Derren Howard, Sam Morton and Henry Bryant discuss the latest goings on at Brighton and Hove Albion
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00:00Okay, welcome to another episode of the Goldmouth Action Podcast where we take a look at all
00:08the latest goings-on at Brighton and Hove Albion. I'm Darren Howard and this week I'm
00:13joined by Brighton writers Sam Morton and Henry Bryan. Thanks very much for joining
00:17us chaps. Brighton endured another week to forget as they suffered a 3-1 home loss to
00:22old rivals Crystal Palace. They're now winless in their last four. We'll bring you all the
00:27reaction as well as a look ahead to Saturday's trip to West Ham and you can read all of the
00:32stories we're talking about with videos and pictures online at sussexworld.co.uk forward
00:38slash sport and you can check out other great videos on Shots TV and Freeview channel 262.
00:44You may also be watching on latest TV. So thank you very much for tuning in. But first
00:49of all, lads, you were there against the Palace game at the Amex. Now that the dust settled
00:55a bit, Sam, what's your what's your feelings about what happened there?
00:59Yeah, it was a really tough, tough day and results take for anyone associated with Brighton
01:05really. It was obviously seen as always an important game. It's always a big game against
01:10obviously Crystal Palace being their biggest rivals. And so it's always a game you kind
01:15of you want to win for bragging rights and that kind of thing. But with the form that
01:19Brighton had going into the game, it was even more important in that sense. They kind of
01:24got that confidence going back after a couple of disappointing results. And unfortunately,
01:29it wasn't to be. And it was, as I say, a disappointing afternoon that ended 3-1 to Crystal Palace.
01:35And there was one stage at the start of the second half where Brighton were putting on
01:39a lot of pressure. But they came up against an inspired Dean Henderson, who saved everything
01:44that came out to him, including a brilliant Julio Enciso effort. So with like header from
01:50Lewis Dunk, that's probably the closest Brighton came in the game. But then obviously they
01:54didn't score a very fluky goal right at the end, where obviously it was an own goal of
01:59Mark Gahee. So a bit of fortune there, but it did little to lift the spirits inside the
02:04Amex because there wasn't really many fans left to see it when they were 3-0 down. And
02:09that kind of sums up the feelings and the emotions behind it. And yeah, so it's been a little
02:14bit, a little bit kind of down since then. But obviously footballs can change really
02:18quickly. And if they can get a win away at West Ham this weekend, things can definitely
02:22turn for the better once again. So, yeah, fingers crossed it doesn't linger too much.
02:27And yeah, I think Fabian is definitely trying to keep on the positive side and I'm sure
02:31the players will be as well and they won't let it affect their mindset going into the
02:35following games.
02:36Yeah, it's his most challenging period of his career, isn't it, Henry? Since he's, he
02:41obviously had a lot of success at St Pauli. Taking over at Brighton, it went fairly well
02:45at the beginning. Now winless in four, a bit of a rocky patch and he's come in for
02:50some criticism, hasn't he, of late. Did you buy into that? I think the fact that 200 million
02:57has been spent, it's sort of a blessing and a curse for him, isn't it? Because they can
03:01sort of, it's a stick to sort of beat him with when things go wrong, as it were. So
03:06what have you made of Hersella and sort of the tactics and his all round sort of progress
03:12so far?
03:14Well, I think this is a big testing situation for him because in his career, we've only
03:20really seen the highs. And when he did come to Brighton, he got that manager of the month
03:24forward straight away. So for him to get straight on the bandwagon and be doing that well in
03:30the Premier League at such a young age, the youngest ever permanent manager in Premier
03:34League history, that's a lot to sort of start at. So now we are having these difficult times
03:42winning us in four. It does seem like Brighton fans are just wondering what's going on really.
03:47And I think it does boil down to maybe a little bit of naivety, not just with the players
03:51because of the average age that we've got on the pitch being sort of in that early 20s
03:56mark, but also the fact that we have got a young manager. I think that will come with
04:02experience and just time and time will tell if Brighton in this January transfer window
04:08do sign a few more leaders. It was another journalist, sports journalist, Andy Naylor,
04:13that's been mentioning that sort of lack of leadership due to injuries and also players
04:17being sold in the midfield with the likes of Adam Lallana, Pascal Grosz that we ended
04:23up selling in the summer transfer window. So I do feel like Brighton, although they
04:29have spent this money and I have been speaking to other Brighton fans and mates about it
04:34and they are sort of on the fence with Herzl at the moment due to the fact that there has
04:38been that amount of money spent. It is also down to leadership sort of on the pitch.
04:44I think we've seen a few blips from Herzl. I think the first one that caught a lot of
04:49people, not just Brighton fans and the Brighton base, but also in the Premier League by shock
04:55was the way he set up against Chelsea. It could have really been a cricket scoreline
05:00in that game if Chelsea were a little bit more clinical. And some of the ways that
05:05they were setting up against Fulham, for example, that three at the back to start with when
05:09you've never really beaten Fulham in the Premier League.
05:12He tried to shoehorn Dunk back in the team, didn't he?
05:16Yes. I think it is just a mix of players coming back into the squad. I think Dunk as well.
05:21We're talking about our leaders here in terms of me as a Brighton fan, but they are sort
05:27of struggling a little bit. I mean, Dunk didn't have his best game against Palace,
05:31it's fair to say. He got turned inside out a few times and was made to look a little
05:36bit slow as well. So I think after this Christmas period and once we're sort of into that new
05:42year, once the players hopefully have joined, because it should be a busy sort of transfer
05:49window. I know that Tony Bloom doesn't like to do that, but I think you will have to get
05:54a few leaders into the team if Brighton are to sort of turn this around a little bit.
05:58So it will be interesting. I think that's when you can judge Brighton, when you've had
06:02the highs and how they've dealt with the lows, because currently they're trying to deal with
06:06the lows. And as long as it doesn't turn into maybe an eight game winless streak, then I
06:12think that if they're able to bounce back sooner rather than later, maybe even against
06:16West Ham on the weekend, then maybe that momentum will change.
06:20Yeah, yeah, true. Danny Welbeck, Sam, he was obviously missed against Crystal Palace. He's
06:25been brilliant for Brighton this season. He's the leading scorer with six goals. He's going
06:29to be out with his ankle injury still against West Ham. Fabian Hosella confirmed that in
06:34this morning's press conference. How much of a miss is that, Sam?
06:38Yeah, yeah, he's a big miss. He's a big miss. I felt they really lacked his presence against
06:43Crystal Palace as that focal point up front. Obviously, they have so much attacking talent
06:47in the team. So it's a difficult one, isn't it? Because you know, obviously, without Welbeck,
06:53they should have enough. They should have enough, obviously, with Jarapejo, Utter, Matoma,
06:58Dingus Carthapenge, Ferguson. There's just so much attacking talent in the team that
07:02you'd think that it shouldn't really matter. But I think with the form that Welbeck's in,
07:07and he really is kind of the best form of his career in terms of a start he's had to
07:12this season, it is a big miss. And it is a shame that he looks like he's going to be
07:16out for a little bit of time. And you just kind of wonder if it's caught up with him,
07:20obviously, with the age he's at, the amount of years he's been in the game, that he probably
07:23wasn't expecting to be playing as regularly as he is. And maybe that has caught up with him.
07:28I think that surprised everybody, yeah.
07:30Yeah, yeah. Maybe that has just caught up with him and he needs a bit of time to recharge
07:33the batteries and then go again in the year. So fingers crossed, it's nothing too concerning
07:39in that sense. But yeah, I think there's opportunities for others to step up, none
07:43more so than Evan Ferguson, who obviously we haven't seen the best of for quite a while now.
07:49So I'm really hoping that he can get some minutes as a result. But still, it's going to be tough
07:53to get into the team, as I mentioned, with the players in those attacking ranks. But I think,
07:59yeah, we want to see more from him. And obviously, there's been some talk about how we can get the
08:05best out of Rutter as well, who's had a kind of mixed start to life. Obviously, he's had some
08:09really good games and some not so good games as well. So it's just about finding those connections
08:14and getting the best out of all these players they have and just trying to find that balance,
08:18because it's a difficult one to make sure you get right. But yeah, so fingers crossed,
08:23well, it's not too long, because as I say, he is an important part of this team.
08:27Yeah, yeah, fingers crossed. But Henry, you were speaking about leaders,
08:30Joel Veltman, he's missed the last four games with this muscular injury. He's going to be back
08:36to face West Ham. How important was that? They've missed him in his last few games.
08:42Yeah, for sure. And I mean, as small examples,
08:46you can just tell how much of a leader he is on the pitch and how well he can change a game. I mean,
08:53if we look at that Arsenal game when Declan Rice got sent off, just
08:57even little things like that, just tricks of the trade to make sure that
09:01the game goes in your favour. That's quite a big example there. But you're right. I think that
09:07there's so much to sort of love about Joel Veltman, the way he plays. He's an all-round
09:13good personality as well. When you see interviews of him, he seems in good spirits. He can have a
09:18laugh. And I think that having someone that is able to play that full 90 minutes and hold on
09:25to the end is something that Brighton have been really lacking and really missing in these recent
09:30results, where if you go in 2-0 up against the likes of a struggling Leicester City side,
09:36for them to come back and score two goals, it's interesting. It's interesting. I'm hoping as a
09:43Brighton fan that that's the change because he's a real big part of the team. And yeah,
09:49it'll be nice to see him back.
09:52We were lucky enough to speak to Fabian for a little bit the other night at a Christmas event
10:00in Hove as well. We got a bit of time to talk to Fabian and he spoke really highly of Joel Veltman.
10:06He's one that he really kind of praised and feels really underrated in the Premier League. So I
10:11think that just leaves volumes about the impact that he's had at the club and how much of an
10:16importance he is for Fabian as well, as he's obviously settled down into the Premier League.
10:21So I think it's important that he comes back and he can make a huge difference in these really
10:26important games. Yeah, yeah. He's one of these experienced players that you talk about, isn't
10:31he? But he's out of contract at the end of the season. Another right back, Tarek Blampety,
10:35he's also out of contract at the end of the season. Both their right backs. What does that
10:40mean for Tarek Blampety? It looks as though Veltman will come in against West Ham, Sam.
10:46Blampety is going to drop out. He struggled, didn't he, in the first half against Palace?
10:49He was hooked at half-time. Yeah, it's difficult to see where he goes, isn't it?
10:58Is there going to be a new contract in the offering for him? It's hard to say at the moment.
11:03It's funny how quickly things can change in football, isn't it? Because before that Crystal
11:06Palace game, I actually asked Fabian about Blampety and his bit of resurgence that he's
11:10had on the team. He scored a cracking goal at Leicester and suddenly he was seeing more minutes
11:15than we've seen for a long time. He's really started to show glimpses of his electric best
11:20that we saw when he was first in at Brightonshire, especially going forward. Then, literally a couple
11:26of days later, against Crystal Palace, he had a bit of a nightmare first half. Obviously,
11:32he was largely at fault for that second goal where he allowed Tarek Mitchell to get...
11:36Went over him, yeah.
11:38Went over his head. He's obviously not blessed with height, but I think it just looked a little
11:42bit too easy for Tarek Mitchell to shrug him off and then get that crossing for the goal.
11:48So, it's a difficult one, I feel, for Blampety because we know that there isn't a really good
11:51player there, as we saw with his goal against Leicester. He really can still be a threat in
11:58this Brighton team. But, yeah, it's a difficult one. I hope he stays and we can see more from him
12:05and get more minutes and you can get that confidence back. But, yeah, it'll be interesting
12:10to see what happens with him in that right-back situation because there is a world in which
12:13Feltman and Blampety could both leave and they're left with no right-backs and they suddenly have to
12:18dip into the market and sign potentially two replacements. So, it's definitely a conundrum
12:24to solve, but it'll be interesting to see how it develops.
12:27Yeah, one to keep an eye on. Well, yeah, thanks, Sam. Join us after the break when we'll be talking
12:33about all things West Ham. Okay, thanks very much for joining us again. Henry, West Ham this
12:42Saturday. Brighton have got a great record against them, never lost in the Premier League. I think
12:46it's two wins and five draws against West Ham since they were promoted to the Premier League.
12:54What have you made of that record? Josella sort of dismissed it this morning. He said
13:00that it's, you know, he doesn't sort of base it on facts, on stats. It's more about what's been
13:05going on in the last week or so. He doesn't look too much into that, but it's a good record for
13:10the fans, isn't it, as well, and something for the fans to sort of hold on to. Definitely. I think
13:16for him, when you're posed a question like that, similar to a same sort of question I asked,
13:22actually, because against Crystal Palace Brighton hadn't lost in X amount of games.
13:28Yeah, it was very much... It was your fault, then. It was your fault, yeah.
13:33I know, all my fault. All my fault. I jinxed it. But I think in terms of those sort of stats,
13:40especially if they're positive and you're about to come up against the team,
13:43it must be quite stress-inducing, especially with a poor run of form so far. So I get why
13:50he's trying to dismiss those, because he's trying to manage expectation. But at the same time,
13:56it will be interesting to see how Brighton do against West Ham. They're 14th in the Premier
14:01League at the moment. They've been struggling, I must say. But one thing that is worth noting
14:07is they do score late goals. I mean, in that last game against them, they drew two Bournemouth. It
14:13was one all. All the goals came in the last sort of 10 minutes of the game. I think they scored
14:20with Paqueta from a penalty in the 87th minute and then Bournemouth for a goal in the 90th minute.
14:26So it will be interesting to see if Herzé and the players are able to have that full 90-minute
14:32performance that people are still looking for. Fans are still looking for that complete 90-minute
14:36performance because Brighton are still not their best. And give it a season, they may still not be
14:41at their very best because of the potential and the youthfulness of the players. But with a record
14:48like that, you'd hope that there is some sort of result here. I think realistically, with the form
14:53that Brighton have been in, a draw here would be good enough to build some momentum and go
14:59away with a point would be nice. I think a win would be great. I think a win would be great,
15:04but in terms of getting new players back into the squad, if Veltman is fully fit,
15:10then that would be exciting to see how he can influence the game. But if he's still coming
15:14back, just like we've seen with Lewis Dunk, who has struggled in the games he has featured in,
15:19I think this will be one of those tricky games where Brighton are trying to mould
15:22back in with players that are coming back from injury.
15:26Yeah. What have you made of Lopetegui's West Ham, Sam? Obviously, they do have a lot of
15:32attacking talent, don't they? Mohamed Kudos, I really like him. He almost joined Brighton,
15:36didn't he, a little while back as well? It was between West Ham and Brighton. And in Somerville,
15:40Brighton were in for Somerville. He went for West Ham as well. Probably paid him a bit more money
15:46than Brighton were offering. But yeah, they're good attacking players, aren't they? But they
15:52haven't quite clicked this season. Exactly. I think when I saw the signings
15:57they made in the summer, I was expecting a really strong season from West Ham.
16:01It looked like a good window for them. Yeah, really good window, you think.
16:04Fulwrig coming in, the striker with a lot of experience. Obviously, you mentioned Somerville,
16:09and you think those two players with Kudos and Bowen, that has the makings of a really
16:16promising and exciting attacking line-up. But it hasn't really worked out that way, and it still
16:20seems they're relying on Cushek to score from set pieces, and it just seems it hasn't really
16:26worked out for them. And I've been disappointed from what I've seen from West Ham this season.
16:31They've had some really disappointing results. Obviously, their game against Arsenal, where they
16:35were 4-0 down really, really quickly, it was incredible. And they had a bit of a resurgence
16:41and scored a couple of decent goals, including a sensational free kick from Emerson. So they do have
16:46the talent there, and they're players that can produce moments out of nothing.
16:50But there is definitely something missing, and they really have struggled so far this season.
16:55And you kind of felt, obviously, away at Bournemouth when they got that late penalty.
16:59And 87th minute, you think, hold on, surely. You've been 0-0 the entire game,
17:05you've seemingly got the winner, and yet they still managed to concede. And it was an incredible
17:09free kick, so you can't put too much blame on them for that. But it just seems to sum up West
17:13Ham's season really, that it just hasn't really been going to plan for them. So it'll be an
17:19interesting one against Brighton. But I think from a Brighton perspective, this is one that they
17:23need to win, I think, to get that momentum back. They've had a few disappointing results of late
17:28Brighton, and I think it's really important now that they just get that winning mentality back.
17:33And especially West Ham have won just one of their last 14 Premier League meetings with Brighton.
17:38So I feel like it's a game that Brighton should be confident going into.
17:42It's obviously two out of form teams, but I think Brighton,
17:45I think in terms of quality and kind of the players they have, they've got the edge.
17:50And I feel like it's a game that really Brighton should be looking to win and get an early goal
17:55and settle those early nerves, because I'm sure there will be going into the game and some
17:59questions being asked all over the pitch. So, yeah, I think get a couple of goals early on,
18:04settle those nerves and go from there.
18:06Go from there, yeah. They're a funny old team, West Ham, aren't they, Henry? There's been a
18:11lot of talk about the atmosphere at the Amex Stadium after Brighton's game against Crystal
18:16Palace. And I always find at West Ham now, when you go there, the atmosphere is, you're so far
18:23back from the pitch, aren't you? It's almost like, oh, there's a game of football going on
18:27somewhere over there. And you just seem a bit distanced. Do you think that's still
18:31a bit of an issue at West Ham?
18:34I think so. And I haven't been there personally, but from watching sort of stadium tours and
18:39things like that, because I'm into looking at the stadiums, even, you know, ticking them off
18:43the old list as it goes. But it does seem like, atmosphere-wise, when you're that far away,
18:49your home supporters are that far away from the pitch, it's almost like they're back in lockdown,
18:56if they're having a poor game, because there's going to be no sort of atmosphere.
19:00I have to say, I know that West Ham fans are meant to be quite rowdy, you know,
19:04they're quite on it. So maybe they make up for it in that aspect. But I think that's a big thing.
19:10I think with the Amex, they're not known to have the world's best atmosphere either,
19:14to be blunt with it. They're not the world's best atmosphere, but at least you're close
19:19to the game. You're very much not as packed in as Craven Cottage, but you're not so far away.
19:25So I wonder, it'd be interesting to know from players, actually, if when the going gets tough,
19:31that that impact of the fans being closer and whether that can turn the tide on games,
19:37because it does seem like they've been really struggling. There's been a sort of lack of
19:41confidence, really. Obviously, they've had a real bad incident as well internally in the club with
19:48Antonio sort of getting involved in that accident. Luckily, he's fortunately in a stable condition,
19:55but he's out as well. He's out. Look, Peggy's father died this week as well, didn't he? So
20:00he's been back for the funeral this week as well. It's been a long disruption, yeah.
20:05Yeah, attending the funeral before the game, if I'm correct in saying. So, yeah, it seems like
20:13they need to sort of use that to fuel their sort of mentality to get back on the horse and go for
20:23it. And that's quite a difficult thing to beat if you've got that mentality of the going's got
20:28really tough sort of in personal lives. So that's why, as a Brighton fan, I'm thinking a draw might
20:35be the result here because they're trying to fuel the fire west ham. They're trying to sort of make
20:41good of some unfortunate situations. Yeah, we'll see. We'll see.
20:46Yeah, no, it'd be an interesting one. It'd certainly be an interesting one. Sam, we were
20:51speaking about some potential new arrivals in January. Henry was sort of highlighting the need
20:56for maybe some leaders coming in. One player who has come in, another young talent from the MLS,
21:01Diogo Gomes, he sort of flew in, arrived at Heathrow this week and then went to the, he was
21:06given a tour of the Brighton training ground as well, met up with Julio and Cisso, met up with
21:14Herzéla. What do you think about his arrival? Obviously, he can't play until January the 1st
21:21or January the 4th will be the first game, against Arsenal's first game, he's available
21:25for it. But nice to see him in the building, as it were, and getting ready and up to speed.
21:31Yeah, no, absolutely. It was good to see him introduced to the fans before the
21:35Palace game. It was a real high point from the day. Obviously, it's a signing that we've known
21:40about for a long time, but it hasn't officially been confirmed until obviously very recently.
21:44So it's a really exciting signing. I think Herzéla is very encouraged and he's very excited to work
21:51with him, because he actually, when he was asked what role he would take, he was going to go
21:55kind of straight into the squad. He's going to be making appearances straight away, and he said he
21:59would be, because he's going to go straight into that kind of first team and he'll be in with the
22:04chance of getting minutes right from the off, which is really exciting to hear. But obviously,
22:10he knows more than anyone that it's going to take time for him to adjust to a completely new league
22:14in a new country. And hopefully, Julio and Cissé can really help him do that.
22:19And it could be something which actually gets the best out of Cissé as well. So hopefully,
22:24we've seen them link up together at Paraguay, and quite often, you see them both performing
22:28well at the same time for them as well. So I'm really hoping they can replicate that in a
22:32Brighton shirt. So yeah, when Herzéla was asked about it, he said he will go straight into the
22:37first team squad. He has the right attitude towards football. He loves to play and you can feel his
22:41passion in every talk. Also, when you see him playing for Paraguay and for Inter Miami, you see
22:45that he's ready to sprint, ready to make the last step and ready to give everything for his club.
22:49And that's something we need at Brighton, players' passion for football with the right attitude
22:53and working to improve and get better every day. And there's something inside of him that's special
22:57for such a young player. So I think those words, he says it already, that he's speaking very highly
23:02of this young man and hopefully he can really have a good start to life in Brighton.
23:07Yeah, yeah. And that's like you say, that link up between Enciso as well will be interesting.
23:12I thought he was the one positive to come out of that Crystal Palace defeat and Enciso's second
23:16half displays. So hopefully that's encouraging for them going forward. But yeah, let's move
23:23on to the score prediction. So Brighton at West Ham, Henry, what's your thoughts for that one?
23:31Yeah, I do. I know I've echoed it, but I do think 1-1 would be a good result. Obviously,
23:38it would be fantastic to win. But I think if Brighton were able to come out of this
23:43with a solid 90 minute performance, I think that's another thing as well,
23:47is as weird as it is to say if we went another 2-0 up and then conceded again in those last
23:54sort of stages of the game, it would be like a broken record where it keeps on repeating and
23:59it would become almost a personality trait of Brighton to have a fantastic start. So I think
24:05if Brighton can have a really solid 90 minute performance and draw the game 1-1, having played
24:10well and something to build on, I think that would be good. Yeah, Sam, I'm going to go with
24:16an optimistic. I think they've struggled to keep a clean sheet. So I'm going to go 2-1,
24:22I think, for Brighton this weekend. What do you think?
24:25I was going to say the same. I was going to say 2-1 Brighton. I mean, I was there at West Ham
24:30last season, which ended in a goalless draw. It was actually right at the start of this year,
24:35first game of 2024. And it was a pretty dour game. I'm hoping as I'm going up there on Saturday,
24:43I'm hoping for a bit of a better game to watch. But I'm confident Brighton can
24:49get back to winning ways at the struggling West Ham team. So I'm going to go 2-1.
24:542-1. Yeah, I think there will be a good reaction from the Palace defeat. Let's hope so. But no,
25:00thanks, Sam. Thanks, Henry. You can catch up with all the latest sports news cover and everything
25:04we've talked about today at sussexworld.co.uk. And you can also watch more excellent videos on
25:08shotstv.com and Freeview channel 262. But thanks very much for joining us, guys. Thank you.
25:15Cheers, Darren.
25:16Cheers.