From the AMEX – Brighton came into their Premier League clash with Leeds badly needing a win.
While Graham Potter’s charges started the season in fine fettle and even recently snatched a deserved point at Liverpool, they haven’t won since September – that victory coming over Leicester.
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During that time, the Seagulls have been held by Norwich and Newcastle – games they were heavy favourites to win – and were downed by Steve Gerrard’s Aston Villa last time out.
Their situation isn’t as dire as Leeds’, mind.
Marcelo Bielsa’s side have started the season woefully, winning just two of their opening 12 league games. They took the lead at Tottenham last week but couldn’t hold on, going down 2-1 losers. With just two points separating them between the relegation zone, Saturday’s game at the AMEX came as a welcome opportunity to start afresh.
While Leeds have rightly earned a load of plaudits since their promotion to the top flight, it was Brighton who did all the pressing during the first half, with their young star Tariq Lamptey looking particularly threatening.
While Brighton usually play 3-5-2 or some similar variant, it was a more traditional 4-2-3-1 on Saturday evening with Lamptey pushed high up the field on the right.
Attacking end product is definitely an area the 20-year-old will be looking to improve. He has managed just one goal and two assists in the Premier League during his fledgling career, but the positions he got into against Leeds warranted greater returns for Brighton.
He definitely should have bagged an assist for one move, where he got behind Junior Firpo and crossed for Neal Maupay, who could only shank wide in frustratingly familiar Neal Maupay fashion.
While Brighton dominated the game and went close through the likes of Jakub Moder and Solly March, no breakthrough ever came and a slight drop-off in intensity coincided with Lamptey’s substitution.
The youngster needs to be monitored over a hamstring injury he is still on the comeback trail from, but it speaks wonders about his impact on the squad since joining from Chelsea that he is able to make such a difference to their attacking play.
He has the safe Joel Veltman behind him. The Dutchman has proved to be a great signing from Ajax and his consistently composed performances give Lamptey the platform to attack, whether it’s as a wing back or as a winger.
Brighton definitely need more goal threats. The same problems in front of goal stopped them from beating Leeds on Saturday, and if Lamptey can get into better shooting positions, he’ll become a new threat, one which the Seagulls haven’t been able to call upon too often over the past year due to his injury issues.
Hopefully those issues are behind him and he can keep developing at the rapid pace he currently is.
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