Maybe some of the poster's should remember this ?

[Leighgull]

There are people on this forum who will take a minor occurrence and use it as a stick to beat the club with, eg a single piece of litter on a concourse and some scream for Barber's head!!! Equally, there are just as many who who have their heads firmly inserted either up their own arse or that of the manager where, because of the location, cannot see what is happening in front of them! Fortunately, the vast majority fall between these two stools (pun intended). The fact of the matter is that we have the best attendences in the division yet the only teams we have beaten in front of those crowds are the bottom four teams. Poyet has made some good signings as well as some very poor ones. Vicente was a gamble which still may pay off. His man management sometimes leaves a little to be desired.

Our style of football, whilst very effective in League One, is very pedestrian and predictable for the championship. Better teams and better managers have sussed us out and close us down and we don't have the quality of players to overcome that (and in particular I would target Greer who I think slows the game down far too much, possibly because he is bordering on being out of his depth). However, what probably grates on more people than anything else is the fact that we have spent a fortune (by our standards) on a player who is so inconsistent in his control and hasn't been, or even seemed like he could be, the 20 goal a season striker that any team needs. One moment he shows exceptional control and then proceeds to fall over or fail to make and easy pass to a colleague. He can show great predatory opportunism as he did against Charlton but fail to get his shot on target against Palace.

A decent frontman could answer a lot of the questions, ie we score early and, for a change, put the opposition on the back foot. We could at some stage have a fully fit team (quite clearly Bruno was not fit against Watford but we don't have anyone in the development squad to step up, the likes of Cook, Hall and Vincelot having been let go). I thought we were spending a fortune on sports sciences but that doesn't seem to be bearing any fruit at present! It could make a difference if we started a game with both KLL and Buckley. Might mean KLL doesn't constantly have two defenders marking him.

Our prayers could be answered in this transfer window but, based on the likes of Vokes and Paynter, I'm not holding my breath that we'll get the right man (I'll excuse CMS as he did come with a reputation as a goal scorer). I've heard rumours that we are close to signing a decent striker and are just negotiating image rights, something we haven't had to do before, or so I'm led to believe. Equally I have heard that Fulham are closely tracking Buckley. We could win some and lose some but that's the nature of the transfer market. The problem we have is that the likes of Buckley and Bridcutt will move if they cannot see that we are progressing on the pitch, which at the moment, that is hard to see.

And that's the rub. Progressing. It doesn't matter where we have come from, it's where we are going to that is important. TB has, reportedly, got a 5 year plan to be in the Prem. Last season as whole probably exceeded expectations but in doing so, set the benchmark for this year. The benchmark for this club is not where we were 30 years ago, not even 15 years ago but where we finished last season.

Either you are well connected or a creative fantasist, I know...I'll ask SIRI which...awww, he just says " would you like me to search the web for is [MENTION=5208]drew[/MENTION] telling the truth?"

 

[Brovion]

Either you are well connected or a creative fantasist, I know...I'll ask SIRI which...awww, he just says " would you like me to search the web for is @drew telling the truth?"

WTF?

 

[supaseagull]

"spent a fortune (by our standards) on a player who is so inconsistent in his control and hasn't been, or even seemed like he could be, the 20 goal a season striker that any team needs."

He's got 10 goals in 20 starts (1 sub appearance). So he's on course to score 20 goals this season

That's irrelevant to what [MENTION=5208]drew[/MENTION] is saying. CMS' first touch is woeful...HOWEVER, I had a conversation with [MENTION=19777]darters74[/MENTION] yesterday and we agreed that he shouldn't have to be relying on his first touch...He isn't and never has been the type of player who can hold up play and bring in others...Instead he is more the Garry Nelson/Michael Owen type of player who needs the ball and the goal in front of him. I actually think that Lua Lua would play the role better than CMS and have done for ages as he is far stronger.

I know people keep harking on about it, but a hold up/target player is, I believe, the answer to our problems from an attacking perspective....The 4-3-3 formation is geared toward this type of forward man with the two wider players feeding off the centre forward.

It's therefore remarkable that CMS has scored the amount he has done, considering he is having to do the work of a "Number 9" as Gus calls it, which is definitely NOT his style of play.

I reckon that IF Buckley goes, then CMS won't and vice-versa. However, whatever happens - either will be the right hand sided player of the front 3 if we get our target man.

 

[Guinness Boy]

It's a fact that Barry Lloyd got us closer to the top division than Gus Poyet has. It's just not a very relevant fact.

 

[drew]

Either you are well connected or a creative fantasist, I know...I'll ask SIRI which...awww, he just says " would you like me to search the web for is [MENTION=5208]drew[/MENTION] telling the truth?"

WTF?

Have to agree with Brovion here. How on earth did you arrive at creative fantasist from my post

 

[Johnnyboy]

These comparisons to the past completely baffle me! I just don’t get it??
Surly in everything we do in our lives we always want better and to aim for the next step... You have a car you want a bigger, better and newer one, you have a 2 bed semi you want a 3 bed detached, Same goes for work surely you look to progress or for promotion etc (you get the picture)?
Well why is it any different for football and the club that you are meant to be supporting?? How is looking back on the Withdean & Gillingham years going to sort the current problems out?
Changes are clearly needed and in my opinion (yes I am entitled to one! doesn’t make me right or wrong before you all start it is just an opinion) Gus has done all he can for this club now, I respect what he has achieved and thank him for it but now is the time to pass the reins to somebody else. The club are very close to undoing all the hard work so far and will almost certainly loose a good number of season ticket holders next season, Now there is an argument to say that they can’t be true supporters then and I kind of agree but without the revenue coming through the gates it’s the remaining season ticket holders and fans that will suffer the following year with increased prices not to mention the £6 pie around the corner!
On a separate note look at QPR who are clearly in the SHIT, did anyone see Harry's post match comments yesterday?? He was amazingly up-beat and positive about the situation which we just don’t get from Gus! And it shows... A lack of passion, energy and positive vibes from the manager is clearly finding its way onto the pitch (With a couple of exceptions)
I know Harry is a "marmite" kind of character and personally I quite like him and respect his honest tongue and even his style of football. Would just like to see more of that passion in Gus if he is to stay... I don’t see QPR referring to their past and how far they have come, they are fighting and fighting hard to stay in the prem and showing guts which we are not at present.
Let’s hope for some good business in Jan and look to move the club forward.... Forget the past you can’t go back there!!

True but you can learn from it.

 

[drew]

Thought I would bounce this to see if Leighgull would care to make sense of his post. I suspect not!

 

[Guy Fawkes]

okay so you're happy with mediocre, and thats fine. I however, would like to see a team with some backbone that can put teams away like a team of that quality should be able to.

And how do threads calling players shit, for the manager to be sacked, etc after every game we don't win exactly helping us to achieve the best we can here and now? The squad we have now is the squad we have available to use and telling them all to f@*k off asap (as some would demand) is hardly going to help us achieve promotion.

We are in a good position (although you would never believe it after reading on here) to get into the play-offs this season. We have a solid foundation from which to push on from and all this doom mongering and calls for heads to roll isn't going to help us achieve our ambitions.

I wouldn't call what i've seen this season mediocre. We have been unfortunate in quite a few games (deflected goals, last minute undeserved equalisers, etc) and from what i have seen this season so far, we have enough to make the play-offs. There are plenty of examples of teams drawing a lot of games who sort it out, go on a run and gain promotion (either that season or the next) All this panic is doing is undermining our chances of being the next ones to do this, especially if the board then panic too and sack one of the best hopes we have of actually achieving this.

We never said at the start of the season we need to or have to go up this season, although we are still aiming to go up but it will not the disaster some are making out it will be if we don't achieve it this season.

What will undermine this effort is for there to be a minority unsettling things by calling for the managers head, etc. Look at the effect this sort of action has had at other clubs and the disastrous runs they then went on (teams like Blackburn last year, Liverpool under Hodgson, etc) They would all undoubtedly done better imo if the fans had backed the team and manager rather than been divisive and caused their teams form to suffer.

6 defeats out of 24 isn't bad, 10th place and 6 points from the play off places isn't bad either and both are decent foundations from which to launch a bid for promotion from.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

We could always look up to 'successfull' clubs Like Blackpool,Leeds,Sheffield United,Coventry City,Wolves nows there's a laugh how many more do you want ?

 

[Leekbrookgull]

and at the rate it is going put in Aston Villa !

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Then of course there is the classic example on how to run a football aka Blackburn Rovers.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Yes Swansea are looking the part,but at what cost ? Does anyone know what SCFC pay in wages ? How about their new stadium (not a patch on our's) in fact are Swansea Pompey in disguise ? Finally sure yes we would all want us to be at the top or close too,but remember this WE ARE BRIGHTON the board and the F/A know that and that us fans have i eye on the ball.