First of all, let’s look at how Brighton like to play around teams. The De Zerbian ‘S’ is a term that’s been bandied around an awful lot. It pretty much captures Brighton’s whole identity. Bait teams into a press, then knock the ball around it to create an artificial counter-attacking situation. Here’s how it can look:

So what’s the problem now? Why is this not working at the moment? Well, Other teams have realised that Brighton’s game plan is totally reliant on playing around a press. If you don’t press Brighton and instead just sit deep in a passive mid-block, they’re stuck. 

The first thing this does is render Brighton’s build-up square redundant. That’s why we’ve recently seen one of the two pivot players pushing higher in build-up. They’re simply not needed so deep. 

However, this hinders their progression in central areas and prevents the De Zerbian ‘S’ from taking place. 

Secondly, and perhaps more significantly, it forces Brighton’s defenders and goalkeeper into riskier passes (usually longer passes) when attempting to bypass the first line. That’s why Brighton’s passes have been far more frequently turned over in the last six matches. 

All this begs the question… Why has it taken this long for teams to play passively against Brighton? The answer is possibly more straightforward than expected. It takes a lot of discipline and willpower to remain passive and not be tempted into chasing the ball time after time. After an actionless 30 seconds with the ball at the back for Brighton, every fibre in pressing teams’ bodies wants to go after it and get the game moving again. Only now are we seeing other sides stay passive and force Brighton into playing an unfamiliar brand of possession football — one they’re not well drilled in.