The Brighton & Hove Albion season preview 2023/24 sees the club soaring into uncharted territory.
The first European campaign in the Seagulls' history will test squad depth like never before – and those who have masterminded the club’s recent rise from Premier League strugglers to top-six gatecrashers will be keen to avoid going backwards.
World Cup-winning midfielder Alexis Mac Allister has moved to Merseyside, and more may follow him through the door, though Brighton are accustomed to dealing with key figures leaving. Still, the increased workload puts extra pressure on the class of 2023/24, and plenty of richer teams have struggled to cope with the impact of Thursday night jaunts across Europe.
Yet if there’s one club that’ll have a plan to deal with it – a plan nobody else has thought of – that club is Brighton. Here, FourFourTwo previews Brighton & Hove Albion's Premier League season.
Brighton & Hove Albion season preview 2023/24: The lesson from last year
Roberto De Zerbi’s innovative hybrid of controlled possession and rapid counter-attacking football relies on high levels of both technical ability and composure, especially close to his team’s goal, but the freak 5-1 defeat at home to Everton at the end of last season shows what can happen when an opposition side has no interest in having the ball.
Managers will have noted that and are likely to instruct their players not to fall into Brighton’s press-baiting trap. RDZ isn’t the kind of coach who completely abandons his principles when things aren’t working; however, the Italian may need to tweak tactics slightly when Plan A isn’t having the desired effect.
Improving at set-pieces would also help, as only Manchester United scored fewer goals from non-penalty dead-ball situations.
The coach: Roberto De Zerbi
What more can you say about the man who Pep Guardiola called “one of the most influential managers in the last 20 years”? Brighton fans should enjoy Roberto De Zerbi while they can, because he’s not going to be in East Sussex for long. It looks almost as much fun to play in his team as it is to watch them.
Key player: Lewis Dunk
De Zerbi’s risk-and-reward style puts responsibility on centre-backs and Lewis Dunk has proved he is up to the task: no Premier League player last term had more touches, completed more passes or carried the ball further. The skipper, who was with Albion in their 2010-11 League One days, is a born leader.
The mood around Brighton
Things at the Amex have never been better. Brighton’s Europa League debut is looming and the club is the envy of the Premier League, with a committed local owner, a charismatic manager and an exhilarating young squad.
Even more excitingly, a rare big fee has been splashed on Watford’s Joao Pedro – at £30m it smashes the club record spent on defender Adam Webster four years ago – while 21-year-old Ivorian winger Simon Adingra returns from a loan at Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, having scored 15 goals and assisted 15 more last season.
That’s the same path as Kaoru Mitoma, who was sensational after Leandro Trossard left for Arsenal. If Adingra has even half of the impact, Brighton will have yet another gem.
The ones to watch
New signing James Milner, obviously. Elsewhere, Julio Enciso announced himself as Brighton’s latest teenage dream by scoring not one but two goal-of-the-season contenders; the winning strike against Manchester City had opposition fans applauding as it went in. The Paraguayan has talent.
Most likely to...
Unearth an 18-year-old wonderkid from Peru and sell them for £75m.
Least likely to...
Sign Wilfried Zaha.
The fan's view: Owen Wilkinson (@wilka1983)
Last season was the greatest in our history and beyond my wildest dreams when I started supporting the club right at the bottom of the Football League.
This season will be different because the strain our Europa League adventure will put on the squad will make it hard to match our record-breaking campaign.
The big talking point is keeping hold of our biggest talents, from those on the pitch to the coaching staff, or even the bloody tea lady if Chelsea are involved.
I won’t be happy unless Tariq Lamptey stays put. The one change I’d make would be the tough stance on taking bottle tops into the Amex. Yeah, you can tell we don’t have much to moan about at the moment.
Our key player will be Lewis Dunk. Our talismanic captain is pivotal to Roberto De Zerbi’s style and the starting point of everything we do.
The opposition player I’d love here is Harry Kane, who would have a field day with the chances we create.
The opposition player who grinds my gears is Emiliano Martinez. Last year’s display at the Amex was worthy of a World Cup in time-wasting.
Our most underrated player is Pascal Gross, but not within the club. It stuns me how little is said about a player whose creative output is normally bettered in the Premier League only by Kevin De Bruyne.
The fans’ opinion of the gaffer is rightly very high. The hot-blooded Italian can do little wrong right now.
If he left, he should be replaced by some random manager most of us know little about, but will turn out to be absolutely amazing.
We’ll finish 10th if we can manage the squad well around the Europa League.
Season previews for the Premier League, League One and League Two are all available HERE
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