Brighton celebrated an unbeaten pre-season after victory against Wolfsburg on Saturday evening.
Albion beat Wycombe Wanderers, Stoke City, Las Palmas, Coventry City and the German side in pre-season, with a draw against Southampton.
So, what conclusions can be drawn from the fad of friendlies that have taken place, and what can we expect Brighton to look like this season?
The Formation and the Defence
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Brighton have continued to be set up in a 4-2-3-1, but with a few considerable changes both in and out of possession.
The back four of choice to begin with seems to be Maxim De Cuyper, Lewis Dunk, Jan Paul van Hecke and Mats Wieffer.
Whilst the centre-backs are more traditional, the full-backs alternate roles. Either the right back inverts into the back three, allowing the left back to push on, or the left back drops into the back three, allowing the right back to push on.
It feels most sensible to have Wieffer be the one to invert and let De Cuyper fulfil his natural wing-back role, however, this does leave an abundance of space for the opposition to attack into when the ball is turned over.
Given Dunk’s Achilles heel of defending wide spaces, and especially against Wolfsburg how often he was getting caught high and turned, it is a bit of a problem. Hence why at least whilst Carlos Baleba hasn’t been available it has benefited Brighton to have De Cuyper more frequently fulfil the back three role.
De Cuyper also aids in build-up a lot better, where we lose Baleba’s ball progression, having De Cuyper slightly deeper to utilise his on-the-ball capabilities has been quite a handy temporary solution.
Wieffer playing right back is also at present a temporary solution, however is likely to continue in the medium term. As @fpl_instinctive has said, sometimes it’s good to take a player out of their ‘natural’ position and put them in a position that will help them to work on areas that need improvement.
For Wieffer, his overall athleticism and interpretation of space and taking his time on the ball are holding him back from being a mainstay in the midfield.
Overall, the defence:
- Looks to continue the in possession ideas whilst allowing the full backs simultaneously more freedom and the need to be a bit more disciplined.
- Needs Baleba back to mitigate the issues; what Hürzeler is currently trying to do revolves heavily around Baleba being all action, it feels.
- Would prefer Dunk to still have any recovery pace, which he doesn’t, so it wouldn’t be surprising if Coppola is in soon.
- Still looks vulnerable in transition, which is largely due to the pace of our players, both of our centre backs wanting to push up to win the ball and not doing so enough, and if De Cuyper is the one bombing on and overlapping and there is a turnover we look totally susceptible down our left side.
- Is slightly sturdier whilst the opponent has settled possession *provided* Baleba is there and *provided* we commit to a structured press and actually have bodies in the midfield block.
The Midfield and The Attack
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Baleba has been mentioned a lot despite not being present for most of the recent pre-season games.
So to ignore him for now, let’s have a look at what we’re currently doing.
Diego Gomez and Yasin Ayari are the pivot of choice, which has its strengths and certainly has its weaknesses.
Us getting caught out in transition is absolutely a result of the gaps in midfield.
However, the in possession stuff was quite nice. Ayari has been really positionally disciplined in terms of finding space and moving the ball on quickly, one of the biggest issues coming in to the start of last season is that he could just hold on to the ball for too long, but he seems a lot more comfortable playing quicker.
Gomez is drifting out to the left which is allowing either full back to overlap, and it also gives the centre backs, particularly van Hecke the space to carry and play into. That space is where we’re getting caught out, but Baleba in Gomez’s role to cover more ground can make that work.
Matt O’Riley
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Matt O’Riley has not been happy with his role at Brighton, and whilst what he’s been playing in pre-season isn’t exactly what he must be envisioning, it platforms his skill set quite well.
He’s been a bit of a hybrid of all three of 8/10/9 where he’s covering a lot of ground, getting some of the most touches out of anyone and both dropping back to form that aforementioned midfield block and supporting Georginio Rutter in the front line press.
With O’Riley, getting him on the ball has been great in terms of build-up, getting the team up the pitch and creating chances. It kind of diminishes the need to have Gomez in at all, as he’s seeing so little of the ball and O’Riley is getting so much more responsibility in the final third.
So, forming a 3-3-4/ 3-3-1-3 in possession, O’Riley connects the midfield to the attack. His pressing has been really key, and he’s so slick when he receives the ball to turn and pass/cross. He could do with shooting a bit more though.
Mitoma and Minteh are free to just attack their channel and opposing full back, whilst having the support of the full back on the overlap.
Georginio Rutter
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Rutter kind of needs his own mini-section, as there’s so much to talk about in terms of his responsibilities.
Out of possession, Rutter’s pressing has been excellent. Combined with O’Riley’s, they both worked their socks off, which Hürzeler will be very pleased with.
Him and O’Riley have pretty much worked in tandem, with both dropping in to midfield to find space, and finding their own space. Zone 14 is his domain, both in terms of creating chances for others and getting shots off himself.
His two-footedness is making him so unpredictable too, and everything positive we do in the final third seems to channel through him.
The way he uses his body is really outstanding, both in terms of agility and upper body strength. He’s just so difficult to knock off of the ball when he’s dribbling, and then his weight of pass at the end on the through ball/disguised pass is normally bang on the money.
His rapport with his teammates is great, especially Minteh who he can form a strong partnership with this season. Stick Minteh in behind twice a game and instruct him to shoot, and he’s scoring 15 this season.
Conclusion and final thoughts
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Brighton look really dangerous going forward this season, as you’d expect given the calibre of player in our front line.
Hürzeler would need to have a big rethink and shift a lot of things around in the circumstance that we do lose Baleba, and a lot of the ideas he has put forward in pre-season would be pretty redundant.
We look open on the counter, but Baleba and Coppola would lighten that.
There are quite a lot of players who need to figure out their role this season. O’Riley has been impressive in his, but he could still go. If he goes, Rutter can drop back, or Brajan Gruda can come in.
In fact, Gruda could be on for a big season if he can compete in that role, which seems quite tailor made for him with a couple of personal adjustments compared to O’Riley.
It looks like Brighton are pretty much done in the transfer market aside from some outgoings, which is fine. The signs are positive, we’re starting to get to a great place.
Roll on Fulham.
