Brighton In Focus: Mike Stowell
- Mike Stowell assesses the threat of Saturday’s Premier League opponents Brighton and Hove Albion
- The first team and goalkeeping coach believes the Seagulls coped well against Manchester City last time out
- Stowell praised the Foxes for their performance at Arsenal on Friday
A first fixture of the 2017/18 season on Filbert Way sees Craig Shakespeare’s Foxes host the Premier League new boys.
Brighton opened their campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Manchester City at the Amex Stadium last weekend, but Stowell believes breaking down the Seagulls will not be a straight-forward task.
“Brighton are a very good side and very well drilled,” Stowell told LCFC TV. “I liken Brighton to ourselves – they play a 4-4-2, have wingers with opposite feet and play with attacking full-backs. I think it’ll be an interesting contest.
Stowell Looks Ahead To Brighton Clash
LCFC TV sat down with First Team and Goalkeeper coach Mike Stowell to discuss City's first Premier League home fixture of the 2017/18 season against Brighton on Saturday.
“Like us, they’ve let the opposition have the ball and they’ve countered against them. Whether they’ll do that against us on Saturday, we don’t know until the game kicks-off.
“We’ve got to cover all bases. We know they’re going to be solid and when they’ve got the ball, they’ll be difficult to break down. Ultimately, we’ll do what we need to do, but it’ll be a difficult game.”
Stowell says the excitement of returning to England’s top flight will still no doubt give Saturday’s visiting outfit a huge boost heading into the game.
He continued: “I remember our first couple of games back in the Premier League. We were a little anxious wondering where we’ll get the points from and can we hit the ground running, which we did.
“Brighton will be desperate to get a point on the board. They had a tough game against Manchester City, but they acquitted themselves really well.
“We know they’ve got other players to come in like Glenn Murray and Anthony [Knockaert]. We know Anthony well from his time here and he’s fondly remembered.
“They’ll have the confidence of last season coming into it, but we know that we’ve got to get points on the board and we’ve got to do our job well.”
Despite being beaten at Emirates Stadium, Stowell knows there’s still plenty to come from City, who looked an attacking threat throughout their 2017/18 opener.
“It was a very solid, professional performance by the lads,” Stowell reflected on the Foxes’ performance against Arsenal. They took on board what we asked them to do.
“We were the better team and created some good chances, but it’s always going to be difficult at Emirates Stadium against a seasoned Champions League team. We took the instructions on well and it was only a lapse in concentration that cost us the points.
“Some of our attacking play was excellent – we dug deep for a lot of the game. They’ll cut us open at times and we saw some good saves from Kasper [Schmeichel] and some good blocks from the defenders, but then Vards (Jamie Vardy) looked sharp.
“Marc Albrighton put in some excellent through-balls and Shinji [Okazaki] worked his socks off as ever. But for a couple of late goals, it would have been an excellent performance.”
Focus lies only on this weekend’s game for the 2015/16 Premier League champions, who Stowell believes have been significantly strengthen by the squad’s summer additions.
He added: “This bunch of lads is great and the new acquisitions have settled in well. We know what we’re about and how we’re going to go about winning games throughout the season.
“One of the things that you’ve not go to do is look too far ahead – we’ve recognised that over the seasons. We’ve got to get points on the board, but it’s the next game.
“We want three points against Brighton and against everyone. If you start looking ahead, you get caught up and it doesn’t work like that. Ultimately, the next game is the most important.”