Why Ben the Brighton fan was completely wrong about Hughton

Somewhere in Sussex, a village was missing its idiot on Saturday night. We’re talking Ben the Brighton fan who called into BBC Five Live’s 606 phone in show.

Speaking to presenter Robbie Savage, Ben started his call by asking the former Albion midfielder if “it’s time for Chris Hughton at Brighton to step aside for someone who is a little bit more willing to attack.” Ben went onto make his argument about getting rid of the man who has led Brighton from looking doomed to relegation to League One in 2015 to 12th in the Premier League in 2018.

“I’ve been to every away game, missed a few home games this season and obviously I know we’ve just won the last three games 1-0. We’re very, very heavily reliant on our defence we’ve got two, we’ve got arguably one of the best centre halves in the league, a very, very good keeper that we will hopefully hold onto, but we can’t keep relying on them and sneaking games 1-0.”

“We’ve had a lot of opportunities to attack in the last two or three games; away at Newcastle, home to Wolves, again today. When we’re given the opportunity to press forward and break, we don’t do it and it was very interesting today away at Everton to see a side who when they break, they break with purpose and pace and quality and when we have the opportunity to break, like I said we just don’t do it. We go forward quite slowly and often the ball ends up going backwards again.”

“Chris Hughton is someone who has done wonders for our football club, of course he has and he’s a lovely guy but I wonder if he’s reached his ceiling, I wonder if it’s time for the club to look for someone who is a bit more positive because to be honest, the way the Premier League is at the moment, it’s there for us to have a go at because a lot of the clubs that have been decent over the last couple of years, they’re falling away.”

“Burnley, Huddersfield are poor, Newcastle can’t get a run together. We can have a go at it and install ourselves in the top half if we got a manager that’s willing to be a bit more positive.”

Savage for his part was initially speechless, just muttering “wow” before telling Dan, “In all my years of 606, I’ve got to say that is one of the worst shouts I’ve ever heard. In nine years of doing this show, when you’ve got a man in Chris Hughton who got your promoted, who got you in the Premier League and stayed there last year, now to be 12th on 14 points, nine points clear of the relegation zone, I think in the nine years I’ve been on this show, I think that is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve ever heard in my life.”

And that’s coming from a bloke who was greeted on his first day as an Albion player by Bob Booker dressed as a woman. Savage is quite right though – it is absolutely ridiculous and anybody who seriously thinks that Hughton should be moved on at this stage in proceedings needs a serious reality check.

Most Brighton fans out there would probably want a more attacking brand of football, especially on the road. It can he hard to find the motivation at times to part with a lot of cash and put a lot of effort in travelling the length of the country when you know that chances are you aren’t going to score a goal – but that isn’t a reason to get rid of one of the most successful managers the Albion have ever had.

With Hughton, you know exactly what you are going to get. He’s by nature a very conservative boss and will always prioritise picking up one point over taking a risk and going for all three. When your brief is to purely to stay in the Premier League, that’s quite clearly the most sensible approach to achieving it.

If Ben thinks we should be going to places like Goodison Park to take on an Everton team with threats such as Gylfi Sigurdsson, Richarlison and Theo Walcott and leaving them with the space to attack us, then he must be sniffing a serious amount of glue.

We saw on Saturday with the Toffee’s first goal how devastatingly quick a quality side can be on the counter. Within 20 seconds of Alireza Jahanbakhsh’s corner being cleared, Everton had swept up the other end to score. Imagine if they we gave them the opportunity to do that on a more frequent basis by pouring forward. We also saw it away at Manchester City with both City goals coming from counter attacks on the rare occasions that the Albion attempted to go forward. Attacking teams who are that good away from home, the outcome could resemble a cricket score.

There’s a lesson in history for sides who get ideas above their station. Southampton sacked Claude Puel because their supporters said he was too boring in leading them to an eighth place finish and the League Cup Final in 2016-17. The result was Mauricio Pellegrino being sacked in March and they only survived relegation to the Championship on the last day of last season.

Hughton too has been scapegoated for not playing attacking football before when at Norwich City. They got rid when they sat outside the relegation zone and ended the campaign going down to the Championship after a three season stay in the Premier League. They’ve never really recovered.

There will probably come a point at some time in the future when Hughton is moved on – this is modern day football, after all. But it shouldn’t be now. His job is to keep Brighton in the Premier League and he’s well on course to do that.

Only the most delusional supporters would think there is somebody out there who could do a better job, and Ben’s call rightly received the scorn it deserved from Savage.

Hughton isn’t going anywhere – and that is the way it should be.

🗣️ @RobbieSavage8: "In all my years of doing 606…I think that is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard in my life!"

Something we definitely didn't expect this evening…

This #BHAFC fans asks – “Should Chris Hughton step aside?”#BBC606 pic.twitter.com/Ho1Wyoh7a3

— BBC 5 Live Sport on BBC Sounds (@5liveSport) November 3, 2018