Hopeful Brighton put their faith in industry and organisation

Along the scenic train route that takes fans from Brighton to the Amex Stadium there was noise. Inside the ground there were flags, sing-alongs and a parade of heroes from Brighton and Hove Albion’s less celebrated past geeing up the atmosphere further. The noise did not stop all game and the efforts of the supporters were matched by the players. There was no way Brighton were about to let their Premier League debut pass them by.

In the end Albion were deservedly beaten by Manchester City thanks to Sergio Agüero and a full-blooded own goal from Lewis Dunk. The Seagulls’ last home match in the top flight was against City too, in front of 17,794 at the Goldstone Ground in 1983. A lot has changed in the intervening time. The club lost their stadium in 1997 and nearly went out of the league altogether. In 2000 Brighton and Hove became a city. It was the city council that supported Brighton’s plans for a new 30,000-seat stadium. Many of the crowd that filled the venue on Saturday will be too young to remember the dog days. This is a new club for a new city.

“I suppose you’re looking back to the Goldstone Ground and now at the level of support that can get into the stadium today,” said Brighton’s manager, Chris Hughton, after the match. “I think the capacity of Withdean [where Albion played while the Amex was built] was 6,000, 7,000. The present day chairman and the work of the people before him has provided the people of the city with this wonderful stadium. We’ve got to make sure we get the best use from it.”

Getting the best out of the ground and the crowd will presumably require winning home points. There will be no surprises in how Hughton plans to do that. Any success will be built from strong organisation, limiting chances and maximising opportunities. It is what served Brighton so effectively in the Championship and the first two elements were visibly in place against City.

Brighton started in 4-4-2 formation but one that easily compressed into a back six. City carved out one good chance in the first half and Gabriel Jesus should have buried his header from Agüero’s cross. But it was the only moment in the entire match when the visitors played through Brighton’s massed ranks. Wide midfielders Solly March and Jamie Murphy tracked Danilo and Kyle Walker across the pitch and nullified City’s width. The central midfield pairing of Dale Stephens and their record signing, Davy Propper, harried David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne and recycled possession in tight spaces.

With all that defending the connection to equally hardworking forwards was strained, however, and even chances to win free-kicks were limited. A flurry of deliveries early in the second half might have been turned in by first Shane Duffy and then Propper. That, however, was it. When Stephens was caught in possession in the 69th minute by De Bruyne and fed Silva who found Agüero to open the scoring, it seemed almost inevitable. Despite their resilience one can play without the ball for only so long; Albion mustered 22% possession for the match.

If Brighton are to find themselves all hands to the pump more often than not this season, they will have to be exceptionally effective with the possession they have. They were not helped on Saturday by last year’s Championship player of the year, Anthony Knockaert, being confined to the bench through injury nor by the fact that the loanee forward Izzy Brown, who starred for Huddersfield last season, was forced to leave the pitch with a hamstring strain after 18 minutes.

Hughton hopes to add pace to his forward line before the month is out. He will also likely complete the signing of the winger José Izquierdo from Club Brugge this week. “What he’s given his previous club is pace and goals,” Hughton said. “Probably if I look at where we are, and the players we’ve got, we need a contribution from the wide players. With the two we have up front our pace is more there. We hope that can change in the central position. But he [Izquierdo] is a good player and he’ll give us pace and hopefully goals.”

Hughton’s opposite number was not talking about signings after the match. Instead Pep Guardiola was purring about the quality at his disposal. “If you want to play in a certain way, the way I like, with players on the ball, then you need talent,” he said. “Our midfield positions are ‘phwoar!’ Really good. They all have such a lot of quality. I like players when they have the ball. I love that. And they keep it, they keep it well. Last season I rotated the team a lot and I will do that again. All of them are going to play.”

The list of attacking options available to Guardiola is frightening and he chose to start with both Jesus and Agüero in a front two on Saturday. His star performer, however, was one of his team’s veterans, a man sporting a new skinhead haircut and playing in the heart of midfield. Silva has been at City for seven years and is as streetwise in the ways of the Premier League as anyone at the Etihad.

“You know my opinion on David,” said Guardiola as he looked forward after what he considered a regulation win. “He’s not a new player in the Premier League, he’s not afraid, he has courage especially in the bad moments to play. I love to see players want to play when the situation is not comfortable. But we depend on everybody not David alone. The idea is to convince them that is the best way to play and to win games because that’s why we are here: to win games.”