How can Brighton replace Glenn Murray?
Chris Hughton hasn’t ruled out Glenn Murray being fit for the visit of Wolverhampton Wanderers to the Amex, but it would be a real surprise to see him start just a week after being knocked unconscious and swallowing his tongue.
Even for a man who is full of surprises, returning from a sickening blow to the head that saw him stretchered off while receiving oxygen and then diagnosed with concussion inside of seven days would seem outrageous.
Which leaves Hughton with a big question to answer – how do the Albion fill the huge boots of their talismanic top scorer?
Jurgen Locadia
The much maligned Dutch forward has endured a pretty torrid start to his Albion career. He’s netted only two goals, one of those a tap in the 4-1 rout against Swansea City and the other against the might of League Two Coventry City. What Locadia desperately needs is at the very least a strong performance but preferably a goal to dispel the notion that he’s more interested in uploading shit music to iTunes than playing football. If Locadia does get the nod, then the Albion will have to adjust the way they play in order to give him a chance. In a remarkably candid interview towards the end of last season, Locadia admitted that he can’t head the ball which isn’t particularly helpful in a side set up with two flying wingers delivering crossing. As the Albion’s only central player with an eye for a killer pass, a fit Pascal Gross would certainly help Locadia and although the former PSV Eindhoven man seems the obvious choice to replace Murray, they are very different players which leaves a square peg in round hole feeling about the situation.
Florin Andone
Brighton and Hove Albion’s £5m signing from Deportivo La Coruna has been seen less than that £350m a week that the NHS was meant to get as a result of Brexit. One half for the stiffs against and West Ham United and three unused substitute appearances are the sum total of his involvement since his summer arrival from Estadio Riazor. He was on the bench at Newcastle last weekend which suggests he must be close to match fitness but giving a player who hasn’t played a competitive game for nearly six months his debut in a vital game would be a huge gamble. Would Hughton take it? It’s hard to see, but on the evidence so far he can’t be any worse than Locadia and may even be a closer fit to Murray than the Dutchman.
Aaron Connolly
If Andone represents a spin on the roulette wheel, then Connolly would be akin to sticking your mortgage on zero. The 18-year-old has been in sparking form for the development squad, scoring nine in 11 appearances including an excellent goal in their 2-0 win over Benfica on Monday night. That’s led to a clamour to get him involved in the first team, but the step up from Premier League 2 football to the real thing is massive. Hughton knows that, which is why since his appointment in 2015 he has handed no youth team product a full debut in the league and only Rob Hunt away at Burton Albion and James Tilley in an end-of-season dead rubber at Middlesbrough have been trusted to come off the bench.
Change the formation
We’ve touched upon the fact that the Albion are set up to play to Murray’s strengths and none of his potential replacements share the same skillset. Could Hughton change formation then? Locadia’s goal scoring feats at PSV Eindhoven were achieved in a 4-3-3, which Brighton could replicate by playing a midfield three of Beram Kayal, Dale Stephens and Yves Bissouma and a front line of Locadia down the middle with two of the wingers pushed more centrally alongside him. Moving away from the tried-and-tested 4-4-1-1 would not be without its risks; starting Bissouma, who’s defence is less convincing than the Saudi’s when a journalist steps foot in their embassy, against a Wolves side containing the quality of Ruben Neves and Joao Moutinho could hand the visitors control of midfield while it would also leave Gaetan Bong and whoever starts at right back much more exposed.
Play without a striker
Hughton has gone for a false nine once, although that was in very different circumstances to a winnable home game against a side around us in the table. The Albion’s failure to bring in a forward last summer coupled with injuries and suspensions to Murray, Tomer Hemed and Sam Baldock left the Brighton boss without a recognised striker for the trip to face Arsenal at the Emirates. As a result, Izzy Brown had the thankless task of leading the line, hardly managing to leave his own half. Hughton deployed a similar tactic with Jamie Murphy against Plucky Little Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup and it led to the same result of a clean sheet for the opposition. Who could fill the false nine role this time? Solly March has been playing centrally recently and Knockaert has also been used through the middle in the Championship, but neither option would convince you that Rui Patricio in the Wolves goal would be in for a busy afternoon.
Do a Mark McGhee
Remember when Mark McGhee was struggling for a decent centre forward a few games into the 2004-05 season ? Leon Knight was struggling for form, Maheta Molango had peaked after 12 seconds and Jake Robinson was busy studying for his Year 6 SATS. McGhee’s solution was (probably) to drink a bottle of strong whiskey which gave him the idea of playing Adam Virgo up front. This remarkably worked as Virgo ended the campaign top scorer with eight goals, earning a £1.5m move to Celtic in the process. Maybe Hughton should follow the lead of one of his predecessors and try something similar with Lewis Dunk or Shane Duffy? Both have form in front of goal. Duffy has two to his name already this season while Dunk finished the 2014-15 season as second top scorer behind Joao Teixeira with seven despite playing the entire campaign at centre back. That probably says more about how dire the Albion were in the campaign than Dunk’s suitability as a striker, but sod it – get him up there. That’s your answer, Chris.
