Hughton had insisted on playing his new 4-3-3 formation when it was obvious it wasn’t working. The changing room looked lost to him when Plucky Little Bournemouth inflicted a heaviest home defeat on Brighton since 1973 and Cardiff City then won 2-0 at the Amex three days later.
The football itself had turned from dull-yet-effective to downright boring. At times, you wanted to scratch your eyes out. …..
One of the major criticisms of Hughton was his style of football. Supporters had become bored of grinding out 1-0 victories, the atmosphere at the Amex was dissipating with each passing home game and if you were brave enough to go away, you knew that you’d be lucky to see a shot on target, let alone a goal. …..
Watching Hughton pick the same players and same formation every week in the second half of last season became something of a soul destroying experience.
From the moment that the Albion threw away a 2-0 lead to lose 4-2 in the snow at Fulham as January came to a close, it became obvious that Hughton’s decision to move to 4-3-3 wasn’t working. Even Stevie Wonder could see it.
And yet Hughton persevered until the end of the April with the new formation. Either he was blind to the problems it was causing – exposed full backs, Dale Stephens not suited as a single holding player, Pascal Gross’ effectiveness blunted by not being in the number 10 role, no options good enough to play as the two wide strikers alongside Glenn Murray – or he was too stubborn to return to 4-4-1-1…..
With Hughton, you knew that he wouldn’t change anything until at least 70 minutes had elapsed unless something was going seriously awry…..
Bloom has invested a significant amount of money into Brighton’s academy. Under Chris Hughton, it never really looked like Brighton would get a return on that investment, another factor which played a part in his sacking.
In his four-and-a-half years in charge, Hughton gave academy graduates just 18 minutes of league football…..
https://www.wearebrighton.com/newsop...n-one-year-on/
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