A tale of two keepers
Burnley were held to a 1-1 draw by Brighton at the Turf yesterday with the two goalkeepers, Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen and Burnley’s Arijanet Muric, very much on the spotlight when he goals went in.
The two goals were no more than five minutes apart in the final quarter of the game with Burnley going in front when Verbruggen could only hit a clearance onto the onrushing Josh Brownhill. The equaliser was an absolute calamity for Muric who tried to put his foot on the ball, got it wrong and saw the ball roll into his net.
That, in a nutshell, could be considered a report of a game that never came close to reaching any heights but a game in which we had the opportunities to win, particularly in the first half.
Just when you thought the weather might be improving, the cold winds and rain returned to give the game more of a Burnley feel but I was able to walk down to the ground before the rain came, meet with friends and pick up the team news. We knew there would be one change with Dara O’Shea suspended; there were two. Hjalmar Ekdal came in for O’Shea while Vitinho returned, preferred to Charlie Taylor who dropped to the bench. It was the first time we’d kicked off a Premier League game without O’Shea in the starting line-up since the home defeat against Chelsea in early October and for Ekdal, who is still to play a full ninety minutes in a game this season, his first appearance since the home draw against Fulham, a game that saw him replaced by substitute Maxime Estève; the two were now defensive partners.
There was no doubt that we were the brighter and more likely of the two in the opening quarter of the game and we should have gone in front during that period when Jacob Bruun Larsen got onto an Odobert cross at the far post and inexplicably managed to shoot wide of the target.
The game did even out with little football to excite the crowd. Muric made a couple of routine saves but Brighton’s best chance fell to João Pedro who headed wide. There was to be one big chance before we went in for half time.
Just before the break, Brighton won a free kick for a foul by Lorenz Assignon. There was no argument but Danny Welbeck decided to inform referee Hooper that he should be carding Assignon. I would query why Hooper chose not to card Welbeck. Muric saved Jakub Moder’s free kick well but with the game in stoppage time, Odobert set up David Datro Fofana who, not for the first time, failed to get a touch and another big, big chance had gone.
Jay Rodriguez, much to the disgust of the Brighton fans, came on for the ineffective Fofana and then an injury to Ekdal forced another change with Brownhill coming on and Sander Berge moving into defence. Ekdal had turned in a really good performance too, for me and his partner Estève were our best two players by some distance.
With the game heading into its last quarter of an hour, Estève hooked a ball forward that Brownhill just couldn’t quite to get on to. Carlos Baleba did and played it back to Verbruggen, or he tried to. Well done Brownhill for chasing it down. In doing so he got his reward. Verbruggen did get there first but with Brownhill so close to him could only kick it onto him and the ball rebounded off Brownhill and into the net. In some ways it was similar to the goal we conceded at Everton but the difference being that Verbruggen never had possession of the ball.
Were we heading for a third home win of the season? It looked so but the self-destruct button turned up again and how. There was absolutely no concern when Taylor played the ball back to Muric who in turn played it across to Berge. When Berge opted to return the ball to Muric, the goalkeeper tried to put his foot on the ball, got it so badly wrong and could only turn to watch the ball go into the net.
It’s not been the best of seasons for Burnley goalkeepers has it? So often I’ve had to report mistakes by James Trafford, mistakes that finally led to him being left out for the last five games. Muric returned and did well in the first three, but even Trafford hasn’t made the sort of errors that we’ve seen from Muric in the last two games.
Neither Tom Heaton nor Nick Pope were perfect, but this season has highlighted how blessed we were to have goalkeepers of their calibre for virtually nine years, and not forgetting their coach Billy Mercer.
Brownhill, who I thought made a really positive difference when he came on, did get in a shot straight at Verbruggen, but that was our only real opportunity for the remainder of a game that just about died a death.
We’ve had enough opportunities to get closer to the likes of Nottingham Forest and Luton but haven’t taken them now. With Forest also drawing, we remain seven points from safety and now with one less game to play. It’s Sheffield United next, the one team below us. I know Bramall Lane has never been the happiest of hunting grounds for us, but surely this time against a team who really are far worse than us.
The teams were;
Burnley: Arijanet Muric, Lorenz Assignon, Hjalmar Ekdal (Josh Brownhill 67), Maxime Estève, Vitinho (Charlie Taylor ht), Wilson Odobert, Josh Cullen, Sander Berge, Jacob Bruun Larsen (Mike Trésor 86), Lyle Foster, David Datro Fofana (Jay Rodriguez 620. Subs not used: James Trafford, Han-Noah Massengo, Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson, Manuel Benson, Zeki Amdouni.
Yellow Card: Josh Cullen
Brighton: Bart Verbruggen, Joël Veltman, Jan Paul van Hecke, Lewis Dunk, Pervis Estupiñán (Igor Julio 13), Pascal Groß, Carlos Baleba, Simon Adingra (Adam Lallana 77), Jakub Moder (Ansi Fati 77), João Pedro (Mark O’Mahoney 89), Danny Welbeck (Facundo Buonanotte 77). Subs not used: Jason Steele, Valentin Barco, Odeluga Offiah, Cameron Peupion.
Yellow Cards: Joël Veltman, Mark O’Mahoney.
Referee: Simon Hooper (Wiltshire).
Attendance: 20,687.
Click HERE to vote for your man of the match.
Click HERE to post your player ratings.
Share this page :