Arijanet Muric is on a one-man crusade to bring back football gaffe videos but he might need to pay Bart Verbruggen some royalties, too.
Last week, Muric whacked a clearance against Dominic Calvert-Lewin to gift Everton three points and on Saturday he let a meek Sander Berge backpass under his foot to cost Burnley a much-needed victory.
Verbruggen had clearly taken inspiration from Muric’s efforts at Goodison Park as Josh Brownhill’s unwitting opener was scored in similar fashion to give Burnley hope of a third home win of the season, only to be outdone by his opposite number five minutes later.
“It is not his mistake, it is our mistake,” Craig Bellamy, Burnley’s assistant manager, said. “It is how we play, we are not going to change. He has scored goals for us doing what he does. It is not an issue.
Everyone makes mistakes, it is how you respond to it. I have nothing but praise, even more, because he is willing to keep going.”
The irony is that the Clarets have looked steadier since Muric replaced James Trafford in goal a month ago, only for his good work to be undone by errors. The Kosovo international is more imposing and confident when coming for the ball, bringing greater calm to the defence. In a tedious first half he could switch off but was required to tip a Jakub Moder free-kick from 20 yards wide.
With Vincent Kompany serving a two-match touchline suspension after his red card at Chelsea, Bellamy was in charge. He will have been pleased by what he saw in the early stages as the ball zipped between claret shirts and Brighton struggled to cope.
Jacob Bruun Larsen should have opened the scoring in the 17th minute when he found himself in space at the back post to meet a Wilson Odobert cross, only to miss the target from three yards. The winger was not the only one to fail to convert from such a distance as close to half-time, David Fofana slid to attempt to reach another Odobert delivery but the ball bounced over his outstretched foot.
Burnley’s season has been built on the three pillars of promising starts, poor finishing and defensive errors, explaining why they have scored 33 goals in 33 matches and conceded 68, picking up 20 points for their troubles, leaving them six adrift of safety with five to play.
“I have a three-year-old girl who still believes in rainbows and unicorns,” Bellamy said. “I honestly think we are going to get out of this situation. I believe we are going to stay up. Maybe I am naive or I am the one believing in rainbows and unicorns.”
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.
- Download the Guardian app from the iOS App Store on iPhone or the Google Play store on Android by searching for 'The Guardian'.
- If you already have the Guardian app, make sure you’re on the most recent version.
- In the Guardian app, tap the Menu button at the bottom right, then go to Settings (the gear icon), then Notifications.
- Turn on sport notifications.
“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. Burnley have lost one of their past six matches but that will probably not be enough to save them as they reach for the rainbow.
