Everton at Brighton: The Opposition View | Seagulls confidence rising

01/25/2025 08:23 AM

Blues look to stack victories under Moyes

The David Moyes Era - the new one - has gotten off to an interesting start. After a first match in which it looked as though Everton was still honoring their former boss by scoring no goals against a very good Aston Villa side, Moyes' Men scored three against Tottenham Hotspur to sink Big Ange and help their own cause. They are now sitting at 20 points - good enough for 16th on the Premier League table right now - and just four points behind Tottenham and several clubs sitting between 24 and 28 points.

To get closer to that group, defeating an inconsistent Brighton team will be pretty crucial. Under Fabian Hürzeler, the side started off blazing but has since cooled. Sitting at ninth on the table with 34 points, they are looking to find good form once again, but will have a stingy defense standing in their way.

Prior to Saturday's affair, we spoke to Jeremy Smith, Brighton fan and football writer and podcaster at French Football Weekly:

RBM: To begin with, talk to us please about the season and the vibes around this Brighton side that came out hot and has since cooled a spell.

JS: I'd say the vibes are mostly positive - although, to be fair, that's after coming off three wins in a week - I might have given you a different answer two weeks ago! We're well placed for a push to qualify for Europe again; we have a couple of important players back from injury, we've got some really exciting attacking talent, and so things are looking good right now, after a frustrating period which, to be fair, didn't include many defeats - just far too many draws and a couple of leads really badly squandered.

RBM: What has changed from the start of the year, and how are we appraising new boss Fabian Hürzeler?

JS: I don't think too much has changed to be fair. Pretty much all season, we've performed very well against the supposedly bigger-name teams but struggled to beat those lower down in the table. Hurzeler was coming in for a lot of stick a fortnight ago, and I guess he does need to take some blame for not being able to break deeper-lying teams down and maybe managing the closing periods of matches better. But we're a young team, and he's a young coach. They're all on a learning curve together, and there are always going to be dips. I guess I'd rather they were frustrating draws rather than frustrating defeats.

RBM: Talk to us once more about the consistency of the team if you would; is it a matter of the team becoming younger and having to learn certain lessons or is it more up to fixtures and execution than personnel?

JS: We have had a lot of injuries to contend with, and maybe a slightly unbalanced squad in that we have lots of players in certain positions and not enough in others, so there hasn't quite been consistency in terms of starting XIs (central defence and central striker having to change a lot due to injuries), different wingers appearing from one match to the next). And young players are always going to be a little less consistent (not even across a season but across a match - we're yet to play really well for a full 90 minutes). In terms of execution, we're definitely not putting away enough chances and that has seen us drop points. But I think the main issue is that our strengths seem to match up very well to the bigger teams who are going to look to attack us, rather than those who sit back and invite us to try to break a low defensive line.

RBM: Is the side looking to make any moves in January?

JS: Enciso has gone out on loan, and Ferguson may or may not follow. Diego Gomez has now joined in midfield (the deal was done in the summer, for him to join in January) - hoping for lots of goals of the type he scored for Paraguay to beat Brazil - I recommend looking it up! In terms of other incoming - we are looking for a potential bargain at centre-back - Igor is out for the season, Dunk is beginning to get more niggles, and Webster is injury-prone - only van Hecke has avoided injury - but that means that he's a little over-worked right now!

RBM: What are the side's ambitions at this point in the season? What are the aims for the rest of the campaign regarding finish and competitions for next year?

JS: The management continues to talk about being a consistent top 10 club, which I think is fair considering that, all things being equal, the top 7-8 places should really be sewn up by the usual names. But considering the money we spent in the summer (albeit lots on future prospects who have been loaned out), I would be disappointed if we didn't qualify for one of the smaller European competitions - especially as it's a great opportunity with the likes of United and Spurs struggling. With all due respect to them, it would be pretty annoying if Bournemouth qualified for Europe at our expense.

RBM: How do you expect Brighton to set up on Saturday and which players do you think might be able to cause Everton the most problems on the south coast?

JS: We've generally played as a 4-2-3-1 but we looked really good last weekend against United's back 3, with our wingers doing loads of damage. So if you go with a back 3 as you did last week, then we might set up that way again. Our best player this season has been Baleba, who has been bossing midfield - although the unsung Ayari had a hand in the goals last week. If the set-ups are as they were last week then it should be the likes of Mitoma, Minteh, Adingra and March (depending on who features on the wings) who'll stretch your wing backs. Then up front, I expect Joao Pedro to cause you problems - a really clever, versatile forward who can create as well as he scores.

RBM: Finally, what's your prediction for Saturday's affair?

JS: As we've noted before, this fixture can throw up some quirky results. When you look back on the 5-1 of two years ago, allied to the fact that we've failed to beat Ipswich, Forest (OK, that one doesn't look so bad now), Wolves, Southampton, Palace, or Brentford at home this season, then I'm pretty nervous about it. But hopefully, our tails are up at the moment, and we can come away with a nervy win where we end up hanging on at the end.

Our thanks as always to Jeremy for his time.