Graham Potter says he will do all he can to help his Albion team score more goals – as pundits call for the club to sign a striker.
Former Seagulls boss Gus Poyet, ex-Albion midfielder Steve Sidwell and Crystal Palace goal hero Ian Wright were among those urging the club to spend last night.
They did so after Albion saw several chances pass them by in the 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.
Brilliant finishes by Jean-Philippe Mateta and Christian Benteke settled the contest - after Albion had played some super football, especially in the second half.
Potter said signing a striker is an “an easy thing to say” during his post-match Zoom session.
But he has always been confident he can get more from the players in his squad.
Albion posted a record £67 million loss last season, taking chairman Tony Bloom’s investment way past the £300 million mark.
The club will continue to miss out on £1 million of revenue each time they play before empty stands for the remainder of this season.
Potter said: “We have to help the team create better chances, more chances.
“I think it is firstly my responsibility and then it is collectively trying to find solutions.
“I can see why it (signing a striker) is an easy thing to say.
“I would look to myself first, see if I can help the team further and try and create better chances.”
Albion have had 83 efforts at goal in four games against Palace under Potter, bringing three goals and two points.
Last night’s bitter disappointment came after frustration in the 0-0 draw versus Aston Villa.
Teams can always look to create more and better chances.
But how many do you need and how good do they have to be?
There have been several moments when better might have been expected of the player who has the opportunity to score.
Sidwell, working alongside Wright for Premier League Productions, said: “They need to get a goalscorer in.
“If Wrighty in his prime was in that team, the way they play and the chances they get in the box, he would have a hatful.
“It is a club that has got finances.
“They run it very well but they need to go out and buy a £40, 50, 60 million (striker), like most teams in the Premier League do.
“You feel that if they get a striker that can put the ball away they would be what? Fourteen, 15, 16 points clearer.”
Wright believes Albion would be an attractive destination for a striker.
He said: “The football they play and the way the manager is so forward-thinking in what he does, they could really cause problems.
“But they need to sort that goalscoring out quickly.”
Wright said Albion “battered” Palace and added: “The guys in the dressing room are probably distraught but they have just got to keep doing it.
“One of these days they are probably going to end up (scoring) four or five.”
Poyet, whose promotion bid at Albion in 2012-13 foundered on the delay in bringing in a centre-forward, suggested he would be asking Bloom to dig deep if he were in charge now.
He said: “I think the coaches can do a lot from here to the last bit and give you all the movement and actions.
HOW ALBION PLAYED WITH LATE FIRE AGAIN
“The one who puts the ball in the net has to come from upstairs.
“There is a position which is the most expensive in football, the most difficult to find even with the data we have nowadays and that is the one you going to get.
“With all respect to the strikers - Maupay, Welbeck, Trossard - with a striker that is clinical you have to win this game.”
Albion had 52 touches in the opposition penalty area compared to just two – both of them goals – for Palace.
Roy Hodgson’s tactical set-up kept the hosts quiet in the first half.
But they were more of a force in the second period after sending on Welbeck to partner Maupay with Dan Burn pushing on wide on the left and Trossard looking for spaces.
Potter said: “You know you have got to be patient but we were a bit slack, I thought at times (in the first half), with our play.
“We missed a few passes and didn’t play as well as we have done.
“That combined with conceding the goal made it not a nice end to the first half.
“Crystal Palace, the way they set up, aren’t so easy to play against because there is one team trying to win and they are just trying to stay in the game and hit us in the break.
“That is the challenge, we knew that. We didn’t do it very well in the first half.
“We did it well in the second half right up until the point they scored.”
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