View from a leeds supporter (merged)

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Appreciation and democratic questioning are not mutually exclusive.

I was not aware that I had suggested they were. Questioning is healthy and the lifeblood of the board. But was Posh at home a make or break game for Poyet ? Really ?

 

[somerset]

I was not aware that I had suggested they were. Questioning is healthy and the lifeblood of the board. But was Posh at home a make or break game for Poyet ? Really ?

Not for me to say, I didn't express those opinions.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

I can see his point re our support but then its easy to come to that conclusion after watching one of our better and most attacking performances of the season in a game where we were robbed not to win. His point seems to be ‘I’d love to watch that every week’ Well, so would we. It can though, be just as frustrating watching us dink the ball across the back line in the 89th minute when we are 1-0 down as I imagine it can be watching Michael Brown kick someone up in the air on a yellow card every week.

His point about the target man is also wrong. Becchio changed the game when he came on just by being able to win the ball in the air, hold it up and therefore create time for the midfield to get forward. It is a frustration not to have this option especially when Plan A isn’t working and you have players like Hammond and Crofts who can clearly score at this level but are rarely seen in advanced positions. That’s not to say we want a team of nightclub bouncers just that we win next to nothing in the air across our forward line.

 

[c0lz]

Blimey another positive post from away supporter and agree great post,
but Gus has his faults too and hopefully will learn from them.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Not for me to say, I didn't express those opinions.

Well I am sure most readers would have taken my original post to mean those posters rather than the ones who don't think Barnes is good enough for League One/Championship/Premiership/Champions League.

 

[El Presidente]

I may tip myself into the upper 20% category from time to time EP, but there does seem to be a need to stretch beyond the normal params on here sometimes just to make your point. It has worked for you on many threads sir, and some of those I have even enjoyed challenging. If Barnes started doing 'the business' ( in my view), I would be very happy, but my 49 year old eyes and brain are not yet dulled enough with age to make me blind and stupid.

I may just want him to play badly for one reason only, to set the scene for the as yet intried combo of Dobbie and CMS,.... if that doesnt work too then a rethink will be required.

Sounds fair enough

 

[Mellotron]

There are people on here who GENUINELY would moan if in 3-4 years time we just missed out on 4th spot in the Prem.

 

[LamieRobertson]

I may tip myself into the upper 20% category from time to time EP, but there does seem to be a need to stretch beyond the normal params on here sometimes just to make your point. It has worked for you on many threads sir, and some of those I have even enjoyed challenging. If Barnes started doing 'the business' ( in my view), I would be very happy, but my 49 year old eyes and brain are not yet dulled enough with age to make me blind and stupid.

I may just want him to play badly for one reason only, to set the scene for the as yet intried combo of Dobbie and CMS,.... if that doesnt work too then a rethink will be required.

fair enough view

 

[severnside gull]

I am encouraged that I am not alone in developing a certain resigned ennui with those who come on here expressly to criticise.

What they see with their eyes is different to what I percieve and therefore I must be wrong?

My wife has come to football for the first time in her life this season. She doesnt read about it and she has no "technical" insights to offer but her consistent comments have been the observations that we are by far the better footballing side in most games although she would prefer us to play the ball forward more quickly sometimes.. How she would laugh if she were to come on NSC.

I am not someone who sees no wrong in all things Brighton but a more tempered view, appreciating the good things and acknowledging the quality we possess is surely more gratifying and no less realistic than constantly focussing on negatives and on what might (but equally might never) be?

 

[Biscuit]

streak and yet still have the tightest defence. Leeds United are 12th, same number of points, 1 win in 6 games. Both clubs are now 8 points behind the automatic promotion slots, only three off the play-offs but only 8 above the relegation slots. The league stays concertinaed with no-one running away and no-one yet left behind. Come Tuesday and any result against Peterborough and Burnely respectively could see both clubs moving up and down a number of places. The optimist’s on both sides would say it was all still to play for.

This stood out for me, excellently put. Wake up Brighton fans. I'm LOVING seeing us as a quality Championship side with the playoffs only a sniff away!

 

[Triggaaar]

Here is a good example,.... what do you actually think then Trigaaar?

Well I have several views. I'll put the most important at the end:
I'm concerned that we're trying to play like Barcelona and Spain, but that's not the best way to play in our league. You could send Barcelona out without coaching and they'd still be pretty amazing, because they have the best players in the world.
With Spain, they also have great players, and international football is different to league football. They'll often play teams that wouldn't be in the same league as them, so victory is easy. When they play against the top sides, usually in a knock out, they don't have to win. Being level after 90 minutes is good enough, as they can win in extra time, which becomes easier as their opponents tire.
This keep ball works well in hot countries like Spain, and in tournaments where fatigue plays a large part. It doesn't work as well in the Championship. Swansea only got out via the play-offs.
So I'm concerned that we pass it so much without threatening the goal as much as we might. But...

that is Gus's way. If we don't like it, then we need to get a new manager. Is that what I want - no. While I'm concerned that we don't score enough, I do enjoy watching the way we play. I like the idea that we try to pass to someone on our team (not something we saw much of at the Withdean). Do I think there's a better manager available for us right now - no. As long as I think we have the right manager, then I support his decisions. Were I (or you) to be better able to pick the team and tactics, then the manager has outstayed his welcome and needs to leave. Seriously, if a manager that's had a footballing career, had training and experience in coaching and managing, who is with his players every single week, and who studies the opposition at length, knows less about our players and tactics than the fans, then that is one shit manager.

It's one thing to have an opinion and say you think we could do with the odd change, and talk about who played well and what went wrong in a game, but those that think they know better about Barnes (et al) and what he offers the team than Gus does, remind me of Flavio Briatore in QPR the four year plan. He was telling the manager who to play, and how to play them. It was ridiculous. That's not the job of an owner, their job is to get the best manager they can, and then shut the f*** up and let the manager do his job. I don't see out role as being that different. Chat about football as we always have, but support the team and manager up until the point that the manager is no longer the right man for the job - for two reasons: firstly, if the manager is the right man for the job, then by definition he knows more than you, and secondly, the team will do better with our support instead of uneducated criticism.

 

[CheeseRolls]

Going back to the original blogger. I wonder if living in South London he goes to more away than home fixtures ? Any fans of our beautiful crafted football would be horrified by some of the inept away performances the same bunch of players put together (Blackpool being the most recent example) Just as some of our home performances have warranted a better scoreline, we can be just as poor as everyone else on a bad day away from home.

However it is one thing to acknowledge this and quite another to expect an immediate solution. For us to have a devine right to walk the league, every other team has to respect this and acquiesce and should we ever reach such a point, there will really be no point to going to football at all.

Best sum up and sign off - Live in hope not expectation

 

[mlg57]

Nice, I think our JCL's should read this before posting.

 

[somerset]

Well I have several views. I'll put the most important at the end:
I'm concerned that we're trying to play like Barcelona and Spain, but that's not the best way to play in our league. You could send Barcelona out without coaching and they'd still be pretty amazing, because they have the best players in the world.
With Spain, they also have great players, and international football is different to league football. They'll often play teams that wouldn't be in the same league as them, so victory is easy. When they play against the top sides, usually in a knock out, they don't have to win. Being level after 90 minutes is good enough, as they can win in extra time, which becomes easier as their opponents tire.
This keep ball works well in hot countries like Spain, and in tournaments where fatigue plays a large part. It doesn't work as well in the Championship. Swansea only got out via the play-offs.
So I'm concerned that we pass it so much without threatening the goal as much as we might. But...

that is Gus's way. If we don't like it, then we need to get a new manager. Is that what I want - no. While I'm concerned that we don't score enough, I do enjoy watching the way we play. I like the idea that we try to pass to someone on our team (not something we saw much of at the Withdean). Do I think there's a better manager available for us right now - no. As long as I think we have the right manager, then I support his decisions. Were I (or you) to be better able to pick the team and tactics, then the manager has outstayed his welcome and needs to leave. Seriously, if a manager that's had a footballing career, had training and experience in coaching and managing, who is with his players every single week, and who studies the opposition at length, knows less about our players and tactics than the fans, then that is one shit manager.

It's one thing to have an opinion and say you think we could do with the odd change, and talk about who played well and what went wrong in a game, but those that think they know better about Barnes (et al) and what he offers the team than Gus does, remind me of Flavio Briatore in QPR the four year plan. He was telling the manager who to play, and how to play them. It was ridiculous. That's not the job of an owner, their job is to get the best manager they can, and then shut the f*** up and let the manager do his job. I don't see out role as being that different. Chat about football as we always have, but support the team and manager up until the point that the manager is no longer the right man for the job - for two reasons: firstly, if the manager is the right man for the job, then by definition he knows more than you, and secondly, the team will do better with our support instead of uneducated criticism.

Phew..... a lot of words, you could have said all that in two sentences 1) we pass it too much 2) Gus knows more than us.

 

[Diego Napier]

Going back to the original blogger. I wonder if living in South London he goes to more away than home fixtures ? Any fans of our beautiful crafted football would be horrified by some of the inept away performances the same bunch of players put together (Blackpool being the most recent example) Just as some of our home performances have warranted a better scoreline, we can be just as poor as everyone else on a bad day away from home.

However it is one thing to acknowledge this and quite another to expect an immediate solution. For us to have a devine right to walk the league, every other team has to respect this and acquiesce and should we ever reach such a point, there will really be no point to going to football at all.

Best sum up and sign off - Live in hope not expectation

It's very naive to think that we would go through a season and not play badly in some games; even the best teams in the world have their off days. You've picked on our worst display so far this season at Blackpool, in most of our games we've been the better footballing side.

It's Gus's intent that the team goes out onto the pitch to play in an attractive way and win the game that excites (including reasonable away fans) and as a supporter for more years than I care to remember, I'm one of those who's excited!

 

[Triggaaar]

Phew..... a lot of words, you could have said all that in two sentences 1) we pass it too much 2) Gus knows more than us.

I type fast

 

[Albumen]

John Smiths!!?? Who the f*** came up with that decision??

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

He also gave us a very good write up in his blog from last season.

 

[Working class pride]

What is this "new fanbase" drivel? Does the fella not know the crowds the Albion got at the Goldstone, like 30,000 plus against the likes of Rotherham? I suppose not because I expect he is a youngun. Its odd how some people seem to want the Albion's history to start in around 1995 instead of at the turn of the century. Other than that, I agree, that there are short sighted people that follow the Albion that ask for a "target man" instead of a proper fox in the box goal scorer. But hey, that's not just Brighton, they let Graham Taylor manage England and they still let the bloke be a pundit on Radio 5 spout the same drivel.

 

[Questions]

John Smiths!!?? Who the f*** came up with that decision??

That is all I remember from that blog. Jesus how to make friends and influence people huh....Why don't we just give them Harvey's. Everyone says how good it is.

Wait to Bristol City come here.... Maybe we can give them Strongbow.