In Yankuba Minteh, Brighton have yet another gem. The sharp piece of business they did in the summer of 2024 took time to come to the boil but is now cooking. Leeds found no answer to his thrust. Only errant finishing denied him a goal, leaving old reliable Danny Welbeck and two from Diego Gómez to bury Leeds. Gómez, the latest find on Brighton’s best-in-class conveyor belt of talent, most definitely has a scoring touch.
“Top performances from both of them,” said an approving Welbeck of Brighton’s match-winning wingers, brushing aside questions on his England chances. “Minteh was dangerous all day long.”
Harsh lessons for Leeds. Brighton fans do not appreciate the cliche of the “well-run club”. Expectation has climbed far higher than mere subsistence but they offer the example of how to grow and prosper. Likewise a one-city club, with a large catchment area, Leeds also have legacy on offer. The sepia of the 1970s is yet to fade, even at a club previously chewed up by the Premier League vortex. Fans and media pack travel in large numbers, metrics for Leeds-related content remain large, but the first point in any revival is survival.
On the south coast, Daniel Farke’s team were full of effort but bereft of the class Brighton have collected from across the globe. Farke’s initial plan lacked sufficient sophistication to prosper. They failed to properly unsettle Fabian Hürzeler’s team, who can be a whirl of inconsistency. In the first half Brighton hit creative heights then descended to customary flat spots. “There’s no sugar-coating,” said Farke. “They created far more.”
“We lost a bit of control but in the second half got it back,” said Hürzeler, delighted his team had kept a Premier League opponent from scoring for the first time this season. “It’s really about getting consistency into our results.”
From last week’s loss at Manchester United, just one alteration, the thrust of Gómez. The first chance, after Ethan Ampadu coughed up possession before Lucas Perri, Farke’s choice of goalkeeper over Karl Darlow, made a fine save from Yasin Ayari, proved portentous.
By the 11th minute, Farke’s selection carried question marks. Perri rashly dashed towards Mats Wieffer after Minteh’s pass and Welbeck stroked in his sixth goal this season. “Clinical in the box,” as his strike partner, Georginio Rutter, remarked.
Leeds did find improvement, though a Sean Longstaff free-kick nearer Eastbourne than Bart Verbruggen’s goal was a dreadful waste of territory hard won as darkening skies emptied and the action became a montage of slip-sliding play.
The cleaner chances still dropped Brighton’s way. Minteh burst clear on another solo mission but missed. Add frequent end product to Minteh’s package and Brighton may bank another nine-figure sale. “It’s about him having an impact,” said Hürzeler.
Jan Paul van Hecke’s block of a Longstaff shot denied Leeds’s best chance of a first half that ended with home fans bemoaning wastefulness. More followed in the first attack of the second period when Minteh, on another escape, chose to pass, only for Van Hecke’s shot to be too close to Perri.
Leeds’s new – also unsophisticated – plan was to double-mark Minteh. Its eventual end result was Gómez profiting off the other flank. Hürzeler’s team have recently started scoring when their opposition have the upper hand; Welbeck’s winner against Newcastle last month came during a similar flat spot.
After a Leeds attack broke down, Gómez converted from close range after Minteh had carved down the right, this time finding the correct ball. Gómez’s second soon arrived, Rutter, against his old club, the supplier following Jayden Bogle’s mistake. “I am surprised how quickly he has adapted to the intensity of the Premier League,” said Hürzeler.
“We didn’t track the run,” said Farke. “Two cheap goals. We can play better but there’s not too much to over-analyse.”
Perri partially redeemed himself with an excellent save from Ayari as the mission became to avert embarrassment. A tense touchline discussion between Farke’s coaches and a substituted Bogle in the closing seconds – confusion over his capability of carrying on – suggested discombobulation by a challenge above Leeds’s capabilities.
