That’s my view as well. Agree entirely with your third paragraph. Benteke for Olise screwed us as we were balanced and looking like the most likely to win.

To be fair ,Olise was knackered. He had worked hard and Brighton put him through the wringer at times, he was beginning to hobble a bit. If we had a like for like, PV might have used it.

The starting line up had insufficient balance in terms of physicality / strength and the subs then left us with no legs or outlet at the end.

I've not liked PV's use of subs in the last couple of games and absolutely hate the fact that we're unable to see games out. Not forgetting VG got us off the hook after dominating Everton.

On the plus side the central defenders and Butland who've had a bit of criticism, some justified, were all excellent and Gallagher's touch and finish were sublime.

A lot has been said about Zaha making us a one man team but I'm wondering where we'd be without Conor.

A goal up away from home with just a few minutes left...to concede then is really disappointing, forget about what happened in the previous 87 minutes.

Overall I thought the performance illustrated the difference between the 2 clubs. As I've said before, Brighton are 3 years into a journey that we have just embarked upon in terms of style of play.

In turn that means they feel less of an impact when key players are missing. We certainly missed our absentees more than they did theirs.

On the night, Butland not only redeemed himself from the Millwall blunder with the penalty save, but also made some other vital stops - a good night for him. Eze - never looked comfortable. He may be physically fit but his sharpness isn't up to scratch - I would have hooked him at half time actually. Ward - apart from a key part in the build up to our goal, had a night to forget. His constant conceding possession put us under pressure and of course could have cost us a goal.

Ultimately I'm pleased with a point. I don't think we were lucky to get it as such, but performance wise we are a lot better than what we showed last night.

Old, Ungifted and White

We should also be thanking the VAR people for falling asleep . Clear encroachment on the penalty by 3 or 4 of our players though not by Mitchell who cleared the ball . (Does that make any difference these days ?)

I just despair over the VAR because there will be no consistency. We have seen SO many similar fouls, at corners and free kicks, not given and we will continue to see this inconsistency. I’m not saying the foul by Hughes wasn’t a penalty but there will be plenty more (and far more blatant) fouls not given by VAR over the remainder of the season. Consistency is key and it will be TOTALLY lacking.

Edited by Phil’s Barber (15 Jan 2022 5.28pm)