What we learnt from Brighton’s games with Crawley Town and Fulham
Brighton kicked their preparations for the 2019-20 Premier League season up a notch with two friendlies in the space of 24 hours over the weekend.
On Friday night, the Seagulls’ played their first game on English soil of pre-season as a side made up largely of development squad players made the short trip to the The People’s Pension Stadium where they beat Crawley Town 1-0.
Saturday afternoon saw Graham Potter field a strong side in a 2-1 defeat against Fulham. For reasons that nobody seems able to explain, the game took place in glamorous Aldershot.
Here’s what we learnt from the two fixtures.
Matt Clarke looks an excellent acquisition
Matt Clarke was handed the captain’s armband on Friday night as one of the two senior players – the other being Tomer Hemed – who Potter decided to use against Crawley.
And although nobody should get carried away with a strong performance against a side who will probably struggle in League Two this season, Clarke was head and shoulders above anybody else on the pitch.
He looked extremely comfortable on the ball, was always in the right position and led a young side excellently. At £3.5m, he looks like a fine acquisition who will almost certainly be third choice centre back ahead of Dan Burn and Leon Balogun should Lewis Dunk not leave the club this summer. If Dunk does go, then we may have a ready made replacement already.
Taylor Richards has the ability and the confidence to go a long way
How confident do you have to be to take a Panenka penalty on your debut for a club for whom you only signed 24 hours earlier? Take a bow, Taylor Richards.
When the announcement of Richards transfer for £2.5m from Manchester City came through on Thursday night, many eyebrows were raised at his comments about targeting a spot in the first team.
At just 18 years of age, Richards was surely another signing for the Development Squad? Yet on this showing, he clearly has the ability and the confidence to go a long way in football.
Will that be enough to convince Potter to give him a shot at Premier League football this season? That remains to be seen, but he’s certainly a player worth keeping an eye on.
Tudor Baluta is versatile as well as talented
The Crawley game gave us our first look at Tudor Baluta, the Romanian international signed for £2.5m from Viitorul Constanta in January but loaned back to the Romanian side owned and managed by the legendary Gheorgie Hagi.
Baluta made quite the impression at this summer’s European Under 21 Championships as part of the Romania side who hammered England and Croatia on a surprise run to the semi finals of the competition.
He was used mainly as a defensive midfielder at the tournament but in his first appearance in England, Potter started Baluta at centre back alongside Clarke before moving him into his normal position in the second half.
Baluta didn’t look out of place at the back and drew special praise from Potter who said afterwards, “I think he’s more comfortable in midfield, but you could see he didn’t let himself down at all at the back, just helped us out tactically.”
“You could see his quality, his range of pass, and when he went into midfield you could see what he was about. He’s had a busy summer, only a few days with us.”
The black kit is a stunner
There are plenty of Albion fans who don’t particularly like having Nike as kit supplier and while this season’s home kit is a £52 recycled version of the 2017-18 effort with darker blue stripes, there’s no denying that the away kit is a stunner.
It looks even better in the flesh than it does in the promotion material. Best away kit of the Nike era for us, Clive.
Brighton need reinforcements
Potter’s starting lineup for the Fulham game had a very familiar look to it. Maty Ryan, Martin Montoya, Lewis Dunk, Shane Duffy, Bernardo, Dale Stephens, Davy Propper, Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Pascal Gross, Solly March, Glenn Murray.
All that has changed under the new manager is the formation. At this moment in time, Potter is being expected to improve on last season’s 17th placed finish with a squad who won only twice in the second half of the campaign.
He may have an impressive CV when it comes to wringing improvement out of individuals, but based on what we’ve seen so far then it would take something truly exceptional to turn Jahanbakhsh and Locadia into Premier League standard players.
The need for upgrades was made startlingly obvious by Potter’s first choice XI on Saturday while Anthony Knockaert’s departure only increases the feeling that this current squad might not have enough to stay up. Although only a friendly, losing 2-1 to the side who finished 19th last season is a warning.
Pascal Gross can thrive back in the number 10 role
Although Gross was never likely to hit the heights of his incredible 2017-18 debut campaign with the Albion, last season was something of a disappointment for the German playmaker.
Injuries in the first half of the season didn’t help and then when he finally returned to fitness, it was to a Brighton side playing a different system.
A place as a regular midfielder in a 4-3-3 rather than in the number 10 role in which he thrived the year before seemed to blunt his effectiveness.
Gross’ struggles in the new-look formation reached their nadir when he was shunted out to the right wing for the 1-1 draw with Newcastle United and gave easily his worse performance for the Albion.
The 4-2-3-1 formation that Potter is currently using is therefore great news for Gross. It puts him back in the number 10 position working just behind Murray and he has one assist and now one goal in his two appearances so far in pre-season.
Gross and Murray’s goals and linkup play were one of the major factors behind Brighton finishing 15th in 2017-18. Playing Gross in his favoured position puts the spark back in their relationship and should allow the German to thrive again – which is good news for the Albion.
