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News
Brighton 2018/19 preview: The new Pogba, home form and finding goals
After a highly respectable 15th place fiꦇnish last season, Chris Hughton’s Brighton Hove Albion are now preparing fo𓂃r their second campaign since returning to the Premier League.
Ahead of the 2018/19 campaign, we caught up with Seagulls fan site to get the low-down on progre🌄♒ss made on and off the pitch…
What do you make of your club’s pre-season preparations, both on and off the pitch?
There isꦗ normally plenty to 🙈grumble about when it comes to Brighton and transfer windows as we tend to leave all our business until the last minute. Not this time around, though.
The club has tried to💝 address the over-reliance on Glenn Murray and Pascal Gross for goals by bringing in attacking players Alireza Jahanbakhsh, Florin Andone and Yves Bissouma for a combined £40 million and we’ve also strengthened an already competent defence.
Off the pitch, chairman Tony Bloom completed the purchase of Belgian second division side Union Saint Gilloise and, while the Albion have said Union will remain completely unrelated to us, it comes atꦫ an interesting time as we’ve started signing players who don’t yet qualify for British work permits, such as Percy Tau from South Africa.
Which of your club’s summer signing has you most excited about the new campaign?
𒉰According to the LOSC Lille fans we have spoken to, Bissouma could be the new Paul Pogba if he sorts his attitude out.
🦩Monaco were reportedly interested and he has already scored✤ a stunning free kick in a friendly against Birmingham City.
Given that Dale Stephens and Davy Propper – excellent though they were last season – contributed a grand total of zero league goals, a goal scoring central midfiel𝔍derᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ looked a priority and at £15 million, he could prove to be a bargain.
Who’s your club’s young-player-who-could-make-a-breakthrough this season?
No player has broken through from our academy system since So𝄹l🐠ly Mach in 2013 and that doesn’t look like changing this year.
Keep an eye on goalkeeper Chris🦩tian Walton, though♓, who we have loaned out to Wigan again.
He helped the Latics win League One last season, was one of only thre🅰e keepers to keep a clean sheet against Manchester City and is so highly rated that it wouldn’t b♎e a surprise if he takes our number one spot from Maty Ryan in 2019/20 after a season picking up more experience as a Championship number one in this campaign.
What will be your club’s biggest factor behind achieving its targets this season?
Home form. Chris Hughton is naturally quite conservative, especially away from hꦜome which is why we only won twice and scored 10 times on the road.
Because of that, our 🦂form at the Amex has to be strong.
We only lost to one side outside of th🅘e top four at home last season and it will need to be a similar story this time around if we are to surviv🃏e again.
What will be your club’s biggest barrier to achieving its targets this season?
Not scoring enough. When you look at it, the fact we had to rely on 34-year-old Glenn Murray’s goals to stay up makes the achievement even more miraculo🔯us.
Murray can’t keep surpassing exꦇpectations forever and somebody needs to step up꧅ and ease the burden on him.
Hopefully that will be one or two of the new attacking players we’ve bought i�ไ�n, but if they struggle to make an impression in England then we could be in a bit of trouble.
Which club outside yours do you think has done the best business this summer?
Got to be Wolves hasn’t it? Although it is probably a lot easier when you’ve got a Portuguese super agent sending you all🎀 his best cꦐlients for knockdown fees.
If you had to pick a six-a-side team from your club’s current squad, who would be in it?
Ryan i🧸s the most unꦑderrated goalkeeper in the Premier League.
Bruno for some flair at the back alongside Lewis Dun꧒k who is good for a𝔍 goal at either end.
Propper passes the ball beautifully, 💮Jose I꧙zquierdo brings the pace and Pascal Gross the finishing.
Murray misses out ꦓas I don’t think he’d be suited to six-a-side. Sorry, Glenn!
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Finally, how do you think your team will have done come the end of the 2018/19 season?
Another 15th placed finish, the same as last season. But we’ll 🎀be a lot closer to the relegation zone than the seven points clear we were in 2017/18.