The Media Review: Wolves

Albion’s latest trip to Molineux, one of their happiest hunting grounds, brought three more welcome points and some appreciative comments from the Midlands football writers.

Many of them are Wolves fans, some from way back, so compliments for Roberto De Zerbi’s men were well-earned.

Lewis Steele was especially enthusiastic in The Mail on Sunday, about the Albion boss as well as his players. “He sprinted down the touchline like a young Jose Mourinho did at Old Trafford in 2004, he switched his tactics and flailed his arms around like he was Pep Guardiola, and the away fans serenaded him like he was a club legend who had guided them to European football,” he wrote.

“And who knows, maybe he just might. Roberto De Zerbi has been in the job for less than six weeks but already has built a unique bond with Brighton fans despite winning just two matches.

“After making Chelsea look like relegation fodder last week and playing Wolves off the park here, the sky's the limit for the Seagulls. Brighton stand above Graham Potter’s Chelsea and Liverpool in the table and, with this unique confidence, why shouldn’t Europe be the aim?

“Does any team play more entertaining football than Brighton in the Premier League? That’s not to say their slick passing game has more prestige than Guardiola’s Manchester City or Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, but Brighton move the ball around in a way that is admirable and enjoyable.”

Paul Rowan of The Sunday Times was impressed by Albion’s Qatar-bound Japan winger, writing that “Brighton & Hove Albion may have lost some influential figures this season, but they keep finding replacements to soften the blow, the latest of them Kaoru Mitoma, who was signed from Japan and has so far remained under the radar.

“That all changed over the course of 90 minutes when he scored his debut goal for the club and was at the centre of the most controversial moment of this topsy-turvy game. He was too hot for Nélson Semedo to handle, to the point where the Wolverhampton Wanderers right back hauled him down and was sent off shortly before half-time. With Wolves down to ten men, it was a space which Mitoma exploited brilliantly.

Wolves, he added, could not “cope with Mitoma, signed from Kawasaki Frontale, loaned out last season and at Molineux ably assisted by Adam Lallana. It was a first half full of goals and controversy, with VAR acting as both friend and foe to the home supporters in equal measure. Inside the first ten minutes Brighton had their first big chance when Lallana pulled a ball out of the sky and his cross gave Solly March a great chance, but Nathan Collins managed to block.

“Brighton quickly recycled the ball and delicate passes between Mitoma and Leandro Trossard created an opportunity for Lallana, who curled in a superb goal.

“Lallana again pulled the strings with a neat turn in the 44th minute and supplied an exquisite cross onto the head of Mitoma, who made good contact, and the ball squirted past the diving José Sá.

“There were six minutes of extra time and in that period a long ball down the channel caught out Semedo and Mitoma latched onto it. Semedo then appeared to fall on top of him on the edge of the area. It looked wide enough out for Semedo to be given the benefit of the doubt over whether he had denied a clear goalscoring opportunity, but Graham Scott, the referee, brandished red.”

In The Observer, Will Unwin wrote that “once Nélson Semedo was sent off just before the break, Wolves were up against it and the pressure was unrelenting.

“Roberto De Zerbi likes to play with an element of risk, not something Wolves can afford in their perilous position. There was constant one-touch passing in and around the box, which should have led to a Solly March opener but the midfielder saw his shot deflected wide. Not that it mattered, when moments later Mitoma found Leandro Trossard, who drew Maximilian Kilman out of position, allowing Lallana to curl the ball into the top corner.

“Despite the energy Wolves brought, they looked vulnerable in defence whenever Brighton attacked, summed up when Lallana worked to create space to dig out a cross on the edge of the box for Mitoma at the back post to head home after Semedo got stuck under the ball.

“Semedo’s afternoon ended soon after in the extended first-half injury time when he was once again outwitted by Mitoma, who took down a long pass from Lewis Dunk to get past the defender and run through on goal, only for the Portuguese international to bundle him over on the edge of the box. Scott was left with no choice, not that the booing home fans agreed when the whistle went for the break.

“The man disadvantage did not change much about the flow of the game; Brighton dominated possession and Wolves were forced to rely on rare counter-attacks to threaten. March made José Sá produce a fine save, after the goalkeeper played Wolves into trouble, Adam Webster sent two headers wide and Alexis Mac Allister’s free-kick was palmed away from the top corner. Wolves were hanging on.”

But Albion found the winner, as Graham Hill wrote in The Sun on Sunday: “Brighton finally made their extra-man count with seven minutes to go as Gross fired home the winner in a thriller - and made it five for the season.

“The dangerous Mitoma raced into the area and crossed for Gross who hooked the ball home to leave Wolves agonising as they had looked set to battle their way to a point.

“The Seagulls produced some scintillating stuff going forwards.”

Wolves, of course, had finally replaced boss Bruno Lage but it did not lead to the so-called ‘new manager bounce’, as Arindam Rej pointed out in The Sunday Telegraph. “Jeff Shi, Wolves’ chairman, was all smiles as he took his seat here before the game, having appointed No 1 choice Julen Lopetegui as manager from Nov 14,” he wrote. “But, by the end, their moods must have suffered.

“While Roberto De Zerbi, manager of sixth-placed Brighton, could animatedly celebrate an impressive win he rated better than beating Chelsea, Lopetegui will walk into a club who are only off the bottom of the table on goal difference.

“Brighton, having thrashed Chelsea 4-1, fielded an unchanged starting line-up – and they quickly had joy. [Adam] Lallana had not scored in a year and a half, but curled in impressively, after a classy move in which Mitoma delivered a deft cross then Leandro Trossard flicked the ball on.

“Wolves showed some fight to quickly equalise, similar to the previous week at Brentford, as Boubacar Traoré threaded the ball forward for determined Guedes to cut inside, evade Mitoma, and drill in the equaliser.

“Molineux was roaring again when Neves then struck confidently from the spot as Lewis Dunk, the Brighton captain, was judged guilty of a handball from Podence’s cross – after referee Graham Scott consulted the monitor following a VAR check.

“That was as good as it got for Wolves though, with the visitors levelling when Lallana floated over his cross and Mitoma headed in from eight yards at the back post, beating Semedo with his jump.

“Semedo’s troubles got worse when, as the last man, he hauled down Mitoma on the edge of the box, leading to the fouled winger waving an imaginary card – and a straight red following, just before half time.

“Brighton’s breakthrough finally came in the 84th minute, as Mitoma’s busy afternoon was topped off when he cut the ball back, eventually leading to Gross rifling in.”

Simon Stone of the BBC spotted a couple of stats, the second of which not escaped the notice of Albion fans. “Brighton were deserved winners and, by completing successive triumphs following the success against Chelsea, Roberto de Zerbi has achieved something in his first month in charge that took Graham Potter three times as long to achieve as Brighton boss, he wrote.

“Amazingly, Adam Lallana only scored once in just over two seasons under Potter.

“Eighty-two previous goals from his time at Southampton and Liverpool suggests he is far better than that.

“And the composure the former England midfielder showed to open the scoring at the start of a chaotic half underlines that theory.

“Now 34, Lallana may not be capable of being the same player who was selected for England's 2014 World Cup squad but he could be a major influence in ensuring Brighton do not slip too far from their current sixth position.”

Well, not in a downward direction anyway!