News

Nick Szczepanik's press verdict: Tottenham Hotspur

Cynics among the Albion fanbase probably expected Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur at the Amex to be cast as the latest episode in a growing Spurs crisis rather than an excellent performance by Graham Potter’s men.

By Nick Szczepanik • 06 October 2019

By Patrick Sullivan
Nick Szczepanik delivers the media''s verdict of Saturday's game.

But they will have been pleasantly surprised by the positive write-ups in the Sunday papers for the Seagulls and two-goal Aaron Connolly in particular.

Under the headline “Brilliant Brighton dismantle lacklustre Tottenham,” Sam Wallace of the Sunday Telegraph wrote that it was “hard to keep track of all the ways that last season’s Champions League finalists fell apart against a snappy, confident Brighton and Hove Albion although it should be said there was one goal that looked like the first of the four that Serge Gnabry scored on Tuesday night, Brighton’s 19-year-old Aaron Connolly isolating Toby Alderweireld for the third goal … a younger, faster attacker cutting in from the left on his right foot and wrapping a shot into the corner with the Belgian failing even to offer a challenge. Connolly had got his first after half an hour, tucking home the rebound after Paulo Gazzaniga had saved his first effort and at three goals behind just after the hour, whatever threat Spurs offered faded badly.

“It went wrong from the moment that the French striker Neal Maupay headed in the first inside three minutes when Lloris dropped it at his feet. Maupay was signed from Brentford in the summer, joint second-highest goalscorer in the Championship last season and one of many Football League graduates who impressed. So too Adam Webster, 24, the centre-back bought from Bristol City. Steven Alzate, 21, a North Londoner of Colombian heritage, spent last season on loan at Swindon Town in League Two. Connolly was the toast of the club with two goals on his first Premier League start.”

By Paul Hazlewood
Aaron Connolly in action against Tottenham Hotspur.

Kieran Gill’s intro in the Mail on Sunday suggested at first that he was going to damn Albion with faint praise. “Brighton are no Bayern Munich,” he wrote. “Neal Maupay is no Robert Lewandowski, Maty Ryan is no Manuel Neuer, and Aaron Connolly was never expected to score four like Serge Gnabry. Yet they had Tottenham's number all the same here. They embarrassed Mauricio Pochettino's men with three goals, ensuring a few steins would be raised in East Sussex on Saturday evening.”

But before long he was singing the praises of the men in blue and white. “Before the dissections of Tottenham begin, however, we must first applaud Brighton. The last time they scored more than once at home in a league game? December 2018, against Crystal Palace.

“This win was largely down to Connolly, the 19-year-old making his full Premier League debut. He formed a fine centre-forward partnership with Maupay, who opened the scoring.

“Pascal Gross sent an in-swinging cross from the left towards the back post and a routine catch from Lloris was expected. Yet the backtracking Frenchman fumbled the ball, leaving it for Maupay to nod into an empty net. While Brighton celebrated, Lloris stayed down. At first, you thought he did not dare get up because of embarrassment. Not so. It was because as he landed, his left arm bent backwards, leaving him in excruciating pain.

“Brighton went into this having scored five Premier League goals this season, and three of those came on the opening day. They had been creating chances, but not finishing them off. So into the starting line-up came Connolly, the forward born in the year 2000. After 32 minutes, the 19-year-old marked his first start in the top flight with a goal.

“A cross from the left came in from Dan Burn and Connolly got to it first. His initial shot was saved by Gazzaniga, but he was back on his feet to finish the rebound. The last time Brighton had scored more than once at home in the league was over ten months ago. Yet Tottenham were trailing 2-0 after 32 minutes. Can we call it a crisis now?

“At the break, Pochettino took off £54million Tanguy Ndombele. On came Harry Winks. Yet still, Brighton pushed for a third. They pressed. They put Tottenham on the back foot.

“On the hour mark, Gross rattled the crossbar with a free-kick from the left. Moments later, it was 3-0, and game over. Connolly ran at Toby Alderweireld, who looked lost. The Brighton striker could see where he wanted the ball to go, and he duly found the far corner. A fine finish.”

By Paul Hazlewood
Martin Montoya brings the ball under control.

In The Observer, Barney Ronay wrote that “the sense of a Spurs team disappearing into itself deepened on the south coast as Brighton & Hove Albion produced a wonderful attacking performance to run out deserved 3-0 winners.

“Above all, this was a tremendous occasion for Aaron Connolly, the 19-year-old from Galway who scored twice on his full league debut and was a quick-turning, two-footed menace throughout. It was also a day to remember for Graham Potter, who saw his Brighton team win their first league game at home. Best of all they did so in the style he craves, with a fluency to their passing, the ball retained easily in midfield and menace on the flanks.

“Fifteen minutes before half-time the Brighton fans were already singing “we want seven” – a rare treat for a team whose last seven league goals dated back to the start of May. But then all things are relative and in Spurs, Brighton found an opposition who seem at times to be playing through a mist.

“There are better ways to start a game than conceding within the first three minutes and losing your captain. What will alarm Pochettino is the response to adversity at the Amex Stadium, the lack of precision or drive. Spurs were always losing this game, losing it in every minute, every passage of play.

“The turquoise away shirts were out five minutes before the restart, shooed early from the dressing room, and they looked more purposeful for a while. But this Brighton team is stuffed with neat little technical players. They snapped back and kept the ball in tight spaces as the air seemed to go out of Tottenham once again. It was simply that kind of day – but an afternoon of real hope for Potter and the home support.”

By Paul Hazlewood
Neal Maupay races forward.

Tom Barclay of The Sun on Sunday wrote that “losing Lloris shell-shocked his team-mates and for the rest of the half their unforgiving hosts threatened to pile on the misery. Just after the half hour they had their second goal as Connolly saw his initial shot from Dan Burn’s cross saved by sub keeper Paulo Gazzaniga, before tucking in the rebound.

“The strike saw Graham Potter’s men double their tally for home goals this season and the question was then how many more they would score. They hit the bar through Pascal Gross’ free-kick after the break before 19-year-old Connolly cut inside Toby Alderweireld to slot in to the far corner.”

Nick Townsend of the Sunday Times thought it was “not quite the ignominy of Tuesday night’s trauma for Spurs, maybe. Yet, placed in context, perhaps it was. Mauricio Pochettino’s men had arrived here seeking swift amelioration for a 7-2 eclipse by the Bundesliga champions. Here they faced a lowly Premier League team lacking points, goals and home victories.

“They were confounded as early as the third minute when they lost a goal, as well as their goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris to a horrific freak injury, and never recovered. Neal Maupay and teenager Aaron Connolly, with a brace on his league debut, put them to the sword. And it could have been worse for Spurs. Confronted by a team so palpably bereft of confidence, Albion scented blood and cut into Spurs rearguard at will.”

By Paul Hazlewood
Adam Webster brings the ball out from defence on Saturday.

Ben Collins on the BBC website saw many positives for Albion. “While the football Brighton have played since Potter's appointment in May has been admirable, some had begun asking if the Seagulls would need to adopt a more pragmatic approach to avoid another relegation battle this season.

“They came into the game with two points from their previous six games and could not believe their luck as Lloris gifted Maupay his third goal since joining from Brentford in the summer.

“With Spurs reeling and Brighton gaining an early advantage, the hosts had the freedom to play as Potter prefers, and after latching onto Stephens' through ball, Connolly had a strong shout for a penalty turned down as Moussa Sissoko nudged the youngster as he raced into the box.

“But moments later, Connolly got in front of Ben Davies to flick Dan Burn's cross goalwards and slam in the rebound, before side-footing wide from Pascal Gross' squared ball.

The Seagulls remained comfortable for most of the second half, with Gross going for goal from a tight angle and curling a free-kick against the crossbar, before Lewis Dunk released Connolly down the left for his second goal."