- 1 year ago
Sussex World reporters Sam Morton and Derren Howard discuss Brighton's 2-1 loss at Bournemouth, including the latest on Carlos Baleba and Fabian Hurzeler.
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00:00Good morning, Sam. Thanks for joining us today. We're just going to have a quick look back
00:07on Brighton's 2-1 defeat against Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium last Saturday. It's
00:15a really poor first half, Sam. What could have gone wrong did go wrong for them in terms
00:20of an injury to Jack Kinshelwood, then Maxine de Koeppe went off. They were 1-0 down. Obviously,
00:27they fought back early in the second half, Karamatoma header, but then a penalty from
00:31Semenyo in the second half. Sealed Brighton's second loss of the season. What did you make
00:40of that performance at the Vitality? All a little bit frustrating, wasn't it?
00:44Yeah, very frustrating day at the office for Brighton. As you say, it was such an unlucky
00:50kind of first half in the sense, obviously, they've lost two key players, really, to injury.
00:56Obviously, it seemed like Jack Kinshelwood kind of twisted his ankle almost, or he had
01:00a bit of a foot injury where he's kind of just planted his foot into the turf, and it's obviously
01:04been a bit of a twist or something. Something's gone wrong there, and he's not been able to
01:11carry on, which was literally three minutes into the game. So, it's the worst possible
01:14start for Brighton there. And then, obviously, as you say, Maxine de Koeppe as well, a bit
01:19of a shove in the back from Semenyo, straight advertising boardings. And he obviously wasn't
01:24able to continue from that. But before any substitution could be made, obviously, Semenyo
01:29has gone up the other end, and he's obviously teed up Alex Scott for the opener. So, a bit
01:34of controversy there. And I don't think Herzl was too pleased about it.
01:38He wasn't. No.
01:38No, he didn't say too much. He just kind of left it open to interpretation. But it was
01:42very clear that he wasn't happy. And he obviously said that everyone could kind of see what happened.
01:47And he obviously didn't want to say anything to get himself into it.
01:48He didn't want to get a fine, did he?
01:50No.
01:52No, he very cleverly gave his opinion without actually saying it in that sense.
01:57But understandably frustrated, because it did seem a bit unnecessary from Semenyo, to be
02:02honest. And he did look apologetic afterwards. But, yeah, it wasn't needed. Didn't need to
02:06shove him in that manner. And then, obviously, he's gone up the other end and got the assist
02:10for the goal. So, yeah, really frustrating from a Brighton point of view. I think it was
02:15obviously a header from Lewis Dunk that was kind of only half cleared, and then, obviously,
02:20picked the ball up on the edge of the box. And Scott was able to find a really good finish.
02:24And I felt like Brighton did respond really well, actually. And, obviously, he got back
02:27into the game. Yankouba Minter was really lively. And, obviously, yeah, it was his cross
02:32that was headed in by Mantooma at the back post. And you feel that Brighton,
02:36could then really build from that. But, unfortunately, it wasn't to be. And, obviously,
02:40they gave away that penalty, which is a bit of a calamity, wasn't it?
02:43Yeah, clumsy penalty. And, as you say, it came at a time where they were just on top
02:47and could have got back into the game.
02:49Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, obviously, Lewis Dunk gave the ball away in the middle of the
02:53park. And then Van Heek has kind of put a leg out, a bit of a clumsy challenge, and gave
02:59the referee no real option but to point to the spot, really, which was, yeah, frustrating.
03:04And, obviously, Semenya stepped up to put it away. And he's in such great form, you wouldn't
03:08have expected him to miss. And, obviously, it just continues Bournemouth's great start
03:14to the season that they've had that we discussed about pre-match. I know Brighton's record against
03:19Bournemouth was good and they'd have won several, I think it was two in a row, looking for a third
03:23in a row. But, unfortunately, it wasn't to be on the day. And Bournemouth have continued
03:28their fine run of form at the start of the season.
03:30Yeah, it was a shame. One of the calls that Herzella made before the match, Sam, had some
03:35of the fans sort of spark some debate. It was a James Milner starting ahead of Carlos
03:40Believer. I can kind of see why he did it, because Believer's been way off the pace, hasn't
03:48he? He's been nowhere near his best so far this season, just came back on international
03:51duty. Where do you sit on that one?
03:54Yeah, it was a strange one, wasn't it? Yeah, I think, obviously, Believer's obviously been
03:59heavily linked to Manchester United in the summer. And you do wonder if maybe it's not
04:05turned his head, but maybe just affected him a little bit.
04:08It's unsettled him, hasn't it?
04:09It must have.
04:09It unsettled him a little bit. Yeah, taking his eye off the ball a little bit, maybe. Not
04:15too sure, obviously. This is pure speculation for my part, without wanting to assume what's
04:20going on there. But something's definitely changed in Believer, because this season he's
04:25not been himself. And even when he came on against Bournemouth, it was not the best of
04:29cameos, shall we say. I've seen quite a lot of stick for him online. Yeah, it wasn't his
04:38finest hour, 100%. But he's such a quality player that I back him to get back to what he
04:44was doing last season and to really just improve and only get better, because we've seen how good
04:49the years and how good he can be. At the end of the day, he's still so young, but I think
04:52you're still, you can't really kind of be shocked to see maybe kind of an off day for
04:58him. I think it's just come to expect such consistency from him that perhaps it's a bit
05:03of a surprise to see him playing the way he is at the moment. So that could be why obviously
05:07Herzl has gone for the experienced player in James Milner. I think it's his first start
05:12in over a year. So it was good to see him get that opportunity. Obviously he scored that
05:17penalty against Manchester City, obviously for the national break. And I think he did
05:22well, really. I think there's nothing wrong with Milner's performance at all. I agree.
05:26Yeah. Yeah. I think he was really solid and kept the ball ticking over really nicely. And
05:30he's just always so reliable, really, isn't he, James Milner? So there's definitely no concerns
05:36about that pick from Herzl. But I can see why there'd been a bit, some kind of raised eyebrows,
05:41shall we say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It was an easy sort of target to go for, wasn't it?
05:45Yeah. Why is this 39-year-old playing instead of, you know, a hundred million player who Man
05:50United won? But I don't think it's that simple. I think Believer's been way off, you know,
05:55below his best. And I think Milner offers a consistency and he needed sort of a reliable
06:00presence in that midfield. And although he's 39, he had sort of Jack Hinsherwood alongside
06:05him and then Yassi Nairi after Hinsherwood was, you know, off in within a minute, but he sort of
06:10had the legs in alongside James Milner. And I thought that was quite a, you know, quite a sensible
06:15call on all things considered. I think Milner's still more than capable of playing sort of a 45
06:21minutes, 60 minutes in the Premier League. So, so yeah, an interesting one there. But also after
06:28the result, there's been a lot of talk on social media, of course, about Herzl's future. Some fans
06:33are saying, you know, you know, they want him gone already. And it's, I just think it's
06:38far too early to, I just did in a piece on Sussex World about it on just now. I think it's
06:45far too early to even talk about it. I don't think there's any serious consideration at the
06:49club internally or about this. I think they've invested too much in this project to, you know,
06:56blow it, blow it away so soon. What do you think, sir?
07:00Yeah, no, I agree. I agree. It's, it's, it's not the first time that we've heard this. I
07:06think there's been a few times before where Brighton have had a, had a bad defeat or one
07:11that's obviously left frustration. And there's been some talk of, of whether Herzl is the
07:16right man, but I think he's proved time and time again, he can beat the best teams in the
07:20league. I think you only have to look literally the game for the international break. He obviously
07:25beat Man City and they've, they've obviously started the season below par, but then straight
07:30after that, they've gone and beat, they're obviously Manchester, United 3-0 and they looked
07:36really impressive. Man City, Haaland looked at his best. And I know obviously many not
07:41have got their issues as well, but I think it just goes to show that Brighton is such
07:45a strong outfit as well, that Man City did really struggle to get over the line in that
07:50game and obviously ended up losing it in the end. And I know this wasn't an ideal
07:54result against Bournemouth, but as we've discussed, Bournemouth are in such good form
07:58and probably deserve more than they got against Liverpool, which is the only game they've
08:01actually been able to win this season. They completely outplayed Spurs, who have also
08:07had a really solid start to the season. Obviously we saw them easily beat West Ham as well.
08:13Thomas Franks had a, had a great start. So yeah, I think Bournemouth, Bournemouth have
08:17definitely had one of the kind of the most impressive starts of the season. So I don't
08:21think it's a shame in losing this match really, especially away from home. Um, and also you
08:26look at everything that went against Brighton on the day with the injuries, as we've mentioned,
08:29um, and obviously just the penalty decision that, I mean, yeah, could have, could have gone
08:35either way. Yeah. And even Areola, um, at the end of the game was, um, was kind of saying
08:42that it was a fine margins kind of match, could have gone either way. Both teams had their,
08:47their moments in it. Um, so yeah, it was not, not one to be concerned about from.
08:52No, no, I agree. And I think that's going to happen. Yeah. I think that's going to happen
08:58a lot this season as well, where you're going to have these matches where they can go, you know,
09:04either, either way. I think with, with the exception of Arsenal and Liverpool, maybe, I think all teams are
09:09going to drop points. Every match is going to be almost a 50, 50, isn't it? You know, because
09:14the teams are so competitive. I think it's going to be one of the most competitive Premier Leagues,
09:19um, you know, for, for, for, forever, really. I think it's going to be, so yeah. Yeah. So no,
09:26I think the talk is, is far too early and, but it does put, it does make this Tottenham game,
09:32Tottenham game at home, not only in terms of three points, but in terms of how the fan base sort of
09:37feels towards Herzella, I think it's going to be a big one, isn't it? Tottenham at home this Saturday.
09:42Yeah, there should be a really good match. I think as, as you, as I've just said, Tottenham
09:46have had a really, um, solid start to the, to the season, barring that, that defeat against,
09:51uh, Bournemouth. Obviously they've, they've beaten Man City as well, two nil away from home.
09:56Um, they've had a three nil win on the opening day against Burnley. Um, and then obviously they've
10:00just beaten West Ham three nil, um, as well. So yeah, they've had a really solid start,
10:05not conceding many goals at all. They've only conceded just the one goal, um, this season.
10:10And that was that Bournemouth game. So it does really go to show the form that they're in, uh,
10:16and the problems they can pose. Um, and as we discussed, Thomas Frank is such a top manager.
10:22He did such a brilliant job at Brentford and, and obviously got the move to Spurs and he's
10:27really proven his worth as a, as a, as a real, real top quality, um, coach. And he's, he's getting the
10:32best out of the Spurs players that obviously Antropos probably wasn't really able to do.
10:36I know there's been a couple of signings, but it's been, yeah, such a quick turnaround from a
10:40Spurs point of view. You're really seeing kind of really good format of players that we weren't
10:44necessarily seeing perform last, last season. Um, and that would be definitely a really big challenge
10:49for, for Brighton to, to get something out of this game, but it's important that they, they do respond
10:55quickly from this form of defeat. And I back them to do that really, obviously they'll be at home,
10:59obviously got the crowd behind them and, and hopefully we'll get, see some, see some goals
11:04back at, at the Amex to, to put this Bournemouth defeat in, uh, in distant memory, really.
11:11Man City win gives the blueprint of what Brighton can, can do against the, the best teams.
11:17Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it's going to be tough against Thomas Frank's team. He, you know,
11:21even his Brentford teams were so hard to play against. So now that he's got better players as well,
11:25I think it's, uh, they are going to be a tough match. And again, it's another 50, 50,
11:29isn't it really, it's going to be so many of these crap throughout the season. So I think it's just
11:33a case of sort of getting buckled in and seeing, seeing how it, how it goes and hopefully Brighton
11:38can just, you know, be a little bit more resolute and not so easy to score against. And, and I think
11:44they, um, you know, they're, they're going to have a good chance of, uh, of getting a good result
11:49against Tottenham. So, but thanks for going through that, Sam. That's, uh, that's always, uh, always good
11:54to speak to you and get your thoughts on Brighton's, uh, progress or lack of progress this, uh, this
11:59season. So, but hopefully that can all change shortly, but, uh, thanks again, Sam, much appreciated.
12:04Cheers. Cheers, Darren. Thank you.