Reality Check?

Just when you thought Brighton were gaining momentum to back up the funding that Tony Bloom gave them, everything came crashing back down to earth with a bang.

In four home games, we have only kept one clean sheet and leaked more goals than news stories about Katie and Peter.

The facts are we have played four home games, lost three. That record is terrible, and is one that would normally be associated with teams at the bottom end of the table, precisely where we sit at the time of writing this.

Withdean used to be intimidating with its poor facilities and make shift pitch. It then became a fortress, and winning was a habit. Now the pitch is great, the changing rooms, luxury and facilities vastly improved. In this respect, it has become more like other stadiums and with that, it has become a lot easier for teams to come to Withdean and get results.

It is weird how the back 5 players (Kuipers, Virgo, El Abd, Elphick and Tunnicliffe) can be heaped in praise one minute, and then the next are vilified, singled out and held responsible for a loss. How can a team look so solid and not concede for 4 hours of football, and then be reduced to a wreck that even a Sunday League team could score past?

The inquisition has started, and seems quite public too. This is not something that the fans normally see. Under previous leaderships, the bad performances were followed by excuses and deflection away from the poor performances. Now everything seems to be more honest, and blame is laid down with the guilty parties having to accept it. Slade may not be the best manager, but he knows what he wants, and how he wants to get there – if the players aren’t up to his standards, he lets them know!

Everything, of course, is not all bad. At 36 years young, this man is a class above. Nicky Forster belies his age and body to continue to spearhead the Brighton attack. At £75,000 he is an absolute bargain.

Two more goals against Southend took Forster’s tally to seven, scoring in five consecutive games. It could have easily been ten for the season. He has missed a penalty, missed some easy chances and had two goals disallowed. He described it as the form of his life, for which we are very grateful; otherwise, we would be in a much worse position.

As for the Southend game, it was probably the most entertaining game seen at Withdean in recent times. The defenders on both teams looked like they had been watching Derren Brown’s latest stunt, with Brighton looking particularly bad.

However, they were not as bad as Jean-Yves Mvoto of Southend, who was so bad he was substituted before half time. He then reappeared in the second half in his tracksuit and backpack to take his place on the subs bench extension.

Southend took the lead through Lee Barnard who always seems to score against us. Forster hit back after a mistake from Mvoto and delightfully chipped the ball over the diving keeper.

The comedy defending was back at the Brighton end, which allowed O’Donovan to tap in from less than 2 yards after a cross from the right wing evaded everyone, making it 2-1.

Forster capped off the entertaining first half by equalising after latching onto a great pass, turning Mvoto and slotting the ball through Mildenhalls legs to make it 2-2.

The second half was less entertaining, with Southend passing the ball about a bit more. Bennett had a great effort smash the cross bar, which unluckily did not cross the goal line.

It was Southend that scored right at the death, Elphick failed to deal with a long punt forward and let Laurent run to the by-line. He seemed scared to put in a tackle in case he gave away a penalty, so Laurent then slotted the ball into the far corner to win the game. Elphick and Kuipers should have done a lot better, but it was too late, the points gone and a 3rd home defeat out of 4 was a formality.

Changes are likely for the next game, especially in defence. El Abd and Tunnicliffe have arguably been the best of the defence so far this season, so it is up to Virgo, Elphick and Jake Wright to make up the rest of the back four. We may even see us make a dip into the loan market to try and sure up the frailties that have become visible.

Going forward, we look OK, after not scoring in the first two; we have scored in every game since. The only problem is that only Forster and Dickinson have scored. It is time for the rest of the team to step up to the plate and start the push up the table…

Brett M