Dave’s Ramblings – Brighton and Hove Albion

August 30, 2026 Admin

There was a time when Brighton were a lovely little team from Sussex. Our paths rarely crossed. When they did we generally patted them gently on the head, took the points and sent them home with a souvenir programme.

How times have changed. Brighton now play in Europe and have beaten us in each of our last four meetings. Thankfully, we have finally acquired their secret weapon: Daniel Nii Tackie Mensah Welbeck. Better known to the world as Danny. Even better known at Chelsea as ‘Oh, for God’s sake, not him again.’

Having spent years scoring against us for fun, he is finally on our side. So, with Welbeck wearing blue, what could possibly go wrong?

Last season, I went into every game full of hope and Chelsea (mostly) spent the following 90 minutes beating it out of me.

This season however, I have actual expectations…and frankly, I’m not emotionally equipped for them. My pre-match beer doesn’t taste the same, my stomach is doing tactical formations and I keep looking at the league table as if it contains my latest medical results.

Only Chelsea can cure this anxiety. The problem is that, in recent times at least, they’ve managed to make it considerably worse!

For the fourth game in a row, that plucky little club from Sussex scored three goals against us. Sadly for them, we scored four. Who knew football allowed such tactical innovation?

We play a completely different style now. One that doesn’t involve treating possession statistics as the actual result. Today, we had just 25% of the ball. Under Maresca, we’d have enjoyed a magnificent 80%, completed 700 passes across our own penalty area and lost 3–0.

Now, when we get the ball, we attempt something truly revolutionary: We try to score a goal.

Less tippy-tappy nonsense. Almost none of the traditional side-to-side, backwards, sideways, back-to-the-goalkeeper choreography. Just the refreshingly simple philosophy of: ‘We’ve got the ball, quick, do something useful before they take it back!’

The goals…

Four minutes gone and Roméo Lavia scores his first for us. Nothing spectacular, just Brighton defending as though they’d been to a party last night and drunk too much sherry.

Ten minutes later, Morgan Rogers got the better of a Seagull on the left. (Not a chip stealing one, a footballing one) and crossed for Pedro Neto to nip in and make it 2–0.

On 32 minutes, Hato went charging forward and crossed for João Pedro to make it 3–0 against his former club. Out of respect, he didn’t celebrate. Much. The rest of us, having no such emotional attachment to Brighton whatsoever, went absolutely mental.

This was ridiculously easy. Three goals inside 32 minutes. At this rate, it was going to be ten. Brighton were finished, the game was over and we could all relax.

Oops.

It turns out that confidently predicting a cricket score while supporting Chelsea is less optimism and more summoning a demon.

Three minutes later, Brighton pulled one back. Emi Martínez made a smart save, but the ball still ended up in the net.

3–1 at half-time and this was pure entertainment. Absolutely wonderful for the neutrals who, as usual, could do with minding their own business.

Brighton started the second half far better and reduced the deficit again. 63 minutes and a shot took a massive deflection off Pedro and completely wrong-footed Martínez.

From 3–0 and ‘this could be ten’ to 3–2. Bugger.

Then, just as several thousand Chelsea supporters were collectively preparing for an emergency change of underwear, Cole Palmer eased our nerves with a magnificent individual goal. He curled the ball past the keeper from outside the box in the 74th minute to restore our two-goal lead.

And breathe…

A definite early contender for Goal of the Month and more importantly, the winner of the prestigious ‘Please Stop Brighton Doing This to Us award.’

Naturally, with virtually seconds remaining, Brighton scored again. Because Chelsea don’t simply win football matches; we turn them into live-action medical examinations. Too little, too late, thankfully and the final whistle arrived.

A pretty decent first week under our new manager: Three victories, plenty of goals and only a minor increase in national demand for heart medication.

My takeaways…

We’re going to make a lot of friends this season if this game and Fulham are signs of what’s to come. Neutrals will absolutely love us. Unfortunately, quite a few Chelsea supporters may not survive until Christmas.

Despite having a frightening forward line, the chances of simply outscoring the opposition every week can best be described as brave. We urgently need to discover what’s wrong with the defence and fix it before next Sunday.

It feels terribly ungrateful to watch such exhilarating football and then complain about the defending. However, there is a fine line between entertainment and a cardiac event. Chelsea spent most of the second half dancing on it.

The signing of Emi Martínez did make a difference, although conceding three goals isn’t the strongest evidence for the prosecution. He looked calm with the ball, distributed it reasonably well and most importantly, didn’t cause any palpitations. He also made a couple of decent saves. I’m guessing he’ll be our new number one, with Mike Penders as his deputy and Sánchez placed somewhere safe where he can’t hurt himself. Or us.

If we can defend just a little better, we really could have the sort of season we haven’t enjoyed for a long time. If we can’t, we’ll still have a memorable season it’ll just be sponsored by the British Heart Foundation.

Our lack of possession might continue to cause problems. Possession isn’t the be-all and end-all, but the uncomfortable truth is that the longer the opposition has the ball, the more opportunities they have to score. And against our defence, ‘opportunity’ is currently a very generous term.

We also launched not one but two serious entries for Miss of the Month. João Pedro’s effort (if ‘effort’ is the correct legal description) was surely the winner. It was less a shot at goal and more an attempt to clear the stadium roof.

There were excellent performances all over the pitch, but João Pedro gets my Man of the Match award. It wasn’t just his goal; it was his teamwork, selfless running and excellent hold-up play. I’ve got a feeling he’ll continue to get better and better.

That is encouraging, because at the moment we may need him to score four every week!

Pictures can be found by clicking here https://www.flickr.com/gp/jtba/01ph0e5QB1

UTC 💙

Dave