It will be Ze Derbi not De Zerbi in the FA Cup final and Solly will be the hardest word for Brighton for the next few days at least.
Brighton went toe to toe with Manchester United, for whom this wasn’t even their first Wembley trip of 2023. It will hurt for now and for a bit longer too. That’s the problem with fine margins: the fall always feels greater.
Brighton are currently in the sweet spot of their existence, where their supporters are enthralled about where the club is going but still have a vivid picture of just where they came from and what they went through to get here.
It may not always last. Recent history is littered with well-run clubs who were forced to sell one too many players, or the opposite can occur: achievement can bring with it expectation that warps into entitlement over time. Suddenly you’re not happy with finishing tenth because you finished eighth last year. Every set of fans vows that this will never happen to them, but that is no foolproof immunity.
But for now, there exists a determination to make the most of their time in the sun and the days when Wembley semi-finals roll around and you’re actually going to watch your team. This all started at the Goldstone and then the Withdean. So you rub your eyes, puff out your cheeks, take a deep breath and pray that the hairs on the back of your neck never go down again.
However you cannot just pretend that this is all about the experience.
They believed that they could beat Manchester United because they are good enough to do it.
Six of their penalties were majestic, but what does that matter when Robert Sanchez’s hand was just not strong enough and Solly March seemed haunted by the pressure.
Watching Brighton is an intoxicating live experience. They taunt you into pressing them high up the pitch, only for Adam Webster and Lewis Dunk to play passes down narrow corridors and tiny passages.
When they have beaten that press, your guess is as good as mine. Sometimes it’s a left-back stealing forward on the right, another time a defensive midfielder overlapping down the left. They are a box of tricks and that makes defending their threat like herding cats with a blindfold on.
They were not perfect. Brighton are so technically proficient that watching them slightly misfire makes you wince and groan. Kaoru Mitoma was lovely for the first four seconds he had the ball – then the pass went astray. At least five times between minutes 60 and 120 they had overlaps on the counter attack and failed to even create a shot on goal. Their tendency to overplay in the penalty area is enough to make a Buddhist monk scream in frustration and smash a window.
But it was those imperfections that made this a contest. If Brighton had successfully plotted their way past the press every time, they would have won with ease. If they had picked the right pass on the break, they would have danced their way back to Wembley in six weeks’ time. But the flaws gave Manchester United reason for hope and reason for us all to nudge a little further forward on the edge of our seats. It created almost an entirely equal contest – that itself is a compliment to Brighton.
Over time, as sun became rain and bright afternoon welcomed dusk with a nod of the head in passing, those imperfections did for Brighton. In extra-time, Mitoma should have scored and received a second yellow in the same incident. Their back-post corners brought chances but no goal. And as time ticked on and on, one end of Wembley became convinced that they had – literally and figuratively – wasted their best shot at a showpiece final.
How Erik ten Hag reacted to that incredible winning penalty
— Emirates FA Cup (@EmiratesFACup) April 23, 2023#EmiratesFACup pic.twitter.com/dT3s9lFxED
Perhaps Wout Weghorst won it for United. As well as geeing up his end of Wembley, he scored the sixth penalty and made sure that he handed the ball to March. Maybe we’re being uncharitable and Weghorst simply passed on a message of good luck, but it seems unlikely.
In those moments, cult hero status was assured. As United players embraced in the centre circle or ran towards David de Gea, Weghorst sprinted like a man possessed towards the opposite goal and performed a perfect knee slide. That is how you do it. That is how you ensure that you are remembered fondly when you bid farewell.
At Wembley’s opposite end, they stared at the pitch with their hands on their head before turning to leave. Every supporter is taking great joy and pride in the journey, but every masterplan needs a destination too. They wished it would be Wembley in June; they got defeat in April at the hands of March.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/0JTlxDu
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