Hyypia - happy, unhappy or fence?

[Tyrone Biggums]

Another risky appointment and after the Oscar farce I wish we had gone down the tried and tested route instead of this foreign obsession

They were tried and tested and that's why they are still looking for work.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Won just about everything there is to win in England. Captained Liverpool and over 100 caps for his country. Whilst it doesn 't guarantee he's a great coach, it's a pretty good start! He'll do for me.

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Thanks for taking the post in the spirit it was meant ...and yes you are right we don't know for sure re the other candidates

After three such appointments I think we can now say for certain that Tony is quite willing to trust in a younger coach who may not have a significant managerial CV, but is willing to give them a chance to develop one with us. I note on another forum there are acknowledgments and grudging admiration that Brighton do not opt for older, experienced and probably more obvious candidates.

I also agree there may be something in having a younger less experienced manager who might be happier to work within the parameters set for him by Bloom and Barber. However I prefer to think there are many more positive reasons why we have gone down this route, not least that a manager himself would be delighted to work with the facilities on offer and although we bemoan our compliance with FFP and having to compete against parachute payments, we still have a reasonable budget. There are far worse jobs in footie out there, and that was probably reflected in the calibre of appointments made in the Bloom era. We are not a tinpot Club.

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

Top notch appointment...canne wait...


All the very best Sami

TNBA

TTF

 

[Napper]

After his joint coach left, it took a long time until it 'went wrong'. Hyypiä coached Leverkusen alone to their all time best autumn season, finishing 2nd in the Bundesliga by Christmas. Things went wrong shortly before and after Christmas. We can only speculate the reasons. I guess there was some kind of a 'lock' which Hyypiä was unable to solve. But also the club management had unrealistic goals. Leverkusen does not have the funds or the material to be a constant top 4 team in Bundesliga, yet the bosses gave the boot to Hyypiä when it seemed LEverkusen might drop below top 4. Honestly it's not a shame if Leverkusen finishes 6th or even 7th with their resources. Firing Hyypiä was awfully short-sighted in my opinion but I guess the good start blinded the club management and they were fixated on the champions league finish. I think Hyypiä did a good job with a very limited material (great starting lineup but very shitty players beyond that).

CB: Tero Mäntylä will come from Ludogorets, I'd give this 70-80% likelihood of happening. Another possiblity would be Juhani Ojala, he's at Terek in Russian league, a starter for FInland's national team along with Niklas mOisander (who is also looking for a new club but will go to a much bigger club than Brighton). Ojala and Mäntylä are both quality players and would be good signings.

LB: Not really good choices from Finland. Jukka Raitala is one possibility, but he's not good enough. Maybe for the bench. His CV is not bad (Bundesliga debut, one season in La Liga with Osasuna, two seasons in Holland with Heerenveen, one good season in 2nd bundesliiga), but I don't think so. Jere Uronen from Swedish Helsingborg is another possibility, but honestly he'll be going to a better team. He's one of the biggest Finnish talents.

ST: Can't think of any Finnish strikers that match the picture.

Oh and style of play: happy attacking 4-3-2-1, fullbacks extremely important. but maybe he'll switch his style now, don't know if this matches Brighton's material?

Very helpful thanks .

What did Leverkusen do after he left ?

4-3-2-1

Interesting and should divide opinion of he goes with that here .

Food for thought all round

 

[Luke93]

VERY HAPPY!! Hopefully we'll now build a team strong enough to match my expectation.

 

[ant-emm@ntlworld.com]

Very happy think he will build a good squad

 

[Mackenzie]

Fence. It has to be.

Can't tell how the players will react to him, how effective his methods will be in this country or if he'll take to our (Burke and Barber) way of doing things.

He could be great, could equally be crap.

 

[northlainebadger]

Well done Brighton sacked for winning one in twelve when he took over as full time manager at Bayer Leverkusen (result NOT )

 

[Superseagull69]

Happy with Hyypia, not sure about the insistence that Jones is first team coach....

 

[Monkey Man]

Whether this works out or not, I'm pleased that Brighton is the sort of club that will take a punt like this.

I just hope we're all grown up enough to judge Hyypia over the long term, assuming he stays more than one season, and not declare the appointment "a disaster" if we don't make the playoffs.

Good luck Sami. I think most Brighton fans will be happy with your appointment.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Well done Brighton sacked for winning one in twelve when he took over as full time manager at Bayer Leverkusen (result NOT )

not quite right as i understand it.....he was solely in charge at the beginning of the season...the bad run being at the latter part...so obviously reasonably successful for the first half

 

[MongoJerry]

Very happy. A bit of a coup really

 

[LamieRobertson]

Whether this works out or not, I'm pleased that Brighton is the sort of club that will take a punt like this.

I just hope we're all grown up enough to judge Hyypia over the long term, assuming he stays more than one season, and not declare the appointment "a disaster" if we don't make the playoffs.

Good luck Sami. I think most Brighton fans will be happy with your appointment.

you raise an interesting point....the last 2 seasons we've reached the play offs..what will be acceptable this time..top six finish? Good style of play?..Both?....etc

 

[Machiavelli]

So happy about this! Sami is our (Finland's) most promising manager at the moment. There aren't many who have managed abroad. Mixu Paatelainen of course being one, but after Mixu and Hyypiä it gets a bit silent. Well Mika Lönnström was chosen as best manager of the week in Thailand last week...

This means that FInland's eyes will be on Brighton next season. Now is a good time to charm the Finns, perhaps some of those will become lifetime supporters of Brighton.

In Leverkusen Hyypiä only had time to bring in one FInnish player, Joel Pohjanpalo, and he was sent on loan immediately to a lower league. I think we'll see that at Brighton too, he'll be bringing some Finnish/German/English players with his great connections. Very likely first candidate is Tero Mäntylä, center-back from Ludogorets in Bulgaria and a fresh Finnish international. But I wouldn't be surprised if he brings in more players. There's quite a few Finnish internationals, that could theoreticalyl fit Brighton's profile, thinking of a move this summer.

What would you say are the positions where Brighton need most improvement? Obviously the centerback position, but what else? I don't know much about Brighton's team But I'd love to find out more.

We especially need:
a goalkeeper
a centre back
a left back
a winger/wide attacking forward, or even two
I'm still of the view that I'd much rather we spent money on real quality in those positions, rather than on a big squad

 

[Seagull over Canaryland]

Looking at the bigger picture I am pleased we have now made an appointment. I feared that we might lose some of the better candidates to Clubs willing to make swifter appointments. So a very promising option like Hyypia did not slip through the net. Although not an obvious front runner in most punters thinking when Oscar first departed I suspect that Hyypia could well have picked up a role elsewhere before too long.

I'm not sure that Paul Clement was really a serious option for us as we closed in on the final shortlist. I also wonder where Sherwood and Hughton might end up, if at all. I suppose they will now be hoping for the Saints job. I don't know if they were ever in contention for our job - assuming we could afford their expectations and whether they would even accept the constraints within FFP.

 

[Monkey Man]

you raise an interesting point....the last 2 seasons we've reached the play offs..what will be acceptable this time..top six finish? Good style of play?..Both?....etc

I think we're dealing with a different set of challenges this season and any success we achieve will be more akin to what Burnley did this season and Palace before that than what big spenders like QPR have done.

I'd be happy if we take a more Southampton-style approach, gradually putting faith in the academy to deliver raw talent that will help us with our league position and also bring in revenue when some of the players it produces are sold on.

I know that's all long-term stuff but I'm happy if Hyppia's brief is to work with our existing young players and bring them on, with limited funds for new players. For a medium-sized club like ours that has to be a more realistic future than breaking the bank signing overpaid and probably ageing star players.

 

[Napper]

Whether this works out or not, I'm pleased that Brighton is the sort of club that will take a punt like this.

I just hope we're all grown up enough to judge Hyypia over the long term, assuming he stays more than one season, and not declare the appointment "a disaster" if we don't make the playoffs.

Good luck Sami. I think most Brighton fans will be happy with your appointment.

Bottom line is if we don't make top 6 then will be a failure. Let's face it we have a midfield of nzuzi sp , Stephens , ince , crofts , a guaranteed 20 goal a season man and 3 proven top 6 defenders. Add to this he should be backed well in the transfer market and I can't see how anything other than top 6 is acceptable .

Of course , decent exciting football and being competitive main thing but I think wrong to not expect top 6 with the nuclear of side we already have.

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

Very happy. I look forward to seeing what his next steps will be...

 

[Scoffers]

Fence for me, happy that we've secured someone with contacts and potential but concerned that the manager's lack of experience will make it difficult for him to succeed in a 46 game regular season