Reflections on the 4-3 'thriller' against Strasbourg

 

Brighton came back from 2-0 to win 3-2. And we hadn't finished there. The match went to extra-time and 3-2 became 4-3. A thriller, right? Well, not really. Pre-season friendlies are never thrillers - they are just opportunities to take a peek at the team and look ahead to the real thing in a few week's time.

Here are my reflections:

1. Starting XI hints at what is to come. 

There were lots of players not involved - injured, rested, having an extended break after the World Cup, but the starting eleven was perhaps, revealing. The only regular from previous seasons who was forced to wait for his chance was Georginio Rutter. At the end of last season, Jack Hinshelwood played in the number 10 position while Georginio became a substitute and rumours that he might return to Leeds emerged. His place on the bench suggests he could still be down the pecking order.

2. Freddie Simmonds and other young players

Young players coming through is always exciting and Freddie Simmonds was given a start at the heart of the defence ahead of Eiran Cashin. Last year Simmonds, went to America for a training camp as part of a process to get him Premier League-ready and perhaps, he will follow in Lewis Dunk's footsteps and become a local lad to take the step into the first team. The problem he has is that we have signed a three new centre-backs this summer and Lewis Dunk and Olivier Boscagli also stand in his way. Charlie Tasker, Malick Yalcouye, Jesse Middleton, Harry Howell and Nehemiah Oriola were all given time too. We're likely to see Harry Howell being given minutes again this season and it will be interesting to see whether Yalcouye might become part of the squad.

3. 4-2-3-1

I had thought that loading up on centre-backs might mean that we were headed for a change of formation: three centre-backs with wing-backs, but we lined up as we usually are and you'd think that if a change was on the way, we'd be trialling it in these friendlies.

4. Kostoulas to fill Welbeck's boots

Clearly, Brighton fans' thoughts are on the centre-forward dilemma. Babis was chosen to lead the line and it excites me that this might be a break-out season for him, but it is also concerning. Hurzeler said after the game that Stefanos Tzimas was approaching fitness also.

5. Wieffer and Gomez on the right

Two central midfielders on the right feels like an issue that needs resolving, but Brian Owen spoke of how they were again impressive. They seem to have the favour of Hurzeler.

6. Gross, still so important

Where are the goals going to come from this season? He might be ageing, but Gross will weigh in with a few and will lay on plenty of chances for others. He scored a penalty and played a clever free-kick across the face of the box for Boscagli's goal.

7. Return of the loans

Brighton always have a raft of players out on loan and it will be the same this time around. Sometimes, these loans have made the transition into the first team. Yassin Ayari has been the most obvious of these in recent years. Amario Cozier-Duberry, Ibrahim Osman and Facundo Buonanotte were all back to stake a claim to being involved this season. Cozier-Duberry seems most likely. It seems that we have turned down bids for him and we were often short of wingers last season, so hopefully, he can make the step up.

8. Where was Carlos Baleba?

There may be a reason I'm not aware of Baleba's absence, but it makes me wonder afresh about whether he'll be with us when the window shuts.

9. Shirt Numbers

Official squad numbers have yet to be announced, but it was comforting to see Gross back in the number 13 shirt. Hinshelwood was wearing 8, the departed Gruda's number. 

10. Set Pieces

Have we got better at set pieces? We scored from a well-worked free-kick and a corner, plus two penalties. Signs were good, but we'll have to wait and see as to whether this translates to the Premier League.

Danny Welbeck: Conflicted Feelings

 
Oh, Danny Welbeck, I wanna kno-o-o-w why you went to them.

It's happened. Danny Welbeck has done what so many have done before him and flown from the Seagulls' nest into the ravenous jaws of Stamford the Lion. And we don't exactly know how to feel about it. Gutted, of course. Concerned that we haven't got a player to score the number of goals he has done for the last few years, yes. He's hit double figures for us in the previous two seasons and last year, only eight players scored more goals than him in the Premier League. He feels irreplaceable. It feels like we've drifted five places down the table with his departure.

But how do we feel towards him? Before I answer that, I want to explore how we feel towards all the players that leave us when we wish they wouldn't. Each time, it feels like there is an accepted narrative created about the player that has left. They might be a money-grabbing egotist who used us a stepping stone. They might be a fractious brat who's fallen out with their own shadow. Or they might be someone who's honourable, has done it the right way and will forevermore, get a warm clap from the Falmer crowd. I don't need to tell you where the recent departures fit. The narratives we create are never particularly complex. We feed off of the scraps of information given us and whether to boo or clap is reached by a common consensus. 

I find this simplistic and difficult - I don't want to boo someone that did a good job for us, even if it was for a short time. As fans, we are unflinchingly loyal and we often demand this of players, not really considering that the club will only be loyal to them for as long as they are good enough at football. Most of us accept the reasoning behind Solly March departing the club this summer and as a football club, it has to be this way. The club have to make tough decisions about squad balance and who they need. However, players know this and in a business where no loyalty is shown to them, it can't surprise us that they put themselves first when another club comes in for them. We can quibble about the motives of why a player left, but they are likely to be nuanced and complex and our support of our club is never those things.

Why has Danny Welbeck chosen Chelsea? Money? Possibly, he's sure to be getting paid more. Trophies? Possibly, as much as we hate to admit it, one day, Chelsea will probably be challenging for honours again and having the likes of Welbeck and Jordan Henderson around a young squad, in my opinion, makes that more likely. A better fit at this stage of his career? Perhaps, he knows his own body and recognises that he isn't a 90-minute week-in, week-out striker any more and being an impact sub suits where he's at. Or maybe he just really loves Joao Pedro. 

What I feel is definitely true, rather than the conjecture of why he is moving, is that he has been an incredible servant of the club since he signed in 2020. He has been a role model and leader as well as a goal-scorer. He has played for us with a smile on his face and came to embody who we are as a team. There has been a whole lot of love for him and that love, for me, isn't dying even though it hurts the most that he's joining the corporate machine, the antithesis of our club, Chelsea. Let's applaud him and giving Chelsea a couple of thrashings next season.