The Media Review: Southampton

For the third time this season and the second time in four days, a late, late equaliser from Neal Maupay caused delight among Albion fans in the away end and consternation and anguish in the press box.

Football writers, you see, are usually expected to send in the first version of their match reports almost as soon as the final whistle has blown so that they can appear online and in the early print editions. They spend the final minutes of a game finalising their introductions and then wait expectantly for the referee to blow with their fingers hovering over the ‘send’ button.

The last thing any reporter wants at that stage is a goal that alters the outcome – a winner or an equaliser – but Albion’s number nine has now messed things up for Fleet Street’s finest on three occasions.  First came his leveller against Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, then that acrobatic equaliser against West Ham United at the London Stadium on Wednesday. On Saturday evening, it was among the cramped press seats at St Mary’s where his clinical finish against Southampton prompted curses and a hurried rewriting of intros. 

When the dust had settled, Tom Prentki wrote in the Sunday Times that “a dramatic 98th-minute goal from Neal Maupay gave Brighton and Hove Albion their ninth draw in 11 games. They finished the game with ten men, having made three substitutions before Leandro Trossard suffered an injury.

“It was the same situation they found themselves in three days previously, when Maupay equalised in the 89th minute to earn a draw at West Ham United. ‘We have belief as a team,’ said Graham Potter, the Brighton manager. ‘It’s incredible, fantastic to come away with something. It’s only three [Premier League] defeats all season’.”

Ben Fisher of The Observer noted “for Graham Potter and Brighton, a wonderful sense of deja vu. Down to 10 men following injury to Leandro Trossard and well into 10 minutes of second-half stoppage time, Neal Maupay rattled in a second late equaliser in four days to rescue another point for Brighton.

“Potter, as in midweek, was out of substitutes when Trossard was forced off with an elbow problem but just as it seemed defeat was inevitable, Maupay rifled in from close range to hush the Southampton support.

“A blue flare flew on to the corner of the pitch from the away end and Southampton, whose disconsolate players slumped to the floor at full-time, ended up being booed off. 

“It was not how Ralph Hasenhüttl hoped to mark his three-year anniversary in charge. ‘There’s a great spirit with the players,’ Potter said. ‘We have belief as a team. The one thing I don’t doubt is their willingness to keep going until the end’.”

“The visitors may have been one man light heading into stoppage time but they continued to probe and in the eighth added minute, Oriol Romeu clipped Yves Bissouma on the edge of the box, allowing Brighton to find another leveller. Moder’s free-kick cannoned off the wall but the Poland midfielder recycled the ball back into the area, locating Maupay a few yards out.

“Maupay, not for the first time this season, was the name on the lips of supporters long after the final whistle. The striker emerged from the tunnel for his post-match interviews to a hero’s reception from a couple of hundred delirious fans. ‘We have one big strength this season,’ Maupay said. ‘We never give up’.”

In the Sunday Telegraph, Arindam Rej wrote that “Neal Maupay did a shushing gesture after he dramatically rescued a draw for Brighton at Southampton with an equaliser in the eighth minute of added time. 

“Perhaps he realised the flak that would have come his way - and for his team - had he not took [sic] a touch, turned and struck in.” (To be clear, as the report was not, Maupay’s gesture was directed towards the home fans.) 

“He had missed big chances before that moment - but instead the away fans were chanting his name again, as they snatched a point despite being down to ten men due to Leandro Trossard’s injury coming after they had used up all substitutions.

“It meant, stunningly, lightning had struck twice for Maupay. For the second time in four days, he had scored late on away to secure a 1-1 draw for 10 men - having done exactly the same against West Ham on Wednesday. On that occasion, it was an overhead kick after Adam Lallana had gone off injured.

“Maupay was gutsy to keep going here and, in the end, fortune favoured the brave - and he was helped by Southampton goalkeeper Alex McCarthy carrying a hamstring injury at the end.

“The leveller at St Mary’s papered over the cracks, though, for Brighton who were second best to lively Southampton.

“Brighton have equalled the club record winless run in the top flight, with this being the 10th in a row.”

Lewis Steele gave more information about Saints’ goalkeeping problem in the Mail on Sunday: “Brighton fans were still in the away end singing about their 98th-minute hero Neal Maupay by the time Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl appeared for his post-match press conference.

“Usually there is around an hour’s wait before managers do their media duties, but the livid Southampton boss was straight in, and he pulled no punches in his furious post-match rant.

“‘We cannot accept this,’ was the line he repeated a number of times. He was referring to his goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, who he took the rare step of publicly criticising and saying he lacked professionalism which cost Saints three points. 

“Hasenhuttl’s anger stemmed from the fact that after the match, goalkeeper McCarthy alerted him that he had pulled his hamstring early in the second half. McCarthy did not alert the bench, and he was visibly hampered when scampering across his goal to try to stop Maupay.

“‘McCarthy couldn’t kick the ball anymore,’ said Hasenhuttl. ‘He doesn’t say anything, I can’t change him. This is why we have a reserve goalkeeper on the bench.

“‘We dominated for the whole game and we didn’t win, this is awful. This is definitely so hard to accept. It kills you. At the end they’re celebrating and it feels like a defeat.’

“To put context to Hasenhuttl’s frustration, since the Austrian’s first match, Southampton have dropped 71 points from winning positions in the Premier League - at least 15 more than any other team.

“They had played Brighton off the park for 97-and-a-half minutes, and led since the half-hour mark. Southampton were excellent and made the Seagulls look damningly poor. But as the minute on the clock neared triple figures, all their hard work was undone as Neal Maupay scored a poacher’s equaliser.”

Nick Purewal of the Press Association, whose report appeared on The Independent website, noted that Saints’ domination was not as total as some suggested.  “Replacement Aaron Connolly teed up Maupay with a fine low ball, only for the Frenchman to strike too close to McCarthy for the Saints keeper to deflect clear.

“Time and again Saints lived dangerously, sitting on their lead and inviting Brighton to attack. And right at the last, that approach cost the hosts dearly.

“James Ward-Prowse conceded possession in his own half and Oriol Romeu upended Mwepu for a cheap free-kick.

“Moder whipped the ball goalwards, forcing McCarthy to parry – and Maupay pounced to finish.

“The France forward was onside because Ward-Prowse had moved back at the last minute attempting to cover the post from the free-kick, and had not rushed out quickly enough.”

Graham Nickless, alert to messages over the St Mary’s PA system, wrote in the Sun on Sunday that “Neal Maupay delighted Brighton’s travelling fans with a late, late equaliser at Southampton.

“Albion supporters were facing a nightmare journey back along the South Coast with train disruptions - but Maupay's goal will have made the short journey sweeter.

“That was when substitute Jakub Moder’s free-kick came back off the Saints wall and his follow-up effort was volleyed home by Maupay.”

The writer is a friend of this column, but we cannot let him get away with describing the journey from St Mary’s to Sussex on the trains as ‘short’. You should get out of Wessex a bit more, Nico!