- Jun 27, 2012
- 13,892
For my sins I wrote the 19/20 season preview for Four Four Two this year.
Here's my end of season verdict. << my notes are in the brackets >>
Overall predicted position : 20th << WRONG but then i didn't pick it. gloomy four four two pundits went for that one >>
The five-point plan
1.Give youth a chance << Tick >>
Potter. more out of necessity than choice << bit unfair - it was mostly choice >> , blooded youth at Swansea. Bloom has poured in millions to the academy, recruited Dan Ashworth to oversee development, and the u23s were title chasers in the PL2 last season. Yet that pathway to the first team is unsure. Youngsters barely made the bench under Hughton and he left Brighton with the 2nd oldest PL squad next to Burnley. Key u23s still look likely to be loaned out rather than make debuts under Potter.
2.Six more points from Crystal Palace. <<Nope>>
Inexplicable to anyone outside the A23 but doing the double over bitter rivals Palace for the first time in 35 years was a rare ,highlight for fans in 2018/19 and its clear from the ecstatic celebrations in both games how much it meant to the Brighton squad. More required.
3.Continuity on and off the pitch. << Tick >>
The oldest outfield player in the Prem last year was 38 year old veteran captain Bruno, now retired. Guardiola's tribute during the Man City title clincher illustrated football's respect for the Spaniard. The club, perhaps risking a leadership gap with Hughton's departure, have found the fan favourite a backroom role. Lewis Dunk is an obvious choice to take the armband, but El Capitan's values will be harder to replace on the pitch. << So make him first team coach!!>>
4.Stop relying on Glenn Murray << Tick >>
The plan in 2017/18 and 18/19 was to replace Murray who couldn’t possibly keep going but still ended up top scorer. Twice. But 35 goals overall was a poor return last year and Glenn has so far kept out expensive replacements brought in to relieve the pressure. At 36, he couldn’t possibly do it again. Could he ? <<<No. He couldn't>>
5.No more flop signings << Mostly tick >>
After a first season where Albion picked up several foreign bargains who impressed (Gross, Ryan, Propper) , last year disappointed. They can’t afford another big buy (Jahanbakhsh in 18/19) who was top scorer in the Dutch League one minute and then makes 0 assists and 0 goals in the Premier League the next. << Maupay turned out ok. Watson not quite >>
3) The Key Player << Nope>>
Key Players - Shane Duffy.
You’d expect the Irishman to lead tables for clearances and blocks, but last year he added goals to his game , ending up as 2nd highest scorer. Is he flexible enough to retain those strengths, whilst he adapts, to Potter’s preferred playing out from back approach << Not exactly key player but he;'s used him a bit>>
"Are the Seagulls in a position to put style over substance?" <<< Pretty much tick >>
When Chris Hughton was called in for a 9am meeting at Albion’s Lancing training ground with owner Tony Bloom, it was less than 24 hours after the end of a season where he’d kept Brighton up for a second successive year, taken them to a FA Cup semi final and continued to perform with a set of values and class rare in the game. He imagined he’d be discussing recruitment for the 2019/20 campaign. Instead Bloom sacked him on the spot. Hughton, not prone to hyperbole, later said he was “hugely disappointed and surprised” and, as with his inexplicable dismissal from Newcastle a decade earlier, columnists were quick to describe the decision as “cowardly”, “brutal’ and Bloom’s “biggest gamble”.
Fans though, including Bloom, who often poses in his trademark blue and white scarf for selfies with fans on away day trains, were more understanding. Having endured only 3 wins in 23 at the back end of 19/20 and crucially a collapse in home form, most understood why he'd cited “how we struggled” as a factor in swiftly bringing in Graham Potter as the new head coach.
This was perhaps a diplomatic way of reassuring the fanbase that the sometimes dour, defensive-first approach of Hughton (the backs against the wall last minute defeat v. Spurs being its high/low point last year) and a team reliant on a spine of towering centre backs and a clinical but ageing centre forward; Glenn Murray was not going to be enough for another year. What most forgot though was that a string of expensive, disappointing signings from the Eridivisie (Locadia, Jahanbakhsh) had perhaps forced Hughton’s hand.
Potter is lauded as one of the more progressive, young coaches in the game and everyone paid attention when Swansea’s young attacking team went 2-0 up against Man City in the cup live on BBC One on a Friday night last January. He will be backed by Bloom’s investment and expectations are high. New signing Leandro Trossard highlighted that Potter told him he wanted to “play more attractive football” when he joined.
But the risks for Brighton this year are obvious. As flowing and fluid as Swansea were in that game v. City for example,
in the end, even with Daniel James inspiring all sorts of heroics, they lost. The memory of Hughton’s teams grinding out 1-0 wins and Dunk and Duffy blocking and heading away for 90 minutes week after week might become a fonder one as the season gets underway. <<< fair enough ?? >>>
Here's my end of season verdict. << my notes are in the brackets >>
Overall predicted position : 20th << WRONG but then i didn't pick it. gloomy four four two pundits went for that one >>
The five-point plan
1.Give youth a chance << Tick >>
Potter. more out of necessity than choice << bit unfair - it was mostly choice >> , blooded youth at Swansea. Bloom has poured in millions to the academy, recruited Dan Ashworth to oversee development, and the u23s were title chasers in the PL2 last season. Yet that pathway to the first team is unsure. Youngsters barely made the bench under Hughton and he left Brighton with the 2nd oldest PL squad next to Burnley. Key u23s still look likely to be loaned out rather than make debuts under Potter.
2.Six more points from Crystal Palace. <<Nope>>
Inexplicable to anyone outside the A23 but doing the double over bitter rivals Palace for the first time in 35 years was a rare ,highlight for fans in 2018/19 and its clear from the ecstatic celebrations in both games how much it meant to the Brighton squad. More required.
3.Continuity on and off the pitch. << Tick >>
The oldest outfield player in the Prem last year was 38 year old veteran captain Bruno, now retired. Guardiola's tribute during the Man City title clincher illustrated football's respect for the Spaniard. The club, perhaps risking a leadership gap with Hughton's departure, have found the fan favourite a backroom role. Lewis Dunk is an obvious choice to take the armband, but El Capitan's values will be harder to replace on the pitch. << So make him first team coach!!>>
4.Stop relying on Glenn Murray << Tick >>
The plan in 2017/18 and 18/19 was to replace Murray who couldn’t possibly keep going but still ended up top scorer. Twice. But 35 goals overall was a poor return last year and Glenn has so far kept out expensive replacements brought in to relieve the pressure. At 36, he couldn’t possibly do it again. Could he ? <<<No. He couldn't>>
5.No more flop signings << Mostly tick >>
After a first season where Albion picked up several foreign bargains who impressed (Gross, Ryan, Propper) , last year disappointed. They can’t afford another big buy (Jahanbakhsh in 18/19) who was top scorer in the Dutch League one minute and then makes 0 assists and 0 goals in the Premier League the next. << Maupay turned out ok. Watson not quite >>
3) The Key Player << Nope>>
Key Players - Shane Duffy.
You’d expect the Irishman to lead tables for clearances and blocks, but last year he added goals to his game , ending up as 2nd highest scorer. Is he flexible enough to retain those strengths, whilst he adapts, to Potter’s preferred playing out from back approach << Not exactly key player but he;'s used him a bit>>
"Are the Seagulls in a position to put style over substance?" <<< Pretty much tick >>
When Chris Hughton was called in for a 9am meeting at Albion’s Lancing training ground with owner Tony Bloom, it was less than 24 hours after the end of a season where he’d kept Brighton up for a second successive year, taken them to a FA Cup semi final and continued to perform with a set of values and class rare in the game. He imagined he’d be discussing recruitment for the 2019/20 campaign. Instead Bloom sacked him on the spot. Hughton, not prone to hyperbole, later said he was “hugely disappointed and surprised” and, as with his inexplicable dismissal from Newcastle a decade earlier, columnists were quick to describe the decision as “cowardly”, “brutal’ and Bloom’s “biggest gamble”.
Fans though, including Bloom, who often poses in his trademark blue and white scarf for selfies with fans on away day trains, were more understanding. Having endured only 3 wins in 23 at the back end of 19/20 and crucially a collapse in home form, most understood why he'd cited “how we struggled” as a factor in swiftly bringing in Graham Potter as the new head coach.
This was perhaps a diplomatic way of reassuring the fanbase that the sometimes dour, defensive-first approach of Hughton (the backs against the wall last minute defeat v. Spurs being its high/low point last year) and a team reliant on a spine of towering centre backs and a clinical but ageing centre forward; Glenn Murray was not going to be enough for another year. What most forgot though was that a string of expensive, disappointing signings from the Eridivisie (Locadia, Jahanbakhsh) had perhaps forced Hughton’s hand.
Potter is lauded as one of the more progressive, young coaches in the game and everyone paid attention when Swansea’s young attacking team went 2-0 up against Man City in the cup live on BBC One on a Friday night last January. He will be backed by Bloom’s investment and expectations are high. New signing Leandro Trossard highlighted that Potter told him he wanted to “play more attractive football” when he joined.
But the risks for Brighton this year are obvious. As flowing and fluid as Swansea were in that game v. City for example,
in the end, even with Daniel James inspiring all sorts of heroics, they lost. The memory of Hughton’s teams grinding out 1-0 wins and Dunk and Duffy blocking and heading away for 90 minutes week after week might become a fonder one as the season gets underway. <<< fair enough ?? >>>
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