Brighton must learn to cope with being favourites

A repeat of a scenario we have seen before, and a frustration quite a few people had seemed to see coming, cost them two points in their 1-1 draw with Southampton.

The failure to beat ‘lesser’ teams has not just affected them this season. Fabian Hurzeler recognises that.

There are two problems with that as Albion soar into what was second place overnight.

Firstly, the higher you go, the more of these ‘lesser’ teams there will be.

Secondly, the ‘lesser’ teams appear to be getting better.

Are Albion happier being the underdogs? Are we, as observers, more comfortable with them being seen as underdogs?

I don’t know if the first bit is true but I suspect the second bit is.

If so, that has to change. And it will. Because that’s what happens with Albion.

They will never get the stadium, they will never get to the Premier League, they will never be top ten, they will never make Europe, they will never beat the biggest clubs, they will never beat Chelsea.

Now they will never work out how to dispatch the lower sides.

No, they will work it out and we can look forward to routine 2-0 successes which quickly slip from the memory rather than angst-ridden draws which itch for days.

Here, almost all the predictions were for a home win.

It was the only game of the evening and live on TV and radio. A brilliant Friday night showcase.

Hurzeler enjoyed the media focus and gave an excellent interview with Andy Goldstein and former Albion loanee Darren Bent on TalkSPORT late in the afternoon at the stadium.

He spoke all about the process, about his age, welcomed them to the stadium and gave them replica shirts. The joke was that Bent would have to give his back after a month.

And then Hurzeler’s preferred script was not followed.

Southampton deserved their point and were a complex and time-consuming VAR call from a win.

Hurzeler looked as irritated and frustrated as we have seen him after the game. His answers in the press conference were shorter than usual.

He was civil and honest and spoke well, but was a bit more abrupt in places.

So I asked him whether he was annoyed and he said it was not so much that.

He added: “I think we have already had bad experiences this season with games like this at home.

“I am not so annoyed, to be honest.

“It is more the fact that we weren’t able to continue our performance in the second half.

“I am not too much focussed on the result.

“I am a coach who focuses on performance and trying to make the players better.

“We weren’t able to continue the first half. That is why we only deserve a draw.

“That is something we are not really happy.”

But what about going second in the table?

Hurzeler laughed and said: “It is now a good question after a game like this.”

It felt like that familiar scenario against strugglers was playing itself out as Kaoru Mitoma missed a sitter and Georginio Rutter hit the post in the first half.

Rutter shot wide, Danny Welbeck headed narrowly off target and superiority remained unrewarded.

But then Mitoma ran across his marker to head home a cross by Tariq Lamptey, in for the injured Joel Veltman.

After a bright start to the second half, the Seagulls lost control and it was easy to suggest they missed the presence of Carlos Baleba in midfield.

Southampton did not miss Flynn Downes, even though he was not exactly inhibited in his activities by a yellow card shown for a painful hack at Danny Welbeck.

Downes fired in a leveller and Cameron Archer’s potential winner was ruled out because Adam Armstrong was offside as he went to touch the cross.

Simon Adingra almost forced the winner when the ball hit the post deep into more than ten minutes of what was largely VAR-time.

So why does it keep happening? Why this almost self-fulfilling prophecy that Albion will struggle against lower sides?

It is easy to say they need the second goal, and that helps, but not even that was insurance against Wolves.

One factor has to be the margins are so small. They have been winning games but with precious little to spare.

Since the first day at Everton, every victory has been a nailbiter, fraught, an epic of its type.

They have all been secured by the tightest of margins and often amid frantic scenes in the final minutes.

It is not as if they are putting sides away with a bit to spare.

Which is great, please don’t misunderstand that. Winning matches in the Premier League is always great.

Every win in this league is to be admired and treasured.

That they were second overnight, albeit not in the way they wanted, was an achievement.

But this was a reminder of that work-in-progress status.

One suspects Hurzeler expected this game to be confirmation that they had overcome the Achilles heel against the lower sides.

But those lower sides still have good organisation and talented individuals.

Hurzeler said: “We have to be honest to ourselves.

“We have to be honest to ourselves that this can’t be our identity, this can’t be our style of play, how we want to present ourselves to our home fans.

“We have to apologise for the second half and that is something where we have to be very critical of ourselves.”