Latest Opinion

Well, that was awful.

Player Ratings

Alphonse Areola (6)
Couldn’t do much about the goals but two in two games from corners after not conceding from them all season (with Fabiański in goal) is a tad concerning. Made a few good saves to deny Solly March, Evan Ferguson and Julio Enciso.

Ben Johnson (4)
Left horribly exposed against one of the best dribblers around for most of the game and Kaoru Mitoma unsurprisingly made him look pretty silly. Johnson initially responded well after his absurd mistake for the first goal but his second half showing was horrific. Inexplicably left Veltman all alone for the second.

Nayef Aguerd (6)
One of the few players to come out of this shambolic performance with any credit, Aguerd made key tackles and blocks to deny Ferguson, Enciso, and Alexis Mac Allister (twice). His interventions stopped the scoreline from drifting into total disgrace.

Angelo Ogbonna (3)
Eviscerated by Ferguson.

Emerson Palmieri (6)
The Italian made a sensational last man tackle to stop Ferguson from scoring (the young striker could’ve had a hat-trick) and handled the intense pressure from Brighton better than others.

Declan Rice (4)
Rice battled away in the first half despite his obvious frustration at constantly being outnumbered in midfield but the second 45 was not good. He looked like a player that had mentally checked out when he jogged back before the fourth, allowing Facundo Buonanotte to find Danny Welbeck with time to shoot.

Jarrod Bowen (4)
Hopeless. Ridiculous challenge to gift Brighton their penalty.




Lucas Paquetá (3)
He may have been ambitious on the ball when compared to teammates but Paquetá’s aggression in the duels on Saturday bordered on shameful. His defence of the front post from corners was laughable with Mac Allister easily winning first contact for Brighton’s second before Paquetá turned his back on the next corner from the first and second deliveries. Him turning away from March and allowing the winger to run through on goal in the 10th minute pretty much summed his performance up. He worked away in the press but showed none of the positional discipline required to cope with Brighton’s slow build-up – often the first domino to fall.

Tomáš Souček (5)
Souček chased everything in the first period with the impossible job of following Pascal Groß around. Awful in the second half when sitting alongside Rice.

Saïd Benrahma (3)
Abysmal. Defensively lost. Gave the ball away virtually every time he got it. Rightly hooked at half-time.

Danny Ings (5)
I’ve scarcely seen a player look more frustrated than Ings did for most of this game. The striker chased the centre-backs in a defensive structure that gave him exactly zero chance of ever winning the ball and received no service in an attacking capacity.

Pablo Fornals (4)
No impact.

Kurt Zouma, Flynn Downes, Manuel Lanzini (N/A)


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