As a fan of a newly-promoted side (albeit a side that’s done superbly well thus far and is clearly striving to harvest as much success from the 2025/2026 season as possible), I’ll defend the following maxim to the nth degree: a point and a clean sheet away from home against an established and always-tricky Premier League opponent is never an unsatisfactory outcome.
Sunderland — almost fully stripped of our AFCON contingent and thus fielding a rejigged side against the Seagulls — may not have been
able to back up their sterling effort against Newcastle with what would’ve been a hugely impressive victory at the Amex Stadium, but just as we felt a quiet sense of satisfaction at leaving Selhurst Park with a point earlier in the season, this was undoubtedly another step forward; a result that showed our blend of resilience, physicality and talent can lead to positive outcomes in different situations.
You just don’t turn your nose up at these kinds of results, in my view.
Much has been made about how Brighton are the club we should be striving to emulate and in some ways, that’s true. As we were sliding into the abyss almost a decade ago, they were heading in a different direction — one that’s enabled them to recruit smartly and challenge strongly and consistently in the top flight.
Pockets of Lads’ fans might’ve been miffed at losing Tommy Watson (who thankfully didn’t come back to haunt us on Saturday) to the Seagulls following his playoff final heroics, but they’ve made a huge impact and shaken up the established order over the years, which is to their credit.
Of course, it would be remiss to downplay the significance of the absence of the likes of Reinildo and Noah Sadiki, so influential have they been this season, but those tasked with replacing them did just fine and despite having to ride occasional waves of home pressure as the second half unfolded, a 0-0 was a fair result and I suspect Régis Le Bris will feel a quiet sense of satisfaction at how we dealt with this one.
Selection was key on Saturday and although not every decision Le Bris took paid off, that’s not necessarily problematic and I daresay he’ll have some interesting ideas about how to navigate the upcoming run of games, given the players we’ll be without and the need to adjust. I don’t see the depth of our squad as a problem, but there’ll definitely be some eye-opening selections ahead and the fringe players need to be ready when called upon — again, that’s the trade we have to accept.
Sunderland were as occasionally as disjointed in attack on Saturday as we were solid in defence.
Simon Adingra, returning to his old stomping ground following his summer transfer, offered plenty of effort but looked understandably rusty.
The same was true of Chris Rigg, Habib Diarra and Romaine Mundle, but with the red and white defence being marshalled superbly by Omar Alderete — you can understand why his former chairman was so annoyed at losing him during the summer, because he’s a hell of a good defender — the clean sheet was preserved once again.
Of course, there’s perhaps a sense that against a side who were dealing with their own injury-enforced absences, the fact we couldn’t make the breakthrough is a bit of an irritation, but we aren’t set up to be a devastating attacking force; instead, we’re hard to break down and driven by an almost primitive desire to keep the opposition at bay — and that’s no bad thing at all.
One major plus point from this fairly forgettable affair was the performance of Brian Brobbey, whose hold up play was simply monstrous at times and gave us a real outlet as a result. The Dutch striker looks fit, sharp, fired up and determined to seize the opportunity he’s been given at Sunderland, and that can only be a good thing.
It’s fair to say that Wilson Isidor wasn’t on his game when he entered the fray, but I’m just not buying into any narratives along the lines of “He’s not good enough”. He is, he’ll continue to contribute as the season unfolds, and there should be no panic about Sunderland potentially dipping into the striking market come January.
All in all, this was by no means an unsatisfying day’s work and given that December’s fixtures looked tricky at first glance, we’re doing just fine. With one more home game before the year ends, what a chance we’ve got to end 2025 with another win at the Stadium of Light, move to thirty points, and get excited about what might lie ahead!
Premier League
Saturday 20 December 2025
Amex Community Stadium
Attendance: 31,426
Brighton & Hove Albion 0
Sunderland 0
Brighton & Hove Albion: Verbruggen, Wieffer (Veltman 46’), Coppola; Boscagli, Kadioglu, Ayari; Hinshelwood (Milner 71’), Minteh (Kostoulas 71’), Gruda (Watson 87’); De Cuyper (Mitoma 64’), Rutter
Subs Not Used: Steele, Knight, Simmonds, Oriola
Sunderland: Roefs, Mukiele, Ballard; Alderete, Hume, Xhaka; Geertruida, Rigg (Diarra 64’), Le Fée; Adingra (Mundle 63’), Brobbey (Isidor 72’)
Subs Not Used: Patterson, Cirkin, Hjelde, Jones, Mayenda, Neil
