Brighton & Hove Albion (A) | Post Match Thread

Lee the Blue said:
As stated earlier we have had a 15 year run at the top table and won the lot. It was absolutely ace.

But it's done. Over. Finito.

Far too many in power at the club - the manager very much being one of them - have got far too comfy and standards have been allowed to slide. We've added 1 class player - Gvardiol - in the last 5 transfer windows. 1!

Can't wait to see the set of criteria for acquiring a ticket next season - they'll be begging people to come back and fill that North Stand having spent the past few years treating the match going fanbase like shite. Remember all that support from the club we got for the conditions and shitshow for fans in Istanbul? No me neither.

We don't know who the no1 Goalkeeper is - this greatly affects how we actually play but we've blundered into the season with 4 of them yet are still apparently buying another one, who also can't play with the ball at his feet.

At full-back we've got 2 blokes from Wolves - one never will be good enough, the other already looks out of his depth.

Centre halves - we've 23 of them but who is the best pairing? Pep doesn't seem to have a clue on that. Stones was on his way out last month - now he's an automatic starter. Dias has dropped off a cliff again now he's dating. Khusanov disappeared for 2 months and has now reappeared.

Midfield wise Rodri stands alone by a mile. The rest are either too old, too flaky or not anywhere the standards we had. Gonzalez seems to always be the scapegoat yet Bernardo is still picked despite his legs looking like they've gone. Reijnders disappears when the going gets tough. He's clearly located that hole Alfie Haaland used to hide in for 90 mins.

Our wingers are tripe. Not a single one could hold a candle to Sane, Sterling or Mahrez. Doku's had 2 seasons - that's 1 too many already. And we turned down £63m for the other duffer who contributed 1 goal and can't cross a road. Palmer was sold - Oscar Bobb was retained......that frankly doesn't look like the correct call and that's being kind.

Up top Haaland must shake his head at those providing service. Marmoush has shown flashes
of brilliance. He's also shown flashes of complete unawareness of what's around him on the pitch & fluffed his big moment at Wembley, for which I doubt I'll ever forgive him for.

Meanwhile Pep looks on and continually exclaims how happy he is with his squad. If you wanted a guide to self-managed decline, since summer 2023 we've written the book on it.
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Surprised you’ve not got more likes for that, it’s a top top post and sums it up to a tee.
 
Stretford Born Blue said:
Firstly, we need 11 players on the pitch who give 110% to play the Pep way, it’s a successful ethos.
We don’t have those players, or is it too many of them who don’t possess the nouse to implement the strategy?!
I watched individual players closely today, Nunes, Marmoush, Haaland, Stones, Reijnders, Silva, Bobb., they all made poor decision on and off the ball, lost possession, poor passes, the handball.
We made two decisive drives into their box all day.
Then there was no pace, drive, fight, ideas, runs.
The subs were ineffective, Doku, wtaf.
We were worse after the subs.
We are weaker physically and mentally, too static and defensively poor with a disappearing midfield.
So all in all, it’s not working individually or as a team.
Worst effective squad in three years and we’re supposed to be rebuilding.
God knows what’s going on with Foden, possible mental health stuff, Grealish leaving, players who should perform in an offensive roll just vanish, create nowt and pull faces.
In my 55 years of watching football, I’ve seen when coaching staff are struggling to get it working as they want, players body language all at sea, but I’m not convinced this is where we are at.
The year after the treble, I resigned myself to the fact we were physically and mentally broken with all the recent seasons epic efforts, then no rest in between seasons since, but we still aren’t turning the corner.
So, where have City gone, it’s not crept up, it’s steadily got worse.
Is it fatigue still, in its various forms, is Pep struggling with the dressing room and players, who aren’t responding, taking it all in and doing it on the pitch.
The Wolves win got my attention, then we get Spursed and now today.
It’s going to be a frustrating season and, on the last two showings, coupled with last seasons showing, I again think we’ll be dissapointing.
If by the new year, we are not turning it around, they’ll be changes, not the one we all want, but the club owners won’t like us falling off the pace, which is top 4 and a cup win.
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Its simpler than all that... Pep's system requires top level players.
Every replacement player that's come into the squad over the past couple of years is inferior to the player he's replacing. Maybe Gvardiol is the exception.

That's why we've been tapering down for a few years now...
 
ShedDweller said:
If we play our current system with Donnarumma it will be an
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Lowtower said:
What is worrying is the lack of ability to react to the changes Brighton made

We were coasting, and Brighton didn't look like getting anywhere close to making a comeback, threw on 4 players made some adjustments and we just didn't (or worryingly) couldn't react.

Nunes handball was pathetic, and I thought that was bad, but the second goal! The second goal they had the freedom of the pitch to stroll into, equally as awful to concede.

After being played off the park by Spurs last week, and this 2nd half capitulation against Brighton, its going to take a massive effort to get us anywhere near contending for titles this season.
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We can coast against sides not engaging us but soon as a side shows a bit of intensity, moves the ball quicker we cannot compete.
 
micky_blue said:
It was the end of an era last season, nothing has changed, we have brought in new players but are still miles off it. It has to be time for a change in direction, and hurtful as it is that means the end of the road for the best manager this world has ever seen. It’s not a knee jerk reaction to a poor performance, we had many of them last season, including the cup final. We/Pep are stale….. not a clue who but mak a change and build a statue of Pep
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Yep spot on

City doesn't have time for this to work because Liverpool Arsenal and Chelsea are miles ahead and invested this summer,

Yep, it's nice to be just a top 4 team in a rebuild season behind them 3 clubs this season, BUT I don't think City are good enough for a top 4 place based on what we have, and it could be even worse and outside the top 6, Look, nothing is handed out this weekend or before the end of season, but the foundations built 14 years ago by our new owners will be tested this season, that's for sure

Where do we go after today ? The transfer Window closes in less than 24 hours, but the City Squad is 6 or 7 top heavy at the moment to bring anybody in that goes straight into the first team
 
Baggins.mcfc said:
I feel like we definitely have fitness issues, which has already been mentioned. But while pep continues to push our defence so far up the field leaving far too much space for teams to break into, we will continue to struggle, especially if we can't score a second goal when we are on top. This is not a pep out comment either.
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So obvious to see but Pep continues to play this way……
 
hilts said:
Which one of our players has been better this season so far?
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All been shite apart from everyone who played like Brazil against a piss poor Wolves.

Khusanov looked good today. Rodri too. Apart from that nobody.

Why all of a sudden grealish leaving is now a mistake because he's had 3 assists is laughable. Jack stunk the place out now all of a sudden he is flavour of the month.

Get the fuck out of here.
 
Thaksinssoldier said:
We’re doing exactly what every great team who declines does.

Accepting inconsistent players as good enough.

Haaland, stones, Rodri and Bernardo the only ones fine.

Too many journeymen, too many projects.

Doku and Bobb are not good enough. Jury out on Marmoush who vanishes.

We have nobody who can play right back. Every single team knows that.

We’ve a team of cowards waiting on someone else to make them look good. I hate the term “get stuck in” but this is a bunch of passengers with no hunger.
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you forgot to mention , the manager.
 
heslops barnet said:
So obvious to see but Pep continues to play this way……
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The first sign of a flood you build up the walls and defend your house
Pep will never go basic and have a strong back 4 or 5 and build from there and give everybody a helping hand to settle down and get some points on the board.

It's what we need right now ? a safety net and hard to beat
 
manimanc said:
All been shite apart from everyone who played like Brazil against a piss poor Wolves.

Khusanov looked good today. Rodri too. Apart from that nobody.

Why all of a sudden grealish leaving is now a mistake because he's had 3 assists is laughable. Jack stunk the place out now all of a sudden he is flavour of the month.

Get the fuck out of here.
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4 assists and most times he played last season he played well; then pep dropped him for weeks. Consistent minutes last season he’d have performed better than the many that stunk the place out for a whole season and now again.
 
Stoned Rose said:
Just waiting for @BillyShears to pipe up with one of his “everything is great, we’ll give someone a pasting in the next couple of weeks” posts, now.
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And we're all dickheads and don't know what we're talking about. I'm sure his contacts at the club have told him how we're going to sort it out.
 
It's the most concerned I've been about us since Pep arrived. I think there are caveats and Pep is the best of his generation. But I'm very worried that Pep is blunting players, and I am the biggest happy clapping, Pep should stay forever blue going.
 
Whilst our defence is at best shambolic I'm not sure it's our biggest issue. Erling aside we have nobody whom we deem to be an attacking player contributing any goals. Not long after we when 1 nil up today we had plenty of possession but no further goal contributions, we should have been 3 nil up with the amount of ball we were having but have nobody capable of doing anything with it. How we have ended up with our first choice right winger being somebody who has never contributed any meaningful output as a top class premier league attacker I don't know. If we had Salah, Saka, Gakpo, Alvarez even VIni Jr, in our attack that game is over before nunes gets a chance to fuck up. As it is we are attempt to compete for the Premier league and champions league with Doku/Marmoush and Bobb/ Savinho as our 2nd and 3rd most attacking players in the starting 11, none of whom get anywhere near the pitch for teams we are competing with.
 
Not sure what to say really that's not been said before. Maybe Pep has been found out, maybe his tactics have been found out. I don't know.
We certainly look like we've lost our fear factor now. We look like we've lost leadership on the pitch. Where are our zabbas, vinnies, dinhos, even Dias when he first arrived??
I'm no bloody expert but it also looks like we just haven't bought well enough in recent years. Our wingers are just nowhere near the productivity and class we have had previously. Why haven't we addressed the RB area?? We used to keep the ball for 90mins, we used to never look tired, and if we did need a goal, we used to go for it and almost always got our reward? It's just all seemed to have disappeared like a fart in the wind.
I'm not angry per se, I'm just kind of worried and curious, like most of us here, as to what's gone/going on? It's not adding up.
We used buy incredible players, even found hidden gems that turned into club legends, but it's all seemed to have hone stale recently. We used to buy the david silvas, the agueros, kev, yaya, zabba, walker, sane, mahrez, vinnie, hell even Eddie was a fantastic find. Apart from halaand, I haven't really got excited about any of our recent signings (obviously it's still early days for our newest recruits) but guys like savio, doku ,nunes, Philips, just aren't the types of players we would have got for Pep in years gone by?? That's kind of frustrating to me.
There's a lot of questions and ifs and maybes for us all to discuss and we all have different opinions. I've listened to the Pep out guys and they make some valid points. I'm not in the Pep out club as yet but he certainly does have some issues to iron out in the squad and for me he deserves more time. Maybe with a signing or two before the window ends, especially if the donnarumma rumours are true, a giant signing could actually galvanise the squad again!
We shall see. It's still early days in the season.
 
manimanc said:
All been shite apart from everyone who played like Brazil against a piss poor Wolves.

Khusanov looked good today. Rodri too. Apart from that nobody.

Why all of a sudden grealish leaving is now a mistake because he's had 3 assists is laughable. Jack stunk the place out now all of a sudden he is flavour of the month.

Get the fuck out of here.
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Grealish leaving is not the problem, It's how easy we fall apart when somebody fancies playing against us
We saw this last season and I don't see improvements or Pep changing his ideas this season
 
paulchapo said:
The problem is we are trying to replace world class players in key positions. Walker, prime Stones ( He's dropped off due to injuries and age)Kev, Gundo and Mahrez. Also Akanji and Ake did great jobs as well but age and injuries have caught up with them too. You can probably add Ederson to that list too as he was instrumental in how we played. We have signed a load of players with potential but whether they progress and fulfil it is a gamble.
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We should be able to get quality and enough world class players with a winning mentality with what we have to offer but we have taken our foot off the pedal in that regard.

Too many perhaps to replace too quickly with age and injury as you allude to but the squad we have doesn't give me confidence we have the back bone of our next title far from it.

Pep has at least acknowledged we stayed too loyal to too many for too long and it shows now.

I am not surprised at the drop off even though Pep being too stubborn if found out too often these days which adds to our slide.

I don't enjoy watching us play these days like I did obviously when we were ruthless , dynamic and loaded with talent that looked like scoring every time we we went forward.

We were far better at keeping the ball as well due to the better skill level in the side.

3 shots on target and none in the second half , its miserable we will get nothing from games other than defeat if manage that miserly return.
 
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