[Albion] Is This the Best Brighton Have Ever Been?

[Iggle Piggle]

It's fantastic times obviously. My only observation would be that whilst the football matters at the moment, it hasn't reached crunch time yet when it REALLY matters.

It'll be the best of times when we top Joao Pedro's winner against Marseille or Ali Macs pen against Man Utd. That's still my highest bar to surpass.

 

[Worried Man Blues]

I came in at the Third division 1968, bounced around the leagues like a pin ball and ended up near the top, what fun!!

 

[WATFORD zero]

I've had the same heroes for well over 50 years

That may be changing

 

[raymondo]

I've had the same heroes for well over 50 years

View attachment 192979

That may be changing

Nice photo and memory

 

[raymondo]

Nice photo and memory

I can remember Dave Armstrong, many times, knock the ball over the oppo right back and beat them to it in the race! I don't remember much end product, but loved watching him on those sprints
@WATFORD zero

 

[mothy]

Yes

 

[Simster]

Two years ago we finished 6th and should have finished higher. We also reached the FAC semi, and should have gone further. These are a high bar. But this season has the potential to surpass it.

Whenever these sort of threads come round, I have to remind myself of the team that hammered Man Utd 4-0 in May 2022.

R Sanchez
J Veltman
L Dunk (c)
M Cucurella
S March
Y Bissouma
M Caicedo
L Trossard
P Groß
A Mac Allister
D Welbeck

That is arguably a title winning side. Pure filth.

 

[Birdie Boy]

I think rdz's first season and the European run up until Roma was the best in my 46 years. This season and next could surpass that.

 

[dwayne]

Two years ago we finished 6th and should have finished higher. We also reached the FAC semi, and should have gone further. These are a high bar. But this season has the potential to surpass it.

Whenever these sort of threads come round, I have to remind myself of the team that hammered Man Utd 4-0 in May 2022.

R Sanchez
J Veltman
L Dunk (c)
M Cucurella
S March
Y Bissouma
M Caicedo
L Trossard
P Groß
A Mac Allister
D Welbeck

That is arguably a title winning side. Pure filth.

Nahhhh

It's a top 6 side. But only that for me.

look at the players trajectory since leaving

Sanchez. We can all agree, rubbish
Cucu. A top 4 player
Bissouma, been average for spurs
Caciedo a top 4 player
Trossard very hit and miss not a starter at arse
Grob. Love him but struggling at Dortmund.
Maccer a top 4 player(who I think is overrated)

Our strength this season lies in our depth. Up there with teams like Newcastle and spurs now.

 

[Simster]

Nahhhh

It's a top 6 side. But only that for me.

look at the players trajectory since leaving

Sanchez. We can all agree, rubbish
Cucu. A top 4 player
Bissouma, been average for spurs
Caciedo a top 4 player
Trossard very hit and miss not a starter at arse
Grob. Love him but struggling at Dortmund.
Maccer a top 4 player(who I think is overrated)

Our strength this season lies in our depth. Up there with teams like Newcastle and spurs now.

As usual, your post is interesting but with some amusing nuggets of pure wrong.

We sold Groß at the right time - you can't honestly say he's the same player as he was 2 years ago. And your Ali Mac comment is laughable. He ran the world cup final for an hour whilst our player, and last night scored the opener against Real Madrid in the UCL. He took a while to get up to speed at the Albion but your overrated comment is pure comedy.

 

[Han Solo]

Nope. It's not even close to the 2022 side that was probably top 4 in most regards. From Caicedo breaking into the team until Trossard leaving is the best we've been.

Never had a squad with this much potential though and if we could avoid losing too many players next summer, we could be a strong challenger for top 5 next season.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

In my 62 years supporting them nothing will come close to my excitement of winning division 4 in 1964/5 but this is the best team we have ever had.

 

[el punal]

I've had the same heroes for well over 50 years

View attachment 192979

That may be changing

That looks like the start of 1969/70 season. Freddie Goodwin had recently taken over as manager, and signed Willie Bell and Geoff Sidebottom. We had a great League Cup run beating Portsmouth, Birmingham before succumbing to Wolves 3-2 at the Goldstone in front of 32,000. Hope that’s all correct!

 

[Han Solo]

By far.

The best thing about this season for me so far is that I don't think we have played well in any game for a full 90 minutes but are still winning.

When it eventually clicks for a full ninety minutes some team is going to get slaughtered.

How does that make us better than when we were playing great for 90 minutes every week scoring a bunch of goals?

 

[Insel affe]

I've had the same heroes for well over 50 years

View attachment 192979

That may be changing

That is one of my favourite kits

 

[Milano]

Nope. It's not even close to the 2022 side that was probably top 4 in most regards. From Caicedo breaking into the team until Trossard leaving is the best we've been.

Never had a squad with this much potential though and if we could avoid losing too many players next summer, we could be a strong challenger for top 5 next season.

Agreed, I still maintain that if Potter had not jumped ship we would have finished in the top 4.

This squad has the potential to be better though. Had we had 2024 Pedro and 2024 JPvH in the 2022 squad then 23/24 would have been UCL not UEL.

 

[Hotchilidog]

We are definitely on course to have our best domestic season, if we stay the course it will be a resounding yes.

I was greatly encouraged by the win at Bournemouth with 10 men. I do believe Friday's game against Southampton will tell us a lot about the mentality of this squad. If we can view this as just another game and not be weighed down by the prospect of going second and get the job done I will have even more belief in this team that they can realise their full potential.

I think we have been operating at around 65/70% of potential so far. As more of the wounded return to the squad I'm hoping to see that number rise.

 

[gripper stebson]

I saw a rival fan say this on Twitter a while back and it's true.

"I hope Brighton fans realise they are living the dream of almost every other fanbase in the country."

 

[Han Solo]

Agreed, I still maintain that if Potter had not jumped ship we would have finished in the top 4.

This squad has the potential to be better though. Had we had 2024 Pedro and 2024 JPvH in the 2022 squad then 23/24 would have been UCL not UEL.

Possible. Fine margins... one or two situations going slightly different in a few games and you can have ten points more or ten points less than you should regardless of manager. The team had a fair bit of bad luck with penalty decisions and missed chances in 22/23 (unlike last season when we got more points than we deserved). Could have been top 4 under RDZ as well with some more margins on our side.

The team was really strong and would have finished top 8 under most managers. Our current newly gathered team is still very unpolished compared to that side that had been built over a few calm and steady years.

 

[ROSM]

White lies are ok, aren't they?

Only the usual ones 'no it isn't important' 'no it's not a big deal' 'it happens to everyone'