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

[Ⓩ-Ⓐ-Ⓜ-Ⓞ-Ⓡ-Ⓐ]

Football is cyclical. Sometimes your team are good, sometimes your team are shit.

Greek NBA player Giannis Antetokounmpo spoke about this really well recently, just saw this earlier and thought it was brilliant.

Note - I don't like basketball at ALL and you don't have to in order to enjoy what he's saying.

 

[5Ways Gull]

Although I like to think I am a fairly positive person, I am sometimes a bit "glass half empty" with the Albion. But right now I don't think I have ever been so positive, it feels like we are never beaten. Even against Everton I thought we were in the game right up to their 4th goal.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

My missus works in a small primary school. in a small village in rural Powys. They know she's a Brighton fan, but until recently the talk in the playground has all been about the traditional successful teams (you know, those ones). Not any more! Brighton have a growing little fanbase in the Crickhowell area, the kids are coming up to her enthused about our performances and disappointed with our losses. They are excited when they get a Panini (or whatever it is these days) card with a Brighton player and Christie (the missus) has become the football guru of play times, if she says its a penalty then it must be right!

Anyway the message is spreading, even to the villages of Wales........(the kids love Enciso most of all of our players, they know how to spot talent!)

I think it's great.

Are you the mayor of Crickhowell yet?

 

[Mackenzie]

Are you the mayor of Crickhowell yet?

God no, I’m far too young.

 

[Triggaaar]

We really REALLY need to savour the remainder of this season. No matter how the end-game pans out from here on in, it's been a truly amazing season

If we don't get the points to reach EL, or conference, we will have been cheated out of those competitions. Although we're playing the best football a Brighton team has ever played, that would ruin it for many of us.

 

[Eric the meek]

When we are on song, we can play the football of the Gods.

It won't happen every game of course, but when it does, it lifts my heart like nothing else on earth.

 

[lawros left foot]

The last few seasons at the Goldstone were like horrible addiction. I used to get home after another god awful performance and defeat and Mrs LLF used to say” Why do you go, why put yourself through it. You just come home depressed, and it happens week in, week out”

Well, this season, and probably most of the last 8 or so years is why I did it.
This season will live in my heart until the day I die. Even if we go on to be League Champions, European Cup winners, this season is very very special. It’s our season when we proved that sometimes the good guys can win.

 

[warmleyseagull]

These plaudits are beginning to get a bit cringe. I imagine De Zerbi is getting annoyed with it as well.

Bottom line we've won nothing and in addition we've recently been thrashed by two dross sides in forest and everton.

Not time to bask in any glory yet.

Exactly. We went through seasons of being patronised in the Championship as 'the team doing well that has not played in Premier League so clearly cant be a promotion contender' to being a 'team like Brighton' when in lower reaches of PL to 'f*** me, these guys are good' now. In a way it is slightly patronising too; why is it such a huge surprise?

 

[Audax]

On course to score over 70 league goals this season, I'd say that is something to shout about.

Some of the stats for this season are amazing. We play exciting football, which is high on risk and reward

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.

 

[Albion in the north]

I used to enjoy packing my little rucksack on a saturday morning and getting a train to goodness knows where to watch us play in the lower reaches of the football leagues. I used to enjoy spending my paper round money on getting the bus from Heathfield to the Goldstone Ground to stand on the east Terrace and watch us. But the football we play now is out of this world. I have mates that are supporters of other clubs texting me to say how good we are. I love how we play now. Its a different kind of enjoyment. I look at every game thinking that we can get something from it. Id love it to last for ever but in reality it probably wont but ill still enjoy watching us whichever league we play in. (Except maybe those last few games under Hughton ) Its a different kind of enjoyment now as I have to watch on tv a lot. 12.30 and 3pm saturday kickoffs are doable from here to the Amex but other days/times are less easy. I miss being in the crowd and the songs and chants (Or not).

 

[GallodiMare]

Cassano is a fool. A wasted talent with the ball and a loud mouth with a mic. However, he's big news in Italy. This sort of thing is a big deal. Raises our profile hugely.

Yes indeed, you are right. But Cassano (and Lele Adani) have De Zerbi's telephone number and it is true that they exchange opinions on a regular basis, especially RDZ with Adani. If time permits, I'll post an intervention in this thread about the first hand reaction of Guardiola and Estiarte (one of his assistants) after the BHA victory over Arsenal.

 

[The Fits]

Yes indeed, you are right. But Cassano (and Lele Adani) have De Zerbi's telephone number and it is true that they exchange opinions on a regular basis, especially RDZ with Adani. If time permits, I'll post an intervention in this thread about the first hand reaction of Guardiola and Estiarte (one of his assistants) after the BHA victory over Arsenal.

Of course, they might be friends. To us a club, that doesn't matter. It might be biased. What matters is that Serie A players hear this kind of positive reinforcement.

 

[GallodiMare]

What is the Italian for "we're f***ing brilliant" anyway?

Noi siamo maledettamente (fottutamente) bravi!

 

[Eric the meek]

Noi siamo maledettamente (fottutamente) bravi!

We are indeed bloody good. Cast your mind back to when Potter dumped us for Chelsea. We were bereft. Rudderless.

Today, we are 15 points ahead of Chelsea, 5 places higher in the table, with a GD 26 goals better. Potter has been given the heave-ho, and Frank Lampard taken temporary charge with modest results. That's how good we are. RDZ is clearly a major upgrade on Potter.

 

[GallodiMare]

Glad someone said it. Same with the mojo poll - some people would only be a 10 based on where we end up, however football is about enjoying the first game, that 90mins and moving onto the next - the journey. We've been absolutely fantastic this season. We don't get a trophy for doing doubles over Chelsea and Man Utd, thrashing Liverpool and Arsenal - but it feels like we should. What we just did at the Emirates was special, doesn't win a trophy, but it up there as a significant moment in the club's history. What will be will be in terms of European spots, if we were to miss out, doesn't lesson the achievements of getting here.

Absolutely this. This all works like happiness (if there is one). As soon as you feel happy, you feel sad because you want more, you want to amplify it, you want to emphasize it. And that's when you're starting to lose it. The secret of happiness is not the ghosts of the past and it is not the anxiety of the future: it is the joy of the present. It could go well or it could go badly... patience. Carpe Diem.

 

[GallodiMare]

Although I like to think I am a fairly positive person, I am sometimes a bit "glass half empty" with the Albion. But right now I don't think I have ever been so positive, it feels like we are never beaten. Even against Everton I thought we were in the game right up to their 4th goal.

Agree. Completely. Everton players seem to be they had their lifetime match. From the beginning (or the-get-go). Their first goal after few minutes have marked the game, as it was then. They have been physically strong, ready to counterattack. They took advantage of the spaces and were good at being fast and precise. They were also lucky: 4 shots 4 goals. That's how it works in football. And sometimes it doesn't work. As was the case for Arsenal a few days ago.

 

[rigton70]

I think our best days are still to come.

But enjoy the upwardness of our trajectory and always remember the higher you climb the longer the fall.

Unfortunately I disagree this will be best we will ever get.

With Chelsea and spurs they will come back stronger next season and push us down the league.

this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get into Europe through the league and embrace it.

I am 52 and I have watched this shower of shit fall down the leagues and then rise again to possible European football.

I so hope I am wrong but I will be doing European football if we qualify next season with a ticket or no ticket just to say I was their.

 

[Justice]

RDZ is trying really hard to change the mindset of the club shame it’s not trickling down to some supporters just yet.

 

[B-right-on]

What is the Italian for "we're f***ing brilliant" anyway?

We'ra fookin-io brilliant-io

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

The last few seasons at the Goldstone were like horrible addiction. I used to get home after another god awful performance and defeat and Mrs LLF used to say” Why do you go, why put yourself through it. You just come home depressed, and it happens week in, week out”

Well, this season, and probably most of the last 8 or so years is why I did it.
This season will live in my heart until the day I die. Even if we go on to be League Champions, European Cup winners, this season is very very special. It’s our season when we proved that sometimes the good guys can win.

One of the chaps on an Albion mailing list (back in the day) had a similar question from his other half along the lines of why didn’t he change support to a team that won stuff and brought happiness.

He thought about the question and replied that loyalty when going through hard times was not such a disadvantage in a life partner.