Brighton aim to end goalless run after 54 attempts

Or until they put things right.

Fifty-four. As in 54 goal attempts over the past three games but no goals – and just one point.

There have been efforts of differing qualities.

Hit the bar, saved, gone close, not so close – though none, from memory, which went out for a throw-in, as happened with what seemed to be Nottingham Forest’s best effort on Tuesday, Albion have come up against some good goalkeepers.

David Raya was excellent at Brentford and Dean Henderson made a couple of good saves on Tuesday.

But the Seagulls need to be doing better with what they create.

And they need to be creating even better.

The calls will continue for them to sign a striker.

The last of those options used to be referred to by Graham Potter as the silver bullet.

It was a slightly dismissive term but expressed exasperation at suggestions all would be solved by one signing.

But one signing who was probably out of Albion’s price range and wage structure, unless they picked up a real gem.

At times they have wondered whether they might have done exactly that as they scoured the markets.

Neal Maupay from the Championship, Aaron Connolly from Ireland via the academy, Percy Tau from Africa.

Even Darwin Nunez from Almeria before any of the big clubs noticed him.

We are still waiting to see whether they scooped a bargain from Belgium in Deniz Undav but he has not really hit the ground yet, running or otherwise, bar one decent finish at Forest Green.

We also wonder about, one day, Evan Ferguson.

That dies not seem one for right now, given he has lost his spot on the bench.

But a four-year deal confirmed yesterday shows the hopes Albion have for him in the longer term.

Maybe the eight goals Albion scored in two games either side of the change of head coach were a blip.

But it shows what can be done.

Or maybe they have not got Leandro Trossard into the positions he enjoyed for his first two goals at Anfield and his finish against Leicester.

Those three were all very similar, and not unlike the move which saw Moises Caicedo score against the Foxes.

For whatever reason, we are now in a situation wondering when goals will come to reward good play.

As has often been the case in recent seasons.

Forget your walks along the seafront and trips to Donatello.

Maybe these near misses, this frustration, the “what should have been” and the xG stats are Roberto De Zerbi’s “welcome to Brighton” moments.

Maybe it does need the silver bullet.

Potter has inherited one at Chelsea in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

And De Zerbi referred recently to two prolific goalscorers he had at Sassuolo.

He said: “At Sassuolo, there were a lot of players who knew very well how to score. Here, it’s different.

“There are many players who like to play, who like to attack, but there isn’t a player who in the past scored 20 goals. At Sassuolo there was Caputo, for example, or Berardi. Every year before me and after me they scored the same goals. Here, we have to find the goals in other ways.”

So to the stats. Danny Welbeck leads the way with goal attempts in the last three games with ten, of which five were on target.

According to those who have followed his career closely, he has never been a consistently clinical finisher over a significant period of time.

But he has produced some outstanding finishes for Albion.

One thinks of the chips over diving goalkeepers at Aston Villa and Leeds and also at home to West Ham, the turn and shot at home to Leeds or cut inside and curler against Newcastle.

There have been misses too. Like a late header at Elland Road and a similar chance on Tuesday.

Or efforts which were saved but should have been buried, such as at Anfield recently or at Brentford last week.

He should be off the mark by now and not waiting to add to that classic header against the Hammers with which closed last season.

Welbeck and Trossard each had four efforts at goal against Forest.

It feels like Alexis Mac Allister’s revised role has led to him shooting less.

But stats say he has had eight goes at goal in the last three games.

Twelve different players have tried their luck at goal, all of them at least twice, Tariq Lamptey being the one exception among those who have played anything like meaningful time, So we are left asking the questions about goalscoring which were a feature of Potter’s tenure on various occasions.

The answers will be to create even better chances, improve, keep working.

That the time to really worry is when the chances stop coming, An Italian reporter, who is following De Zerbi and is therefore new to this, asked what can be done to put things right at the press conference after Tuesday’s game.

De Zerbi suggested decision-making was key as he told him: “We have take the best decisions in these situations.

“If you know all the solutions, you have to choose the best one.

“The level of the players is to choose the best solution in different situations.”

This all felt a bit like the 0-0 draw with Norwich last season.

On that occasion I suggested to Potter that fans, and us media, had turned up at the Amex looking for a turning point after six successive defeats.

Was a good performance and lots of chances but a 0-0 draw against the bottom team good enough to give everyone a lift? Good enough to be a turning point?

Potter was upbeat and we know what followed.

After two defeats, I suspect a 0-0 versus Forest was not much of a lift.

But a look back at the near things also reminds you of the football played.

The one-touch move in confined spaces ahead of Trossard’s shot against the bar was superb.

So was the link-up down the left between Adam Webster, Adam Lallana and Trossard ahead of a Gross shot which flew straight at Henderson.

And Webster did exactly what the head coach wants him to do as he launched the move which led to him shooting into the North Stand,’ So the wait goes on. This will be a process.

Albion were not sent back to square one when Potter left but they did drop back a few places on the board.

The fact Albion have been here before and come out of it makes the current lack of goals less worrying.

But the deja vu makes it all the more frustrating.

GOAL ATTEMPTS, LAST THREE GAMES
10: Welbeck.
8: Trossard, Mac Allister.
5: Gross, March.
3: Veltman, Dunk, Caicedo, Undav.
2: Mitoma, Webster, Lallana.

Source: whoscored.com