Brighton and Hove Albion vs Leeds United. Premier League.
Amex StadiumAttendance30,953.
Report and highlights as Brighton put on another dominant showing to join Manchester City at the top of the Premier League; Pascal Gross scores for the hosts at the Amex; Jesse Marsch was booked on a frustrating afternoon for Leeds
Saturday 27 August 2022 18:40, UK
Brighton maintained their fantastic start to the season as Pascal Gross scored in a 1-0 win over Leeds, who were criticised for "freestyling" by boss Jesse Marsch.
It was looking like another one of those days for Brighton in front of goal after squandering multiple chances but Gross showed the required calmness on 66 minutes to slide his dominant side in front.
It was a goal that took Brighton top of the Premier League for six minutes until Manchester City's comeback against Crystal Palace as Graham Potter's team have now won eight of their last 11 Premier League games either side of the summer break.
Leeds were second best for the majority but did rally after going behind and Diego Llorente was inches away from heading home an unlikely equaliser on a frustrating afternoon for Jesse Marsch, who was booked by referee Michael Salisbury for some petulance in the dugout directed at the officials.
Marsch was frustrated with his team's performance, especially in the first half, claiming his players didn't stick to his pre-match plan.
He said: "We had guys freestyling with and without the ball. Staying true to the match plan needed to be better."
Marsch also accepted he deserved his yellow card for sarcastically clapping the referee: "My behaviour deserved that. When you don't believe you're getting performances out of the referee you either accept it or escalate your behaviour to get a change in their decisions."
Brighton were sharper, more creative and aggressive than Leeds from the first whistle which made for a very one-sided first half. Adam Webster squandered the best of Brighton's many openings when heading wide a Gross corner from just seven yards out. Leeds played like a side lacking in confidence which was surprising considering their impressive win over Chelsea last weekend.
Leandro Trossard was the next Brighton player to sky an effort off target on 27 minutes before taking on one too many defenders instead of shooting when well-placed moments later.
It looked like a familiar story for the home fans to witness. Over the past three seasons at home, Brighton have created an expected goals figure of 88.32 but had scored just 61 goals showing a clear underperformance in front of goal against the quality of chances created.
The theme looked to be continuing after the break when some good work from new signing Pervis Estupinan set up Gross from eight yards but he stumbled a wild effort wide of the post.
He was more clinical on 62 minutes as Brighton finally found a way through which came after Leeds substitute Luis Sinisterra had almost poked home the opener at the back post after a deflected effort beat Robert Sanchez.
Danny Welbeck, excellent playing as the focal point, held the play and survived a close offside call to feed Trossard. He skipped across the box before setting up Gross, who produced the quality required to beat Illan Meslier.
Marsch did get a reaction from his players after the goal.
Leeds' best chance came with eight minutes left when Adam Forshaw whipped in a sensational delivery from the right and Llorente won the first contact but his header looped wide of the post.
Joe Gelhardt's arrival from the bench did cause Brighton some problems in the closing stages but Sanchez was relatively untested as he and his defence celebrated a third clean sheet of the season.
Potter has a phenomenal ability to mould players into playing a position in his fluid system. Gross has long been a deep-lying midfielder or a wing-back during his time with Brighton but he is quickly now becoming their most potent attacking weapon in the final third.
His position is now one of freedom playing centrally behind the impressive Welbeck and he is returning a fantastic strike rate of goals. This cool finish to beat Leeds was his fifth Premier League goal in his last seven appearances and his third already this campaign after his double at Old Trafford.
Gross is an intelligent footballer that has the knack of finding space and that ability is being utilised by Potter further up the pitch where his quality ball striking is proving the catalyst for Brighton's fantastic form. It shows no sign of stopping either.
Graham Potter speaking to Sky Sports: "In the end we are happy as we got three points and the clean sheet but it would have been nice to open the scoring a bit sooner as our performance deserved it. But credit the players, they deserved the three points against a side that make it very difficult for you. We're really happy with the start we've made and happy with our work."
Jesse Marsch speaking to Sky Sports: "First half we didn't play well but we made some adjustments and played better in the second half.
"This was a strategic day. They man-mark and try to play in our end, more direct. It was part of our plan too, to play in their end and play direct to put them under pressure. But our players chose to play out instead of being direct which was the plan. We need to have discipline to stick to the plan of the match. We did it better in the second half. This was a theme of last year when we would build a plan, the match would start and the players would play how they wanted, not sticking to the plan. So, when we do stick to the plan we can manipulate the game more. It's a learning moment."
Brighton visit Fulham at Craven Cottage on Tuesday in the Premier League; kick-off 7.30pm. Everton visit Leeds at Elland Road on the same night at 8pm.
