. The next five months of football is set to be very exciting, with Brighton only going to get stronger once all the injured players start returning over the coming four to eight weeks.
Throw in the January transfer window and the Albion can continue to fight on three fronts. Just don’t expect Tony Bloom to show his hand too soon; he is after all one of the world’s best poker players!
I watched the action from the London Stadium on Sky Sports at the same time as listening intently through an earpiece to the BBC Radio Sussex commentary of our ever-faithful presenters Johnny Cantor and Warren Aspinall.
This way, I can celebrate any Brighton goals twice as the radio delay is about 60 seconds behind the television.
As we all know, there were no goals to celebrate. But there was a Brighton player to celebrate. James Milner made his 632nd Premier League appearance, going joint-second in the all-time list alongside Ryan Giggs.
We are so lucky to have Milner, Adam Lallana and Danny Welbeck amongst our senior professionals, passing on their years of experience at club and international level to all the young talent at the Albion.
Less experienced was referee Samuel Barrott, who only took charge of his first Premier League game in October. Mr Barrott gave probably as good a performance as we have seen this season from a referee, meaning us Brighton fans were not bemoaning the officials for once.
The game itself proved to be one of cat and mouse. Despite West Ham being the home team, David Moyes set out to play the same way as he had when winning 3-1 at the Amex back in August.
Another reason to put on The Albion Spin Doctor hat again – Brighton have learnt lessons since that day and were not lured into the same trap as before which the Hammers brutally punished on three separate occasions.
The early opportunities went the way of West Ham. Jason Steele was forced into a couple of good saves, one of which was eventually given as offside.
Facundo Buonanotte continued his run of lively games, with a great first half run being halted by a foul in a dangerous position after he had carried the ball 60 yards up the pitch.
The resulting free kick gave the Albion an opportunity which was not converted, much to the visible frustration of De Zerbi as shown on TV.
Pascal Gross had a great opportunity with a header he could only put straight at Alphonse Areola as the first half ended goalless; the biggest positive being that Brighton had not made any of the sort of defensive errors which have cropped up frequently in games this season.
Things livened up in the second half with the Albion the better team. Steele had very little to do on his way to that treasured clean sheet when he might have otherwise expected to be busy – especially with James Ward-Prowse now a Hammer. Brighton know as well as anyone the danger he poses from corners and set pieces.
Most of us also probably know about the London Wall within the city. Brighton were being met by a Claret and Blue Wall in the East End as the hosts dropped deeper and deeper towards the end with 11 players behind the ball at times.
Breaking down such a determined defence proved difficult. But still, the Albion had a lot of opportunities to win the game.
Danny Welbeck let rip a shot saved by Areola with the rebound hit off target by James Milner. One of those great runs from Joao Pedro seemed to be building to a really good finish but once again the final shot was too close to Areola.
A rare West Ham attack saw Tomas Soucek miss from close range, followed by the introduction of Evan Ferguson. He was soon into the game with a close shave as the ball rolled just past the right hand post.
Jakob Moder produced a great cross which was just a fraction out of reach of the blue and white shirts arriving in the box as yet another chance goes by.
Moder missed an opportunity himself next, firing too high to send De Zerbi to his knees in frustration. It was a tough ball for Moder to control, but imagine if he had – it would have been a magical way to announce his comeback from that ACL injury of April 2022.
Still, Moder is looking better and stronger with each appearance. It will come for him and we will see him shine in the weeks to come, almost like having a brand new signing.
The final chance for Brighton to break the deadlock fell to Lallana, who created the opportunity himself. Again though, Areola saved the day with another fine stop.
Come the final whistle, the stats showed the Albion had 22 shots of which eight were on target. West Ham had only six shots, two on target. The possession count read Brighton 69 percent and West Ham 31 percent.
If Brighton keep playing as well as they did in the second half against the Hammers, then The Albion Spin Doctor predicts there is much to look forward to over the rest of the season.
Tony Noble @Noble1844Tony
Seagulls Best Ever Season Volume 2 charts Brighton’s record breaking 2022-23 campaign through the eyes of Tony Noble, an East Stand Upper season ticket holder at the American Express Stadium. It is available from Waterstones, WHSmith, Amazon Bookstore and all good bookshops as well as the Albion Superstore at the Amex and via this link.
