[Albion] Is this season a bit more exciting?

[portslade seagull]

It looks like it Could be at the moment for all the wrong reasons. Hopefully with everybody back things will pick up

 

[southstandandy]

It’s panning out largely as I feared it might for me. First season exciting playing all the top sides, nicking a few wins, loving life but the novelty is wearing off a bit now. Our style of football is the only way to stay up year on year for a club like ours so we should get used to it.

Exactly this.

 

[blockhseagull]

I don’t actually think we are much more defensive than last year.

Poor individual performances is what is letting us down.

I know CH is cautious, but I’m pretty sure he isn’t telling them to go out and keep passing to the opposition.

The players negative passing and not taking players on looks more to do with lack of confidence than tactical orders

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Fully expecting to be shouted down with this considering the tide of threads currently doing the rounds after yesterday, but here we go.

Does anyone else feel that this season is a little bit more exciting than last? Yes, I know the style of football hasn't been particularly exhilarating and our home performances have been more defensive than last year. But in terms of goals and results, this season for me is far less predictable than last. Last year, if you take the novelty of being in the Premier League for the first time out of it, you could almost predict that we wouldn't score away from home and if we scored in any game, it'd be Murray or Gross.

I only make it to a couple of games per season and not any away games, but surely as an away fan it must be a bit more exciting going to Cardiff and Everton and at least having a goal to celebrate? And knowing that even if we're playing poorly, a set piece and a Duffy/Dunk header could change all that? So far we've come from 2-0 down twice to gain a point (Saints, Fulham), almost did it against Spurs, levelled last week against Everton, beaten Man Utd and even the Wolves game (only game I've attended) was quite entertaining with our alamo-esque defending.

For what it's worth, I think anyone believing we could be playing more exciting/attacking/positive football and be picking up better results than we currently are should look at Fulham. Look at their players: Mitrovic, Schurrle, Cairney, Sessegnon. I'd take any of those in our squad, yet they are not organised in the slightest and are getting tonked every week. Is that exciting? This is the curse of the Premier League in my opinion. It takes a good few years to get to the level Bournemouth are playing at; do it too quickly and your players get poached/bugger off to China and you become a Southampton or Burnley.

So yes, I'm in the positive camp. In Hughton we trust and let's not get too big for our boots.

Top marks for positivity. But I'm in camp irritable at the moment.

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

it's less exciting for me but not in a bad way

pretty confident we're stay up this time round,last season not so

looking at the teams below us I think Newcastle & West Ham will probably finish above us

they both have excellent managers

of course there will probably be managerial changes at some clubs also

but looking like a solid 14/15th finishing position

decent cup run,that's what we need for a bit of excitment

 

[Monkey Man]

It's always "exciting" watching Brighton, because I'm emotionally involved in the game and its result. (Though some of our football in the Hyypia era occasionally made me wish I'd brought a paper to read.)

But I think any neutral watching the Cardiff game and most of the recent games would have found our performances nowhere near as entertaining as most bottom-half teams.

I know all the reasons for that and I have faith in Hughton. But it would be nice to sprinkle the season with a few more beating-Man Utd-at-home type moments, just to balance out all the functional, high-fibre football that we now play.

 

[Bwian]

As someone who actually wasn't too concerned about being promoted out of the championship (I enjoyed watching the exciting, challenging games that come from being in that league), I believe we have done well to survive season 1 and be mid table and looking comfortable so far in season 2.

This is not a league of exciting football, never will be. This is top table, where the money is, where the big boys sit and rake in the riches. We are there and clearly the club want to stay. Unfortunately that means safety first. It dull and ugly but it means we load up the club coffers, Uncle Tony gets some of his investment back and we get to be a big club for a while.

The gravy train will end for us soon enough... let's just bask in the glow for a while. Chris is doing EXACTLY what has been asked of him, doing it well and doing it sustainably.

The level of negativity is incredulous. What were people expecting?
We will be back in the championship far too soon but it won't be this season or as for as long as CH stays.

Why do we have to accept relegation 'soon enough'? Leicester are a good benchmark despite stuttering a bit so far this season. No reason The Albion can't establish themselves in the PL for a stay longer than 3 or 4 seasons. Palace defy the odds every season much to the annoyance of everybody on here and they do it playing half decent football most of the time. Bournemouth are thriving in a League 1 stadium.

Relegation soon enough does not have to be a given for us and it is definitely not going to be in Tony Bloom's plans.



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[Knocky's Nose]

I don't think this season is more exciting. Last season was like being a small child in Gamleys, so it was more novelty and excitement than anything. Great feeling to stay up, too.

This season the wonderment has faded a little, and we're getting used to where we are. That's when you start to ask further questions.

So, exciting? No. Satisfying that we're competing in the most watched and admired football league in the world? Yes.

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

Christ on a bike, have I logged onto the wrong site? I thought this was an Albion fans site not a promo site for Dignitas.

We must build a sustainable team and a sustainable business. If we want to challenge for the Champions League and become the flair masters of the universe we'll need to go cap in hand to Qatar or some such place and find an owner who wants a new toy.

Let's think how it felt after the United game, how it felt after securing three wins in a row, OK it's not the most flair footie known to man but it's much better than it could be ..... just imagine being a Newcastle or Palace fan for a moment?

This gloom mongering has got to stop, it'll feed like a cancer, it's so easy for the negativity to impact on the team, mumbling about this and that, putting players under pressure and the manager making decisions based on keeping fans happy over the priority of securing the points.

We all want superb football but not at the cost of steady and sustainable progress, don't we?

 

[N17]

On the whole i think the Premier League is extremely predictable & therefore less exciting (to me anyway). Indeed, i have actually watched more Championship matches on TV than PL as there 10-12 fairly evenly matched teams who have a chance of promotion/play-offs

I would be more likely to watch two mid-table PL teams play each other than City vs A.N.Other (City W), Chelsea vs A.N Other (Chelsea W) or LFC vs A.N.Other (LFC W). Boring.
Even Spurs, who historically at least, are more likely to be the victim of an upset, have gained 77 of 82 points vs newly promoted sides under Pochettino.

 

[Bob'n'weave]

For me yes.

New faces in the team that are yet to shine and we have ground out some solid points with a less capable line up than at the end of last season. More than happy.

 

[Surrey Phil]

Christ on a bike, have I logged onto the wrong site? I thought this was an Albion fans site not a promo site for Dignitas.

We must build a sustainable team and a sustainable business. If we want to challenge for the Champions League and become the flair masters of the universe we'll need to go cap in hand to Qatar or some such place and find an owner who wants a new toy.

Let's think how it felt after the United game, how it felt after securing three wins in a row, OK it's not the most flair footie known to man but it's much better than it could be ..... just imagine being a Newcastle or Palace fan for a moment?

This gloom mongering has got to stop, it'll feed like a cancer, it's so easy for the negativity to impact on the team, mumbling about this and that, putting players under pressure and the manager making decisions based on keeping fans happy over the priority of securing the points.

We all want superb football but not at the cost of steady and sustainable progress, don't we?

Well said that man!! Let's be grateful for what we have and enjoy the ride. It takes a number of years to become an established PL club and given the resources compared to others in the PL, we need to wait a few more seasons before playing expansive football. I fear if we go all out attack with the players we have we will lose more games.

 

[BBassic]

Well said that man!! Let's be grateful for what we have and enjoy the ride. It takes a number of years to become an established PL club and given the resources compared to others in the PL, we need to wait a few more seasons before playing expansive football. I fear if we go all out attack with the players we have we will lose more games.

I don't know if those of us who aren't all that enamoured at the moment are advocating all out attack. As you point out we'd likely get smashed.

I'd definitely prefer not to see us whack ten men into our half and hope to f**k we don't drop a 1-0 lead though.

 

[LlcoolJ]

So you can see that things have been up and down and have changed, but think suddenly we’ll play the same way all season? We are missing our best passers of the ball, our best creator, and the new signings haven’t settled. Once we have our strongest midfield back together then things will likely change back to how they were BEFORE they got injured (as you mentioned, we played very well up until propper & gross got injured).

Why can't EVERYONE see that this is true. It's so bleedin obvious!

 

[father_and_son]

Why do we have to accept relegation 'soon enough'? Leicester are a good benchmark despite stuttering a bit so far this season. No reason The Albion can't establish themselves in the PL for a stay longer than 3 or 4 seasons. Palace defy the odds every season much to the annoyance of everybody on here and they do it playing half decent football most of the time. Bournemouth are thriving in a League 1 stadium.

Relegation soon enough does not have to be a given for us and it is definitely not going to be in Tony Bloom's plans.



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I think it is naive to assume that we can stay up indefinitely given this is our first time (in the PL-years) of being in the top div (and the division and game is quite different from the early 80s and our last top flight adventure). All the foundations are there [under the principle of being "premier league ready" when we got here,] but this season and last we have been reasonably lucky that there have been/are 3+ worse teams. That won't always be the case. We are not a "top-half" team and as such, we could be drawn into the relegation battle with just a little poor luck, extended injuries or a few bad recruitment decisions.

 

[BensGrandad]

I think the excitement comes from knowing that we have on paper a better squad equipped to climb the league and thus out of trouble and the expectation that brings.

 

[Shooting Star]

What say you all now?