Harry Watkinson
Why Brighton could qualify for Europe this season
Brighton got their season off to the perfect start after beating Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday, but just how far can the Seagulls go this season?
They finished in nineth place in 2021-22: their best Premier League finish, but could they push on and get themselves in the top seven to qualify for Europa Conference League, Europa League or even Champions League football next season?
This article breaks down the three key reasons why this year could be a record-breaker for the South coast club.
Graham Potter
The first reason for Brighton’s potential for success is an obvious one: Graham Potter. The 47-year-old English boss has gradually transformed the Seagulls from a team battling relegation to a side who can be a threat to any team, as we saw at Old Trafford.
Potter has taken a more ‘modern’ route into management than others. Rather than the usual: retire, live somewhere warm in Europe for five years, get bored, get your coaching badges, and eventually become a manager… he developed his trade at university.
He retired from football aged just 30 and quickly got a degree in Social Sciences. Potter then worked as a football development manager at the University of Hull, as a technical director for the Ghana Women’s team at the 2007 Women’s World Cup, became assistant coach for the England Universities Squad, before finally joining Leeds Metropolitan University’s coaching system while at the same time getting a master’s in leadership and emotional intelligence. This gradual progression has given him the perfect training to be a modern manager, one who focuses on tactics, squad development and player wellbeing.
Potter’s first role as a manager was in Sweden, where he took charge of fourth-tier club Ostersund. Against all the odds, four years later they were competing in the Swedish topflight for the first time in their history after three promotions on a wafer-thin budget. They finished eighth and incredibly won the Svenska Cup and qualified for Europa League football. Potter also had a short stint at Swansea, before joining Brighton in 2019.
This experience gave the English coach the ability to turn average players into good ones and thus drastically improve a team with little transfer funds available. He is also an excellent tactician: Brighton now have the identity of an organised, high-pressing team who can play effective passing football… Albion certainly don’t look like a team who will be battling relegation any time soon again.
Pascal Gross’ two goals against Manchester United epitomised Potter’s tactics, whereby his central midfielders get into the box and attack the ball. In fact, every player seems to have license to go forward, as long as there’s adequate cover in defence.
In his 115 matches with the Seagulls so far – Potter has won 31, giving him a 27%-win percentage. That may not sound impressive, but they are also very hard to beat, drawing 41. Let’s not forget that he came into a team that was close to being relegated on several occasions, so his record is pretty good.
Last season was a massive improvement though: they scored more goals than they ever have before in the Premier League (42), they conceded less than ever (44) showing how solid they have become. They picked up some fantastic wins, especially towards the end of the season: for example, beating Arsenal 2-1 at the Emirates, beating Spurs 1-0 away, thrashing Wolves 3-0 at Molineux, destroying Manchester United 4-0 at home, and then finally triumphing 3-1 over West Ham on the final day of the season… and now they’ve just gone and beaten United again.
Graham Potter’s men are in fantastic form and are playing with unparalleled confidence. They all seem to have fully bought into the English boss’ tactics too. Could this be the season where he repeats his Ostersund miracles by bringing Europe to the south coast?
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Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster
As we all know, every good team needs a solid defence and with Dunk and Webster at the back for the Seagulls, they have that in abundance.
Both players’ stats from last season make for impressive reading: Lewis Dunk played 29 league matches in total last season, helping to keep 10 clean sheets. He had a low average of tackles per game with 0.3, but that is compensated for by his defensive awareness, with 0.9 interceptions per game.
Dunk is also a classic, no-nonsense defender, making 3.8 clearances per match: one of the highest for this stat in the Premier League. The 6ft3 centre-back also uses his height to his advantage: winning 2.8 aerial duels on average. He provides a substantial threat from set pieces, too, having 0.7 shots on target per game – most of which being headers. Most importantly though, the 30-year-old Brighton captain is a leader and exactly the kind of player you would want organising your back line.
Adam Webster is very similar in that he is a natural leader and another strong, 6ft3 centre-back. He played fewer matches than Dunk as he found himself behind the now departed Shane Duffy in the pecking order, but when Webster got his chance, he proved to be a solid option.
He is a stronger tackler than Dunk, making an average of 1.2 successful challenges per game, so the two complement each other very well. He is also strong in the air, winning 2.5 aerial duels per match. He also makes 0.8 interceptions, 2.8 clearances and 0.8 blocks per game. Last season, he helped his side to seven clean sheets in 22 league appearances.
Both Dunk and Webster are also effective at playing out from the back, with 88.4% and 81% pass success rates respectively, which is key to Graham Potter’s fluid style of play.
If they can both stay fit and continue their good form this season, Dunk and Webster have the potential to become one of the most solid defensive partnerships in the division.
Transfer business and money left to spend?
Brighton are not a ‘big’ club, in the sense that they don’t have a billionaire owner to spend ridiculous money every transfer window, and thus have to generate their own funds. Potter, just like he was at Ostersund, has been very successful in doing this so far.
So far in this window, they have sold Yves Bissouma to Spurs for £26 million (after buying him for £15m) and Marc Cucurella to Chelsea for £59 million (who they bought for £16.2m). Similarly, they sold Ben White to Arsenal for £52.5 million last season, and Dan Burn to Newcastle for £13.5 million – both of which they have already replaced with Dunk and Webster. This gives the Seagulls some decent funds to play with before the transfer window closes in three weeks.
But how about the players they have signed? Moises Caicedo was brought in at the beginning of last season, perhaps as a prerequisite to the departure of Yves Bissouma. After a brief loan spell in Belgium, he has proved himself as an effective central midfielder and is now one of the first names on the team sheet for Potter, despite being only 20. They also brought in Enock Mwepu, another central midfielder who can play as a winger if needed. Essentially, they had replaced Bissouma before he even left.
This summer, they have made three smart additions so far: Levi Colwill has joined the club on a season-long loan from Chelsea, who will provide some cover at centre-back should Dunk or Webster be unavailable for any reason. Last season while at Huddersfield, Colwill played 32 times, keeping 13 clean sheets and almost helping them to promotion via the playoffs. He’s only 19 but has already shown himself to be a strong tackler (1.7 per game), has good defensive awareness (1.3 interceptions per game) and also made 4.1 clearances per game too, so he improves the Brighton squad.
The Seagulls have also signed 18-year-old striker Julio Enciso, who scored 11 goals in 14 matches for Libertad in the Paraguay first tier last season. He is likely one for the future, but if he lives up to his potential then he could be a really smart buy.
Finally, they have also signed 20-year-old winger Simon Adingra from Nordsjaelland, who scored 17 goals last season. He is another prospect but has the potential to add plenty of goals when he’s ready to feature for the first team. Brighton are building for the future, and with Potter’s excellent transfer record thus far, you can expect these new additions to be success stories.
With three weeks left in the window, Brighton will likely be focusing on improving their attacking threat, as while their defence is solid, they need to score more goals to push for Europe this season.
But overall, they look just as solid this season as they did in the last, despite losing two key players.
If they can bring in one or two extra attacking options, they are in with as good a chance as any to break through into Europe. Brighton are currently placed at 6/1 to break into the top six this season.
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