Brighton lost 2-0 to Everton at Goodison Park this afternoon. An own goal from Gaetan Bong and a Cenk Tosun goal sealed the win, it could have been three if Matthew Ryan hadn’t saved Wayne Rooney’s penalty. Below are the lessons that can be learned from the loss.
Stupid from Knockaert:
Winger Anthony Knockaert lost his head in the defeat. He made a two-footed lunge on Everton full-back Leighton Baines with his studs up when there was no need to. He was annoyed about something and completely lost his head. He let down his teammates and will now have to miss the next three games due to this which will not help Brighton at all.
Stephens a big miss:
Dale Stephens was left out of the matchday squad with a slight injury he picked up meaning he missed his first game this season. He turned out to be a big miss. Beram Kayal came in for him but he and fellow midfielder Davy Propper struggled to patrol the midfield without Stephens in there. Hopefully, he will be fit for Brighton’s next game and give them a huge boost.
Fullbacks had a poor game:
Brighton full backs did not have the greatest afternoon. Bong struggled to deal with Theo Walcott during the game and this ended up causing him to knee in an own goal due to the sheer pressure from Walcott. Ezequiel Schelotto also had a poor game. Like Bong, he struggled to keep to deal with the winger on his side Yannick Bolaise and as a result, ended up having a tough afternoon.
A lack of end product for Brighton:
Brighton had a number of chances throughout the game with them having five or six shots on target plus another three or four off target. Unfortunately, for The Seagulls, they had a lack of an end product with them either putting their effort straight at Jordan Pickford or not troubling him at all. A lot of the chance came when Brighton had ten men.
Locadia and Ulloa made a difference:
The bright spark for Brighton was when both Locadia and Ulloa came onto the pitch when The Albion were down to ten men. Locadia almost scored when he came on the pitch but it was blocked. Both him an Ulloa added a spark and a calmness on the ball which made The Seagulls look a lot more threatening and they looked more likely to score when they were on the pitch.
One thing is for sure, Brighton will be looking to improve on this performance when they go away to Old Trafford in the FA Cup quarter-finals next weekend and will be hoping to make it through to the semi-finals and have a trip to Wembley.
