Sussex

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Brighton owner Tony Bloom has bought a 19.1% stake in Australian A-League club Melbourne Victory.

The deal allows the Seagulls chairman to increase his ownership over time.

Bloom is already an investor in Belgian Pro League club Union Saint-Gilloise and has an involvement with Scottish Premiership club Hearts.

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After Brighton lost 7-0 to Nottingham Forest, Fabian Hurzeler said he picked a formation that was too attacking. He created something which just did not work in the moment.

There are not seven goals between those teams and sometimes you get freak results. Hurzeler knew it was not a game to overreact to, but to learn lessons from. The lesson to learn was not in terms of mentality but in terms of setup.

Since then, he has set his team up in a way that compliments each individual player more and compliments the style he wants them to play, which is defensively solid with a significant threat in attack and to be truly balanced.

Some of the goals and individual moments they have had in their impressive run since have been great, but the key is square pegs in square holes and finding the right combinations.

The sign of a good football club is how they react when adverse things start to happen. The key was their reaction after the 7-0 loss and they showed great determination to get the first win and then the second and so on.

Then, before you know it, there is the belief they will win every single game. When they step out onto the field they know they are set up correctly, the manager knows and trusts his players to do the job required.

Now they fear nobody because they have the belief they can win against anyone, which is priceless in football. That means they can go toe-to-toe with any style and most players are playing really well.

Belief can get you going a yard quicker, jumping a few centimetres higher and get you striking that ball a little more often towards goal.

That belief exists now in the players, the fans, and the manager on the sideline.

Nedum Onuoha was speaking to BBC Sport's Nat Hayward

Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist

"Embarrassing performance", "the manager got it all wrong" and "is it time for a change?"

That was the reaction from some fans on this page after Brighton were demolished 7-0 by Nottingham Forest at the beginning of February.

But was that result just a bad day at the office for Fabian Hurzeler's team this season?

Since that heavy loss by another side chasing European football, the Seagulls have won six consecutive games across all competitions.

A bounce-back and then some.

With potentially season-defining games against Manchester City, Forest in the FA Cup quarter-final and Aston Villa to come in the next month, should fans be concerned about the impressive run coming to an end?

Perhaps not.

That is because a strength of Brighton's this season has been their ability to get results against the top teams.

According to Football365, the south coast side are second only to Premier League leaders Liverpool in gaining points against top-half teams this season, and that is not taking into account results against those sides in cup competitions.

From the 14 league matches they have played against those top 10 teams, Brighton have won six, drawn four and lost four.

In the past six games in all competitions since the 7-0 defeat by Forest alone, they have beaten Chelsea twice, Bournemouth, Newcastle and Fulham.

Prior to that, they held second-placed Arsenal to a draw twice, beat Manchester City and pushed Liverpool close in both the Carabao Cup and the league.

Having struggled in the period before Christmas, getting another foray into Europe looked to be slipping out of reach, but their turnaround in form sees them now sit seventh in the league and just three points off the top four.

Bringing in a manager that was younger than a number of senior players looked from afar to be a risk, but Hurzeler appears to now be getting the results to match the play and performances.

If he can continue to mastermind results against the top sides, particularly in the run to the end of the season, it could be a gamble that pays off with another European adventure and cup glory.

Ten games to go and we need your positivity.

It is looking likely the Premier League will be awarded an extra Champions League spot for the 2025-26 season, so finishing fifth will mean a seat at Europe's top table.

We want you to tell us, in just one sentence, why Brighton will qualify for the Champions League.

Let us know here

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We asked you what nobody is talking about at Brighton but really should be.

Here are some of your comments:

Kyle: The entire club. People are still shocked when we cause problems for the bigger teams and show up competing for Europe. People have been living under a rock and haven't caught on to the fact that we've been one of the best-run clubs in world football for a good few years now.

Alistair: It's been talked about a bit, but Diego Gomez looks like another gem. If he can form a reliable partnership with Carlos Baleba, we might have the next Mac Allister-Caicedo pairing on our hands.

Anton: When will we stick with a long-term team ie a regular squad that we won't see dissolve every season through selling for profit? While I fully understand Tony Bloom's goal is to have a profit, making a robust Brighton that will never be in financial turmoil - and we are all enormously grateful for that - I wonder how long it will be until we see more players staying season after season?

Wells: I was driving a mate of mine to a match and asked him this question: "Do Brighton have the strongest second XI of any Premier League club?" He looked at me in disbelief, then after a period of reflection, he couldn't disagree!

O: Maybe not in terms of going under the fans' radar, but Simon Adingra is certainly going under Hurzeler's. A very capable Premier League player who was great last season, who even got two assists in the Africa Cup of Nations final, is barely getting used. If I were him, I would demand minutes!

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Former Brighton defender Adam Virgo has compared the Seagulls team under Roberto de Zerbi and Fabian Hurzeler.

Speaking to the Albion Unlimited podcast, Virgo said: "As a team, I think we saw more style of play under De Zerbi. I think we are still trying to see the identity under Hurzeler.

"As a squad, I think they couldn't cope with the FA Cup, Europa League and Premier League [under De Zerbi]. The dream is to get into Europe, but when you get there it might be too early.

"Squad-wise, I think we are now in a much better position, but starting 11 wise I would still pick De Zerbi's team.

"It's a matter of time [with Hurzeler], he has had more injuries to deal with. When this team clicks, you see really good football."

Listen to the full discussion on BBC Sounds

Brighton are through to the last eight of the FA Cup and still right in the mix to qualify for Europe, having put together an excellent run of results after that hammering at Nottingham Forest.

And there is no doubt plenty more going on that you know far more about than we do.

So tell us, what's one thing - good or bad - that no-one is talking about at Brighton but really should be?

Let us know here

The latest episode of BBC Radio Sussex's Albion Unlimited podcast is available now on BBC Sounds.

Brighton defender Jan Paul van Hecke discusses the Seagulls' impressive winning run and scoring his first goal for the club.

The team are also joined by former Albion skipper Adam Virgo, who talks about the strength of the Brighton squad, their European learning curve, the club's "best chance" of winning the FA Cup and Saturday's trip to Manchester City.

Listen to the full episode on BBC Sounds

Scott McCarthy
Fan writer

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In every season where Brighton achieve something special, there tends to be an unforgettable last-minute goal.

The 2010-11 League One title winning campaign had Liam Bridcutt crashing home a volley against Carlisle United to the now legendary "it's the stuff of dreams - the stuff of champions" commentary of Johnny Cantor on BBC Radio Sussex.

Glenn Murray delivered an early Christmas present in 2016, scoring a last-gasp winner at Birmingham City in the Championship promotion year.

Two seasons ago and a last gasp Alexis Mac Allister penalty saw off Manchester United at Amex Stadium.

That day, the roar that greeted the goal was so loud it could be heard the other side of Brighton as the Albion moved within touching distance of European qualification for the first time ever.

Saturday saw the 2024-25 version of Bridcutt, Murray and Mac Allister. With virtually the last kick of the game, Joao Pedro beat Bernd Leno from the spot.

Not only did it end a winless run against Fulham stretching back eight years but it moved Brighton to within a point of the Champions League places.

Victory away at Manchester City this weekend would take the Albion above the four-in-a-row champions going into the international break.

It was surreal to hear pundits on BBC Match of the Day openly discussing Brighton's top four chance - especially as just five weeks earlier, they were picking over the bones of a humiliating 7-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest.

The reaction to that sorry afternoon by the banks of the River Trent has been phenomenal.

If it somehow ends up carrying the Albion into the Champions League, Brighton's biggest league defeat in 57 years will end up being seen as the catalyst for arguably the biggest achievement in the club's history.

Find more from Scott McCarthy at We Are Brighton, external