Sheffield Wednesday 0, Albion 0*
Six *weeks into the job, Chris Hughton now has a clearer idea of the size of the task confronting him to keep Albion in the Championship.
The Seagulls could not have chosen anybody better equipped as an outsider looking in.
That much was emphasised by Hughton's forensic dissection of the strengths and weaknesses of the squad and style of play during a five-hour interview with chairman Tony Bloom and chief executive Paul Barber.
There is still no substitute for the intimate knowledge which comes with being on the inside working with the players, assessing their ability and character.
An initial upturn of three wins in four matches in all competitions has given way to a grind for safety.
Since the spirited second half fightback in the FA Cup against Arsenal, Albion have lost at bottom club Blackpool, suffered a damaging home defeat by Nottingham Forest and fought out respectable successive 0-0 draws away to Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday.
Improvement is required on the eight points taken from seven matches under Hughton over the course of the next two batches of seven games. Otherwise a nervy final day could be in store at Middlesbrough.
Where will the improvement come from? Hopefully a fully fit Dale Stephens to add quality and tempo in midfield, a fully firing Kazenga LuaLua to add pace and explosion to the attacking efforts and a useful addition on the opposite flank during the emergency loan window to also help provide more of a goal threat.
Hughton is currently operating without any natural, match-sharp width with LuaLua in the embryonic stage of his recovery from ten weeks out with knee trouble and Solly March sidelined by a calf injury.
He has strikers who cannot score or, more to the point, do not look like scoring, and a defence which looks solid away from home but exposed at the Amex.
The value of the hard-earned points in Wales and Yorkshire will be determined by what is achieved back at base against Hughton's old club Birmingham on Saturday and a reinvigorated Leeds three days later.
Albion appear armed only to inch themselves away from trouble, rather than a Leeds-like surge into safer territory.
The best two chances they fashioned in completing a hat-trick of blanks on their travels illustrated the attacking shortcomings faced by Hughton.
The first, fired over the bar by Rohan Ince in the first half, came from a corner. Set pieces seem to offer the best hope of Albion scoring.
Thank goodness this is the one area which has improved this season, spearheaded by the prolific exploits of centre-half Lewis Dunk. They would be in a whole lot more trouble without his contributions.
The idea of buying Sam Baldock, Chris O'Grady and the already-departed Adrian Colunga to compensate for the sale of Leo Ulloa has backfired horribly.
Danny Holla, ousted from the squad by Hughton for the last two games, is the latest example of the catastrophic summer recruitment for which Bloom, sacked head of football David Burke and Hughton's predecessor Sami Hyypia share responsibility.
Hyypia is entitled to at least offer as excuses managerial inexperience and an only-historical feel for the English game and its players, limited to the highest level.
Hughton and the revised recruitment set-up inherited the mess and had January to do something about it. Two-and-a-bit games is far too soon to judge the value of Beram Kayal's addition to the engine room, while a reunion with Leon Best was just about the best Hughton could hope for, considering Albion's position in the table and the difficulties of landing a goalscorer halfway through the season.
Nobody can blame Darren Bent for choosing Derby as an alternative loan destination, so much higher up the table and so much closer to home.
Best's role in a rare opportunity created in open play in the second half at Hillsborough was both encouraging and alarming.
Encouraging because, not for the only time in the match, he demonstrated a work ethic drifting wide on the right and beating his man to provide a cross which Joao Teixeira knocked back at the second attempt for the stretching Bruno to strike over the bar.
Alarming because Albion need their lone central striker to be an Ulloa-type menace in and around the box. Best's roving is the knock-on effect of Baldock and Teixeira operating as square pegs in round holes on the flanks.
It was the same story for Chris O'Grady against Forest. He linked the play well, especially in the first half, but never looked like scoring. The collective goal return of the strikers is atrocious but it would help if they got a few more sights of goal.
The away goal famine was also threatened by a lash over the bar from Joe Bennett - the kind of finish you might expect from a left-back - and Baldock's strong claims for a penalty for Liam Palmer's block tackle as he was pulling the trigger.
Even at the other end, the comfort of a fourth clean sheet out of five under Hughton away from home was a tad misleading. The Owls saw the whites of David Stockdale's eyes enough times to scrape a win for the suffering Hillsborough faithful, who have now seen their side score just eight goals at home in 16 outings.
Redemption for Stockdale, following his questionable part in Jamie O'Hara's long range free-kick winner for Blackpool and first goal misjudgement against Forest, came in the form of smart first half saves from headers by Sergiu Bus and Will Keane and an even better one in the second half with his feet which foiled Kieran Lee.
The clearest opening of the contest was squandered over the bar late-on by Keane's half-time replacement, Atdhe Nuhiu, with Albion effectively down to ten men. They were hampered in the closing stages by a knock which incapacitated Greg Halford soon after he was the last substitute introduced by Hughton as part of a double change.
The poor state of the playing surface, almost as bad as Blackpool's, was ill-suited to Albion's style, but that does not really wash as mitigation.
There is nothing wrong with Cardiff's pitch or the expanses of the Amex, where Albion have such an ugly record this season.
The successive stalemates on the road, although satisfying on paper, have actually cost them ground in the survival fight in comparison with the likes of Millwall, Leeds and Charlton, whose suck towards danger has been halted by an emphatic home victory over self-destructing Brentford.
Hughton, restricted by the resources at his disposal, could do with a couple of those in a run of four fixtures out of the next five at the Amex as a consequence of Reading's FA Cup progress, which has erased the March 7 visit to the Madejski.
The smart money is still on him keeping Albion up but all the signals at this stage are pointing towards it being a pretty close call.
Original article
Six *weeks into the job, Chris Hughton now has a clearer idea of the size of the task confronting him to keep Albion in the Championship.
The Seagulls could not have chosen anybody better equipped as an outsider looking in.
That much was emphasised by Hughton's forensic dissection of the strengths and weaknesses of the squad and style of play during a five-hour interview with chairman Tony Bloom and chief executive Paul Barber.
There is still no substitute for the intimate knowledge which comes with being on the inside working with the players, assessing their ability and character.
An initial upturn of three wins in four matches in all competitions has given way to a grind for safety.
Since the spirited second half fightback in the FA Cup against Arsenal, Albion have lost at bottom club Blackpool, suffered a damaging home defeat by Nottingham Forest and fought out respectable successive 0-0 draws away to Cardiff and Sheffield Wednesday.
Improvement is required on the eight points taken from seven matches under Hughton over the course of the next two batches of seven games. Otherwise a nervy final day could be in store at Middlesbrough.
Where will the improvement come from? Hopefully a fully fit Dale Stephens to add quality and tempo in midfield, a fully firing Kazenga LuaLua to add pace and explosion to the attacking efforts and a useful addition on the opposite flank during the emergency loan window to also help provide more of a goal threat.
Hughton is currently operating without any natural, match-sharp width with LuaLua in the embryonic stage of his recovery from ten weeks out with knee trouble and Solly March sidelined by a calf injury.
He has strikers who cannot score or, more to the point, do not look like scoring, and a defence which looks solid away from home but exposed at the Amex.
The value of the hard-earned points in Wales and Yorkshire will be determined by what is achieved back at base against Hughton's old club Birmingham on Saturday and a reinvigorated Leeds three days later.
Albion appear armed only to inch themselves away from trouble, rather than a Leeds-like surge into safer territory.
The best two chances they fashioned in completing a hat-trick of blanks on their travels illustrated the attacking shortcomings faced by Hughton.
The first, fired over the bar by Rohan Ince in the first half, came from a corner. Set pieces seem to offer the best hope of Albion scoring.
Thank goodness this is the one area which has improved this season, spearheaded by the prolific exploits of centre-half Lewis Dunk. They would be in a whole lot more trouble without his contributions.
The idea of buying Sam Baldock, Chris O'Grady and the already-departed Adrian Colunga to compensate for the sale of Leo Ulloa has backfired horribly.
Danny Holla, ousted from the squad by Hughton for the last two games, is the latest example of the catastrophic summer recruitment for which Bloom, sacked head of football David Burke and Hughton's predecessor Sami Hyypia share responsibility.
Hyypia is entitled to at least offer as excuses managerial inexperience and an only-historical feel for the English game and its players, limited to the highest level.
Hughton and the revised recruitment set-up inherited the mess and had January to do something about it. Two-and-a-bit games is far too soon to judge the value of Beram Kayal's addition to the engine room, while a reunion with Leon Best was just about the best Hughton could hope for, considering Albion's position in the table and the difficulties of landing a goalscorer halfway through the season.
Nobody can blame Darren Bent for choosing Derby as an alternative loan destination, so much higher up the table and so much closer to home.
Best's role in a rare opportunity created in open play in the second half at Hillsborough was both encouraging and alarming.
Encouraging because, not for the only time in the match, he demonstrated a work ethic drifting wide on the right and beating his man to provide a cross which Joao Teixeira knocked back at the second attempt for the stretching Bruno to strike over the bar.
Alarming because Albion need their lone central striker to be an Ulloa-type menace in and around the box. Best's roving is the knock-on effect of Baldock and Teixeira operating as square pegs in round holes on the flanks.
It was the same story for Chris O'Grady against Forest. He linked the play well, especially in the first half, but never looked like scoring. The collective goal return of the strikers is atrocious but it would help if they got a few more sights of goal.
The away goal famine was also threatened by a lash over the bar from Joe Bennett - the kind of finish you might expect from a left-back - and Baldock's strong claims for a penalty for Liam Palmer's block tackle as he was pulling the trigger.
Even at the other end, the comfort of a fourth clean sheet out of five under Hughton away from home was a tad misleading. The Owls saw the whites of David Stockdale's eyes enough times to scrape a win for the suffering Hillsborough faithful, who have now seen their side score just eight goals at home in 16 outings.
Redemption for Stockdale, following his questionable part in Jamie O'Hara's long range free-kick winner for Blackpool and first goal misjudgement against Forest, came in the form of smart first half saves from headers by Sergiu Bus and Will Keane and an even better one in the second half with his feet which foiled Kieran Lee.
The clearest opening of the contest was squandered over the bar late-on by Keane's half-time replacement, Atdhe Nuhiu, with Albion effectively down to ten men. They were hampered in the closing stages by a knock which incapacitated Greg Halford soon after he was the last substitute introduced by Hughton as part of a double change.
The poor state of the playing surface, almost as bad as Blackpool's, was ill-suited to Albion's style, but that does not really wash as mitigation.
There is nothing wrong with Cardiff's pitch or the expanses of the Amex, where Albion have such an ugly record this season.
The successive stalemates on the road, although satisfying on paper, have actually cost them ground in the survival fight in comparison with the likes of Millwall, Leeds and Charlton, whose suck towards danger has been halted by an emphatic home victory over self-destructing Brentford.
Hughton, restricted by the resources at his disposal, could do with a couple of those in a run of four fixtures out of the next five at the Amex as a consequence of Reading's FA Cup progress, which has erased the March 7 visit to the Madejski.
The smart money is still on him keeping Albion up but all the signals at this stage are pointing towards it being a pretty close call.
Original article