Brighton Fan View: Jurgen Locadia could be the spark the Seagulls really need

Jurgen Locadia’s goalscoring debut has shown he can play a huge part in Brighton’s fight for Premier League survival – as long as he is given the game time.

Brighton’s FA Cup fifth round win at home to Coventry City last Saturday ticked so many boxes. Firstly, that we are through to the quarter-finals for only the third time in the club’s history and, secondly, we did it with effectively a second string side, albeit the strongest ‘reserve’ side the Seagulls have ever fielded.

Leo Ulloa getting his first goal on his first start since returning to the club was also great news and the debut of record signing Locadia was the icing on the cake. Not only did the Dutchman get a goal in his first appearance, he also hit a post and showed lots of other positive signs.

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Among them were the runs he was making, several of which were going unseen by Brighton’s midfield but that will change once his new team-mates get used to him.

Locadia arrived promising something different and he will be exactly that. Glenn Murray has done superbly to get ten goals in all competitions this year, but he is more of a goalscoring centre forward while Locadia is more mobile and his movement off the ball was really impressive, albeit against a League Two side.

The nice conundrum now is what does Chris Hughton do for Saturday’s vitally important game at home to fellow strugglers Swansea City – and for the rest of the run-in. Murray is the man in possession of the shirt and I have previously complimented him on his response to two new strikers arriving in January. It would be a big call to leave out Murray, but where does that leave Locadia?

The regular line-up this season has been one striker, with Pascal Gross playing off him. Gross has been one of the bargains of the season and has become crucial to Brighton’s style of play.

In fact, I was going through the Premier League stats this week and noticed that Gross is second on the list of ‘big chances created’ with 13, which is just two short of Kevin de Bruyne and more than the likes of Leroy Sane, Paul Pogba, David Silva, Dele Alli and Mesut Ozil, to name a few.

Brighton played two strikers – Locadia and Ulloa – against Coventry but Gross will be a surefire pick, which means we will continue to start games with one striker. I can understand that but it also raises a concern with me as to whether our new Dutch star will get the game time necessary to do the damage which he looks capable of.

I would suggest 20 minutes here and there as a substitute for Murray – particularly with Ulloa also wanting that game time, not to mention Tomer Hemed and Sam Baldock – may not be enough. But perhaps that is the other bonus from the Coventry game. The tactic of starting with two strikers is one we could employ for certain matches and would make us a little less predictable for opponents.

Whatever way, the first impressions of Locadia are positive and, given the opportunity, he could be the difference between playing in the Premier League next season and the Championship.

@GriggoHome