Brighton against Manchester City could have gone a couple of ways. The Albion might have surprised us with another one of their amazing results or left us admiring their effort in a gallant defeat.
It was more of the latter than the former by the end. A 4-0 defeat for a heavily depleted Brighton side against the triple Premier League champions hoping to make history with a fourth successive title was no real surprise.
Take a step back, dissect where we are and what has been achieved over the past few years and it is quite incredible. We are not doing badly if you really think about it.
This may not be the Seagulls’ Best Ever Season on the pitch but it is in the financial sector. Brighton have shown the rest of the Premier League how to run a football club. We have Mr Paul Barber OBE and our chairman Mr Tony Bloom to thank for that.
My old mum used to say that all good things come to those who are patient. We cannot expect constant success and everything to happen at once. Brighton fans need to be patient and take the rough with the smooth.
The Albion are known for their forward planning and so you can be sure that there is a plan already formulated to help improve results.
Roberto De Zerbi made several changes to the starting XI again for the City game. My own personal worry was seeing Jason Steele back in goal.
I think he takes too many risks at the back. There is a time and a place for passing out and playing with fire. That is not when you have the three-time champions of England 12 yards away. It made me cringe.
Steele looked at times like he was going to topple over as the likes of Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne closed.
It was from Steele playing this way that Phil Foden was gifted his second goal. We were lucky no more were conceded because of it.
What this highlighted was that Brighton have no Plan B. They tried to take on City at their own game when a more pragmatic approach might have resulted in greater resilience. It is something De Zerbi needs to work on.
The Albion still managed to create some good chances on the night. Unfortunately, none of them came off. This was a great shame as I felt Brighton deserved to score.
It would also have prevented the embarrassing situation of Burnley goalkeeper Arijanet Muric winning Brighton’s April Goal of the Month on account of the Albion not managing to score themselves.
Referee Jarred Gillett is partly to blame for that. He denied Brighton two penalties, which VAR did not feel the need to get involved with either.
What is the point in having VAR if it is not going to intervene in situations like that?
As for the final few games, let us get them out of the way and then regroup ahead of attempting to bring European football back to the Amex for the 2025-26 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.
