Has Oscar got higher motives in his mind?

WATCHING his team slump to three demoralising defeats, new Brighton boss Oscar Garcia has looked utterly bewildered.

Mind you, he looks like that all the time so we can’t read too much into his expression.

With his neat goatee and permanently concerned face, the Spaniard looks more like a shipwrecked conquistador than a football manager – and one or two Seagulls fans would be more than happy to pack him off to the new world.

Naturally, doubts are being expressed. When an unknown and unheralded manager replaces a terrace hero, he needs a good start.

Oscar’s has been atrocious, with 2-1 defeats to Leeds and Derby compounded by an embarrassing 3-1 reverse at home to League Two minnows Newport.

Howitzer

There are those who say the Championship is no place for a man schooled by Barcelona.

Who has never experienced the howitzer down the channel, never seen every goal kick sail straight to the big man up top. Early results suggest they may be right.

But I don’t think so. It’s easy to fall back on lazy stereotypes about the speed and physicality of the Championship. To view it as a place where tiki-taka will get bishbash-boshed.

And it’s absolutely true that if you just want to get into the Premier League, a solid defence, a big squad and a couple of decent strikers will do the job. But if you want to stay there, you need style too.

In 2011, Swansea trailed in third behind QPR and Norwich, eventually winning promotion through the play-offs.Yet while the latter two have battled relegation, the Swans have clocked a top-half finish, the Carling Cup and a place in Europe.

That is no fluke. They spent years perfecting a style of play that prized possession over all else. They passed and pressed, even on wet Wednesday nights at Oakwell.

Nightmare

It was a style they knew would translate to the Premier League with no requirement for a costly squad overhaul

Under Poyet, Brighton have done the same. And, just as Brendan Rodgers finessed the work of Roberto Martinez and Paulo Souza, so Brighton hope Oscar can ice the Uruguayan’s cake.

It hasn’t worked yet, but it’s worth remembering that Rodgers lost three of his first five at Swansea and didn’t get going until after Christmas. Tinkering takes time.

Oscar is having a nightmare. But he deserves time to get things right as yesterday’s 1-0 win at Birmingham suggested.

Because if he does get Brighton promoted playing the way he wants, the Seagulls will be fully equipped to take the top flight by storm.