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brighton head coach Fabian Herzeler accepted danny welbeck He was moments away from being substituted when he scored Brighton’s eventual winner 2–1 Premier League victory over newcastle At Amex Stadium.
The visitors were in the lead, having equalized 14 minutes from time through excellent skill from Nick Woltemade and looked the likely winner.
But with Herzeler preparing to hook the former England forward – whose fine first-half performance had given his side the lead – he was in the right place at the right time to send a loose ball spinning past Nick Pope.
It was the second time this season that Welbeck had scored twice to help the Seagulls beat their Champions League opponent after his late smash and grab thrashed Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in September.
Asked if he felt the 34-year-old’s run was over when the game entered the final 10 minutes, Herzeler said: “To be honest, yes.
“It’s important to be honest and that was the case, I was thinking about deleting him. Then he surprised me again.
“Sometimes it’s about timing in life and those were good times.”
Welbeck’s first goal was to study composure under pressure.
Georginio Rutter took over possession in midfield and in what seemed to be a clever move, he outmaneuvered Sandro Tonali and the rest of the Newcastle midfield, suddenly dropped into the centre, moved into space and turned the ball to his teammate, who slipped into a wide-open hole between the two central defenders and finished brilliantly without making any mistake.
“Everyone will be focused on their two goals,” Herzeler said. “But when we look at his performances, how many times he helped us defend the goal, how many recovery runs he made? That’s the main thing.
“If you do the basics right, you get the rewards. Danny worked hard for the team and then he was there at the right time.
“We all know he has incredible quality around the box, really good performances in front of goal. But it’s about how he is as a leader.”
Six minutes from time the finishing prowess was once again on display. After Dan Byrne slipped to block Matt Weafer’s shot, Welbeck remained calm and curled a lazy right boot to deny Brighton’s winner.
“He is a top professional,” Herzeler said. “Before and after training he is always prepared. He never tries to relax.
“If you have a good personality, you lead with behavior and performance, the main thing is how to describe that.
“He doesn’t have a selfish personality. He’s always there for his teammates. Plus, he’s a great goalscorer.”
Voltemed’s goal – a perfect moment of combining imagination with timing and technique as he stepped across the ball and turned it with his heel – deserved more.
Boss Eddie Howe, whose side have won just two of their opening eight league games so far, is finding his side short of goalscorers.
He said: “We have historically been a team that has scored a lot of goals. We have never relied on one player. It was a good attacking performance but we were not clinical enough.
“It was an incredible goal. I thought (Voltamed’s) overall game was very strong. But we need goals and creation from other players.
“A lot of our attacking players are not performing well enough.”