Tag: Glenn Murray

BHAFC: What will new signing Izzy Brown bring to Brighton’s attacking threat?

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The 20-year old joins on a season-long loan from Chelsea. 

Brighton and Hove Albion completed the signing of young Chelsea forward Izzy Brown on a season-long loan this afternoon.

The 20-year old impressed whilst on loan at both Rotherham United and Huddersfield Town last season.

Brown has no doubt proved his worth in the Championship, and now has the chance to shine in the Premier League with the Seagulls.

But what exactly does the youngster bring to Chris Hughton’s team?

Technically, Brown is very good with the ball at his feet. He enjoys to dribble past players and can be very difficult to stop once he is in full flow.

He’s the dynamic player some Brighton fans have been crying out for. He always wants to go forward with the ball- similarly to Anthony Knockaert.

The two of them could form a formidable partnership once the Frenchman recovers from the ankle injury he sustained in the win over Fortuna Düsseldorf earlier this month.

As well as his dribbling ability, Brown also has a habit of scoring big goals. His five for Huddersfield last season proved crucial as they won promotion to the top flight. Hopefully he will get a few more this campaign, as Brighton look to avoid relegation in their first season back in England’s top division since 1983.

With an ever-ageing squad, Brown brings some young, youthful energy which the front line so desperately needs.

With Sam Baldock out injured, Tomer Hemed (30) and Glenn Murray (33) are the only fit out-and-out strikers currently at the Amex. Both are quite similar players- they are physical and very good in the air.

Brown will bring some much needed pace and technical ability that will bring a different attacking threat. Defenders will not have such an easy time with the England Under-21 international on the pitch.

The 20-year old is set to feature in the Seagulls’ third pre-season match of the summer against Southend United tonight.

Brown joins Pascal groß, Mat Ryan and Markus Suttner through the Amex doors this summer, but there could still be more business to be done before the window slams shut.

 

BHAFC: 5-0 trashing of promotion rivals Norwich City best result of Chris Hughton era.

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A hattrick from Glenn Murray was one of many positives on the pitch as Brighton and Hove Albion sent a message out to the other teams fighting for automatic promotion.

The Seagulls were clinical in front of goal and although they were helped out by some horrific defending by Norwich, Chris Hughton’s men won every battle on the pitch in all positions.

This was as close to a perfect performance as possible, but Brighton did start the game slowly.

The passing was sloppy, and Norwich did enjoy the majority of possession in that first 45.

Yes Murray scored inside six minutes, but that was only because of Michael McGovern’s heavy first touch.

Apart from that, it is hard to remember any real save McGovern had to make in the Canaries goal during that first half.

Saying that, take nothing away from the Seagulls and Hughton, who deserves a result like that after what has been 18 months of hard work on the south coast.

Since the former Newcastle boss took over, Brighton have looked a formidable force in the Championship. After last seasons heartache, its clear there is no Play-off hangover at the Amex.

The win yesterday is a testament to what the 57-year old manager has achieved already at the club.

Seagulls fans haven’t seen their side destroy a side like they did yesterday for a while, and for it to be another team that will be fighting for the top two positions makes it all the sweeter.

It’s hard not to look at Murray as the standout Brighton player on the day for his stellar performance, but Gaetan Bong , Shane Duffy, Steve Sidwell, Dale Stephens and Jiri Skalek all deserve a mention too.

The back four were immense. No Norwich player was able to find any space within 18 yards of goal, and their best chance came from a Wes Hoolahan volley from 25 yards.

Shane Duffy won every header ahead of Cameron Jerome, whilst his central defensive partner Lewis Dunk got himself on the scoresheet with a powerful header from Jiri Skalek’s corner.

The Czech international assisted Albion’s second and third goals of the game with pinpoint crosses, something which gives him the edge over Jamie Murphy and possibly the returning Solly March as Brighton head into a tough November.

Steve Sidwell worked his absolute socks off in the second half to break down and intercept Norwich attacks.

And of course Murray deserves another mention for his hattrick.

Ok, two of which came from Norwich errors, but if the 33-year old plays like he did yesterday for the rest of the campaign he will net 20 plus easily.

He outmuscled defenders, won all headers he battled for, held up the ball well and finished instinctively. It was the perfect centre forward performance.

Let’s not forget Norwich were a Premier League side last season, and still have a majority of their squad from the last campaign. That’s what makes this a huge 3 points.

A tough trip to Bristol City is next for the Seagulls, before home matches to Aston Villa and Fulham respectively.

BHAFC: Knockaert once again ran the show as Forest are brushed aside.

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Albion Analysis: #3 Nottingham Forest (H), 12th August 2016

Brighton temporarily moved top of the Sky Bet Championship table with a comprehensive 3-0 win against Nottingham Forest at the Amex.

Despite it still being early days, and other clubs playing throughout the weekend, Albion fans can expect the club to remain near the top of the table and in the hunt for automatic promotion once again, should that level of performance remain consistent over the course of the season.

On what was the fifth year anniversary of moving to the Amex Stadium, it was Brighton’s two biggest signings from the recent transfer windows that secured the three points for Chris Hughton’s side; Glenn Murray and Anthony Knockaert.

Murray may have stood out with his two goals on what was his second home debut for the club, but Knockaert was the best player on the pitch last night.

Knockaert admitted he felt extra motivated to perform well as it was also the anniversary of his brothers death; and the 27-year old wanted to make him proud of his performance.

Right from the outset, one could sense he was going to be on top of his game.

The little wizard seemed to cast spell after spell over his bewitched opponents, most notably Alex Iacovitti and Ben Osborn.

His conversion of Gaetan Bong’s inviting cross in the 36th minute opened the account for Brighton last night, and the Frenchman struggled to hold back the tears as he dedicated his first goal of the season to his late brother.

But it was a performance that Albion fans have been used to seeing since the winger joined the club in January. He has added a new level of creativity to the club, the likes of which we haven’t seen here since the days of Vicente donning the blue and white stripes.

Knockaert’s trickery and pace towards the Forest’s young defence caused problems for Phillip Montanier’s side all night, and once again he was involved in Albion’s third goal.

He led a Brighton counter attack and fed the ball to Sam Baldock who coincidentally laid the ball off to Murray to score his second of the night.

It was a terrific night for the Frenchman, and to top it off, he told media after the match he remains fully focused on the Seagull’s promotion push and wants to remain on the South Coast.

Hopefully that ends the whole Newcastle fiasco.

 

BHAFC: Glenn Murray, Is he the answer to our goalscoring problems?

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So the paperwork was signed last night and Glenn Murray is once again an Albion player (for a season at least). The former Albion favourite returns after five years away with arch rivals Crystal Palace and short stints with Reading (on loan) and Bournemouth.

The 32-year old isn’t a spring chicken anymore like he was back in the Withdean years, but he brings along with him some Premier League experience following his time in the big league with the Eagles and Cherries respectively.

Although manager Chris Hughton feels this is a good signing for us going into the new campaign, I look at Glenn and then look at our current top dog, Tomer Hemed, and struggle not to come up with similarities between the two.

Both are strong men who hold the ball up well. They are both deadly in the air and have that striker’s instinct of being in the right place at the right time. But both simply don’t have the pace we need to inject into this side up top.

We are too reliant on our wingers, Jamie Murphy and Kazenga LuaLua in particular, to bomb down the wing into the box and cause defenders problems.

Look at the teams that went up automatically last season. Burnley had Andre Gray, Middlesbrough had Jordan Rhodes (maybe for only half a season but that was more than enough). Both caused havoc for opposition back lines and scored the vital goals to get their teams promoted.

James Wilson was meant to bring our pace to the table last year along with Sam Baldock, but whilst one struggled to find form, the other suffered injury problems all season.

Then there is the question of whether Glenn will score us enough goals? We know he will score some big goals for us, but is he the same striker that powered in 31 goals for Palace during their successful promotion season back in 2012-13?

He is a good signing in the fact that he has been there and done it, and he will be key in the dressing room, telling the younger players not to feel too nervous and enjoy the experience.

But this makes him more of a like for like replacement for Bobby Zamora, who was released this summer, the only exception being he is younger and will be on the pitch far more than BZ was during the previous season (touch wood he doesn’t suffer a nasty injury).

So the question is where does Chris go from here? He now has three first team strikers in Hemed, Baldock and Murray, but he will definitely need to be in the market for a permanent striker. A young, pacey forward that will have the ability to score 20+ would be perfect, but we all know how difficult it is this day and age to afford one of those.

Newcastle are already using their parachute payments they received from the Premier League following last season’s relegation by signing Dwight Gayle for around £13 million pounds. We simply cannot compete with that.

However, forgetting the poor Elvis Manu, Chris and his recruitment team have done extremely well in bringing some excellent players to our football club. The likes of Beram Kayal, Liam Rosenior, Tomer Hemed, Gaetan Bong, Anthony Knockaert and Jiri Skalek have all come in settled well into the first team, so in Chris and the team I trust.