It's funny, because Brighton haven't even had any real success. They've had some admirable league finishes but they haven't won a cup competition and have qualified for Europe once, and when they did so they got slapped up in the last 16. They can point to their profit and loss sheet as an example of success I'm sure, but you don't build a competitive team by repeatedly stocking up on kids. 100%. I posted an article in general football a few days ago by someone well in the know at academy level who said that line of thinking has trickled down into youth football now. The PL's exorbitant wealth is a blessing and a curse, but the trajectory now is very much veering more towards the negative imo.
I don’t know, if you’re not one of the big six do you really have to win something or go deep into a European competition to be classified as a success? To all intents and purposes, Brighton should be a mid-table Championship club at best. So the fact that they have become a fixture of the Premier League and play eye-catching football, despite continually losing their top players and successive managers, makes them massive overachievers for me. They stockpile on kids to pre-empt the next series of sales too, which also seems pretty smart thinking, so I can personally see why their system is the envy of most of the PL.
Solanke back from Injury and starting for Spurs alongside Maddison. (With Forster, Spence and Gray on the bench.) White and Saka starting for Arsenal, (With Heaven, Lewis - Skelley, Nwaneri and Sterling on the bench.)
Just playing a bit of devil's advocate, but they've not really achieved anything that Stoke or Wigan haven't this century. Different methods, but similar results.
You don't, but they've been pretty clear that their aim is to do that. Tonly Bloom basically says their plan is to buy and sell their way into being so rich they can compete with the big boys, which when you consider how they're going about it and the prices they're now paying for these youngsters is hilariously naive. I get that not every club will try to replicate the Brighton model in order to win things, but high potential youngsters are becoming so expensive that model is becoming irreplicable for many other clubs.
Forgetting that Wigan actually won the FA Cup, I'd say that both clubs achieved great 'success' by simply punching above their weight and enjoying a sustained spell in the Premier. It's all relative. The difference with Brighton seems to be that they have got a framework in place which (they believe) will keep them in the promised land longer, rather than having to rely on a rich benefactor or Tony Pulis's overly-physical long ball game.
The key is their framework continuing to pay off, and that's just speculative at the moment. Will they hit a run of their signings not paying off? Or appoint a dud of a manager? Good teams have been relegated before (some you could argue better than Brighton), and would their system survive a relegation?
Who can tell? Like I say, we've seen so called 'model' clubs with intelligent recruitment strategies before in teams like Southampton and Swansea, but they weren't ultimately sustainable. Brighton and Brentford's data-driven approach on the other hand, seems to come with long-term contingency plans and be a bit more future-proof, so it'll be interesting to see if they fair any better.
Martinelli is useless too. Can’t get my head around why arteta likes him. ESR was so much better than him
The way things are going he might be the last English manager in the PL as Dyche and O’Neil are in more danger,
he really wasn’t martinelli 2 seasons ago and was great but his form has dropped much better player than esr and more reliable fitness wise
What a save this is from Nick Pope! 😲 pic.twitter.com/CEygjtCZQX— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) September 15, 2024
‘Arteta on injury list: “Saka was not able to continue today, I don’t know exactly what it is but he could not continue”.’ Gallagher starting for Athletico Madrid.
Wait until the end of the season and see what ESR has contributed in terms of goals and assists. He never got the chance under arteta to prove how good he was. Martinelli’s form hasn’t been any good for a while now