Brighton & Hove Albion vs Hull City **Official Match Thread**

[GT49er]

Stockdale getting stick on the phone in. Very harsh I thought. For me he was confident and mostly came for crosses and dealt with them well. Good performance for me (and I am one of those who thought he wasn't great last season), so credit where it is due and give the guy some praise

Weird. Had these people not thought about counting the number of goals he let in? Perhaps <1 is a mathematical concept too far...............

 

[Guinness Boy]

Honestly can't believe that on a day like today, with the team four points clear at the top and having kept a clean sheet that anyone is getting stick at all. It's ridiculous. We weren't 10/10 today but we did a job, were superbly organised at the back and should have been two up in about seven minutes, all in a highly emotionally charged atmosphere.

 

[fleet]

Honestly can't believe that on a day like today, with the team four points clear at the top and having kept a clean sheet that anyone is getting stick at all. It's ridiculous. We weren't 10/10 today but we did a job, were superbly organised at the back and should have been two up in about seven minutes, all in a highly emotionally charged atmosphere.

Exactly

 

[warmleyseagull]

No player should get stick. We won, beating a good side packed with quality players. Can understand the points about Stockdale to a degree, as there was clear lack of understanding between him and defenders on at least two occasions that gave Hull chances.

In general terms, the optimism is somewhat overdone IMO. Hughton evidently acknowledges this when he says today: "at the moment the margins are going our way." Which is as close as any manager is going to get to saying we are lucky to be where we are. In exactly the same position in September 2011, and were 16th by Christmas, finishing 10th. Squad is better now, but so is the opposition. Boro, Burnley and Derby all big spenders won today. On a previous thread I have pointed out how the auto promo teams generally (Bournemouth were exception) do well in Sept/oct, averaging over 2 pts per game. If we get 16 (or even 14/15 given how good the start has been) from next 8, which is certainly doable, then I shall believe we are really onto something.

It has been a dream start. The squad is good, the defence excellent, the management sound. But we have not conceded first yet, we have not lost a game so as to see how recover post a defeat, had any injuries (lose KLL to suspension Tuesday). These things will happen and we have to see how the team respond.

 

[Bwian]

I thought Stockdale looked in absolute command of his area and gave me a lot of confidence. A superb punch from a corner in the first half too. Cracking job from him so far this season.

Command of the 6 yard box maybe but his indecisiveness at times had me and others wondering what the heck he was doing. Lost count of the number of times he had plenty of time to come out and collect the ball but didn't, putting defenders under pressure. Poorest game from him this season and I'm sure he would agree judging by the number of times he was annoyed with himself.

 

[NooBHA]

For me, I am going to be even more optimistic, even about the negative point. It actually seems that we can beat teams without actually playing our best. Yes OK when we go in front we tend to go for the second for a little while and then when it doesn't come then we sit back and hold what we have got. That's actually positive that we can do that.

We have also shown that when we do get pegged back that we can step it up again and go on and get the winner. That tends to suggest that so far, we have actually been better than every team that we have played to date and that is reason to be optimistic.

Now I know that some of the top sides like Middlsboro, Burnley, QPR and Derby have still to be played but there is every indication that this squad could hold their own or more against all of them as well.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Just watched the tributes on Player - extremely well done by the club and Hull. I am now rather pleased I did not hear them yesterday as it is not a pretty sight if you walk into a shop and the manager is blubbing his eyes out! Thankfully there is no-one here so far this this morning to see me. A very, very sad day but a great tribute and result for all those that lost their lives.
Am extremely proud to be a Brighton fan and long may that continue. This is a great club we have here.

 

[Acker79]

No player should get stick. We won, beating a good side packed with quality players. Can understand the points about Stockdale to a degree, as there was clear lack of understanding between him and defenders on at least two occasions that gave Hull chances.

In general terms, the optimism is somewhat overdone IMO. Hughton evidently acknowledges this when he says today: "at the moment the margins are going our way." Which is as close as any manager is going to get to saying we are lucky to be where we are. In exactly the same position in September 2011, and were 16th by Christmas, finishing 10th. Squad is better now, but so is the opposition. Boro, Burnley and Derby all big spenders won today. On a previous thread I have pointed out how the auto promo teams generally (Bournemouth were exception) do well in Sept/oct, averaging over 2 pts per game. If we get 16 (or even 14/15 given how good the start has been) from next 8, which is certainly doable, then I shall believe we are really onto something.

It has been a dream start. The squad is good, the defence excellent, the management sound. But we have not conceded first yet, we have not lost a game so as to see how recover post a defeat, had any injuries (lose KLL to suspension Tuesday). These things will happen and we have to see how the team respond.

I remember, at least early, last season we played quite well. We dominated possession, but we played exciting attacking football. I lost count of the number of times I walked away from a game thinking their keeper was the man of the match. It was something like over the first 4 games, our opponents had 4 shots on target and scored 4 goals. Things weren't going our way, and I think that created a losing momentum we struggled to get out of.

So far this season (touch wood and all that), it appears as if our opponents have the same issue we had with our forward line failing to make any possession count, and goalkeepers have mostly been average. I've been to the three home league games this season and walked away from all thinking our opposition should have got more out of the game from their periods of possession.

I just wonder how long that will last.