Brighton are now winless in their last four matches after a goalless draw against Sunderland. The Seagulls also failed to score at home for the first time this season in that game. Here are five things we learned from the match.
Verbruggen was superb
Bart Verbruggen was arguably the reason Brighton earned a point against Sunderland. The Belgian was immense, making six saves to deny the Black Cats a goal.
He made a couple of decent stops at the end of the first half when Sunderland had a flurry of chances, but the best save came at the start of the second half. Verbruggen reacted brilliantly to make a fingertip save onto the crossbar, which prevented Omar Alderete from breaking the deadlock.
Embed from Getty ImagesWieffer may never play in midfield for Brighton
With Carlos Baleba out of Brighton action due to AFCON, you wouldn’t be out of order to assume Mats Wieffer may finally get a chance in his favoured midfield position. You would be mistaken though.
When Wieffer joined Brighton in 2024, he was coming into the squad off the back of a title-winning season with Feyenoord. That season, the Dutchman was one of the best-performing holding midfielders in Europe.
Fast forward 18 months and Wieffer is being used as a right-back. Bizarre. Especially when there is a perfectly sound right-back in Joel Veltman on the bench, who, despite his age, can still hold off some of the best wingers in the Premier League.
Jack Hinshelwood and Yasin Ayari didn’t show anything special against Sunderland, so perhaps it’s time Fabian Hurzeler gave Wieffer a go in the middle.
Embed from Getty ImagesNew boys at the back impressed
Heading into the weekend, everyone was aware Lewis Dunk would not feature in the match-day squad due to suspension. What shocked many, though, was the omission of Jan Paul van Hecke.
It turned out that the Dutchman was left out last minute due to illness, meaning 21-year-old Diego Coppola would replace him at the back alongside Olivier Boscagli.
Despite the huge chance to the heart of the defence, the two new signings held their own at the back, keeping a clean sheet. Both looked composed in possession and, other than Coppola’s rash challenge in the first half, they didn’t put a foot wrong.
Embed from Getty ImagesSame old Simon
Simon Adingra made his return to the Amex after joining Sunderland for £21 million in the summer and received a few boos from the Albion fans.
Although Wieffer wasn’t great, Adingra didn’t make much of an impact. Just like when he played in blue and white, the Ivorian kept trying to do too much with the ball. He often had an excellent first touch around his marker, but then went back to try beat him again.
It was this exact frustrating play that aggravated Brighton fans when he played there, and perhaps Regis Le Bris isn’t a fan of it either. He started Adingra for the first time in almost two months, before subbing him off on the hour mark.
Embed from Getty ImagesA striker is desperately needed in January
You know it’s been a bad day in attack when Yasin Ayari was Brighton’s biggest hope for a goal against Sunderland. Since Danny Welbeck’s injury, Brighton have struggled a lot in front of goal.
Tzimas is out with an ACL injury, and 18-year-old Charalampos Kostoulas isn’t ready to start up front for an established Premier League team yet. In his post-match press conference, Hurzeler said: “He is our best goalscorer, so I think it would be a little bit stubborn to say we are not missing him.”
There are rumours that Evan Ferguson could return from his loan spell at Roma to fill the void up top, but what the Seagulls really need is someone who can come in and guarantee them goals immediately.
It’s now four games without a win for Hurzeler’s side, and if they want a return to European football, a solution needs to be found quickly.
Embed from Getty ImagesWritten by Isabelle Martin
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