How can Brighton and Hove Albion stop going two goals behind?

Six Premier League games played so far this season and in four of them, Brighton and Hove Albion have gone two goals behind.

That statistic alone explains why the Albion only have one league win on the board. And even in that victory over Manchester United, they still conceded twice.

The only Premier League encounter in which they haven’t let in two goals was the 1-0 defeat away at Liverpool. It’s typical Albion that against the best attacking side in the division, we’ve conceded our least amount of goals.

The fact that Chris Hughton’s side have managed to come back to claim points against Fulham and Southampton has sort of masked what is a huge concern at the minute. Given that we’ve scored more than two goals in just five games out of 25 since winning promotion to the top flight, it makes it nigh on impossible to win matches.

So, the million dollar question is – or in this case, the £170m question as if this carries on it will be difficult for Brighton to remain in the Premier League – how can the Albion stop going two goals behind in every game? Here are three possible solutions.

Change the back four
Could a personnel change be the answer? Hughton has plenty of options if he wants to shake up the back four. It’s a crime akin to slapping the face of God to suggest dropping either Shane Duffy or Lewis Dunk, but Dunk hasn’t looked great since returning from the injury he sustained against United, which makes you wonder if he has been rushed back too soon. Leon Balogun stood in for Dunk in that second half against Jose Mourinho’s side and started in the game against Liverpool, meaning he was part of what remains the Albion’s best defensive display so far this season. Balgoun didn’t put a foot wrong in those two matches – could a recall for the Nigerian international help steady the ship?

Bruno is also back after hobbling off in the first half of that diabolical opening day performance at Watford. Martin Montoya may have impressed since arriving from Valencia, but it was the captain’s return to the side in mid-April last season that saw solid defensive performances against Tottenham Hotspur, Burnley and Manchester United recorded after the chaos of leaking goals against Everton, Leicester City and Crystal Palace. He could have a similar effect this time around.

A change could also be in order at left back. Gaetan Bong has looked a little clumsy in the last two games, giving away a penalty at Southampton and conceding the free kick from which Spurs earned their spot kick at the Amex. Bernardo, the £9m summer signing from Red Bull Leipzig was discarded after the Watford game but he was asked to play out of position at right back that day in the reshuffle that followed Bruno’s injury. Now might be the time to give him another chance in his favoured position while Markus Suttner is a reliable performer also waiting in the wings.

Change the formation
Hughton surprised everybody in the home game with Chelsea last season by abandoning a back four in favour of a back three. The 4-0 defeat that day suggests the switch wasn’t a particularly successful one, but the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story. We had a real go at Chelsea and it was arguably one of our best performances against top six opposition of the season, it was just unfortunate Eden Hazard played like a complete freak and nobody could lay a glove on him. Hughton could’ve applied for special dispensation to field every single person in the Amex that day and still the Belgian would’ve found a way to glide and weave through 30,000 people on the pitch.

Is it time for Hughton to give the back three another go? Adding Balogun in alongside Dunk and Duffy would in theory strengthen the defence purely from a numbers point of view and from what we’ve seen of Montoya so far it looks like he could easily fulfil a wing back role. Suttner also looked decent in that Chelsea game when handed more attacking responsibilities. Solly March played just off Glenn Murray as a second striker, a role which Florin Andone could take up meaning that 3-5-2 would also offer a way to get the Romanian into the starting line up.

Become more positive
We’ve a feeling this might be the most popular solution among supporters. Hughton is, by nature, a very conservative manager. It’s why he’s only won nine away games out of 66 as a top flight manager. That’s all very well and good away against the big sides such as this Saturday’s opponents Manchester City, but sitting deep and trying to defend your way to a draw only works up to a point against the rest of the division. As we saw at Watford and Southampton and to a lesser extent at home to Spurs, it invites wave after wave of pressure and if you invite pressure, chances are the opposition are going to score at some point.

By taking the game to the opposition, you reduce their opportunity to create that pressure. Playing on the front foot and being positive means they can’t spend large chunks of times camped in your half and having the ball on the edge of your box. It means that you aren’t simply winning the ball, trying to get it up to Glenn Murray and then expecting him to do something with absolutely bugger all support within a distance greater than the Sahara Desert.

We saw in the second half against Fulham, the second half at St Mary’s and the second half against Spurs just how good this Albion team can be when they look to go forward. You’d expect that to be the case when you’ve forked out over £50m on attacking options since January. Anthony Knockaert, Yves Bissouma, Pascal Gross, Alireza Jahanbakhsh and of course Murray are all players who thrive when asked to make something happen.

Perhaps the simple answer as to how we can stop going 2-0 down in games might be to try and go 2-0 up instead?