Advertisement

Brighton strikeforce show backbone to help side beat West Brom 3-1

Tomer Hemed jumps for joy after scoring Brighton's third in their 3-1 win over West Brom  - Action Images via Reuters
Tomer Hemed jumps for joy after scoring Brighton's third in their 3-1 win over West Brom - Action Images via Reuters

After a transfer window notable for transfers that did not happen, this was a match defined as much by players who stayed put as by one who made a move.

Brighton tried but failed to add two forwards to the strikeforce that fired them to promotion last season. 

Instead of sulking about attempts to replace them, the players met after the close of the window and resolved to find the goals they will certainly need this season from within the existing squad.

Pascal Gross, signed early in the window from Ingolstadt mainly as a provider, scored Brighton’s first two Premier League goals and laid on a third for Tomer Hemed, who had created Gross’s second. 

Neither had previously convinced the supporters, but Israel striker Hemed, especially, looked like a man who had a point to prove after reports he might have been sold to a Championship club if manager Chris Hughton had got the men he wanted. 

Brighton players celebrate Hemed's goal, which helped the side to their first win of the season  - Credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images 
Brighton players celebrate Hemed's goal, which helped the side to their first win of the season Credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images

“I decided to stay here and compete for my place in the starting XI whoever will come,” he said. “And, in the end, none of the strikers we heard about came. I think the most important thing is to look at what we have, not what we don’t have.

“I was aware about what people were saying. It was looking like they forgot about the strikers that we have in the team. 

“If you look at the last two seasons, we scored a lot of goals and I didn’t understand why people are so worried about that.

“We knew we would have to work harder. The players all spoke about it. We need to be ready every game to give everything. That’s the only way to win.”

West Brom looked out of sorts and lacked intensity from the first minute during their 3-1 defeat at Brighton  - Credit: Daniel Hambury/PA
West Brom looked out of sorts and lacked intensity from the first minute during their 3-1 defeat at Brighton Credit: Daniel Hambury/PA

Hemed’s reaction was exactly what Hughton had wanted.

“Once that window closes, you look for a response from players who might have thought they would not be playing a lot of games,” said the manager. “It is not a secret, the players would have known we were trying to bring in a striker, but that is the game. What it should do is inspire them to do as well as they can.”

West Brom’s Jonny Evans interested both Manchester City and Arsenal during the window, with reported offers approaching £30 million only serving to emphasise the surreal inflation in the market this year.

On Saturday, his below-par performance summed up Tony Pulis’s team’s lack of their usual intensity – Gross’s first goal went in off him and Hemed got in front of him to head the third.

The best pictures from Game 4 Grenfell

Evans at least had the excuse of shaking off some rust after injury, but others might fear for their places. Grzegorz Krychowiak had a subdued debut, but fellow newcomers Oliver Burke and Kieran Gibbs added spark off the bench.

“The manager has called for a greater strength and depth in the squad, and he has got that,” Evans said. “It is up to the players who have been here to step up their game.” 

Hemed is their example.