Brighton have a goalscoring problem – how does Fabian Hurzeler fix it?

By Andy Naylor

Anfield, Saturday night, and the scoreboard told its own bleak story: Liverpool 3, Brighton & Hove Albion 0. Yet the numbers that will keep Fabian Hurzeler awake are the ones that never appeared on the giant screen – zero goals for the third consecutive match, four in the last six league games, and only ten since the day 20-year-old striker Stefanos Tzimas crumpled to the turf with a season-ending ACL rupture against Aston Villa in early December.

The FA Cup exit was Brighton's sixth winless league stretch in league competition and, more worryingly, the latest evidence of a team that has forgotten how to turn promising approach play into the one currency that truly matters. “It was an OK performance but without any killer instinct,” summarised former Brighton midfielder Adam Lallana on TNT Sports, a verdict that cut through the polite applause for endeavour.

Hurzeler’s side actually out-shot Liverpool 17-13, but only three of those efforts forced Alisson into work. The clearest opening arrived in first-half stoppage time when Curtis Jones’ slip let Diego Gomez into the box, yet the Paraguayan’s attempted curler with the outside of his right foot lacked conviction and was blocked by the Brazilian goalkeeper’s leg. At 1-0, it might have changed the narrative; at 2-0, after Dominik Szoboszlai’s classy strike and Mohamed Salah’s penalty, the tie was gone.

Brighton’s wastefulness was not isolated to Gomez. Jack Hinshelwood glanced a free header over from Harry Howell’s corner; Lewis Dunk watched Alisson claw away his angled header from Pascal Gross’ delivery; and Kaoru Mitoma’s late cross found nobody attacking the six-yard box while Georginio Rutter loitered beyond the far post. Those snapshots underline a collective lack of conviction that has infected the squad since Tzimas’ injury.

The Greek forward had just begun to look like the solution to Brighton's perennial No. 9 question when Villa’s challenge ended his campaign. Without him, Hurzeler has rotated between 18-year-old countryman Charalampos Kostoulas – who was comfortably marshalled by Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate on Saturday – and 35-year-old Danny Welbeck, whose own injury history makes over-reliance risky. January passed without a reinforcement, leaving the head coach to coax goals from a callow or creaking front line.

Compounding the malaise, Brighton's most dangerous wide pairing has rarely been seen in tandem. Yankuba Minteh and Mitoma have started only sporadically together, the latter still regaining full sharpness after a lay-off. Mitoma looked leg-weary at Villa on Wednesday and, alongside Rutter, entered only after the hour at Anfield, six minutes before Salah’s spot-kick extinguished hope.

Howell, 17, again deputised for Minteh on the right. He possesses promise but showed his rawness when a half-hearted attempt to block Milos Kerkez’s cross allowed Jones to open the scoring. Expecting teenagers to rescue a season sliding towards the relegation zone is asking a great deal.

Brighton are 14th, seven points above the drop, with 12 league fixtures remaining. Their last prolific burst – 20 goals in ten games – culminated in that dramatic 4-3 loss to Villa. Since then, the only victory came against bottom-club Burnley. The numbers are stark, yet Hurzeler clings to a silver lining: the chances are still being created.

“If we didn’t create that many chances, I would be more concerned,” he insisted. “It’s about bringing them into positions… having a different way of training to bring them more in front of goal.” Extra finishing drills, mood-boosting exercises and a relentless emphasis on confidence will dominate the training ground this week.

Whether that is enough to reverse the slide will decide whether Brighton spend spring looking up the table or nervously over their shoulders. The moment Hurzeler speaks of – “just one moment that can change the whole situation” – must arrive soon. Otherwise, the Seagulls’ season risks being remembered not for the bright start that lifted them to fifth, but for a goal drought that dragged them into a relegation fight they never saw coming.

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