Graham Potter's Brighton project

Two years ago, Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club finished 17th in the 18/19 Premier League season - avoiding relegation by 2 points. Chris Hughton was hanging on by a thread - not winning a single game in his last 9 and subpar football that the fans weren't pleased by, neither was the chairman – Brighton only scored 16 goals from open play all season and no side tested the opposition goalkeeper fewer times than the Seagulls. Chairman Tony Bloom said in a statement that the run "put our status at significant risk" - highlighting the danger of relegation. Two seasons after a history-defying promotion from the Championship and an iconic run to the FA Cup Semi-Final. It was Chairman Tony Bloom who decide to dismiss the 60-year-old of his duties.  

Graham Potter was appointed as the new manager of Brighton FC, replacing Chris Hughton. Potter recently took over Swansea the season before from Swedish outfit Östersunds FK. At Swansea, Graham Potter's men were not able to secure a place in the Championship play-offs, but they were able to develop several promising young players such as Daniel James and Oliver McBurnie. With Potter, Swansea started implementing a possession-based football philosophy. They also became the second most accurate passing team in the league and had the second-most possession in the league. Before Swansea, Graham Potter was the manager of Swedish team Ostersunds FK, who went from the fourth tier to the Europa League, where they eventually beat Arsenal. His philosophy at the club was to give young players a chance to prove themselves and create a team bond through leftfield tactics. Now to Brighton, It was seen as a bold move by the club - and the hire of Potter came with confused eyes due to his inexperience in English football specifically the highest level but Chairman Bloom was quick to back the club's decision - "Club wanted a different direction specifically a brighter one".  Potter took the reins a week after his predecessor left with Brighton choosing to strike early, giving the new coach plenty of time to develop his squad - this gave Potter enough time to decide the project and how the squad would look into the new season. 

Three years after taking charge of the club, Potter's Brighton currently finds themselves 4th in the Premier League (at the time of writing). They have coped adequately with the exit of key man Ben White and attracting some of Europe's most underrated talents in Marc Cucurella and Enock Mwepu. 

Graham Potter’s Brighton are one of the most tactically fluid sides in the Premier League.  They’ve been able to excel and operate in a number of different formations, most notably a 3-4-2-1/3-4-3 formation dependent on personnel. The formation allows Brighton to defend with a 5-4-1 or 5-2-3 structure, with wing-backs highly important to their attacking play. Due to their attacking shape of 3-2-5 - their 3-2-5 attacking shape is quite similar to Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea side. It is more frequently a 3-4-3 shape with the wide forwards linking up alongside the striker rather than remaining wide.

Brighton 20/21 lineup [@chunhang7]

Robert Sánchez has adapted to life at Brighton brilliantly, displacing the previously steadfast Maty Ryan – who was sold to Real Sociedad. Brighton tends to build out from the back (like every other team in the modern game) and it's important that Sánchez can play with the ball at his feet but also be a commanding presence in goal - ranking in the 93rd percentile for passes attempted among goalkeepers and in the 90th percentile for clean sheets. 

Adam Webster, Lewis Dunk, and Ben White were a fairly consistent trio at the back for the Seagulls, but with the latter moving on to Arsenal in a £50 million deal, this opened up a spot for the returning Shane Duffy who came back from an underwhelming loan spell at Celtic but has started the season particularly well.

At wing-back, Potter’s first choice on the right is Tariq Lamptey who has quickly developed into one of the first names on the team sheet in general. However the former Cobham graduate suffered an injury in recent months, and Joel Veltman’s taken over that position for the start of the season - the former Ajax man is a more conservative player in the right-wing-back spot but he still carries out the responsibilities required of the role. On the left, new signing Marc Cucurella has been a mainstay since arriving at Brighton - he was a player that Graham Potter wanted to sign the most in the summer, and the early signs have shown why. His tenacity and speed in his play and the technical grace of a typical Spanish footballer has given Brighton a crucial attacking and most important defensive outlet off the left. His form has meant that Solly March can't get a look in recently - who was arguably Brighton’s most consistently influential player last season. 

Potter has chopped and changed his midfield over the years, with Steven Alzate, Adam Lallana and Pascal Groß have all being given their chance to shine as well in midfield. Aswell as Enock Mwepu who is expected to be molded into the team playing style as the season goes on. But after arriving on a 5-year contract from Lille on July 17, 2018, Yves Bissouma has become the glue of Potter's team, providing aggressive defensive style and progressive play in the heart of midfield, helping aid in the first phase of build-up and enabling them to progress the ball through the thirds. 

Further forward Brighton has been lacking goals, first of all, Leandro Trossard is a guaranteed starter in the front 3 for the Seagulls usually starting off the left but mainly occupying a more central role behind two strikers - responsibility to offer support to the midfield. One of the strikers is regularly Neal Maupay who struggled for consistency last season, but he has vastly improved in his decision-making, becoming far less wasteful in possession and far more efficient in the final third. Whilst the 25-year-old largely underperformed his xG last season, he has bounced back with 4 this season - which is already half of what he scored the last season. Danny Welbeck has enjoyed a nice revival at the south coast under Potter and usually operates in a traditional striker role. Aaron Connolly and Alexis MacAllister all offer the Seagulls something different and might be Potter’s preferred attackers beyond Maupay. Aaron Connolly and Alexis MacAllister all offer the Seagulls something different and might be Potter’s preferred attackers beyond Maupay. 

Outside of the regular starters and go-to substitutes, Potter has assembled a wealth of young talent in their ranks. Jakub Moder (22), Taylor Richards (20), Haydon Roberts (19), Marc Leonard (19) are just some of the names who could be given more time in the first team as Brighton try to balance the fixture congestion of the Premier League and domestic cup competition.  

Brighton’s attacking structure 

Potter's Brighton side attack mainly through the left flank (41%) this season, a development that has been triggered in part by Cucurella impressive arrival as well as Lallana's tendency to drop into the left half-spaces during build-up; after playing as a conventional attacking midfielder for the majority of his career on, the English midfielder has smoothly transitioned into a technically proficient and defensively sound deep-lying playmaker. Brighton’s attacking threat from the left is emphasized in Adam Webster's improvement in the build-up with the center half averaging an immense 2.25 carries into the final third per 90, more than other world-class ball-carriers like Antonio Rüdiger and Aymeric Laporte by combining his close control and dribbling it allows him to shift the ball quickly and get Brighton up the field form deeper areas. 

[whoscored.com]

Let's get the elephant out of the room first, Brighton are underperforming their xG (9.6) but only slightly by 0.6. There is a constant fluidity in Brighton's forward line, where their attackers complement their deeper build-up. In a 3-4-3, Potter will choose forwards who are mobile and fast, capable of smooth interchanges - Trossard and Maupay are crucial to this desirablele profile. 

Trossard is the most likely of the attackers to drop back and attempt through balls into the path of one of the forwards. This creates more of a 3-2-3-2 formation in the attacking phase, with the wing-backs pushing higher, and Trossard dropping deeper. Another positive focus of Brighton’s attacking play under Graham Potter has been his use of wing-backs to foray forward and create chances. The Seagulls have completed 10.7 crosses per game, which ranks them 13th in the league and is a significant downgrade in their 27 crosses from last season - but with the absence of Lamptey, this decline was expected. 

Here we see the diamond setup with Lallana pushing into a central area, Welbeck pulling out wide drawing the attention of the Crystal Palace right-back to allow space for a run to be made into. By doing this, Cucurella has two passing options he can play to and then make an underlapping run to the open space that gets him into a threatening goal-scoring position. 

Again we see Cucurella's involvement in Brighton attacking play, Trossard dropping in attracting the attention of several Crystal Palace defenders to allow space for Cucurella to make his regular underlapping run into midfield. Brighton has progressed the play by a simple pass-and-move between their left-back and left attacking midfielder, and Cucurella's positioning provides him two passing options in Maupay; peeling off the Palace center-half Marc Guéhi or Welbeck; making a wider run from out to in. 

Brighton’s defensive structure 

“I desire my team to play good football, but on the other side of that, I want them to be aggressive and win the ball back”. 

This was Graham Potter on what he thought of as his 'philosophy'. He's shown a clear, fluid, and exciting attacking play but he's quick to show especially this season he can coach a pragmatic and well-organized side often adopting a 5-3-2 structure, remaining very compact and doing everything in their power to funnel the opposition into central areas where their back-three and midfield two plus one remain incredibly rigid to break down. Brighton is in no means a defensive side when the opposition has the ball in fact they’re high pressing in their setup without the ball. Players like MacAllister, Trossard, and Maupay relish a tackle, and their tenacity from the front allows the Seagulls greater ability to defend in transition - Brighton have the highest successful pressure percentage in the Premier League (30.8%) completing 48.3 pressures per 90 which is the joint highest in the league with Marcelo Bielsa's insane all-action, high pressing, suffocating Leeds United side. 

In this example, Brighton are set up in an aggressive version of their 5-3-2. As we can see the defensive line of engagement is higher than usual because Potter has identified that Manchester City's forward line are dropping off to get on the ball and there is no real threat in behind with a lack of off the ball movement. There’s space between the lines that City players are looking to exploit but the 5 at the back system nullifies any potential numerical superiority across the defensive line. 

Here we see an example of Brighton's high pressing, Solly March aggressively presses City left-back João Cancelo whilst Trossard is curving his run from out to in to cut out the passing lane to İlkay Gündoğan if Cancelo plays a quick pass to the German midfielder.

By closing down Cancelo passing lane to Gündoğan, Trossard ensures that Cancelo is forced to play a pass back to Aymeric Laporte on the left, and March press leads to Trossard capitalising on the light-weighted back pass. 

Trossard would pick up the loose ball and create a goal-scoring opportunity for Maupay but the Frenchmen would've his shot blocked by Rúben Dias. Even though they didn't score, the chance came from Brighton's man-oriented press.

Possession/build-up: Brighton’s Strongest Asset

One of the trademarks of Graham Potter’s time in charge at Brighton has been the developed importance of possession. Potter’s side sits fifth in the league in terms of possession (56.3%). A reasonably high percentage of their passes come from longer, diagonal passes or crosses, boasting the third most amount of long passes per game (62) - which is understandable with the evident threat of Lewis Dunk and Adam Webster passing range when building out from the back. The center halves are instructed to drop deep and attract pressure to ‘free’ the no.6 space and escape the opposition press. The center halves particularly Lewis Dunk are instructed to engage opposition pressure to work balls through the lines or work a switch ball to the free side.

Here is an example of this, Dunk, inside Brighton’s half, spots Trossard dropping into space in midfield, which triggers Dunk pass into midfield - a quick and incisive way to get from defense to midfield.

Trossard takes the pass down, who carries it with two Brighton men in support of a fluid counter-attack.

But they are also very comfortable in picking out these passes at the right moments, rather than forcing them when they are not on. These longer passes will be used to allow the team to swiftly advance up the field and catch the opposition off guard, where a wing-back or wide attacking midfielder will knock it down and begin a series of shorter, more intricate one-touch passing and moving sequences utilizing their overloads.

Below is an example of Brighton’s effective possession, Trossard passes it out to Lallana who is under no serious pressure from any Arsenal players on the edge of the box.

He sees the overlapping run from Cucurella and plays a first-time pass into the Spaniard.

Cucurella takes the pass into his strides and crosses first time across the face of the goal leading to a big goal-scoring opportunity. The sharp one-two passing caught Arsenal out in seconds and that’s the concept Potter tries to instill into his players when they get into threatening positions like that. 

Conclusion

At this point, there can be no doubting of Potter’s coaching ability. First and foremost, he attracts young talented players to "The Amex”, who buy into the club ethos and project and most importantly the desire to work under one of the country's most gifted young coaches. His progressive style of play draws in exciting players to help provide the stability to compete in a top league. The organisation is, managed well. The team, under Graham Potter, is also viewed as a club that is consistently performing beyond expectations as seen this season with an excellent start to the season and well on course for a strong and exciting campaign. Their 3-2-5 attacking shape is starting to become something Premier League fans might become accustomed to seeing in the league more with the recent arrival of Thomas Tuchel and the past success of Antonio Conte and Graham Potter is starting to be more and more recognisable and successful with the formation. With Potter in charge, one can pleasantly say that we’re on the verge of another club crashing the Premier League's "Big 6" ever-growing party.

- written by @RaphaelAdelugb0 -