Brighton’s winless run under new boss Roberto Di Zerbi continued with a disappointing draw against Premier League strugglers Nottingham Forest.
The Italian is the first Brighton manager since Barry Lloyd in 1987 to fail to win any of his first four league games.
The results saw Brighton finish in seventh after turmoil in recent weeks, picking up just two points from four games since Graham Potter’s departure to Chelsea.
However, how the home team failed to win will leave the freshman mystified and worried.
De Zerby’s side dominated throughout and spurned a number of chances against a Forest side who seemed happy to try and contain their opponents.
Leandro Trossard saw a powerful effort cannon off the crossbar and was twice denied by good saves from Dan Henderson.
Adam Webster and Joel Veltman both missed great chances from close range and Henderson again came to Forest’s rescue late on, his brilliant save from Pascal Gross ensuring Steve Cooper’s men climbed off the bottom of the table.
Brighton’s old fault is back.
Having seemingly sorted out their problems in front of goal earlier in the season, Brighton’s last four fixtures have been a reminder of their major flaws in the last three campaigns in which they averaged just over a goal apiece.
Just like in their recent defeats against Tottenham and Brentford, their dominance on the ball did not translate into goals or points with 54 attempts on goal providing just one point return.
Manchester United goalkeeper Henderson, on loan from Forest, can claim much of the credit for keeping them at bay in this competition.
He bravely cleared the ball from Danny Welbeck’s feet during the first period and athletically saved two hard-hitting efforts from Brighton’s Belgian forward Troussard.
However, tipping Gross’ errant effort to safety when it appeared destined to bounce into the top left corner was the best moment of the night.
The forest fails to strike the right balance.
Cooper will take some encouragement from seeing the flow of goals against them in the last three games.
But there will be an equal measure of concern as he reflects on a nine-match winless streak that stretches into Forest’s first home game of the season at the City Ground.
The tactical approach has worked to prop up a defense that has conceded 18 goals in five games but it is clear that Forest have yet to strike the right balance, which is affecting their strength in attack. .
Forest have yet to be relegated directly to the clubs above them – but Cooper will know that too many matches where they fail to register an effort on target could mean their top flight. Return to flight is short-lived.
