Paul Merson believes Brighton deserve enormous credit for the way they dismantled Arsenal at the Amex, arguing that the Seagulls played a major part in making Mikel Arteta’s side look so poor.
As we saw in our Brighton 3-0 Arsenal match report, the Gunners struggled to establish any control and were comfortably second best for much of the afternoon.
Merson highlights Brighton’s relentless press
Speaking on Soccer Saturday, in comments published by Sky Sports, Merson focused particularly on Brighton’s intensity and Arsenal’s inability to play through their press.
“Arsenal struggled badly. Brighton really closed them down and went after them. They wouldn’t let them play out and they won the ball back consistently. They broke the press probably twice all day, Arsenal.
“The first goal put more air in Brighton’s lungs and they just kept going and going. They thoroughly deserved it.”
That assessment goes some way towards explaining why Arsenal looked so uncomfortable throughout the game.
Rather than allowing Arteta’s players time to settle into possession, Brighton continued to pressure them and repeatedly regained the ball.
Brighton deserve credit for making Arsenal struggle
Merson was also keen to ensure the focus was not entirely on what Arsenal did wrong.
“We’ve got to give credit where credit’s due. Arsenal weren’t great but Brighton made them not look great. They were outstanding.”
That is an important distinction.
Arsenal undoubtedly produced a poor performance, something Arteta himself made very clear after the final whistle, but Merson believes Brighton deserve recognition for forcing many of those problems.
Perhaps most disappointing was Arsenal’s failure to produce any meaningful response after half-time.
Merson added:
“You thought Arsenal would come out second half and have a go, they didn’t. Chema and Kostoulas were outstanding. Kostoulas caused Konsa and Gabriel nightmares.”
For Arsenal, the challenge now is to ensure this remains one terrible afternoon rather than a performance that provides opponents with a template for disrupting Arteta’s side.
What do you think, Gooners? Were Arsenal simply poor, or do Brighton deserve even more credit for making the Gunners look so uncomfortable? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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Loads of credit to Brighton
They are a very good team and deserved to win
Don’t know why people keep saying Brighton were great. They were bang average, just because we, for whatever reason were throwing away chances infront of goal, while allowing them all the time and space they needed near our penalty area, handing them goals on a silver platter, does not make them a great team, just we were absolutely useless.
They pressed us brilliantly, beat us 3-0, could’ve been 5 or 6 nil. Your dead right on the other half of the ledger, but we played that poor because of the pressure they put on us.
Gmv8,
Come on now, take off those rose tinted glasses and give some credit where it’s due. Brighton were deserved winners on the day, they ran that game from start to finish.
It always make’s me laugh when the fancied team lose. It’s always well they played terribly, it couldn’t possibly be that the opposition were better on the day.
Arsenal had two shots on target and barely more than a handful of shots all day…………rowing away chances?
Brighton were simply superior in every aspect of the game. Their first 2 goals came from a xG of 0.5