Brighton and Hove Albion currently sit third in the Premier League after five games, and Pascal Gross has been absolutely vital.
The Seagulls are the highest-scoring team in the league so far this season, with the German midfielder directly involved in six of their 16 goals.
But Gross’ impact is far greater than his goal contributions to Fabian Hurzeler’s side. His responsibility both on and off the ball is paramount to Brighton’s success in all phases of play.
In this article, we’ll cover
Style of play
Gross has been described as a coach on the pitch, being the perfect bridge between player and staff to fully actualise Brighton’s tactical ideas.
The German initially joined Brighton in 2017, staying at the club for seven years before returning to the Bundesliga with Borussia Dortmund. But he didn’t stay away from the Amex long, re-signing for Brighton in January — much to the pleasure of Hurzeler.
Gross is a midfielder who is comfortable in any zone on the pitch, making him perfect for Hurzeler’s fluid style of play. The German has played as a right-back, a No.6, No.8, No.10, a wide forward and even a centre-forward in his career.
The 35-year-old has also captained Brighton twice this season, providing leadership, experience and setting the standards by example.
His data from this season shows a clear discrepancy between his final third activity and off-ball activity. But this doesn’t capture half of Gross’ value to Brighton and their system.
Asserting control
When speaking about Gross last season, Hurzeler said: “He can change the rhythm of the game. He can control the game by his movement, by his cleverness.”
This is a similar ability to Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard, who is often praised for his ability to assert control on a game, using that combination of rhythm and movement.
Gross’ temperament and IQ allows him to do this, often starting in higher positions on the pitch initially. But by moving from high to low, Gross’ movement is what provides an overload in the build up, creating a large distance for an opposition midfielder or defender to follow him, which allows him to change the tempo of the game and give Brighton control.
Once Gross has secured control via his ability to rotate from high to low and shift the rhythm of the game, his ability to connect passes, play against the opposition momentum and find progressive solutions is key to Brighton’s in-possession patterns of play.
His ability to lure the opposition into a false sense of security with his relaxed posture is key to this. He then adds disguise to his actions to find access to different areas of the pitch, giving Brighton control not only in deep areas, but as they move through the thirds aswell.
Leading the press
Despite being 35 years old, Gross is no slouch when it comes to his off-ball work. The German plays a vital role in Hurzeler’s high pressing style.
Pressing from goal kicks and restarts, the Brighton midfield unit is key to forcing errors and stopping central access. Each midfielder is expected to be brave and perform their role with complete clarity, which Gross sets the tone for.
When Brighton are pushed deeper into their 4-4-2 shape, Gross is often the trigger to jump from a zonal scheme to a man-oriented press. He jumps out onto a dropping midfielder or pressing past his reference to jump onto the spare central defender, which acts as a trigger for Brighton to jump up and latch on man-for-man.
Gross naturally isn’t a player reliant on his physical traits. Instead, the German is clever with his pressing, looking to keep players in his cover shadow, show players into traffic and engage when support is near.
While he isn’t someone who is flying into a high volume of duels and making recoveries, Gross’ intelligence and positioning is vital to the way Brighton press, funneling play into traps or forcing it long into a backline capable of winning their duels, which is all part of the plan and Gross is pivotal to that.
Providing the goods
Gross has made eight apeparances across all competitions so far this season, scoring four goals and providing three assists.
The German has also created the most chances in the Premier League this season, with 15 chances created.
Gross has a variety of qualities he brings in the final third. He possesses the composure to pick the best possible passes, has the ability to whip in those half space crosses and also provide quality from set-pieces.
But Gross has also shown the ability to get forward and add goals of his own, with goals against Chelsea, Coventry City and Arsenal this season in the league, as well as a goal against Manchester United in the cup.
Each goal showed a different quality from Gross. He scored a header against Chelsea from a long throw, slotted a penalty away vs Coventry and composed himself to shift it onto his left foot and slot it past Senne Lammens in a 1v1 against Man Utd. And he scored from outside the box against Arsenal.
If the German midfielder continues in this vein of form throughout the season, he wouldn’t be out of place in Player of the Year shouts. That is how influential Gross has been for Brighton so far this campaign.