Brighton 3-0 Derby Five Things: Team Game

Seagulls celebrate another win – mirror.co.uk

Goals from Anthony Knockaert, Sam Baldock and Glenn Murray gave Brighton a 3-0 win over a sluggish Derby side – but what have we learnt from the game?

Knockaert the jewel in Brighton’s crown

Anthony Knockaert has already scored 12 goals and produced seven assists this season, so right from the moment he set up Jiri Skalak for a counter-attacking shot early on, one sensed it might be his day. Cutting in from the right, Knockaert was at the centre of much of Brighton’s positive attacking play, showing both fine vision and exquisite close control. The Frenchman was helped by an anonymous Derby midfield pairing of Jacob Butterfield and Julien De Sart, so when the latter failed to get a challenge in, Knockaert fired home from range inside five minutes. He tracked runners and contributed to the defensive side of the game, which is more than can be said for Derby’s players.

Derby’s shoehorned individuals

Derby started an attacking quartet of Tom Ince, David Nugent, Matej Vydra and Darren Bent. At previous clubs, those players have thrived in free roles in central areas, whilst partnered with others who did a lot of running. Nugent worked alongside the speedy Jamie Vardy at Leicester and Gabriel Agbonlahor offered similar qualities next to Bent at Aston Villa. Vydra partnered a workhorse in Troy Deeney at Watford while Ince was given creative freedom at Blackpool. Derby however, have shoehorned all those expensive players into the same team without considering who provides the pace, the work rate, the power, the tactical discipline and whether they compliment one another.

Brighton dominated wide areas

Ince started on the right wing, a role that requires a player to chase back the opposing left-back, in this case Liam Rosenior. On one occasion, despite being seven years older than Ince and just recovering from injury, Rosenior out-paced Ince through sheer desire. Whenever the left-back pressed into the opposing half, Jiri Skalak would be behind covering and the duo combined just as effectively in possession. Left-sided deliveries caused indecision among Derby centre-backs, Chris Baird and Alex Pearce, with Murray heading narrowly over from Skalak’s near post cross on 34 minutes.

Brighton’s ruthless front two

When the woeful De Sart inexplicably made a tackle that saw the ball go between Derby’s two centre-backs, Sam Baldock finished coolly to put Brighton 2-0 up before the break. It was a deserved goal for the ex-Bristol City striker, who was full of running all evening. Partner Murray does not have as much pace but he worked equally hard to stop Derby’s defence playing into midfield. He used his physical presence to retain the ball in good areas and thus help his side get further up the pitch. Murray was clinical too, ramming home on 78 minutes after Knockaert’s left-sided cross.

Hunemeier stepped up

It was a quiet second half which saw Brighton keep their opponents at arms length, without creating too many more chances themselves. Some fans worried about the impact of Shane Duffy’s injury but Uwe Hunemeier has helped Brighton to two clean sheets in his last two games and did some excellent covering work when the ball got beyond Bruno. Partner Lewis Dunk dominated Bent throughout, baring the latter’s early header from Cyrus Christie’s cross. The right-back also created Derby’s ‘best’ second half opening when Vydra nodded wide, but this was a poor display from the Rams devoid of energy and urgency.

After a mini-blip however, Brighton have reminded us why they are in the driving seat.