Latest TV: Brighton go into international break on a high after beating Manchester City
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00♪
00:06♪
00:14♪
00:22♪
00:32Darling, we will sing the last post during a period of silence
00:36that will begin and end on the referee's whistle.
00:39We pause, we reflect, and with grateful thumbs, we remember.
00:52♪
00:58♪
01:04♪
01:10♪
01:16♪
01:22♪
01:28♪
01:34♪
01:40♪
01:46♪
01:47APPLAUSE
01:55OK, we're just exiting the Amex Stadium
01:58after a pulsating 2-1 victory for Brighton
02:03against Premier League champions Manchester City.
02:06What a second half, Sam. Just talk us through that.
02:10Obviously, Erling Haaland gave Man City the lead
02:12and then the second half, Brighton completely turned it around.
02:15Yeah, it was a stunning comeback for Brighton.
02:18Obviously, it started quite badly.
02:21City were completely dominant in that first half,
02:24or for large parts of it at least,
02:25and they deservedly went a goal ahead through Erling Haaland.
02:28It was a bit of a mistake from Yassine Ayari
02:31to give the ball to Kovacic, who played the ball through to Haaland,
02:34who had the first effort saved,
02:36and he managed to get up to the rebound
02:38and force it in via the crossbar.
02:41You felt like City would go on, maybe add to their lead.
02:44Brighton did respond well,
02:46and they started to grow into the game
02:47towards the end of that first half.
02:50Hudson had made that change at half-time,
02:52taking Ayari off, he'd been booked,
02:54so potentially a reason for that,
02:56and then bringing on Carlos Baleba,
02:58who was exceptional in the second half,
03:00completely changed the course of the game
03:03in the way that he controls the ball,
03:05brings it out from the defence,
03:06gives other players around him so much more time,
03:09and he really did change the whole context of the game.
03:12It felt like a matter of time before Brighton would score,
03:15and they eventually did, and it was through
03:19Mutoma's second attempt at a cross,
03:21landed at Danny Wilbert, couldn't quite get that shot off,
03:24and then Jael Pedro, returning from injury,
03:27picked up the pieces to fire past Edison,
03:29and the crowd by this point was absolutely raucous.
03:32Great atmosphere.
03:33Great atmosphere.
03:34You felt there was only one winner from that point,
03:35and it was literally going to take another five minutes
03:37for Mata Rielly to come back after nearly three months out
03:41after that Corrie Town game in August,
03:44after his ankle surgery.
03:46I mean, it doesn't really get much better than that.
03:49First Premier League appearance,
03:51coming back from injury,
03:52and you score a late winner against Man City,
03:54so a superb comeback,
03:55one of the finest nights at the Amex.
03:58Yeah, I'd have to agree with that.
03:59The second half in particular,
04:01I thought the atmosphere was fantastic.
04:03It was sort of a chilly, sort of dark November evening,
04:06wasn't it?
04:07And it was just, it was quite,
04:08it was electric in there, wasn't it, in the second half?
04:11And as you say, Boliva changed the game,
04:13Pedro coming back,
04:14the substitutes just really made a difference.
04:17And City, they just couldn't,
04:19even Pep Guardiola in a press conference afterwards,
04:22he admitted they just couldn't cope with their substitutions.
04:25Yeah, and obviously City are going for a bit of a
04:27time of it at the moment.
04:28Obviously that's four defeats in a row now,
04:30Pep Guardiola for the first time in his managerial career
04:33that he's lost four on the bounce.
04:35So it's a real rough time for them,
04:37got a number of injuries.
04:38But inside Brighton,
04:39I think we pointed out before the game,
04:40there wasn't a recognised defender on the Brighton bench.
04:43No, no.
04:44And obviously we've had problems in the last few weeks
04:46with Van Hekker being out,
04:48but I thought he was exceptional again tonight.
04:50He and Igor,
04:51Igor as well.
04:52Both of the pair of them, yeah.
04:53They kept hard, and apart from the goal,
04:55really quiet, especially in that second half.
04:57So, yeah, superb result.
05:00Yeah, no, Igor's had his critics,
05:02but I thought he was great today.
05:04And the win moves Brighton up to fourth.
05:06Now they've got the international break,
05:07and then at Bournemouth after the break.
05:09So it's looking quite rosy for Brighton.
05:11It certainly is.
05:12Yeah, hopefully they can pick up some points.
05:14Obviously they're famously renowned for dropping points
05:16in games they may be expected to win.
05:18So hopefully they can get better at that.
05:20And you never know,
05:21they could really push up the table.
05:22So I think it's been a really great start to the season.
05:24Great, great.
05:25Well, keep up to date with everything on our website,
05:27sussexworld.co.uk,
05:29where we've got all the reaction from here,
05:30and we'll be looking at what's going to be happening
05:32at Brighton during the international break as well.
05:35But thanks very much.
05:36Cheers, Sam.
05:57Welcome to another episode of the Goalmouth Action Podcast,
06:16where we take a look at all the latest goings on at Brighton,
06:18Hove Abbey and Crawley Town.
06:19I'm Matt Poul,
06:20and this week I'm joined by Brighton writer, Darren Howard,
06:23Crawley Town expert, Mark Dunford,
06:24as well as Sam Morton,
06:25who covers both the Seagulls and the Reds.
06:27Albion came from behind to beat Premier League champions,
06:30Manchester City on Saturday to inflict a fourth successive defeat
06:33on Pep Guardiola for the first time,
06:35the City boss.
06:36We'll pick over the bones of the Seagulls' superb win over City.
06:39Plus we'll bring you all the latest from Crawley Town,
06:41who are in league and cup action this week.
06:43You can read all the stories we are talking about with the videos
06:46and pictures online at sussexworld.co.uk forward slash sport.
06:49And you can check out other great videos on shotstv.com
06:52and Freeview channel 262.
06:54You may also be watching on latest TV.
06:56So thank you very much for tuning in.
06:57But we'll start at the Amex,
06:59where Brighton picked up a remarkable 2-1 win over Man City.
07:03Albion trailed to Erling Haaland's 23rd minute effort,
07:05but João Pedro and Matt O'Reilly struck in the second half
07:08to claim three points for Albion.
07:09And it sounds like a deserved win, Darren.
07:11Sum that game up for us, please.
07:14Yeah, it was almost a mirror image of what happened at Liverpool
07:18when Brighton played really well in the first half.
07:21And then, you know, suffered in the second half
07:23and then obviously came away with nothing from Anfield.
07:26And it was the reverse at the Amex where they weren't...
07:29Well, actually Manchester City were very good.
07:31They did play very well in the first half,
07:33but Brighton were just a little bit off the pace.
07:37But it all changed around in the second half.
07:40They played much better.
07:42And the crowd really, really played their part as well.
07:45I was speaking to Sam after the match
07:49and it's one of the best atmospheres I've seen up there at the Amex.
07:53And the way that the crowd got behind them,
07:56that Brighton were playing on the front foot.
07:58And it was really, really good to...
08:00A really good watch and an impressive second half performance.
08:04But overall, it was the substitutes that made the difference.
08:09I thought Carlos BolÃvar coming on in midfield for Yassin Ayari,
08:13who'd been booked in the first half.
08:16I think he made a huge difference.
08:18He was...
08:19He just came into the team with the belief that he can change the game
08:24and he dominated the midfield.
08:27And then also, João Pedro came on, also got his goal as well.
08:32So, he's been out for the last six matches with an ankle injury
08:35after he was clattered in the later stages against Nottingham Forest.
08:40So, he came back, got his goal.
08:43And then, Matt O'Reilly, the three substitutes all combined.
08:48It was BolÃvar into Pedro.
08:49Pedro fed it through to O'Reilly.
08:51And, yeah, on his return as well, he got the winner.
08:55And it was thoroughly deserved.
08:58And I thought overall, it was a great performance.
09:01Bart Verbruggen, again, looked great in goal.
09:03Joel Veltman, Igor and van Gekker were great against Erling Haaland as well.
09:10And even saw Pep Guardiola have a bit of a meltdown at the end
09:14when he had a go at van Gekker, which I thought was unnecessary, really.
09:18I thought he was out of line, really, to really pick out van Gekker.
09:22And they were giving each other grief all the game,
09:25Erling Haaland and van Gekker and Igor.
09:27It was a real physical battle.
09:30And I just thought it was fair play to both.
09:32They were both a really good tussle.
09:35And I didn't see the need for Guardiola to really make a big deal
09:39of going out to van Gekker and publicly having a go at the Brighton player,
09:44who I thought played very well and handled that situation with Guardiola
09:49quite well.
09:50He looked quite, you know, it was all just a bizarre sort of exchange, really.
09:56But, yeah, overall, a really great performance from Brighton
09:59and good to go into the international break on the back of that victory.
10:03Absolutely.
10:04Well, Man Utd and Spurs have already been beaten at the Amex this season,
10:07a sign of the confidence Brighton have on their own ground.
10:09But was this easily the most impressive victory of Fabian Hazala's short reign
10:13so far, Sam?
10:15I think it's got to go down as the best one.
10:17I think that Spurs game was epic in the way they did come back and win.
10:21So that was brilliant in its own right.
10:23But I think to beat Man City, regardless of what form they're in
10:26and what injuries they have, it's always going to be a huge victory.
10:31And for Hazala to beat Guardiola so early in his managerial career
10:35at such a young age, it's brilliant.
10:37And it would only give him confidence going forward, I think.
10:40And as well as the players, they can take this really as a marker
10:44to show you can really can beat anyone when you play at your best.
10:47And in the second half, Brighton were at their best, really.
10:50They made Man City the bang average.
10:52I think obviously that wasn't the case early on, where City dominated the ball
10:57and they could have been two or three goals up.
11:00But Brighton did respond so well to that goal that City scored.
11:04But as Deryn said, the real turning point was when Carlos Baleba
11:08came on at half-time and completely changed the game.
11:12And I think with someone like him on your team playing the way that Baleba is
11:15and the confidence that seems to be flowing through the Brighton players,
11:18I think, yeah, it just really goes to show you really can beat anyone.
11:22And obviously Pep losing his fourth game on the bounce for the first time
11:26in his career obviously probably had a bit of an impact in his behaviour at the end
11:29because he did lose the plot a little bit.
11:32And it was quite funny as we were speaking to Van Hecker in the mix zone,
11:36Guardiola actually interrupted him again kind of halfway through
11:39to kind of almost kind of sarcastically shake his hand and wish him best of luck.
11:43It didn't seem fully sincere.
11:45But, yeah, as Deryn said, you don't really like to see that.
11:49And I don't think there was any need for it at all.
11:51I completely agree with that.
11:52But I think Van Hecker...
11:53I love to see it. It's great. It's great. It's box office.
11:57I love it.
11:58Guardiola's done a bit more than he did.
12:01Did he do it with Nathan Redmond?
12:03Nathan, yeah.
12:04And he's done other things like that.
12:06He's a bizarre character, isn't he?
12:08Yeah.
12:09Yeah. Sorry.
12:10Yeah. He's obviously under a lot of pressure.
12:12So I imagine that's probably had an impact on his behaviour, I guess.
12:16But, yeah, a lot of problems for City.
12:18But all looking rosy for Brighton.
12:21It is indeed.
12:22And one of the promising signs from that game was Summer signing O'Reilly,
12:26who had been out injured since his debut on the 27th of August.
12:30And he scored the winner with seven minutes to go to seal the win for Albion.
12:33Deryn, how pleasing was it to see the former Celtic man make such a telling impact
12:36on the game following his injury rose?
12:38And I read that, I think, Osella and Danny Milbeck were on many,
12:40who were so pleased for him at the end of the game.
12:43Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
12:44And you can see why as well.
12:46It was a real blow for him.
12:49I think it was six minutes into his debut in a game against Crawley Town,
12:52Carabao Cup.
12:53He'd literally just arrived from Celtic the previous day,
12:56been on the pitch for six minutes,
12:58and then it was the Crawley Town captain, Jay Williams,
13:00who clattered into him.
13:02And he hobbled off.
13:03It was a good tackle.
13:04He just mistimed it.
13:07Sorry, I missed that.
13:08It was a good tackle, just mistimed.
13:10Just mistimed.
13:11He just mistimed it.
13:12Yeah.
13:14But it was, yeah, it was a crunching tackle,
13:18and it put O'Reilly out.
13:20He was expected to be out until sort of December, January.
13:23He needed surgery on his ankle,
13:25and then it was going to be a bit of a lengthy rehabilitation.
13:28But he came back ahead of schedule.
13:32And what a way to come back, just coming on, you know,
13:36in the closing stages and then getting the winner
13:39against the Premier League champions.
13:41It's really, you know, the sort of reward for all the hard work
13:45that he's put in to get back on the pitch.
13:49And I think Brighton fans can now look forward to, you know,
13:52seeing more of that as well and to have him back into the team
13:56and, you know, really going strong as you go into the sort
13:59of the festive fixtures.
14:01That's a real bonus for Brighton.
14:04But he's an interesting character, Matt O'Reilly.
14:06There's a good podcast on the Albion website where he's speaking
14:10about his sort of mindset throughout his recovery period.
14:14He's big into meditation.
14:15He's got this guy from India who he speaks to,
14:18sort of this meditation guy.
14:20And he's always big into sort of this mental approach to the game.
14:25And he says that really helped him.
14:28He said when all of his family were around him and other people
14:32around him sort of blaming Jay Williams and, you know,
14:36and he said there's a lot of ill feeling towards him
14:38from certain people that are close to him.
14:40But he said he sort of forgave him instantly.
14:43And he just said that if he doesn't forgive him,
14:46then that would impact the way he recovers,
14:49which I thought was an interesting way of looking at it.
14:52So, yeah, he's quite deep into all that.
14:55And he said it really helped him to come back stronger and fitter.
15:00But, yeah, it's a good listen if you get a chance to look at it.
15:05I enjoy it because Bryan fans clearly still haven't got over that tackle.
15:09And my favourite tweet was, I can't remember what somebody tweeted,
15:13it was like, oh, I take that Jay Williams kind of thing
15:15when Matt O'Reilly scored on Saturday.
15:17And somebody replied, what a sad little life, Jane,
15:20which was referencing the come dine with me sort of thing.
15:25But, yeah, just kind of things.
15:28Yes, it was a dreadful tackle, but these things happen in football.
15:31You move on and, yeah.
15:33Why are you talking about Jay Williams?
15:35Well, he wasn't, because he was asked about it.
15:38But why are you talking about Jay Williams
15:40when Matt O'Reilly has just scored a win against Man City?
15:43Yeah, it seems an odd way to come at it, doesn't it?
15:47It does, yeah, it really does.
15:50Yeah, and you're right, O'Reilly didn't come at it in that way.
15:55He was responding to a question.
15:58Jay Williams is injured at the moment, so there you go, irony.
16:01No.
16:04Karma coming around, some Albion fans would say.
16:07Yeah, absolutely.
16:09Another player who received heaps of praise following the City win
16:11we've spoken about him was midfielder Carlos Baleba.
16:14The likes of Danny Welbeck, Alan Shearer, Glenn Murray
16:16and Warren Aspinall have all been infusive in their praise
16:19for the young midfielder, with Aspinall saying the 20-year-old
16:21was already on par with ex-Albion man Moises Caicedo.
16:25Sam, how impressed have you been with Baleba?
16:27And do the Seagulls have another gem on their hands?
16:30They absolutely do.
16:31Yeah, I think he's been the star man of the season so far.
16:34He's added goals to his game as well.
16:36And he's just been absolutely class, really.
16:39I think, obviously, he had a bit of a slow start to his Brighton career
16:41where he was kind of settling into a new country, a new league.
16:44And it was always going to take time for him to become his best version of himself,
16:49really, and he seems to really be on his way now.
16:52And he's shown some top-quality performances.
16:55And it didn't really get much better than that against Manchester City,
16:59completely changing the game.
17:00Because, as I say, City were quite dominant for large parts of that first half.
17:03And they did miss that kind of controlling presence in midfield
17:08to take control of things and take the pressure off other players
17:11by holding the ball up.
17:12And the way that he glides through players is just something to behold, really.
17:16I think he just gets the ball in defensive midfield
17:19and he can just run past the four or five players
17:22and take them all out of the game.
17:24He can pick a pass, short or long distance, and split the fences open.
17:29And it's just his power and just how much control he has of the midfield
17:34is really impressive.
17:35He's only going to get better as well.
17:37So it was a really, really good performance against Manchester City.
17:40And I completely agree with all the praise.
17:42As you mentioned, there was a bit of a segment on Matchday Today
17:44where they talked about how quality of a performance it was
17:47and how much of a difference it made in the match.
17:49So, yeah, really, really prompting signs.
17:51And it looks like Brighton have managed to find that replacement for Caicedo,
17:54which was the big question was if they'd be able to do when he left.
17:57And it now finally seems like they have that ready-made replacement.
18:01And he could be even better.
18:03You never know. Time will tell how he develops.
18:05But obviously, Caicedo really himself has become the player
18:08that we saw with Brighton at Chelsea.
18:10He's been really good for them this season as well.
18:12So, yeah, signs are really good.
18:14But I think you've also got to obviously praise the subs, obviously,
18:17Jal Pedro and Matt O'Reilly for the impact they had.
18:20It's so good to have them back, really.
18:22I think, obviously, all the talk in the build-up was Pedro
18:26and O'Reilly being back in the squad.
18:28And I don't think anyone would have dreamed that they would be the two players
18:31to actually win the game kind of thing.
18:33So, I think it's a really good day for Brighton on all fronts, really,
18:36getting these players back from injury.
18:38And it really does bode well for future games.
18:40Absolutely. Well, Albion go into the last international break of 2024,
18:44sixth in the Premier League.
18:46Montreal third-placed Chelsea by virtue of goal difference.
18:49Deron, what do the Seagulls have to do with Keep Up,
18:51the European chasing pack?
18:53And do you think this young Brighton team can make it into the top four
18:56and maybe even challenge for the title?
19:00It's going to be very difficult.
19:03You know, you look at the teams above them,
19:05Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal.
19:08It's hard to break into that group, especially when they're such a young...
19:12You know, they're at the sort of the beginning of their sort of, you know,
19:15progress under Herzéla with the players they have.
19:18But they've proved they're capable of competing with these teams.
19:21And now it's just about showing consistency,
19:23especially in the next run of games against, you know,
19:26Bournemouth, Southampton, Fulham, Leicester, Palace.
19:31You know, they're going to be the ones.
19:32If they can come through that pretty much unscathed and be consistent
19:35in those run of matches, then they're going to be there or thereabouts.
19:38But having Lewis Dunk back, keeping Jal Pedro fit will certainly help their cause.
19:44But I think if I had to guess, I'd say top six, I'd say.
19:48And that would be a fantastic achievement, I think, this season.