The lessons that Hughton and the Albion can learn from the 2014-15 season
When people talk about the four-and-a-half great years that Brighton and Hove Albion have enjoyed under Chris Hughton, they’re actually rewriting history a bit as for Hughton’s first six months in charge we were absolutely terrible.
The new manager bounce that most teams benefit from when changing their manager saw us start pretty promisingly following his appointment on the final day of December 2014, but from February 2015 through until the end of the season, the football was terrible and we effectively only stayed in the Championship because somehow Blackpool, Wigan Athletic and Millwall were worse than us.
We managed to score just two goals in our final nine games – and one of those was an own goal from Blackburn Rovers’ Matt Kilgallon – and survival was only confirmed thanks to another club beating one of our relegation rivals; for this year’s Crystal Palace and Cardiff City scenario, read Blackburn and Millwall.
Recruitment had been terrible and we seemed to be lacking any sort of direction. Large sections of the Albion fan base were saying that the club needed to have a serious look at themselves that summer to work out what the hell had gone wrong if we weren’t to be in for another season of struggle in 2015-16.
All sounds very familiar doesn’t it? Well, the good news is that the club and Hughton did have a very serious look at themselves to work out what the hell went wrong and numerous changes were made. The result? A stunning transformation from relegation fodder to Championship runners up in the space of two seasons, in which we won 52 games, scored 146 goals and accumulated 182 points.
Here are some of the lessons learned from that 2014-15 season that have suddenly become very applicable for the Albion ahead of what looks to be a vital summer in 2019.
Overhaul the recruitment policy
Brighton and Hove Albion could have been renamed Brighton and Loan Albion in that 2014-15 season. Some of the names you might remember; the Joe Bennetts, Greg Halfords and Darren Bents of this world. Others you’ll recall for being dreadful – we’re looking at you Leon Best. Ali Al-Habsi crops up frequently because of the fantastic cock up of signing him without realising he’d only be able to play two times before heading off to the Asian Cup with Oman and then there are the likes of Mustapha Carayol and Emmanuel Ledesma who you’ll probably need to Google.
At one point, we had so many loan players that we had to start dropping them purely because we would have exceeded the Football League limit of having eight in a matchday squad of 18. This was all part of the David Burke master plan and he ultimately paid for the shambles when he lost his job at the same time as Sami Hyypia.
The Albion realised that trying to achieve success with a team which relied on so many borrowed players was a recipe for disaster. In 2015-16, Hughton didn’t make one loan signing until the end of November when James Wilson arrived. Only two more followed, Rajiv van La Parra and Liam Ridgewell. The recruitment policy was completely overhauled.
Similar needs to happen this summer, particularly when it comes to the Netherlands. Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Jurgen Locadia, Elvis Manu, Danny Holla – the list goes on for players signed from the Eredivisie who haven’t made the grade in England. It’s a notorious difficult league to pick up stars from, so why do we keep throwing big money at it?
Whilst Plucky Little Bournemouth were picking up David Brooks for £11m from Sheffield United – a player our own scouts had said was worth a look – we instead plumbed for Jahabakhsh because computer modeling suggested he was better. This summer, we should leave the Dutch League well alone and place less faith in stats. Moneyball is all very well and good, but sometimes the human eye works just as well.
Settle on a formation and stick with it
The accepted moment that the Albion’s 2018-19 season fell apart was when Hughton abandoned his tried and trusted 4-4-1-1 and moved to 4-3-3. We’ve written extensively about how Brighton’s points per game and goals scored per game have dramatically decreased while our goals conceded per game has shot up with the formation change.
One of the major problems with the change is that we don’t have the players to play in a 4-3-3. There is no holding midfielder good enough to make it work, the right full back position is far too exposed for the quality of individuals we have available to us there and it is a formation that makes Pascal Gross and Glenn Murray – two of our only goal threats – almost redundant.
If Hughton wants to play 4-3-3 next season, then he has to decide that this summer and sign the players to make it work. That’s a Sergio Busquests type midfielder who can break up and make play, a striker with Murray’s skill set but more pace and a new right back. A couple of new wingers wouldn’t go amiss either as Solly March and Anthony Knockaert look like our only Premier League standard wide men and neither have played in a 4-3-3 in their lives.
In the summer of 2015, Hughton decided that Brighton would play 4-4-2 in the Championship under him. Two traditional wingers, a big-man-little-man front pairing. He went out and recruited players to make that formation work, such as Jamie Murphy, Tomer Hemed, Bobby Zamora and a little later on, Anthony Knockaert. He needs a similar level of clarity this time around.
Be ruthless
One of the biggest gripes that supporters have had this season is that players seem to keep the shirt even when they are under performing. Hughton has this reputation as a nice guy, but he also possesses that ruthless streak that all good managers have – and he needs to get it back.
Inigo Calderon was one of the most popular players the Albion had ever had and was voted Player of the Season at the end of the 2014-15 campaign. That mattered not a jolt to Hughton though as that summer he brought in Liam Rosenior to challenge Bruno at right back, relegating Calderon to third choice. Calderon ended the season being released.
It was a similar story with Gordon Greer. One of the most successful captain’s in Albion history, Hughton brought in two new centre halves in Uwe Hunememer and Connor Goldson as he looked to phase Greer out – although that was also party because Lewis “One of our own” Dunk was trying to force through a move to Fulham. Anyway, Greer too was gone within a year. No room for sentiment for two Albion stalwarts.
There needs to be similar ruthlessness this summer. As much as we all love Bruno, the right back position needs improving and so it might be time to move him into a coaching role. If we’re going to play 4-3-3, then you may as well sell Gross as he won’t fit into that formation. Beram Kayal has been a good servant and his stock seems to have risen purely because he isn’t Dale Stephens, but he isn’t a regular starter at any level of the Premier League. Glenn Murray’s time has probably come to sit on the bench rather than lead the line with such frequency and there seems little point in persevering with Locadia and Jahanbaksh if willing suitors can be found.
We’re at a crossroads and when you reach a crossroads, firm and difficult decisions need to be made. It’s time for Hughton to be as ruthless as he was when he first blew into the Amex.
Be bold
Whilst the recruitment and the change to a 4-4-2 ultimately helped the Albion’s transformation over the summer of 2015, it was the new-found boldness in approach that really got supporters excited. It was evident from the second game of that 2015-16 season, a scorching hot day away at Fulham.
The scores were level at 1-1 entering the 90th minute. The previous campaign, we’d have retreated into the trenches and tried to hang on for a draw for at least the whole second half. Yet at Craven Cottage, the Albion were still going for three points rather than one. Jake Forster-Caskey then played one of the best through balls you’ll ever see, Kazenga LuaLua went down in the area after collecting it and Hemed banged home the penalty in front of the packed Putney End.
It was such a difference in approach compared to the turgid fare we’d been served up just a few months previously. Brighton won the game, Hughton began winning hearts and the next three years were as good as anything Brighton have ever experienced.
That’s why we need another summer of 2015.
