Mark Dunford and is joined by Brighton writers Derren Howard, Sam Morton and Henry Bryant.
They give their reflections on how the year went, initial assessment of Fabian Hurzeler and what improvements need to be made.
And they also look ahead to 2025 and whether Europe is a realistic aim again
They give their reflections on how the year went, initial assessment of Fabian Hurzeler and what improvements need to be made.
And they also look ahead to 2025 and whether Europe is a realistic aim again
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hi, and welcome to a special Christmas edition of the Goal Malfaction podcast, where we're
00:05going to look at how 2024 panned out for Brighton and Hove Albion. I'm Mark Dunford, and I'm
00:10joined by writers Darren Howard, Sam Morton, and Henry Bryan. The lads will give their
00:15reflections on how the year went, initial assessment of Fabian Herzeler, and what improvements
00:19need to be made. And then we will look ahead to 2025 and whether Europe is a realistic
00:23aim again. You can read all the stories we are talking about with videos and pictures
00:27online at sussexworld.co.uk forward slash sport. And you can check out other great videos
00:32on Shots TV and Freeview Channel 262. You may also be watching on latest TV. So thank
00:38you for tuning in. So we're going to start off with just reflections on 2024 and how
00:42it went. Darren, it's been a bit of a bonkers year, hasn't it?
00:46It has, it has. It's never dull at Brighton. I think just when you think there may be some
00:53sort of bit of stability, you know, all the cards get thrown up in the air. We had obviously
00:58the situation with Deserby, which has still never really sort of come out exactly what
01:04the disagreement was between Deserby and Tony Bloom when he left earlier, you know, towards
01:11the end of last season. It was to do with players and what the club are potentially
01:19going to bring in and sign. And then over the summer, they then spent 200 million on
01:24players, which you'd have thought, you know, Deserby would have been delighted with this
01:28squad to have been working with this. So there's been a lot of upheaval, a lot of change. Some
01:36of it, some of it was needed. Some of it perhaps, perhaps not as well. So when, but when you
01:43look back, it's been, I'd say it's been a year of progress in a way. It hasn't sort
01:49of reflected so much in the league tables and the positions and with the results on
01:55the pitch. But when you look at the strength of the squad now and the players that they
01:59have out on loan, the teams that they now field in, you know, like the Carabao Cup matches,
02:05although they haven't progressed in that competition because they came up against a good Liverpool
02:09team. But Brighton's 25 players now that they have to call upon is as good as it's
02:16ever been. And they needed that investment now because when you're in your Premier League,
02:22you're up against such big squads now and you need, with five substitutions, you need
02:26these attacking changes who can come on and change the game. So that 200 million spend
02:31was required probably to, just to keep pace really with what's going on and how the other
02:38teams are strengthening. So, so yeah, it's been, it's been a massive year in terms of
02:44money spent, in terms of upheaval. And I think the players probably, the senior players deserve
02:50a lot of credit because they've had so much change with the manager. When you look back
02:54to Potter, it's fairly stable. Then all of a sudden you've got this crazy Italian that
02:58comes in and has got his own methods as well. And the players then have to sort of adapt
03:03to that. And then all of a sudden Deservey's gone and then you've got the youngest manager
03:07ever in Premier League history coming in. And a lot of players must have thought, my word,
03:11who's, you know, who's this guy that we've, that we've got now. But they've, you know,
03:16tried to adapt and come up with the new methods as a whole sort of structure, which has been
03:22put in place, the German sort of coaching structure now, management team. There's another
03:26guy coming in from the German Federation who will be joining in January as well. So there's
03:33been plenty to deal with and it's been great to report on as well. It's been good fun.
03:37So yeah, and then we'll see how it all progresses after this.
03:44Yeah. What about your view of it all, Sam?
03:46Yeah, no, it's been topsy-turvy to say the least, as Darren said, really. I think obviously when
03:52Deservey left, it was a big shock. I know that obviously it was clear that there was a disagreement
03:57in some senses with the owners and they didn't fully align on their views for the future of
04:04the club. And it was quite strange because obviously it seemed like they were kind of
04:09reluctant to spend big, which is what obviously Deservey wanted. And he felt like he had several
04:15demands and whatnot in the transfer market. But then when he left, they suddenly did spend big
04:20and it seemed bizarre. You kind of, you felt like surely he would have known that there were plans
04:24to spend big in the summer transfer window with the amount of money that he'd spend. It was up
04:28there with the most money any club would spend in the whole of football, the whole of the country
04:34and everything like that. So I feel like it was a strange one, but it was obviously one that I
04:40think obviously did come out of nowhere and he obviously had ambitions elsewhere and he obviously
04:44ended up at Marseille. And obviously Fabian Hesler has come in and had a brilliant start, as you
04:49mentioned, obviously at the start of the season with some brilliant wins. He's obviously beaten
04:54Man United very early on. He's got a draw at Arsenal. He's beaten Man City, Tottenham. He's
04:59had some really great wins. But then on the other hand, he has struggled against those supposed
05:04weaker teams, which is a very brightened habit. It seems it doesn't matter who's the manager
05:10at the club, it seems that they still have the same habit each season and they struggle to get
05:15over the line in these kind of games. And we have started to see a little bit of a habit coming in
05:19as well, where they do take the lead. They manage to score the goals to get in control of games,
05:23but they're not quite holding on and they're losing goals later on in games and they're
05:28managing to drop points in games they really shouldn't be. None more so than obviously
05:32the Leicester game, where they really had a comfortable lead going into the last five
05:37minutes and they managed to draw two all. So it's a concern that obviously they'll try and iron out
05:42as the season progresses and as Hesler gets used to his players, I'm sure he'll have some more
05:48targets lined up for January as well to come in. And we've spoken a lot about experience
05:53in the team that is a big missing factor at the moment. I think with the loss of Pascal Gross
05:58in the summer, obviously being probably the best Brighton player, or one of the best Brighton
06:03players in history, definitely in the Premier League anyway. So I feel like they need to
06:07replace him and get someone with experience to help these younger players out because
06:12against Crystal Palace, there was an average age of 23. So it was a very young team and without
06:18Lewis Dunne, that would have been even lower. He really did bring the average right up. So yeah,
06:23lots of questions to ponder, but also lots of reasons to be really excited for where the season
06:29is going to go. Yeah, and Henry, you're an actual Brighton fan, aren't you, for your sins? So
06:35yeah, what's your view been of it as a journalist and as a fan as well?
06:40I think that like everyone's been mentioning the fact that you've gone from a really wild,
06:46bonkers sort of manager that almost turned the Premier League on its head with the style of play
06:52that he adopted into Brighton and sort of playing on that front foot. It really went from a side
06:57where we had the likes of Chris Hewton, Graham Potter, that sort of started to build a little
07:02bit more sort of attacking identity to Brighton. And then you just get the breaks have come off
07:08and you're going full throttle with the likes of de Zerby and just utilising those young
07:13South American players that we've got. That was fantastic to see. Obviously,
07:19we won the group in the Europa League, which was fantastic. And although we weren't able to
07:27show our sort of true colours when we were away to Roma, we still got a 1-0 victory against them.
07:32Although, you know, they probably wanted us to try. There's still that to take out of it. And
07:38the fact that Brighton, although for the history of the club and, you know, what they've done
07:43before, they've been able to have such a historic and meteoric rise in these past few seasons,
07:49it's been fantastic to watch. And the way that, excuse me, they're able to
07:54utilise the players that they've got, sell them for big fees with the likes of Caicedo.
07:59McAllister is an example. We didn't get as much as we might have wanted for him, but
08:03Kukerea, Robert Sanchez, both going to Chelsea. It's been really remarkable. And with this new
08:11manager, he seems like he is adapting to the Premier League himself, maybe learning on the
08:16job a little bit with this sort of mini crisis, as people have described it as, with a few sort
08:23of winless fixtures and that quite embarrassing defeat to Crystal Palace. But when he first came
08:29in, I mean, a huge game and a bit of a bogey team for Brighton, we have to mention is Everton.
08:35And they went away and Hazard won the game 3-0 and won Premier League manager of the month
08:42straight away off the back of that. And it was fantastic to see. And I think in terms of what
08:48Albion fans are expecting now is maybe in this January transfer window, although they have spent
08:54so much money, over £200 million on players, it will be interesting to see how they can
09:00sort of dip into the market for more experienced players and maybe sort of mould some of those
09:05younger players that are not having the full 90 minutes that they could possibly get. We've seen
09:10that with recent results with the likes of Leicester and other games as well, and just
09:15little mistakes that need to be ironed out. But overall, it's been a fantastic period for Brighton
09:20and whatever's happening now with these few games, it doesn't really doesn't really sort of,
09:25you know, account for what's been achieved by the club so far.
09:29Yeah, we've got a couple of minutes before the break. Darren, what are your initial
09:32assessments of Herzele? Do you like what he's got to do, how he's playing and what he's got to say?
09:37Yeah, it's an interesting one, isn't it? He looks the part and he talks a lot about
09:42high performance and he talks about, you know, the process rather than results.
09:49It's something that we've heard a little bit before under previous managers, but Herzele is
09:54absolutely, you know, that is his pure focus and it's a different style of working and it's going
10:02to be interesting to see how the players take to it, especially the senior ones, you know,
10:07if this bad run does continue. But overall, I think he's been impressive. I think he comes
10:15across really well. He comes across well to the media. He's a smart guy. He's very,
10:19very astute as well. And he's made, I think he'll admit himself, he's made some unusual selections,
10:26which have backfired as well. But I think all managers go through that process. And I think
10:32it's important to say that he is still learning as well. He's a young manager. He's going to make
10:39some mistakes, but he's also going to get a lot right as well. And I think that you do need to
10:44have a bit of patience with him and some of the signings that have come in as well. It's not a
10:48ready-made team. Because of the signings that came in, it was great because it boosts the squad,
10:54but it also has given him a lot of problems with players who aren't playing regularly, such as
10:58Ferguson and Enciso. So, there's other things to manage around these players that have come in as
11:05well. So, he's had that to deal with, which I think he's, you know, from what he says from
11:09the outside to the media, it's probably different to how he's sort of dealing with it internally.
11:15But he comes across, I think he comes across a very impressive character. Yeah. I hope he does
11:20well. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Well, we're going to take a little break there and then we'll come
11:25back straight back and we're going to look at 2025 and what's ahead for Brighton. So, welcome
11:31part two, and we're looking ahead to 2025. So, Sam, I'm going to start with you. What signings
11:35do you think are needed in January? Yeah, it's a tough question, but I think you need to look,
11:40first of all, defensively. I think we've seen, obviously, some struggles there in the last
11:45few weeks, conceding unnecessary goals, and that's definitely been an issue so far.
11:53So, I think Mats Hummels is one that was talked about a little bit in the summer,
11:56very experienced German defender. So, it'd be interesting if they could perhaps bring him
12:01the door again because, obviously, having his links to Germany, he might look to bring
12:08someone that he knows well in that sense and someone he might have contacts with to try and
12:12add some experience to the ranks, as we've obviously discussed previously, has been something that
12:17Brighton have missed. But I think completely one out of the box would be Danny Olmo, just one that
12:24I've just come up with. He's at Barcelona at the moment, but I think there's a contract issue at
12:29the moment, and I think he might potentially have to move on because I don't know if they can
12:34actually fully register him. Yeah, they can't afford him, can they? Yeah, yeah. So, I mean,
12:38he's obviously going to be on big wages, but if Brighton can manage to get a deal done for Olmo,
12:42it'd be a huge statement and could potentially help. If he's available, though, there's bigger
12:46clubs than Brighton that will want Olmo, wouldn't there? Yeah, yeah, but you never know. You never
12:50know. If you come in and do a real job, you're guaranteed to play every game. Yeah, I think it's
12:57a great player. I think we've seen in the Euros and things like that how important of a player he
13:01is, even as an impact sub. He certainly wouldn't be an impact sub for Brighton if they could manage
13:06to get him through the door. But right back to another one. I think we've discussed in a previous
13:11podcast that Joel Veltman's out of contract. Tarek Lamptey's been in and out of the team,
13:17showing some signs of his old form, but then he obviously had a bit of an error against
13:20Crystal Palace and he's taken off at half time. So, you're starting to wonder if Lamptey is a
13:25long-term solution, despite obviously being a young man still at 24. You wonder if he still
13:30is that solution for Brighton at right back. But I've seen links with Joan Luis Sanchez,
13:36who's at Sevilla. He came through the ranks from a young lad, obviously with Spain, younger 21s,
13:42and he's a really promising player for Sevilla. And he's not someone that Brighton have been
13:46linked with previously. He can play either right back or right wing. He's had 12 appearances so
13:51far this season with two goals and an assist. So, you can obviously offer a threat in that sense
13:55as well. And I've heard some really good things about him in La Liga. And obviously, we know that
14:00Valentin Barco went to Sevilla. He hasn't had the best of times over there. Hasn't had much game
14:05time and unfortunately was the victim of a house robbery. So, on and off the pitch, a bit of a bad
14:13time. But I think there definitely is a relationship there between Brighton and Sevilla. And you wonder
14:17how frustrated Albion are that he hasn't really got minutes over there. So, you don't know if that
14:21might cause a problem. But if there is a link between the two clubs, I think he potentially
14:25could be someone Brighton could look to get in. And it will be interesting what happens with
14:28Valentin Barco actually. And if he does come back into the team at Brighton, he could definitely be
14:34a good option, obviously, at left back if needed as well. So, yeah, those are a few names that come
14:40to mind for me. But I think there's probably a lot of links and possible moves still to come,
14:46still to become apparent and see what Fabian wants to do in January.
14:51There'll be a 17-year-old South American kid signing, I reckon,
14:54they'll find from nowhere.
14:55Well, this is the thing. It's quite hard to predict what Brighton are going to do in January,
14:58or in any chance they're going to do, isn't it? Because they just come out of the box with all
15:01these unorthodox names that no one can ever predict.
15:04Yeah, absolutely. Henry, you'd love to see Danny Olmo at the Amex, wouldn't you?
15:09Yeah, what a signing that would be. I think that would be sort of dreamland. And I mean,
15:13with the amount of money that Brighton have been able to spend, I mean, why can't they shell out
15:18just maybe a bigger chunk on a single player or even get some sort of loan deal or something?
15:25Something would be fantastic. But I think Brighton fans want to see Premier League experience,
15:31because you can pay £200 million for these players that have all this potential. But it'll
15:37take, like we've seen with other players that have had such high potentials like Caicedo,
15:41they need a few seasons to actually sort of get into gear and really perform at a high level,
15:48because then you get these mistakes that may or may not be the difference between getting Europe
15:53and not for this season, for that second year. And that's something that Brighton fans,
15:59it seems like Tony Bloom, Paul Barber, Hazela, really wants. And I think if you're looking to
16:06actually compete at that level and have that full 90 minutes, there's a lot of talk about the full
16:1190 minutes, then you do need these experienced heads in the changing rooms playing, even if
16:17they're coming on as a substitute, just to shore things up. Because it's been quite frustrating at
16:24times, these last few games, seeing golden opportunities spurned and then the other
16:29teams getting a quick break and the defence just not being able to sort of show that composure that
16:36Brighton have had, you know, in recent times. So it'll be really interesting to see how it
16:42shapes up. Tony Bloom normally doesn't tend to do much in the January transfer window,
16:47that's how Brighton fans see it. They know that it's the party, well not the party, it was Mary
16:52Walsh, the party last transfer window. But, you know, it's the party in the summer and it's the
16:59sort of the cutback in January with like loan signings and, I mean, not loan signings, sorry,
17:04the loans going out with the likes of quite a few players being linked with moves away because the
17:09amount of squad players we've got now. But yeah, I'm hopeful, I'm hopeful as a fan, so that could
17:16be naive, but I'm hopeful that we get some more experience through the door because that I think
17:21will be the massive turning point for the Albion to, you know, keep a hold of some of these results.
17:27And Darren, yeah.
17:29Well, yeah, that's true. But I think a lot of it will come down to who they keep hold of in,
17:33you know, I don't think there's going to be much movement in January. But in the summer,
17:38I think Jal Pedro will be a player who's going to be, a lot of clubs will be looking at him.
17:43They've already had Liverpool perhaps mention him, Manchester City as well, Arsenal, I could see
17:50he'll be a good fit there as well. So a lot's going to depend on who goes out the door
17:55as well as with who comes in. I don't think there's going to be a huge amount of spend.
18:00They spent 200 million obviously last summer. I can't see that being repeated again anytime soon.
18:06I remember a lot of these players have had some of these new signings that they've brought in,
18:11have hardly played at all this season. It's been, it's been, you know, very stop start.
18:16Jorginho Rota, he's probably been the most consistent out of all the signings so far
18:21because they've had a lot of injuries. So I'm looking forward to seeing the best. I really like
18:25Ferdi Cadioglu who came in. I think the glimpses that I've seen of him, I think he's going to be
18:31an absolute star in this Brighton team. So there's much more to come from the players that they've
18:37already bought. There was talk as well, you mentioned a South American teenager, there is one,
18:44Vito Ries from Palmeiras. He's, most people do, most people do, but he must have flagged
18:54some algorithm in Tony Bloom's computer somewhere. And so he's, there's an alarm that goes off.
19:02There's a South American playing in the fifth division who reads the signings quickly.
19:08But no, he's actually doing very well in the top flight of the Brazilian,
19:11Brazilian league with Palmeiras. And a lot of teams are after him, Vito Ries. He's been linked
19:18to PSG, he's been linked to Madrid and apparently Brighton did put in a 20 million offer for him,
19:24according to ESPN Brazil, which they saying that that is the start of the negotiation,
19:30but they don't want to do anything until after the club world cup, which is going to be in America
19:37later, later this year. So, so he's one that's definitely on the radar. It's a very talented
19:41young Brazilian centre-back. Whether he's, you know, he's one of these players that won't quite
19:47be Premier League ready, but one to keep an eye on there for sure. But I can't see too much business
19:52being done in January. That's interesting. Right, we're sort of coming into the last three or four
19:57minutes of the, this episode. I want, instead of score predictions, I want, will they get into
20:02Europe and do they need to win a cup this season, Brighton? So I'm going to start with you, Sam.
20:08Can they get into Europe? Will they win a cup? I think absolutely. I think absolutely. We'll
20:13start with Europe. I think absolutely. I think we've seen obviously how special it is to the
20:17club and some of the memories that have been created from getting to Europe and how lucky
20:21they were obviously last season with some of the teams they managed to face in obviously Ajax,
20:25Marseille, Roma. And it was incredible, incredible luck really. And we obviously...
20:29All of Athens not getting a mention there. Athens as well, of course, of course. I think we just got,
20:34yeah, just giddy with excitement obviously when that draw came out. And it was, it was as great
20:38as we hoped. So we got some great trips out of it. And it was, it was great from a journalist
20:42point of view, as well as all the fans that got that opportunity. And I think it'd be just great
20:46if they can get that again, really, and really just have that second experience. Even if it is
20:49the Conference League, I think fans would be absolutely happy with that. And I think it's
20:53completely possible. And when you consider the money that has been spent, I think it's got to
20:58be the aim. And going on to the Cup as well, I think, yeah, why not? I think they've come close
21:03in recent seasons. They've obviously got to the semi-final against Man United at Wembley in the
21:08FA Cup. So their team's as good now as it has been, as it was then. And lots of players to
21:15see the best out of as well. So I think absolutely, it can definitely be possible. If Man United won
21:19it last season, and they're clearly not in the best of states at all, then Brighton can absolutely do it.
21:25There's someone at your door in there, Sam. Yeah. Is that someone knocking?
21:29I think someone's motion went off. I think someone walked past.
21:31Oh, right. Henry, what about yourself?
21:37I think that winning a Cup would be unrealistic for Brighton. I don't think that we'll be able
21:45to win a Cup. I know we came sort of close to getting into the final, and it was Man United
21:50that done us some penalties, that Soli March moment, being in the stands myself,
21:54and just thinking, oh, I'm so gutted for him. But I think definitely Europe. I think even the
22:01Conference League would be a massive achievement for Brighton to get into Europe again, and just
22:06keep sort of consolidating that sort of idea of Brighton being a club that can regularly compete
22:14and get into Europe. And I think if they do get into Europe again, they can
22:18maybe not win the group, but they can do well in the group again and maybe get it to the
22:22round of 16 knockout stages because of the way that the club's been operated.
22:27It's still one of the only clubs that's operating in that sort of fashion with the way that their
22:33owner is, and it's been brilliant to see. I think that they need a bit more consistency,
22:40and time will tell how Zeller and the players will respond to these results.
22:47So, yeah, I think they can do it. I really think they can do it.
22:52Nice. And Darren?
22:54Yeah, it's an interesting one. A few games ago, I would have said yes, definitely, for sure,
22:58but they've had this run now, and I think it's knocked them back to ninth in the table,
23:03and I think this next run of fixtures over the festive period is really going to define
23:07which way they're going to go, whether that's going to be a mid-table team this year,
23:11or whether they are going to really push on for Europe. So, I think this next run of fixtures
23:18is going to be key. And I just think also the defence as well, they need to tweak that defensive
23:27system as well slightly, because the way Herzela plays, they don't have the pace at the back to
23:33deal with the counter-attacks that a lot of these teams play against Brighton. So, I think there
23:39needs to be another adjustment, maybe perhaps another player moving back into midfield, just to
23:44give that back line a bit of assurance to get that balance between attack and defensive right.
23:50And I think if they do that, then yeah, they can push on for Europe and perhaps go deep into
23:55the FA Cup as well.
23:57Brilliant. Well, I just want to say, guys, it's been an absolute pleasure reading all your stuff
24:01this year. I mean, me and Sam will always have Rome, won't we? We'll always have Rome.
24:08It's been a great year.
24:12Sorry, Darren?
24:13No, I was just agreeing. It has been a great year to cover Brighton. Very, very good.
24:18Yeah. And well, I think, not blowing our own trumpets, but I think we've done it quite well
24:21on Sussexworld.co.uk. So, you can continue to see all the coverage from all the festive fixtures,
24:28all the transfer window in January, and then back in covering Europe next year.
24:32So, cheers, guys. Have a lovely Christmas and a happy new year.
24:35Merry Christmas.
24:37Go on.