Brighton need more goals from midfield in 2021-22

Quick quiz question for you: After the three goals contributed by Pascal Gross, who was Brighton & Hove Albion’s top scoring central midfield player in the 2020-21 Premier League season?

There are actually four correct answers. Adam Lallana, Alexis Mac Allister, Steve Alzate and Yves Bissouma all chipped in with one league goal apiece. For players as talented as that little collection, is that a good enough return?

No is the answer. And whilst most of the blame for the Albion’s 16th placed finish fell at the door of strikers not being clinical enough, little seems to have been made of the paltry contribution offered in goals by the Brighton midfield.

If a Bissouma or a Lallana or a Mac Allister chipped in with five or six goals a season from the middle of the park, the burden on the centre forwards eases considerably.

Easier said than done, of course. Gross aside, no Brighton central midfielder has managed more than a couple of goals per season since the Albion joined the top flight for the 2017-18 campaign.

Even when Brighton were tearing through the Championship in 2016-17, the scoring contributions of midfielders were limited. Chris Hughton’s promotion pushers instead relied on their strikers to deliver with able support from out wide, chiefly Anthony Knockaert and Jamie Murphy.

The last real goal scoring midfielder Brighton had was – and you may find this hard to believe – Dale Stephens, who notched seven times in the 2015-16.

Stephens earned a reputation as an underrated ‘water carrier’ who did all the unglamorous work in his final few seasons at the club, but in that surprise run to the playoff semi finals under Hughton he was also a regular on the scoresheet. Easy to forget.

A year before that and João Teixeira was not only the chief source of goals from midfield, but Brighton’s chief source of Championship goals full stop.

The 21-year-old notched six times on loan from Liverpool to finish the 2014-15 season as the Albion’s top scorer in the league – and that was despite his campaign coming to an early end thanks to injury. His contribution to keeping Brighton in the Championship that year is seriously underrated.

That it has been six years since the Albion last had midfield players capable of popping up with more than five goals a season shows you how hard it is to find such an individual – especially one who can do it in the Premier League.

When Bissouma first arrived, it looked like he might bring goals to the Albion midfield if he was used in a more advanced position. Bissouma though has gone onto thrive as a holding midfielder over the past 18 months, a role that means he rarely makes it into the opponents penalty area.

Instead, Bissouma finds himself going for goal from long range. Once or twice a season it pays off, as it did away at Everton and at home to Blackpool in 2020-21. The rest of the time, supporters in the back row are often more in danger of being decapitated.

Bissouma with his current skillset and output is worth £50 million and he has a list of suitors including Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester United, Paris Saint Germain and Real Madrid.

Imagine what he would be worth if he began popping up in the box, added goals to his game and turned into a genuine box-to-box midfielder. Frightening, isn’t it?

The Albion cannot rely though on an already outstanding player adding the string to his bow that would put him into world class category. Bissouma already does more than enough for the cause without demanding of him five or more top flight goals per season.

Which brings us nicely onto Enock Mwepu. The Computer brings with him a versatility to play anywhere across the midfield; from out on either flank to number eight, number 10 or even as a second striker.

A man who has been deployed in essentially every attacking role a midfielder can fulfil at some point in his career clearly has an eye for goal.

We saw that against Luton Town in Mwepu’s first game on English soil in a Brighton shirt when he doubled the Albion’s advantage just past the half hour mark.

Solly March found Mwepu with a low pass cut back to the edge of the Luton area. It was a promising position but when you have spent the previous nine months of your life watching Brighton players cock up easy chance after easy chance, you become conditioned to expect the ball to end up anywhere but the back of the net when such opportunities come along.

Clearly, Mwepu has not been an Albion player for long enough to have his finishing ability coached out of him yet. He despatched the cross from March in clinical fashion, so much so that watching Brighton fans could have been forgiven for rubbing their eyes in disbelief. A Brighton midfielder scoring in such comfortable fashion? What next, Boris Johnson getting thorough a PMQs without lying?

Yes, it was only against Luton and no Premier League defence is going to give Mwepu the sort of time and space he had to score at Kenilworth Road.

But it is still a good sign and points to the fact that maybe, just maybe, the Computer could be that source of goals from midfield to help relieve the pressure on the Albion’s misfiring strikers

Mwepu is not the only midfield player who Brighton will be hoping can contribute goals in 2020-21. It feels like Potter barely scratched the surface with Jakub Moder once the Poland international arrived for £9.5 million from Lech Poznan, especially as Moder received most of his minutes out-of-position at left wing back.

If Moder is deployed through the middle, then he too looks capable of chipping in. We saw that at Wembley back in March when he gave Poland a 1-0 lead in a World Cup Qualifier.

The only other goals Jordan Pickford has conceded in an England shirt in 2021 came in the semi final and final of Euro 2020, which offers a sign of what Moder can do in front of goal. Not many players have beaten Pickford given his outstanding form since the turn of the year – Moder has.

The 2021-22 Premier League season is a little under two weeks away and suddenly, Brighton have two central midfield players who look like they can contribute goals to the cause.

Whilst we all want to see that £30 million, ultra-clinical striker brought in by the Albion’s recruitment team, there is every chance that will not happen and Potter will be left to work with the centre forwards he currently has.

If Mwepu or Moder can start scoring, then the blow of not signing a new striker would be lessened somewhat. No pressure or anything.

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