Nobody Is Ever Going To Forget Following Albion Around Europe This Season

A big way to head into Christmas as we ‘welcome’ Brighton to Selhurst on a Thursday night.

Ahead of the game I caught up with Scott from We Are Brighton…

TEB – A significant season for you, being in Europe and doing so well – how is it feeling to be a Brighton fan at the moment? Has there been a price to pay in terms of league performance, and is it a fair price?

WAB – There has never been a better time to be a Brighton fan. For a club that was losing to nine-man Walsall at a rented athletics stadium in front of under 7,000 fans just 15 years ago to now be beating the likes of Ajax and Marseille is absolutely mind blowing.

Premier League performances and results have certainly dipped. Fatigue within the players has been noticeable, particularly after the big Thursday night games in Europe. And whereas Roberto De Zerbi stuck with a pretty settled XI from the end of October until mid-April last season, he has rotated every game this time around to try and navigate through the additional workload. That has had an impact too.

But the last part of your question sums up where many Brighton fans are. If the price we pay for beating Marseille to top our Europa League group or winning in Amsterdam is losing at Arsenal or a sketchy draw with Sheffield United, then it is very much worth it. Nobody is ever going to forget following the Albion around Europe this season.

TEB – A lot of Palace fans would love to be in those shoes. What’s your overall ambition for the season?

WAB – You see so many teams qualify for Europe for the first time one season who then end up in lower mid table or sucked into the relegation battle the next. At the start of the campaign, I said that a good run in Europe and finishing in the top 14 would be an excellent season – especially having sold Alexis Mac Allister and Moises Caicedo in the summer. To have cruised into the last 16 of the Europa League winning the group of death and be three points off sixth having lost 12 players at one point to injury is phenomenal really.

TEB – Who’s your star️ performer so far?

WAB – There has been so much rotation that it is kind of hard to single one player out. So, I will name two. Both Lewis Dunk and Pascal Gross seem to be getting better with age. There is something rather satisfying that two of the Albion’s best players in their debut European campaign were there when the club started its Premier League adventure six years ago.

TEB – For any Palace fans who haven’t seen much of Brighton this season, how will you play/set up?

WAB – DeZeriBall© is high risk, high reward stuff. The Albion will knock the ball around dangerously close to their goal to lure the other team into pressing. If the opposition do that, then Brighton will play lightning quick passes to sweep up the other end through the gaps left and take as early shot as possible.

When it works, there are not many teams in the Premier League who can deal with it. Hence why Brighton have put at least three goals past Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea in the past 12 months and ended Manchester City’s 14 game winning streak by holding them to a draw at the Amex.

But when it doesn’t work, it can go badly wrong – like when Everton left Sussex with a 5-1 win or the 6-1 tanking at Villa in October. And let’s be honest, it would be very Brighton for it to go wrong against Palace of all teams…

TEB – To say we would love it, would be something of an understatement!

TEB – Who’s your current pantomime villain? I assume it may be Palace in general, but do you particularly focus on any individual player?  

Still Wilfried Zaha, I am afraid. Had the Albion not finished top of their Europa League group and had to face a playoff round against one of the third placed sides from the Champions League, it seemed certain that Galatasaray would come to the Amex and Zaha would knock us out of Europe.

TEB – If you had a magic wand, which Palace player would you have in your squad or line up?

WAB – Eberechi Eze. My partner’s step-father is a QPR season ticket holder, so I saw Eze play a few times before his move to Palace and he always looked Premier League class. He is exactly the sort of exciting, young attacking player who De Zerbi could take on to another level; as he has with the likes of Kaoru Mitoma, Simon Adingra and Julio Enciso.

TEB – Views on Palace this season?

WAB – It seems a bit of a pointless season. Keeping Roy Hodgson beyond the job he did at the end of the previous campaign showed no long-term planning and smacks of a club who just want to survive in the Premier League.

With Graham Potter, Brighton had to ride out a lot of bad results and concerning spells of form before it came good. De Zerbi has now taken that much, much further. Tony Bloom’s patience has paid off in a big way.

Palace could have brought in a young, progressive manager in the summer and given him the two-and-a-bit seasons Potter needed to get it right. Kicking the can down the road on that decision until next summer – presuming Hodgson retires then – has just wasted a year you could have spent building.

Having said that, I am glad you kept Roy if for no other reason than him laughing at Pep Guardiola at the weekend, which was absolutely superb.

TEB – And finally, what’s your prediction for the game ?

WAB – It only ever seems to end 1-1 when Brighton come to Selhurst these days, doesn’t it?

If you would like to hear more from Scott or any of the team at We Are Brighton, you can find them on X or over on their excellent website.