It is fondly remembered as perhaps the most dramatic transfer deadline night in Albion’s recent history.
It might also have been the evening which cost them automatic promotion.
The Seagulls brought in four players on Friday, August 31, 2012, including three right on deadline.
It was a summer a bit like this one, when the focus had been on a new striker.
Unlike this year, they did not manage to bring in a proven Championship goal-getter like Glenn Murray early in the window.
Which left the stage set for that final night, as manager Gus Poyet sat awaiting developments at the Amex.
The club tweeted a photo of him looking rather seriously at his mobile phone at one stage.
He was presumably checking on an incoming deal – although he might also have been following Chelsea’s 4-1 hammering by Atletico Madrid in that evening’s European Super Cup.
Then the deals came in. To midfielder Andrea Orlandi, signed earlier in the day, were added David Lopez – a midfielder who played wide – Stephen Dobbie – a forward-looking midfielder or No.10 – and Dean Hammond – very much a midfielder, pure and simple.
So no striker. Dobbie (pictured above by Paul Hazlewood) was labelled as an attacking recruit but his arrival did not really live up to fans’ expectations.
Three of the four signings were good additions and helped Albion finish fourth in the Championship, chipping in with goals and assists.
But the lack of a No.9 until January arguably proved very costly.
It was brushed aside the next day as Craig Mackail-Smith’s spectacular, and timely, double helped secure a 3-1 win at Burnley.
The same striker also netted in the subsequent two games as Albion headed for top spot.
Then that blank on a real striker, caused by a delay over top target Leo Ulloa securing a Spanish passport as it later emerged, came home to roost.
In that period between the summer window closing and Ulloa making his debut in mid-winter, Albion played 21 league games and drew 11 of them.
Four years on, there was a similar underwhelmed feel for some fans on deadline night as they awaited a striker.
And this time there was no flurry of midfield additions to cheer them.
But the Seagulls will feel they are better prepared to cope with what looks a less gaping hole in the squad than that caused by the delayed arrival of Ulloa. First things first. They DID sign a striker this summer – and he was one many fans had been calling for probably since Boxing Day 2014, when he netted twice at the Amex for Reading.
Murray has three goals in two home games to date and was picked up before the market went well and truly mad.
Tomer Hemed had an encouraging debut season last term as a goal-getter while Sam Baldock, for all that he adds, has not got going as a marksman.
What remains to be seen is whether a squad with five wingers but short of a livewire to play off a target man can square that circle.
Will Anthony Knockaert, Jamie Murphy, Kazenga LuaLua, Solly March or Jiri Skalak operate as a second striker or a No.10 this season?
The indications are that more than one of that five can and will do that – but by stealth.
Jamie Murphy gets central to score against Colchester
Don’t expect to see any of them standing at the back of the centre circle as matches kick off.
But DO expect them to be getting into central striking positions as attacks build up.
Knockaert, LuaLua and Murphy have all netted from positions where you would expect to see a centre-forward or attacking midfielder this season.
LuaLua also missed a sitter at Oxford – but what a position he got himself into as the cross came in from the right!
Hughton gave an indication of what he is looking for as he discussed Knockaert’s opener at home to Nottingham Forest.
He said: “Anthony is one who can produce something for us. You know that, even in a bad period, he can produce something to create or score a goal.
Article continues after...[h=3]More Articles[/h]
“If you look at that goal, it’s not a winger’s goal. It is a centre-forward’s goal, a predator’s goal. It’s someone who anticipates a cross coming in and gets into the box.”
Looking back four years, Albion got five goals in open play from David Lopez (plus four penalties), five from LuaLua, six from Orlandi and eight from Will Buckley, pictured below.
Vicente and Dean Hammond shared four goals between them, all from set-pieces.
There were also seven goals from defenders over the course of the season, six of them from corners or free-kicks.
Those are figures which the current squad would look to match if they can get in where it hurts.
The blank drawn on that final target of the summer does not have to be reflected in blanks on the pitch if the three established strikers, and indeed Elvis Manu,*hit a lean patch.
It just might need a bit of lateral thinking – and lateral movement – from the widemen.
Original article
It might also have been the evening which cost them automatic promotion.
The Seagulls brought in four players on Friday, August 31, 2012, including three right on deadline.
It was a summer a bit like this one, when the focus had been on a new striker.
Unlike this year, they did not manage to bring in a proven Championship goal-getter like Glenn Murray early in the window.
Which left the stage set for that final night, as manager Gus Poyet sat awaiting developments at the Amex.
The club tweeted a photo of him looking rather seriously at his mobile phone at one stage.
He was presumably checking on an incoming deal – although he might also have been following Chelsea’s 4-1 hammering by Atletico Madrid in that evening’s European Super Cup.
Then the deals came in. To midfielder Andrea Orlandi, signed earlier in the day, were added David Lopez – a midfielder who played wide – Stephen Dobbie – a forward-looking midfielder or No.10 – and Dean Hammond – very much a midfielder, pure and simple.
So no striker. Dobbie (pictured above by Paul Hazlewood) was labelled as an attacking recruit but his arrival did not really live up to fans’ expectations.
Three of the four signings were good additions and helped Albion finish fourth in the Championship, chipping in with goals and assists.
But the lack of a No.9 until January arguably proved very costly.
It was brushed aside the next day as Craig Mackail-Smith’s spectacular, and timely, double helped secure a 3-1 win at Burnley.
The same striker also netted in the subsequent two games as Albion headed for top spot.
Then that blank on a real striker, caused by a delay over top target Leo Ulloa securing a Spanish passport as it later emerged, came home to roost.
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In that period between the summer window closing and Ulloa making his debut in mid-winter, Albion played 21 league games and drew 11 of them.
Four years on, there was a similar underwhelmed feel for some fans on deadline night as they awaited a striker.
And this time there was no flurry of midfield additions to cheer them.
But the Seagulls will feel they are better prepared to cope with what looks a less gaping hole in the squad than that caused by the delayed arrival of Ulloa. First things first. They DID sign a striker this summer – and he was one many fans had been calling for probably since Boxing Day 2014, when he netted twice at the Amex for Reading.
Murray has three goals in two home games to date and was picked up before the market went well and truly mad.
Tomer Hemed had an encouraging debut season last term as a goal-getter while Sam Baldock, for all that he adds, has not got going as a marksman.
What remains to be seen is whether a squad with five wingers but short of a livewire to play off a target man can square that circle.
Will Anthony Knockaert, Jamie Murphy, Kazenga LuaLua, Solly March or Jiri Skalak operate as a second striker or a No.10 this season?
The indications are that more than one of that five can and will do that – but by stealth.
Jamie Murphy gets central to score against Colchester
Don’t expect to see any of them standing at the back of the centre circle as matches kick off.
But DO expect them to be getting into central striking positions as attacks build up.
Knockaert, LuaLua and Murphy have all netted from positions where you would expect to see a centre-forward or attacking midfielder this season.
LuaLua also missed a sitter at Oxford – but what a position he got himself into as the cross came in from the right!
Hughton gave an indication of what he is looking for as he discussed Knockaert’s opener at home to Nottingham Forest.
He said: “Anthony is one who can produce something for us. You know that, even in a bad period, he can produce something to create or score a goal.
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“If you look at that goal, it’s not a winger’s goal. It is a centre-forward’s goal, a predator’s goal. It’s someone who anticipates a cross coming in and gets into the box.”
Looking back four years, Albion got five goals in open play from David Lopez (plus four penalties), five from LuaLua, six from Orlandi and eight from Will Buckley, pictured below.
Vicente and Dean Hammond shared four goals between them, all from set-pieces.
There were also seven goals from defenders over the course of the season, six of them from corners or free-kicks.
Those are figures which the current squad would look to match if they can get in where it hurts.
The blank drawn on that final target of the summer does not have to be reflected in blanks on the pitch if the three established strikers, and indeed Elvis Manu,*hit a lean patch.
It just might need a bit of lateral thinking – and lateral movement – from the widemen.
Original article