With Brighton’s pre-season campaign drawing to a close on Sunday at The AMEX against Atletico Madrid, we here at The 4th Official, look at the three players who have had a great pre-season and may well become key players in the squad.
Pascal Groß:
The 26-year-old has made quite an impression since he became The Albion’s first summer signing after joining from FC Ingolstadt. He has played a part in The Seagulls’ four pre-season games so far and has scored three goals already. The German midfielder seems to be a player who is very clinical in front of goal.
He has also linked up quite well with last season’s top goalscorer Glenn Murray as playing just behind the big English striker has allowed Groß to see more of the ball and become a playmaker for the club which he is very good at. Groß’s arrival also means that Chris Hughton can tinker with his formation and go from a 4-4-2 to a 4-4-1-1 system which he did so far in every pre-season game because of Groß’s ability to play as a number ten as well as in the central midfield.
Markus Suttner:
The Austrian left-back has slotted into Brighton’s back four very well since signing from FC Ingolstadt. The 30-year-old has played in Brighton’s last three pre-season games and has already got two assists and two clean sheets to his name so far. From what I have seen from Suttner so far in pre-season, he seems to link very well with whoever is playing on the left wing whether it is Jamie Murphy or Izzy Brown.
The Austrian also seems to be a very attack minded full-back as he has made quite an impact in the final third with him setting up Murray and Groß with some great crosses into the box. But it is not just attacking, Suttner has done well, as he has also done well defensively, having been part of an Albion defence that took 312 minutes to concede their first goal in pre-season.
Solly March:
The 23-year-old English winger has made quite the impression this preseason. After scoring one of the goals that helped sealed promotion to the Premier League against Wigan, March has continued where he left off last season.
The winger was set to go to the European Championship with the England U21’s but a minor injury meant he pulled out of the squad to make sure he was fit for Brighton’s pre-season and Premier League campaign. This has proved to be a great decision for the club as the winger has already scored three times and provided an assist for Israeli striker Tomer Hemed in the preseason
The 23-year-old seems to be back to playing his best football, having gained any pace he lost after missing a good chunk of the previous season due to a ligament injury. He seems to be terrorising defenders, which is great for Chris Hughton and all Brighton fans to see, and if he plays like that against Manchester City then he could prove to be quite a handful for their defence.
