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From the outside Brighton are considered a well-run football club. Their eighth successive season in the Premier League since earning promotion from the Championship back at the end of 2016/17, owner Tony Bloom’s data-driven revolution the bedrock of the progress in the past decade or so.
While it is the use of data that has given the Seagulls such a sizeable edge over their Premier League counterparts, their ability to unearth gems in all corners of the footballing world has played a considerable part in their ongoing top tier membership.
Not only is it the unearthing of those gems but also the ability to sell for large profits. Alexis Mac Allister’s switch from the South Coast to Liverpool and Moises Caicedo’s transition to Stamford Bridge just two examples where Brighton have been able to cash in their chips for a higher return.
Those profits recycled into the next crop of South American stars, the perpetual cycle of punching above your weight seemingly continues. Or does it? A look at Brighton’s form since the start of the year would suggest that maybe their much-lauded database may have been corrupted.
A Wretched Run
Under manager Fabian Hurzeler, the East Sussex outfit have failed to win any of their last six league matches – the joint-second current longest run without a win. A run matched by basement outfit Wolves and beaten by a Tottenham side that have just recently said goodbye to Thomas Frank.
Not the kind of contemporaries that you want to be keeping company with at this stage of the season and if you wind their form back until December of last year, it is just one win from their last 13 league appearances.
The kind of form that were it not for a positive start to the campaign would have the Seagulls swooping towards the bottom three. Should this unwanted streak of results continue, the trapdoor could still open up at The Amex.
Of course, this run could well be explained by a lack of tactical nous from their manager but that would probably do Hurzeler a disservice when you consider what he has achieved in the first one and half seasons at the club.
Not The First
Remove that reasoning and it feels like a wider issue is at play. Roberto De Zerbi was public about his displeasure when it came to Brighton’s obsession with data-driven recruitment, reports are that the current Brighton boss feels the same way.
Add the fact that other clubs have either cottoned onto Brighton’s approach and done their best to mimic it or if they cannot achieve that, they simply pluck the talents away from The Amex and the edge that they have cultivated for the past few years now seems to be smoother than in the past.
Which bodes something of a dilemma for owner Tony Bloom, if they do avoid relegation do they rip out everything they have done in the past in a bid to keep afloat or do they stick to what they have always done by trusting their methods.
The first option may be too radical if implemented too quickly but simply doing what you have always done means in essence you are standing still and when you stand still in the Premier League, you eventually get left behind. Swansea and Southampton have been caught out in the past, Brighton fans take note.
