Is Graham Potter right about Brighton fans having too high expectations?
Graham Potter caused quite a stir in his pre-Spurs press conference last week when he began talking about Brighton fans and expectations.
Andy Naylor put it to the Albion boss that supporters were a little underwhelmed following the 1-1 draw with West Bromwich Albion, to which Potter gave the following answer:
“We’re in the Premier League, as I understand it, we’re Brighton. Unless I’ve missed something, we haven’t been at this level for too long in our history, we are fighting every day to be here, and we’re no better than anyone else, we’ve got no divine right to win a football game so we shouldn’t be putting ourselves under any pressure in terms of we must score this chance, we must score this goal.”
“Now, sometimes the opponent does well and we have to keep going and that’s the mentality I would rather us have. I think most of our supporters understand the history of this club, understand where we’ve been at, where we’ve come from.”
“There will be a few that just expect us to win because we’re Brighton. I’d like them to explain that to me but that’s the way of the world.”
“Unless I’ve missed something since I’ve been in Wales or Sweden, I don’t think Brighton have ever been a top team or a top performing team.”
“I think when I came in, the season before they had 36 points, so I’m not sure where this perception of where we should be or whether it’s bad or not comes from.”
“Because if we’re a club that expects to win games in the Premier League just because we’re Brighton, then I must have missed the memo. I must have missed something.”
Now, we do not know a single Brighton fans who expects the Albion to win every game. Anyone who does should speak to their doctor as a matter of urgency. Potter was clearly being somewhat flippant with remarks like that.
What Potter was implying is that he feels supporters have unrealistic expectations of Brighton in 2020-21. Some fans agreed with him, believing our points return so far given the opponents played is about right.
Others vehemently disagreed, saying that after four seasons in the Premier League, we should be aiming for more than being in a relegation battle. That is why Chris Hughton was sacked and Potter was brought in – the club viewed him as the man to take us onto the next level.
At the start of the season, how many points would you have expected from an opening eight games of Chelsea at home, Newcastle United away, Manchester United home, Everton away, Crystal Palace away, West Bromwich Albion home and Tottenham Hotspur away?
We would have settled for five – three at home to West Brom and draws on the road at Newcastle and Palace. So in terms of points, Brighton are going about where they should be at the moment.
Anyone who expects the Albion to be on 10 or 11 points after that start could be considered to have high expectations – and that would make Potter right in his assessment.
But there is much more to it than league positions and points on the board. The fallout from the West Brom game sparked Potter’s comments as the Seagulls gave their worst 45 minutes of the campaign to be held at home by one of the relegation favourites.
Baggies boss Slaven Bilic said afterwards that he fancied his side would have won if the game had have gone on for another five minutes and he was probably right. Brighton were clinging on for a point by the end.
Potter cannot seriously say that Brighton fans wanting to win at home to a newly promoted club who were yet to pick up a point on the road have too high expectations.
Winning that sort of game is crucial to Premier League survival. Any of the 19 other clubs in the top flight this season will expect three points from West Brom at home.
The West Brom game isn’t the only time Brighton have failed to fire at the Amex in the last 15 months. Since Potter took charge, the Albion have failed to beat West Ham United, Southampton, Burnley, Sheffield United, Aston Villa, Watford, Crystal Palace, Newcastle United and now West Brom.
In the last calendar year, Brighton have won just two matches at the Amex in all competitions. Since beating Norwich City 2-0 on November 2nd 2019, only Plucky Little Bournemouth and Arsenal have left Sussex with nothing to show for their efforts.
Again, are Brighton fans asking too much to expect Potter and his players to be able to beat at home the sides in and around them in the bottom half of the Premier League table? Or deliver more than two victories in over 365 days? Not for our money.
Now consider Brighton’s record in 2020, which reads five wins in 26 games. Are fans expecting too much by wanting to see their side win more frequently than once in every five matches? Probably not.
Most club owners would expect better, too. Hughton won five of his final 26 matches before being sacked. Sami Hyypia only lasted 22 matches, winning four of those which gives him a comparable record to Potter currently.
Gus Poyet He Who Must Not Be Named won 11 of his last 26, although Poyet’s sacking from Brighton admittedly took place for very different reasons.
Russell Slade was fired following eight wins in 26; Dean Wilkins 12 from 26; Mark McGhee five in 26. Only Micky Adams has a worse record after winning just four of his last 26 games in charge.
Adams coincidentally was the last manager prior to Potter to criticise Brighton fans for having too high expectations, saying after a 3-1 defeat against Leeds United in October 2008, “No disrespect to the likes of Hereford, but we were playing The Leeds United today.”
The implication being that fans were all mad for expecting a result at Elland Road against opponents who did not even finish in League One’s top six in the 2008-09 season.
In a brilliant turn of events, the Albion then went and failed to beat Hereford a week later, drawing 0-0 at Withdean to make Adams’ comments look rather silly. No disrespect to Hereford…
Now, we are not saying that Potter should be sacked at this moment in time. You would have to have a screw loose to consider it. He is overseeing a change in culture and approach which is about much more than just results. It is a gradual process.
But before he criticises the expectations of supporters, he should perhaps consider that five of his predecessors were fired for having equal or better records than his.
Brighton fans are not being over expectant for wanting to see more wins than McGhee, Slade and the final throes of Hughton delivered – even if we are playing at a far higher level.
Potter might also want to have a word with his employers about being over expectant. Shortly after he was appointed, Tony Bloom announced very publicly that he wanted Brighton to become an established top 10 club in the Premier League. Is it any wonder that some fans are expecting that to happen when the target itself has come from Bloom?
Most Albion supporters are sensible enough to know that survival in the Premier League is a success for a club of our stature. The real question then is what counts as realistic expectations – and is Potter meeting those to justify his whinge at Brighton fans?
For us, we want to see progression each season. A higher league position and a better points total than the previous campaign. Working on that basis, the expectations of Brighton this season should be to improve on 2019-20’s 15th place and 41 points.
The current haul of five points from eight games replicated over a 36 game season equates to 30 points. That is a total which gets you relegated. As already stated however, Brighton have faced a devilish start to the campaign from which five points is about right.
But it will not be for long. Brighton have to start picking up victories in their winnable games if this is not to turn into another slog against relegation – something that Bloom should be as keen to avoid as Albion fans are.
The next winnable game comes this Friday against Burnley. Just as it is not too much to expect Brighton to beat West Bromwich Albion at home, it is realistic to expect three points against a Clarets side who will arrive at the Amex rock bottom of the Premier League with just a solitary draw to their name.
Nobody expects “Brighton to win because we are Brighton”, Graham. That doesn’t even make that much sense. If you could try and improve on five wins in 26 and only two home victories in a calendar year though, that would be nice.
