That was a tough one to swallow. Away days in the Premier League are always a test, but today at the Amex felt like a particularly harsh lesson in what it takes to survive at this level. The final score, Brighton and Hove Albion 3 Leeds United 0, says it all—we were firing blanks and ultimately, found ourselves outgunned.
We went to the South Coast with a bit of optimism, especially with Brighton having dropped their last two. But despite our eight days of rest, we just lacked that clinical final touch to genuinely trouble the Seagulls’ defence.
A Slow, Respectful Start
The early minutes were awful. The team started too deep and too static, almost giving Brighton too much respect. It looked like the initial plan was to go long to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but that never worked, allowing Brighton’s relentless press to pin us into our own half. The inevitable happened in the 11th minute. After Ethan Ampadu gave up possession, the move led to Danny Welbeck pouncing on a cut-back from Mats Wieffer to slot home after a dubious decision by Lucas Perri to rush out.
For almost the first half-hour, we barely saw the ball. When we started to build up from the final ball, the crosses were easily dealt with. Sean Longstaff’s dreadful free-kick summed up our toothless first half .
Second Half Fight, Same Old Problems
After half-time Leeds came out with more fire. We pressed higher, pushed up more, and were able to play out from the back as Brighton seemed content to sit deeper and defend their lead. Noah Okafor in particular stepped up a gear on the left, looking like our only genuine attacking outlet, twisting and turning, and forcing a good save from Bart Verbruggen.
But as we persevered and opened up, the ruthless nature of the Premier League delivered a double sucker-punch. The two second-half goals, both from Diego Gómez, were poor from a defensive perspective. Brighton’s starlet Yankuba Minteh was a nightmare on the wing, and our attempts to double-mark him only opened up space for Gómez to profit on the other side.
The third goal was particularly painful as we failed to deal with Georginio Rutter who managed to assist.
Brighton racked up 2.99 xG from 14 shots, while we only managed 0.46 xG from 5 attempts. We conceded the first goal in all five of our away Premier League matches this season so far.
Player Ratings
- Okafor was my Man of the Match. He was a threat, especially in the second half..
- Ampadu and Ao Tanaka commanded the midfield at times, but Longstaff had a poor match, wasting possession and set-pieces when we desperately needed his experience and quality.
- Brenden Aaronson struggled to replicate his fine form from the last match.
- Dominic Calvert-Lewin was isolated and simply lacked the service.
- Lucas Perri was busy, making four saves, but his rash decision for the first goal was costly.
- Jaka Bijol is still taking time to adapt to the speed of the Premier League, though Joe Rodon just looked increasingly frustrated.
Farke was honest after the match, admitting, “They were the better side today and deserve to win this game… it was not our best performance today.” Moving to five at the back when under pressure might be the defensive steel we need away from home. We have to find a way to get James into the game for crosses into the box.
