At what stage is it acceptable to get excited?

[Gilliver's Travels]

I think we're allowed to get excited now. Not because of the league position - we could easily slide into the bottom half with a bad couple of months.

But I don't think that will happen for all the reasons we SHOULD be excited:

1. Extraordinary strength in depth in our squad
2. Quality signings we've made
3. The mental strength.our manager has instilled.
4. The quality of the football we've started to play.

Oddly enough, these same claims were being loudly trumpeted only a couple of days ago by excited fans of another club.


Ipswich Town.

 

[Triggaaar]

Oddly enough, these same claims were being loudly trumpeted only a couple of days ago by excited fans of another club.

Ipswich Town.

Were they really trumpeting the extraordinary strength in depth in their squad, while knowing that they were weak at left back due to an injury?

 

[neilbard]

I'm excited now!! We were f**king awesome at Ipswich if you can't get excited over that performance then you may as well give up watching the Albion!!

 

[Hastings gull]

I'm excited now!! We were f**king awesome at Ipswich if you can't get excited over that performance then you may as well give up watching the Albion!!

Fully accept what you say about the performance, and the idea of supporting the Albion, but then we were very good at Leeds at the start of last season, so we really should be careful. Yes, there is much cause for optimism, thank goodness, but it is still too early to tell -we might now lose momentum after the break. I am as excited as you and a successful Albion lights up the bleak mid winter, but lets all just calm down for the moment. The next 36 might be pivotal, however.

 

[warmleyseagull]

Very difficult to predict as teams put spurts on at different time. End of September 2014, Bournemouth were 15th, though Norwich were top and Watford 3rd. Previous season, however, top 3 after 9 games were the three promoted teams. To win the league, Bournemouth, Leicester, and Cardiif all demonstrated how important it is to hit straps strongly in October and November, a period that for all four seasons in Championship has been weak for Albion.

So far too early to say, IMO. If we don't get another striker, we are very reliant on Hemed, Baldock and Manu (untried) as I don't think BZ will play that much, and loss of form, injury, suspension to those guys could derail.

 

[Gullflyinghigh]

I'm already excited about the squad we have regardless, but I'm not going to be even thinking about where we'll finish until we're into the last 6 games.

This league has way too many teams with strong squads that it would be foolish to not expect at least one of them to go on a massive run at some point.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Somebody commented on the official match day thread yesterday that "we are contenders". That got me thinking how far into the season do you have to remain in the automatic promotion area before it is reasonable to a neutral to call yourselves contenders? We had a great start under Gus some seasons back and it proved to be short lived. Decorum also suggests it's not a good idea to get too cocky among mixed company, as there are still 41 games to go. When is a good time to officially consider ourselves "in the mix"?

Having said all of that, I am already massively excited about this season. If this thread seems weird then it's probably because I am off nights and could more sensibly be going to bed.

I think it would be prudent to curb your enthusiasm until the end of August

 

[Gilliver's Travels]

Were they really trumpeting the extraordinary strength in depth in their squad, while knowing that they were weak at left back due to an injury?

Absolutely. This page from TWTD is stuffed with accolades for their supremely talented, strength in depth squad.

But that was before Saturday. They all think very differently now, with more recent posts confirming how Ipswich Town are urgently in need of a new defence, goalkeeper midfield…

How all very NSC of them.

 

[Triggaaar]

Absolutely. This page from TWTD is stuffed with accolades for their supremely talented, strength in depth squad.

I can't be bothered to look at that, I'll take your word for it (not very NSC I know).

I'm quite surprised, as I know we were buoyed by there missing full back, and it was scene as an area of weakness.

We now seem to have decent cover everywhere except the centre. Time will tell on that, and if we can't cope without our central pairing then I'd like to see 4231, as we have good defensive midfielders, good full backs, and plenty of strikers.

But that was before Saturday. They all think very differently now, with more recent posts confirming how Ipswich Town are urgently in need of a new defence, goalkeeper midfield…

How all very NSC of them.

 

[AlbionPics&SouthCoastTwit]

At what stage is it acceptable to get excited?

Mine usually starts when she touches me.

Usually this way.

 

[saafend_seagull]

Same points, top of the league after five games under gus.

Worth noting we have the following record in October since 2011:

Played 18
Won ZERO
Drawn 14

 

[royceyboy]

Why the hell shouldn't we get excited. Last season was absolute dross! Being top of the league at any stage of the season has to be celebrated with copious amounts of alcohol and even more pictures of the league table posted on Facebook!
But let's face it, I agree that our position does flatter us, and that sooner rather than later, someone one will piss on our camp fire. But I think we have a decent squad, with depth in every position to give ourselves a good chance of staying near the top. Where we end up at the end of the season will depend on luck, injuries, and momentum. It will also depend how all our new signings pan out, but they certainly look very positive.
The manager seems happy and stable and obviously has had the chance the build the type of team he visualises gaining promotion. If we have at least one 20 goal a season striker in amongst them, the midfield creates plenty of chances and chips in too, and our defence is as stingy as last year, we could be sitting very pretty come May! Till then, let's enjoy the ride! It's what we pay our money for!

 

[AlbionPics&SouthCoastTwit]

Another good question is when should Watford fans get excited/angry about being in the relegation zone?

 

[Kevlar]

I was pleased by the first 4 games .I got excited watching a stream of the Ipswich game.
First half was the best performance I have seen from Brighton in this Championship
period.If we continue playing like that it will be exciting and potentially promotion form.
Will we? no idea .Personally I never saw it coming certainly never saw Lus Lua
being so effective for all of the five games.
Let's just enjoy it .

 

[OzMike]

The double is still on, shame about the Walsall game.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Worth getting a bit carried away after last season. If you can't enjoy this start what can you enjoy!?

 

[Mr Putdown]

Very difficult to predict as teams put spurts on at different time. End of September 2014, Bournemouth were 15th, though Norwich were top and Watford 3rd. Previous season, however, top 3 after 9 games were the three promoted teams.

Your first sentence isn't exactly backed up by what follows which suggests that five of the last six teams to be promoted were in fact in the top three at the end of September.

On that basis....

 

[pasty]

Worth noting we have the following record in October since 2011:

Played 18
Won ZERO
Drawn 14

Well I will be pretty disappointed if we don't break that little run this year.

October fixtures

Brighton v Cardiff
Leeds v Brighton
Brighton v Bristol City
Brighton v Preston
Reading v Brighton

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I will get excited with five games to go. Not five games into the season.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Well I will be pretty disappointed if we don't break that little run this year.

October fixtures

Brighton v Cardiff
Leeds v Brighton
Brighton v Bristol City
Brighton v Preston
Reading v Brighton

I'll be disappointed if we get less than 12 points!!!