Potter’s signings are addressing Brighton’s leadership issues

Two players have come through the Brighton and Hove Albion front door so far in the Graham Potter era and there is a striking link between Matt Clarke and Leandro Trossard.

Both the £3.5m signing from Portsmouth and the £18m signing from Genk were captains of their former clubs. Potter is not only adding talented young players with potential to improve, but he’s bringing in leaders as well.

This is good news. The lack of leadership in the Albion squad is something that seemed to creep under the radar last season, but the retirement of Bruno has brought it sharply into focus over the summer.

That’s because El Capitan was one of the only real natural leaders Chris Hughton had to call upon in the 2018-19 season. You could even argue he was the only one – and that was a real problem.

Lewis Dunk has been Bruno’s deputy over the past three seasons and while he has done a decent job, it’s been noticeable that all of his below par Premier League displays have come with the captain’s armband.

That isn’t particularly good news for either the Albion or Dunk should he inherit the captaincy on a full time basis.

The worst of those Dunk performances as captain came in that shocking 5-0 defeat at home to Plucky Little Bournemouth.

Dunk wasn’t entirely to blame as every single one of the 14 players involved that day were atrocious, but the manner in which the Albion fell apart was symptomatic of a complete lack of leadership on the pitch.

Can you imagine a Brighton side collapsing like that with Gordon Greer on the pitch barking orders? Or Danny Cullip calling Robbie Pethick a “fucking ugly bastard” and berating everyone else around him? Would it have happened with Bruno playing?

It’s particularly telling that each time Brighton have been on a terrible run in the Premier League, Hughton turned to Bruno and the captain’s return always helped steady the ship.

In the season just gone, Bruno’s return to the side saw the Albion end that dreadful run of March and April form by drawing 0-0 at a Wolverhampton Wanderers side who would go onto finish seventh in the table.

The year before, Bruno was recalled after the Crystal Palace debacle. Brighton’s next three results were a draw with Tottenham Hotspur, a draw with Burnley and a win over Manchester United.

This current Albion squad lacks leaders. Perhaps it’s the case that Dunk can be a good captain, he just lacks support from elsewhere.

Dale Stephens was de facto third choice for the armband last season and Maty Ryan took it towards the end of the 2-0 league defeat at Bournemouth in December.

None of those have any captaincy experience. In fact, Dunk is the only player in the Albion squad to have captained a club regularly with the exception of Beram Kayal, who fulfilled the role on an infrequent basis at Celtic.

Given that Kayal seems unlikely to be a regular in the starting line up anytime soon, that certainly leaves a leadership vacuum in the first 11. There would also appear to be a lack of leaders in the squad in general.

This hasn’t always been the case. Up until last summer, the Albion could call upon the services of ex-Fulham captain Steve Sidwell, ex-Padeborn captain Uwe Hunemeier and ex-Shrewsbury Town captain Connor Goldson – not to mention the presence of Liam Rosenior, who himself captained Brighton on a couple of occasions in the League Cup.

Those big players and the leadership qualities they possessed were never really replaced. To lose four captains in one transfer window and bring in nobody with similar experience was always likely to leave a void.

With Clarke and Trossard, Potter has started to address that issue by signing two players with captaincy experience, albeit at different levels.

Clarke has led Portsmouth to promotion from League Two and lifted the Checkatrade Checkatrade.com Trophy at Wembley.

Trossard meanwhile captained Genk to their first Jupiler League title in eight years and is only the fourth man in the history of the club to have that honour. Not only that, but he managed to score 22 goals along the way.

For a squad that looks desperately short of leadership, this is a smart move on the part of Potter. Having more captains around Dunk on the pitch and in the group should help ease the burden on him, hopefully allowing him to show his best form on a consistent basis with the armband in 2019-20.

And if for some reason he can’t do that, there does at least appear to be alternatives to take the load off him. It’s another positive aspect of the Albion’s recruitment so far.