The Media Review: Burnley

The reports of the 1-1 draw away to Burnley all had one thing in common. Without fail, they began with a description of an Albion goal that no Albion player had anything to do with.

With Burnley 1-0 up thanks to a somewhat fortunate Josh Brownhill goal. Clarets keeper Arijanet Muric presented Roberto De Zerbi’s men with an even more fortunate equaliser.

The most colourful description of it came from Neil Squires in The Sunday Telegraph. “Goalkeeper Arijanet Muric’s second car-crash moment in as many games cost Burnley a precious win at Turf Moor and brought relegation one step closer,” he wrote.

“There seemed no danger on the horizon when Sander Berge sent a gentle back pass to him 11 minutes from time with Burnley one goal to the good. Somehow though – without a Brighton player in the same postcode – the Kosovan contrived, with the clumsiest of traps, to allow the ball to roll under his boot and into the net.

“It was a moment of pure footballing horror and Turf Moor instinctively morphed into a collective version of Munch’s The Scream.

“Coming hard on the heels of the charge-down goal by Dominic Calvert-Lewin which led to Burnley’s defeat at Everton, it was a tough one to take.”

He referred only in passing to Albion’s contribution to the game, writing: “However bizarrely their equaliser came about, a patched-up Brighton side, who lost another front-liner when Pervis Estupiñán limped off with an ankle injury after just 13 minutes, deserved their point for their second-half dominance.”

In The Mail on Sunday, Mike Whalley conjured up the spirits of Gary Sprake, Massimo Taibi, Peter Enckelman and other goalkeepers who have committed howlers and claimed that “the goal Muric conceded at Turf Moor will still be shown in 50 years’ time.”

But he added that “Brighton, after a slow start, improved significantly after half-time, and looked the likelier scorers when they went behind following a defensive error of their own.

“It was a goal, strangely, that had echoes of the one Muric conceded at Goodison; Brighton keeper Bart Verbruggen attempted to clear under pressure from Carlos Baleba’s loose back pass, and Brownhill charged down the kick to scor

“Brighton head coach Roberto de Zerbi said. ‘We cannot forget he is 20 and we have to expect that.

“‘If you play a lot of inexperienced players, they will make mistakes. But next season we will see another Carlos Baleba.’”

Will Unwin of The Observer thought that “a winner looked unlikely as chances came and went, although neither goalkeeper was tested by any of the traditional methods of scoring, such as shots on target. First, it was Verbruggen’s turn to learn about shame, running out to clear a misplaced Carlos Baleba pass, only to watch it rebound off Brownhill and into the net.

“’We didn’t deserve to win the game but we didn’t deserve to lose,’ Roberto De Zerbi said. ‘We are not in the condition to play great games. We are suffering, we are going through a tough period. We have to fight.’

“Leading a match is a rarity for Burnley and their fans did not get much chance to enjoy it before Muric misjudged the size of a football, letting it scrape his studs and dribble into the net.”

Generally, reports of the match occupied spaces on the Sunday pages that were more or less equivalent to being last on Match Of The Day (which we were). These days The Sunday Times relegates what it considers the least interesting Premier League game to a few paragraphs with no team listings or player ratings. They assigned only four paragraphs to this game – even on a day when only six matches were staged in the top flight. The first began ”There was only one incident in this match that anyone will remember” and it was the only one that was even mentioned.

The Sun on Sunday was one of the few papers to say much about the match action apart from the two goals, “Burnley had to see off plenty of first-half pressure from a Brighton side who had failed to score in five of their previous eight matches.

“Simon Adingra’s burst down the right took him past Vitinho and within sight of goal, and although Muric blocked his shot, there was then a nervy moment for the keeper, who had to clear quickly in a crowded box as Maxime Esteve fired a back pass at him.

“The Kosovan keeper was kept busy during the first half – he held another Adingra shot comfortably enough, then spilled a long-range effort from Brighton midfielder Carlos Baleba, having to scramble to gather the loose ball.

“Muric could only watch as Joao Pedro stole in behind Vitinho to glance wide from Pascal Gross’ superb angled cross, but was alert later in the half to push away Jakub Moder’s free-kick, and blocked Danny Welbeck at close range as the striker closed in from a tight angle before the break.

“Esteve had to make a brilliant tackle early in the second half as Adingra raced through on goal, with Brighton starting to pick holes in the Burnley back line.

“Gross saw one shot deflected just wide with Muric stranded, and then had another tipped over by the keeper after Sander Berge had lost possession cheaply. Gross took the resulting corner and caused more Burnley panic, with Joao Pedro glancing a header just wide.”

Not for the first time, you had to look at the BBC website for any analysis of the Albion situation, although it did not make for very comfortable reading. “Brighton were not at their best at Turf Moor and recent results suggest the Seagulls' season is at risk of petering out,” Jess Anderson wrote.

“Having qualified for Europe for the first time in their history last season, they have now secured just six victories in their past 26 league games and another season of playing on the continent is starting to look unlikely.

“Manager Roberto de Zerbi was already without nine first-team players and his list of casualties could be extended to 10 after Estupinan had to be replaced early in the first half having sustained an apparent ankle injury off the ball.

“The Italian's side have picked up just two points from their past four games and it seems the addition of European football to their schedule has proved a step too far this campaign.”