Chris Hughton’s tactics were working perfectly until his captain conceded a late penalty for an inexplicable charge at Dominic Calvert-LewinWithout having access to Brighton defender Bruno’s inner monologue, or tucking a microphone into his beard, it’s difficult to know what provoked him. Why, at such a crucial moment in the match, did he choose to charge Dominic Calvert-Lewin with an elbow, in his own penalty box? Perhaps the youngster had said something. Perhaps he had tugged surreptitiously at the Spaniard’s doughty chinwear. We’ll never know. But we can be pretty sure that had Brighton’s captain kept his arms down, Everton’s late free-kick would have landed safely in goalkeeper Mathew Ryan’s arms. Related: Wayne Rooney penalty rescues Everton from defeat against...
Everton’s defence has gone walkabout, Swansea and Southampton are serving up stodgy fare and Antonio Conte may rue being in a tougher league than Serie AChris Hughton, the Brighton & Hove Albion manager, said it all when he highlighted how his team had not been “out of sight” against Arsenal, just as they had not been against Manchester City on the opening weekend of the season. On both occasions, the final scoreline of 0-2 hinted at respectability. Which, in truth, was Brighton’s priority. The gap to the Premier League’s top six clubs yawns like a chasm and Hughton’s approach at the Emirates Stadium – an approach born out of necessity – was characterised by damage limitation. Hughton used a 4-5-1...
Sean Dyche was worked up about nothing, Mark Hughes hopes life for Stoke will get easier and Ronald Koeman played his last cards to get Everton out of troubleIf Brighton survive this season – and they survived this game thanks to several Newcastle misses and some good goalkeeping – there is every chance we will be talking about the signing of Pascal Gross as a masterstroke. The German midfielder with a picture-perfect delivery has been involved in all of Brighton’s Premier League goals, and was instrumental again at the Amex in the 1-0 win over Newcastle when his free-kick homed in on Dale Stephens, who headed down for Tomer Hemed to finish. The value of an accurate set-piece taker cannot...
In the 1-0 win over Newcastle both managers set up their teams not to lose and, while their organisation was impressive, it was at the cost of attacking flairSometimes straightforward virtues are the best. In a Premier League that at times seems to have all but given up anything resembling traditional defending, there was something almost comforting about a clash between two sides who play in such a familiar, unpretentious way. This was a reminder of simpler virtues, a world in which the greatest aspiration is to be compact, and produced a sort of mutually assured self-neutralisation, a game in which flair was all but absent and, where it did exist, confined to a tiny sliver on the flanks. That...
One bad decision can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory and lacerate a team’s confidence but lessons can be learned from the scarsHave you ever gone out on a Friday night full of excitement and expectation – relishing everything that’s ahead of you – only to find yourself full of guilt and remorse on Saturday morning? Well, what happened at Bournemouth last week was worse than a night out where I said the wrong thing.The game at the Vitality Stadium was one we badly wanted to win and we were 1-0 up with 20 minutes to go. We were cruising. The team performance was good and the feeling on the pitch was that we were heading towards our first...