Brighton must fix these three issues to play European football next season

Winning must become consistent to gain momentum – In the Premier League 2024/25 statistics for the wins this season, Brighton find themselves in 12th position with 6 wins from 20 matches played. Whilst Albion’s squad is full of potential and talent, there seems to be a lack of leadership and experience in midfield and defence at times. This is due to injury, with the likes of James Milner out, but also the sale of Pascal Gross to Borussia Dortmund in the Summer Transfer window. Moreover, Joel Veltman, who’s also been a very reliable leader in defence missed four matches with a calf injury. Brighton didn’t win any of those four games.

In key situations of tense games, a lack of assurance in midfield has resulted in some last-gasp drama, much to the despair of Brighton fans. A clear example of this was against Leicester on December 8, when the foxes bagged two goals to draw 2-2 in the 86th and 90+1 minute of stoppage time respectively. Another (almost deja vu) example was in late October, with the Albion drawing 2-2 against Wolves due to goals in the 88th and 90+3 minute of stoppage time. For Brighton to get into Europe for the second time in three years, they need to be more ruthless.

The right balance of leaders, team players and individuals – The Brighton head coach Fabian Hurzeler was quizzed on this in December. It seems to be something Brighton and still trying to adjust to, losing some of their experienced players such as Lallana going to Southampton. During a pre-match press conference, he said: “For me it’s so important to have the team player, the leaders and the individuals. And when the structure is not perfect on the pitch, there are reasons where we might not be able to manage the game in the right way, where we might have bad periods in the season.

“It’s the way from the club and also my approach to give young players the chance to grow as a leader. So, we have young players like Jack Hinshelwood, JP (Jan Paul van Hecke), Bart Verbruggen. They have all the things to be a leader, but we need to give them the chance to grow.”

Individual mistakes need to be minimised – With young players come individual mistakes, but these could prove very costly if Brighton were to narrowly miss out on European football for next season. Brighton ranks third for most mistakes leading to goals in the Premier League. It’s a statistic that Albion fans would wince at, with eight goals deemed as unforced errors.