Brighton 'different side' without Grosspublished at 12:15 9 October
Image source, Getty ImagesBBC Radio Sussex's Johnny Cantor has paid tribute to Pascal Gross after the former Albion midfielder returned to say goodbye to the supporters before Sunday's win over Tottenham.
Gross was Albion's first signing after promotion to the Premier League in 2017, scored their first goal in the division, and went on to make 261 appearances for the club across seven years.
"He had that amazing ability to be able to do a Cruyff turn but the ball was far enough away from the defender that they couldn't just get in and nick it," Cantor told the Albion Unlimited podcast. "And if they did he just played the simple pass and didn't do it.
"There's one against Manchester United where he does it three times and it's just unbelievable. Backwards and forwards and nobody can get near him - that's one of my Gross highlights.
"If we want to talk about whether they're a worse side without him - I think they're just a different side without him."
Gross scored 32 goals for Albion and made another 52 before making the switch to Borussia Dortmund in the summer.
"He always made the right decision, and particularly late in games," Cantor added. I always thought Albion had the chance of winning games and was largely because he was on the pitch.
"He knew when to swing it into the box with his good delivery, when to hold on to it in injury time to create an opening, and that was what made him really, really special.
"He wasn't the fastest but he covered a lot of ground. He had a brilliant engine on him, he was really good from set-pieces and his passing ability was superb."
