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[Albion] That’ll do nicely!



brighton_tom

Well-known member
Jul 23, 2008
5,506
For me anything top 10 would be brilliant. New manager, new players, new tactics, anything could happen so I’d see top 10 as a very successful season.
 




MJsGhost

Oooh Matron, I'm an
NSC Patron
Jun 26, 2009
4,997
East
I think we can all see that the team hasn't quite gelled yet, so to have 7 points from 3 games is remarkable.

Performances will improve as things properly click and adding in our exciting new players (and a returning legend) will make us even stronger. We could be scarily good in a month or so.
A counter-point to that is that other coaches will have had more of a look at Hurzeler's set-up and tactics, so there will invariably be a period where results aren't so good and some will ask whether he/we have been 'worked out'. Because we're off to a flier, we can afford a dip and still be in the conversation for Europe. How quickly things are turned around will be the key. I'm also expecting the odd shocking result (see Luton last year), simply because we can't be consistently good this early in FH's reign, SURELY?

Unless we are unbelievably lucky, there will be some (more) injuries to cope with. In which position and to whom they occur will greatly affect how disruptive they are (despite our strength in depth relative to last year).

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, other than to say that we are very much ahead of where I thought we'd be and we have plenty of room to improve, so this could be an amazing season. Equally, 3 games is a small sample size and there could be as yet unseen teething problems with the new coach and good/bad luck with injuries will always play a part.

I'm feeling quite chipper this morning, so f**k it, WE'RE GOING TO WIN THE LEAGUE :lolol: (though I'm not sure where that leaves me regarding my overall view that next season will be better than this - are we going to win next year's Champions League?!)
 


Nobby Cybergoat

Well-known member
Jul 19, 2021
8,608
Seven points represents a brilliant start.

The new manager is clearly able to get his ideas across to the players who seem to be able to put those ideas into action

The international break buys us some time to get Ferdi, Mats etc up to some level of fitness and Estupinan some intense training sessions to get him back to where he was

The only negative is the injuries to the new players and the current lack of choice at full back and central midfield until they return. Any more injuries in these positions gives us a proper headache
 


ChickenBaltiPie

Well-known member
Jan 3, 2014
937
OK, City & Liverpool look like they’re in a league of their own. Arsenal not far behind. That’s the top three nailed on!

Then you’ve got Chelsea, potentially, but they’re such a basket case of a club as we all know they could easily fail miserably again to achieve what they ‘should’ on paper be capable of.

From there down, Tottenham, Man U, Villa, Newcastle, West Ham, Brentford or Fulham even potentially, AND US.

If we stick our necks out and we’re not too pessimistic, I don’t think it’s unreasonable of us on the basis of having achieved it before from a weaker position, maybe(?) despite our best midfield duo EVER, having strengthened considerably everywhere else on the pitch and even more importantly potentially on the bench, to think we can definitely compete with that lot and achieve Europe again.

We’ve kept our best players, all of whom are getting better/stronger. Solly/Pervis still an unknown, Mitoma has yet to get back to his best either really admittedly, but if they come back 9/10th’s as good as they were then there will be no stopping us. Our younger guys just keep getting better and better as hoped. The new signings add serious competition for places and cover for injuries this time round, our big failing from last season and a lesson we already seem to have learnt from!

Top 10 is the MINIMUM we should be hoping for. Infact, we should EXPECT it now at this stage IMO. Doesn’t mean we have to be naive, or become arrogant or entitled or forget where we’ve come from, but it’s good to be hopeful, optimistic and have a target, even if it may seem just that bit out of reach. Something to dream of and be hopeful and excited about, something to stretch for. One of the European spots IS what we should be aiming at, and it is SURELY on the basis of all the indications what TB/PB etc are aiming for, so we should too!!

FH has proven already that he’s not gonna be the potential disaster some will understandably have feared when he was, let’s be honest, a bit of an unknown. He’s not come in and gone crazy with any insanely naive tactical thinking a la Hypia or over conservative like Hughton, although arguably had its time and place. He wants to play attractive football, he wants to compete to win every game, but unlike RDZ I think he’s shown he’s smart enough to realise the importance of not losing too. I think there is a LOT more to come from him and a LOT more to come from the team, and the new signings and we’re just gonna get stronger and stronger. He’s malleable, adaptable and will treat every game differently, make adjustments and keep learning and improving. His youth is a huge asset as I see it, he’s not stubborn or arrogant or rigid in his tactics. IMO we’re just gonna get better and better. He is still presently being very cautious and conservative I feel. The ruthless, killer streak is still yet to come but there is signs of it building.

I said to my dad on the weekend, the thing that gives me the most hope on the basis of what we’ve seen so far is that I think we will get more of those points we’ve consistently dropped historically against ‘weaker’ opposition in the past and seem better equipped to counter faster and kill off the frustrating low block employed by some against us, by hitting them on the break before they can get set up.

We’ve not played spectacularly, we’ve had a fair bit of luck, but to a HUGE extent that you can’t underestimate, a team creates its own luck. Play below your best/potential and still win/draw against top opposition and you’re doing something VERY right. It’s been an INCREDIBLE start and I can only see us going from strength to strength.

Our aim is obviously EUROPE, let’s admit it. Top 10 and we’ve underachieved. Bottom half of the table and we’ve failed. Top 4 and we’ve overachieved. We’ve exceeded our goals and expectations consistently, why wouldn’t we do it again. LET’S GO!

EDIT: I may delete this later, post Ipswich haha, IMO our biggest test yet and will tell us a great deal more about our potential than playing Man U & Arsenal did. FH passed the Everton test with flying colours and I’m confident he will prove what other managers have not thus far, that we can expect to beat ‘teams like Ipswich!’ 😏👍🏻

Long one, SORRY, grateful to anyone that managed to get through all that! 😴
 
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Jim in the West

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 13, 2003
4,943
Way out West
Apart from the fact we've got 7 points from three very losable games, I have two main sources of optimism:

1. The squad depth;
2. The fact that (apart from Liverpool and Citeh, and to a lesser degree Arsenal and Villa) no one else seems to be up to much. For example, both Newcastle and Spurs looked VERY average yesterday. Chelsea are inconsistent. Man Utd have no discernible tactics.

I realise it is ridiculously early in the season to predict much, but I think Villa and Spurs in particular will struggle with all the extra European games. Chelsea and Man Utd possibly, too. It promises to be a fascinating season!
 




Lady Whistledown

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
47,566
Thirty plus years of watching the Albion tells me that of all the games we've played so far and still have to play by the end of September, the ones most likely to trip us up are Ipswich and Forest.

Then of course we move into October, and in my mind, we are always crap in October for some inexplicable reason. Maybe the players don't like Halloween decorations.
 


Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,915
Surrey
Apart from the fact we've got 7 points from three very losable games, I have two main sources of optimism:

1. The squad depth;
2. The fact that (apart from Liverpool and Citeh, and to a lesser degree Arsenal and Villa) no one else seems to be up to much. For example, both Newcastle and Spurs looked VERY average yesterday. Chelsea are inconsistent. Man Utd have no discernible tactics.

I realise it is ridiculously early in the season to predict much, but I think Villa and Spurs in particular will struggle with all the extra European games. Chelsea and Man Utd possibly, too. It promises to be a fascinating season!
This is a fair analysis of the situation IMO. Arsenal were unlucky not to beat us as they were in control of the game when Rice got sent off, but on the other hand they were fortunate to beat Villa who absolutely battered them the previous week.

Villa are in Europe and are already struggling with injuries, which is good news for us - Bailey did his hamstring this weekend and they already had Kamara and Cash missing among others. Man Utd's problems are massively overstated in the media though. On another day they'd have beaten us (and that would have been considered an excellent result for them), which only leaves yesterday's battering at home to Liverpool who will clearly be title challengers. Newcastle, Spurs, and Chelsea have all started predictably inconsistently.

Excluding ourselves, my dark horse to threaten the top 6 is Fulham. I like some of their signings and once they have bedded in I think they might prove to be a tidy outfit.
 


hans kraay fan club

The voice of reason.
Helpful Moderator
Mar 16, 2005
62,685
Chandlers Ford
This is a fair analysis of the situation IMO. Arsenal were unlucky not to beat us as they were in control of the game when Rice got sent off, but on the other hand they were fortunate to beat Villa who absolutely battered them the previous week.

Villa are in Europe and are already struggling with injuries, which is good news for us - Bailey did his hamstring this weekend and they already had Kamara and Cash missing among others. Man Utd's problems are massively overstated in the media though. On another day they'd have beaten us (and that would have been considered an excellent result for them), which only leaves yesterday's battering at home to Liverpool who will clearly be title challengers. Newcastle, Spurs, and Chelsea have all started predictably inconsistently.

Excluding ourselves, my dark horse to threaten the top 6 is Fulham. I like some of their signings and once they have bedded in I think they might prove to be a tidy outfit.
Agree with most of this. Do think Fulham will struggle a little without Paulinha who was their most important player.
 




Gabbiano

Well-known member
Dec 18, 2017
1,703
Spank the Manc
City, Arsenal and Liverpool look strong and should be top 3 again.

Then, it seems to me that between us, Tottenham, Chelsea, Villa, Man U and Newcastle (maybe West Ham, but not yet convinced) the remaining Euro spots are up for grabs. Remember also there's the possibility of 5 CL spots now.

We've been good so far but we have had luck on our side. Without Rice's card and Zirkzee's offside were in a different position.

We've also been starting very slowly every game so far. That needs to change.
 


dwayne

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
16,200
London
This is a fair analysis of the situation IMO. Arsenal were unlucky not to beat us as they were in control of the game when Rice got sent off, but on the other hand they were fortunate to beat Villa who absolutely battered them the previous week.

Villa are in Europe and are already struggling with injuries, which is good news for us - Bailey did his hamstring this weekend and they already had Kamara and Cash missing among others. Man Utd's problems are massively overstated in the media though. On another day they'd have beaten us (and that would have been considered an excellent result for them), which only leaves yesterday's battering at home to Liverpool who will clearly be title challengers. Newcastle, Spurs, and Chelsea have all started predictably inconsistently.

Excluding ourselves, my dark horse to threaten the top 6 is Fulham. I like some of their signings and once they have bedded in I think they might prove to be a tidy outfit.
Re man u , no !

They're rubbish. They finished 8th last season. And they've gone and signed more rubbish. Only fernandes and mainoo would get in our team.
 


Simster

"the man's an arse"
Jul 7, 2003
54,915
Surrey
Re man u , no !

They're rubbish. They finished 8th last season. And they've gone and signed more rubbish. Only fernandes and mainoo would get in our team.
Not really true. They are crap by the standards of other big clubs but they'll still finish top half. We could easily have lost our game with them, and remember they were good enough to beat Man City in the Cup Final last season.
 




FatSuperman

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2016
2,890
The big problem for me is that the person in charge of Recovery and Physiotherapy at Brighton appears to be Wreck-It Ralph. If we can get back to the levels of injury / management we had a few seasons ago, we'd be in such a strong position.
 


el punal

Well-known member
Aug 29, 2012
12,478
The dull part of the south coast
The big problem for me is that the person in charge of Recovery and Physiotherapy at Brighton appears to be Wreck-It Ralph. If we can get back to the levels of injury / management we had a few seasons ago, we'd be in such a strong position.
I thought we had a new team in on that one because of the number of injuries to players last season?
 


Before we get carried away, and start predicting winning the league this season, then becoming Champions League winners next season, I still concerned about how we breakdown teams who play a low block

Once Arsenal decamped to their 18 yard line, yes we were on top, but there was a lot of moving the ball, but the Arsenal keeper wasn't making once a season saves to keep them in the game.

Breaking such teams down consistently needs to be our next step.

I am however very happy on our points total and performance so far. At the start of the season I was expecting us to be in the bottom three at this stage given who we were playing .

However I now keep looking at the table as it still feels a bit unreal. Another seven points from the next three, and I may need to start looking at all the European leagues for possible opponents next season.
Whereas I was quite confident we would get 6 out the 1st 2 but expected a loss at Arsenal. Having said that, we've had the rub of the green so far with decisions going our way😋
 




dwayne

Well-known member
Jul 5, 2003
16,200
London
Not really true. They are crap by the standards of other big clubs but they'll still finish top half. We could easily have lost our game with them, and remember they were good enough to beat Man City in the Cup Final last season.
Yes but top half is rubbish for the amount theyve spent and size of the club.
 




Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
11,839
Crawley
And the bulk of the new players haven't really been used yet, still using last years squad.

Opening game against Everton only Weiffer and Minteh played, and vs Arsenal and Man Utd only Minteh who was replaced by Georgino Rutter each time was used.

So only 3 of the new boys have played yet. We have more depth once up to speed.
And missing 2 important old boys, Estupinan and March.
 
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Eric the meek

Fiveways Wilf
NSC Patron
Aug 24, 2020
6,911
A drill down into the stats:
----------------------Possession Touches in opp box (us first)
Everton 0 - BHA 3 61.8% 29/18
BHA 2 -1 Man Utd 48.3% 33/28
Arsenal 1-1 BHA 64.2% 33/31

7 points, 6 For 2 Against. We beat Everton easily, edged it against Man U, creditable draw against Arsenal.

We are creating chances.

Overall, a pretty good start I'd say.

Edit: sorry for formatting.
 


dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
55,265
Burgess Hill
Apart from the fact we've got 7 points from three very losable games, I have two main sources of optimism:

1. The squad depth;
2. The fact that (apart from Liverpool and Citeh, and to a lesser degree Arsenal and Villa) no one else seems to be up to much. For example, both Newcastle and Spurs looked VERY average yesterday. Chelsea are inconsistent. Man Utd have no discernible tactics.

I realise it is ridiculously early in the season to predict much, but I think Villa and Spurs in particular will struggle with all the extra European games. Chelsea and Man Utd possibly, too. It promises to be a fascinating season!
3. Fab. Hugely impressed with everything I am seeing/hearing from him so far. Astute, humble, honest and already seems to have formed a great bond with the players and mended any issues left from the De Zerbi era. Squad 'togetherness' seems on another level already
 


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