[Albion] "Brighton is the team that plays the most beautiful football in the world with Manchester City"

[MJsGhost]

I slightly disagree with the last line, but yeah you've got a point. Obviously we all think this is absolutely brilliant and we're rubbing our eyes in wonder unable to believe what we're witnessing. But in overall dispassionate football terms we haven't [*takes deep breath as this will get flack*] really achieved anything. We've had one season where we went from being perennial relegation candidates to a top ten finish. Now we've got another one where we should qualify for Europe. This is all good, don't get me wrong, but at the moment however we haven't even achieved what Norwich City did in the early 1990s. They were everybody's favourite other team, praised for their positive, attack-minded passing football. They finished 3rd in the PL, qualified for Europe (UEFA Cup) and outplayed Bayern Munich. (They got knocked out by the eventual winners, Inter Milan). Now look at them. Outside of Norwich (and a few anoraks) does anyone even remember their achievements in that period?

However we are Brighton, and if this is 'Peak Albion' in the same way as 1994 was 'Peak Norwich' then I intend to enjoy it. As someone else said lets enjoy 'these days' before they become the 'good old days'.

I guess I'm an anorak too then. That Jeremy Goss goal.... WOOF!

 

[MJsGhost]

Some fans are glass half full, some fans are glass half empty, and some can't even find a glass.

I think we're gonna need a bigger glass...

 

[GallodiMare]

We'ra fookin-io brilliant-io

Humorous.
Perhaps this translation might seem better to you: we got balls.
Could keep on but I stop here.

 

[MJsGhost]

Humorous.
Perhaps this translation might seem better to you: we got balls.
Could keep on but I stop here.

Ciao!

Could you help my limited Italian by explaining your username? Literally Sea Rooster I think, but is that a colloquial name for a Seagull?

Thank you!

 

[BadFish]

Meh

 

[Jim in the West]

During lock down I had every sport channel and hours of spare time, but could hardly bring myself to watch any football, unless we were playing. I watched the World Cup avidly and find myself increasingly watching football with a critical eye.

How many time do you see sides trying to play out from the back and the ball goes to the full back, who has one option to play the ball forward along the touchline? We did this more than usual against Arsenal, but Mitoma in particular was superb at knowing when to drop short. Fergsuson was also magnificent holding the ball up and bringing the midfield into play, watching an 18 year old bully International centre backs was inspirational and then you had Colwill absolutely ruining Odegaard's day.

Other teams have better individuals, other teams have more experienced players, other teams have more expensively assembled squads. These are good reasons why we can't win everything and sometimes we may take a hammering. Doesn't mean the football isn't out of this world, esepcially when things do click.

We are exceptional at playing the ball out from the back - the Arsenal game was a great reminder that even VERY good sides can't do it as well as us. Every now and then it goes wrong, but it's amazing to watch when it works.

 

[Echo the Seagull]

What's the perceived wisdom? To avoid a relegation fight, a team needs to score goals. You can have a brilliant defense, but if you don't score you don't win and will find yourself in trouble. Looking back on last 6 seasons:

Season	Goals For	Goals Against	Position
17/18	34	54	15th
18/19	35	60	17th
19/20	39	54	15th
20/21	40	46	16th
21/22	42	44	9th
22/23*	66*	45*	6th*

For me, this season marks a step change in how Brighton have played. It started under Potter, but RdZ has taken it to another level. First 4 seasons we shipped too many and didn't score enough. Even for 20/21, where the goals against dropped a lot we were still in the lower reaches. 21/22 ... looks out of place with the narrative, but it isn't really. There was such a fine margin between finishing in 9th or being dragged into the lower reaches - a 40/46 split same as 20/21 probably would have resulted in a 14th place finish instead of 9th. So the improvements in our defensive line from 19/20 into 20/21 and 21/22 didn't do much to improve our prospects.

It's this season that stands out. We're still shipping GA at a similar level to previous seasons, but the GF is sending results our way. Extra goals = losses turned into draws, and draws turned into wins. Simple as that.

On course to score our first 2 seasons combined goal tally in one season