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Potter won't be afraid to unleash whizz-kids
The new Seagulls boss has a track record of encouraging young players to step up, writes Nick Szczepanik
Graham Potter built a reputation as one of the most promising coaches in the game by taking Ostersunds from Sweden’s fourth tier to the Europa League and then keeping Swansea City buoyant in last season’s Championship despite the departure of a squad’s worth of players. But he knows that will count for nothing when he takes charge of his first Premier League match as head coach when his new Brighton team visit Watford on August 10.
“Pressure, responsibility, excitement, challenge – all those words apply, of course,” he says. “It is Premier League football at a fantastic club with brilliant support. That’s the job and I’m looking forward to it. The application has been brilliant, the lads have been first-class in the way they have gone about their work every day, the way they approach training and their quality, which is what you would expect from them.”
Can the methods that served him in Sweden and South Wales can make an impression on a less forgiving league, in which Brighton finished 17th? Last season, Potter gave Swansea’s youth players opportunities and none grabbed them more firmly than Daniel James, who made his league debut in August and was sold to Manchester United for £15 million last month.
Tony Bloom, the Brighton owner, has invested heavily in the club’s academy, which gained category one status in July 2014. But since then none of its graduates have followed Lewis Dunk and Solly March into the first team on a regular basis. Ireland under-21 striker Aaron Connolly, 19, was voted Premier League 2 player of the season in 2018-19 but has managed only two substitute appearances in League Cup ties. The arrival of Dan Ashworth from the FA as Brighton’s technical director is likely to change that and Potter’s approach will chime with Ashworth’s ambitions.
“There were options for us [at Swansea] in terms of experienced players that we could have used but you try to be as meritocratic as possible,” he said. “If Dan James showed himself to be the best option then it was my job to give him that opportunity. I don’t think it’s necessarily about age, it’s about players and what they do on the pitch and then picking the best team. We have got a lot of options and it’s the job of the coach to make the right decisions and I’m looking forward to that.”
Taylor Richards, 18, an England under-17 midfield player, signed from Manchester City last week, struck a nerveless Panenka-style penalty to win last Friday’s friendly at Crawley Town on his debut, and is likely to be fast-tracked into Potter’s squad. “You can see his quality and you can also see the bits that he needs to do better as you would expect from a young player,” Potter said. “But he showed his confidence with the penalty. He is ambitious and he wants to have a taste of first team football. That is always the challenge with young players, to get that next step from youth football right. We want to find the right pathway for him to get first-team experience.”
Supporters will hope that, as well as getting younger, the team is less defensive as Potter attempts to improve on the Seagulls’ relegation near-miss under Chris Hughton last season. A safety-first playing style heavily reliant on centre backs Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy was dismissed as ‘anti-football.’ Can Potter, a believer in tactical flexibility, make Brighton into an adventurous attacking side capable of switching formations several times in a match? “They are good players, high-level players, intelligent. I’m sure that none of them think they are the finished article and they would all like to get better and prolong their careers. That is our job.
“It’s hard for me to comment on what happened last season. The reality is that they stayed in the Premier League, which is a fantastic achievement. There is already a good foundation here and a lot of good work has been done. But every coach, no matter who they are and what their beliefs are, would want to improve on the previous year. That is what we have to do and will try to do. Now the task is to see if we can.”
Potter won't be afraid to unleash whizz-kids
The new Seagulls boss has a track record of encouraging young players to step up, writes Nick Szczepanik
Graham Potter built a reputation as one of the most promising coaches in the game by taking Ostersunds from Sweden’s fourth tier to the Europa League and then keeping Swansea City buoyant in last season’s Championship despite the departure of a squad’s worth of players. But he knows that will count for nothing when he takes charge of his first Premier League match as head coach when his new Brighton team visit Watford on August 10.
“Pressure, responsibility, excitement, challenge – all those words apply, of course,” he says. “It is Premier League football at a fantastic club with brilliant support. That’s the job and I’m looking forward to it. The application has been brilliant, the lads have been first-class in the way they have gone about their work every day, the way they approach training and their quality, which is what you would expect from them.”
Can the methods that served him in Sweden and South Wales can make an impression on a less forgiving league, in which Brighton finished 17th? Last season, Potter gave Swansea’s youth players opportunities and none grabbed them more firmly than Daniel James, who made his league debut in August and was sold to Manchester United for £15 million last month.
Tony Bloom, the Brighton owner, has invested heavily in the club’s academy, which gained category one status in July 2014. But since then none of its graduates have followed Lewis Dunk and Solly March into the first team on a regular basis. Ireland under-21 striker Aaron Connolly, 19, was voted Premier League 2 player of the season in 2018-19 but has managed only two substitute appearances in League Cup ties. The arrival of Dan Ashworth from the FA as Brighton’s technical director is likely to change that and Potter’s approach will chime with Ashworth’s ambitions.
“There were options for us [at Swansea] in terms of experienced players that we could have used but you try to be as meritocratic as possible,” he said. “If Dan James showed himself to be the best option then it was my job to give him that opportunity. I don’t think it’s necessarily about age, it’s about players and what they do on the pitch and then picking the best team. We have got a lot of options and it’s the job of the coach to make the right decisions and I’m looking forward to that.”
Taylor Richards, 18, an England under-17 midfield player, signed from Manchester City last week, struck a nerveless Panenka-style penalty to win last Friday’s friendly at Crawley Town on his debut, and is likely to be fast-tracked into Potter’s squad. “You can see his quality and you can also see the bits that he needs to do better as you would expect from a young player,” Potter said. “But he showed his confidence with the penalty. He is ambitious and he wants to have a taste of first team football. That is always the challenge with young players, to get that next step from youth football right. We want to find the right pathway for him to get first-team experience.”
Supporters will hope that, as well as getting younger, the team is less defensive as Potter attempts to improve on the Seagulls’ relegation near-miss under Chris Hughton last season. A safety-first playing style heavily reliant on centre backs Lewis Dunk and Shane Duffy was dismissed as ‘anti-football.’ Can Potter, a believer in tactical flexibility, make Brighton into an adventurous attacking side capable of switching formations several times in a match? “They are good players, high-level players, intelligent. I’m sure that none of them think they are the finished article and they would all like to get better and prolong their careers. That is our job.
“It’s hard for me to comment on what happened last season. The reality is that they stayed in the Premier League, which is a fantastic achievement. There is already a good foundation here and a lot of good work has been done. But every coach, no matter who they are and what their beliefs are, would want to improve on the previous year. That is what we have to do and will try to do. Now the task is to see if we can.”
