[Albion] Brighton & Hove Albion vs Arsenal * Official Match Thread *

Hometownglory · Apr 7, 2024

Well we've all be brought down to earth a little haven't we? I'm not sure the uncertainty around RDZ and his recent comments have helped with the players mentality either. Something doesn't feel right, like they had lost some belief in recent games. I wish we had Ali Mac back in our midfield, he's currently driving Liverpool forward ffs. That's the difference.
Anyways, time to reset next season, with hopefully a full fit squad and less need for rotation.

nicko31 · Apr 7, 2024

Was quite optimistic at half time, we’d made it in with only 1 down and all to play for

Second half we were outclassed and looked predicable.

Can’t wait for Citeh …

Silverhatch · Apr 7, 2024

Cheeky Monkey said:
We used to be one ourselves...until we sold our crown jewels and supplied Arsenal, Liverpool et al. #Business Model

They wanted to leave. Their representatives wanted their clients at bigger clubs. The Albion’s business model exists to support this inevitability.

Cheeky Monkey · Apr 7, 2024

Silverhatch said:
They wanted to leave. Their representatives wanted their clients at bigger clubs. The Albion’s business model exists to support this inevitability.

I wasn't contradicting that.

Justice · Apr 7, 2024

Silverhatch said:
They wanted to leave. Their representatives wanted their clients at bigger clubs. The Albion’s business model exists to support this inevitability.

And that’s fine if we replace key players or have the replacement knocking on the first team door. Not just sell and leave massive gaps in the squad

Stat Brother · Apr 7, 2024

nicko31 said:
Was quite optimistic at half time, we’d made it in with only 1 down and all to play for

Second half we were outclassed and looked predicable.

Can’t wait for Citeh …

Odd, that's how I thought we looked in the first half only to then double down in the second.

chickens · Apr 7, 2024

W1A said:
I’ve left early precisely once in the Amex era as a season ticket holder - Burton in the promotion season, when it was so cold I lost feeling in my fingers. However today I was very close to leaving with 20 mins to go as I was so bored of what I was seeing.

We’ve scored 4 goals in 9 games since Mitoma got injured and it’s clear RDZ has no plan B. Great manager when working with the conditions he wants but the true greats adapt and he’s been found wanting so far in 2024.

Yeah, any half-decent manager should be able to rustle up a convincing win against the league leaders with a patched up squad of kids and players returning from injury.

trueblue · Apr 7, 2024

Justice said:
And that’s fine if we replace key players or have the replacement knocking on the first team door. Not just sell and leave massive gaps in the squad

That would be ideal - but how well would Mac Allister and Caicedo have played this season if they'd been denied the big move that the former had earned and the latter had already been denied once? I don't think there's much you can do when the money's huge and the player wants to go.

Justice · Apr 7, 2024

trueblue said:
That would be ideal - but how well would Mac Allister and Caicedo have played this season if they'd been denied the big move that the former had earned and the latter had already been denied once? I don't think there's much you can do when the money's huge and the player wants to go.

That’s not what I said we needed to replace them and we didn’t.

trueblue · Apr 7, 2024

Justice said:
That’s not what I said we needed to replace them and we didn’t.

Fair enough. I reckon Bloom would have loved to replace them too. I guess it's just not easy to bring in players at the right price that are as good as a Champions League standard pairing. If poor old Mwepu had been able to carry on, I think by the end of last season we'd have been talking about the best midfield in the Premier League bar Man City, and it wasn't far off it without Enock. To have a chance of attaining that ready-made quality, we'd have been looking at a minimum combined £80m+ in transfer fees (assuming players of that calibre would even sign for us - look at Kudus) plus the knock-on for the wage structure. If even one of those players turns out to be a dud, we're on the slippery slope that's put so many other clubs on their arse.

Justice · Apr 7, 2024

trueblue said:
Fair enough. I reckon Bloom would have loved to replace them too. I guess it's just not easy to bring in players at the right price that are as good as a Champions League standard pairing. If poor old Mwepu had been able to carry on, I think by the end of last season we'd have been talking about the best midfield in the Premier League bar Man City, and it wasn't far off it without Enock. To have a chance of attaining that ready-made quality, we'd have been looking at a minimum combined £80m+ in transfer fees (assuming players of that calibre would even sign for us - look at Kudus) plus the knock-on for the wage structure. If even one of those players turns out to be a dud, we're on the slippery slope that's put so many other clubs on their arse.

Surely you have to trust your recruitment team. As it happens they got it right about Kudus.

Motogull · Apr 7, 2024

I found it a frustrating game.

The ref having had magic mushrooms for lunch didn't help. He was tripping.

The Arse were excellent it has to be said. They swarmed the ball when we were in possession severely limiting our ability to play. They also found loads of space for neat passes. We could have been 4 down at HT. Declan Rice looked the business.

Despite all that, I felt we had an equaliser in us, until the second. I also felt we could have had a consolation, until the third. At that point we FOed.

Enciso and Adingra were up for it especially and Baleba looked hard.

zefarelly · Apr 7, 2024

Stat Brother said:
Odd, that's how I thought we looked in the first half only to then double down in the second.

We were right in it until the penalty

the second goal killed it and playing tippy tappy sideways by their box instead of in our own was always going to lead to a break away goal.

If we're looking for something/someoine to blame it still Chelsea.

MOre importantly, what really ruined the day was shit service in 1901 (which seems to be normal)and no pies other than veggie.

trueblue · Apr 7, 2024

Justice said:
Surely you have to trust your recruitment team. As it happens they got it right about Kudus.

True. He's excellent - but that would have been £40m plus wages beyond what we pay, with the knock-on effect for the rest of the squad. And then you need another one.. plus a full-back and maybe a winger. And then hope they don't get injured, because you've spent all the money on a few first-teamers and still don't have the depth of squad that RDZ keeps banging on about. I don't disagree with you...just think it's easy to say, much harder to get right.

GT49er · Apr 7, 2024

trueblue said:
True. He's excellent - but that would have been £40m plus wages beyond what we pay, with the knock-on effect for the rest of the squad. And then you need another one.. plus a full-back and maybe a winger. And then hope they don't get injured, because you've spent all the money on a few first-teamers and still don't have the depth of squad that RDZ keeps banging on about. I don't disagree with you...just think it's easy to say, much harder to get right.

IIRC we were after both Kudus and Darwin Nunez at a time when they weren't really big, high-profile stars and might have been in our price range; both they (and their agents) got bigger and better offers and, not surprisingly, went for them.
Occasionally we hear mutterings that de Zerbi-ball has been found out - but I sometimes wonder if it's our recruitment team has been 'found out'. Of course other teams have their own scouting systems - but it must be a good side-line now to look and see who Brighton are considering making offers for and have a quick look yourself, and then outbid Brighton if you're Wet Sham or Liverpool and like what you see!

Silverhatch · Apr 7, 2024

Justice said:
And that’s fine if we replace key players or have the replacement knocking on the first team door. Not just sell and leave massive gaps in the squad

Nah f*** that. The club were blindsided by Boehly’s billions. They NEVER considered the obscene offer for Caicedo and when he went it meant that one of the best young DMs in the world was out the door. You just can’t ‘replace’ that talent. f***ing City or Madrid would suffer if they lost Cac & Mac in quick succession.

Justice · Apr 7, 2024

trueblue said:
True. He's excellent - but that would have been £40m plus wages beyond what we pay, with the knock-on effect for the rest of the squad. And then you need another one.. plus a full-back and maybe a winger. And then hope they don't get injured, because you've spent all the money on a few first-teamers and still don't have the depth of squad that RDZ keeps banging on about. I don't disagree with you...just think it's easy to say, much harder to get right.

At one point the Kudus deal was practically done they must have known wage demands at that point

Silverhatch said:
Nah f*** that. The club were blindsided by Boehly’s billions. They NEVER considered the obscene offer for Caicedo and when he went it meant that one of the best young DMs in the world was out the door. You just can’t ‘replace’ that talent. f***ing City or Madrid would suffer if they lost Cac & Mac in quick succession.

Mac leaving was expected almost a certainty and we are told we have replacement lists ready to go for each position.

Silverhatch · Apr 7, 2024

Justice said:
At one point the Kudus deal was practically done they must have known wage demands at that pointMac leaving was expected almost a certainty and we are told we have replacement lists ready to go for each position.

Perhaps missing out on Kudus provoked the Fati experiment. The squad might be f***ed off that Fati gets 160 bags a week and is hopeless! Irrespective of how good our lists are, replacing Mac was anticipated and Gilmour has done a fair job in his role. Caicedo not anticipated and thus shit timing. Baleba is raw but with potential and we’ve suffered in midfield.

trueblue · Apr 7, 2024

GT49er said:
IIRC we were after both Kudus and Darwin Nunez at a time when they weren't really big, high-profile stars and might have been in our price range; both they (and their agents) got bigger and better offers and, not surprisingly, went for them.
Occasionally we hear mutterings that de Zerbi-ball has been found out - but I sometimes wonder if it's our recruitment team has been 'found out'. Of course other teams have their own scouting systems - but it must be a good side-line now to look and see who Brighton are considering making offers for and have a quick look yourself, and then outbid Brighton if you're Wet Sham or Liverpool and like what you see!

If we’d have got Kudus and Nunez back then, every chance they’d have still been hot prospects that needed time to settle and develop. Pretty much like the players we do sign. It’s the idea that we could have picked up players last summer already as good as Mac and Caicedo that I’d dispute. Think you’re right about other club’s scouting. We’ve been so successful that early interest in anyone now seems to get all the clubs with bigger wallets interested.

GT49er · Apr 7, 2024

trueblue said:
If we’d have got Kudus and Nunez back then, every chance they’d have still been hot prospects that needed time to settle and develop. Pretty much like the players we do sign. It’s the idea that we could have picked up players last summer already as good as Mac and Caicedo that I’d dispute. Think you’re right about other club’s scouting. We’ve been so successful that early interest in anyone now seems to get all the clubs with bigger wallets interested.

I think we were still interested in Kudus when Wet Sham muscled in, weren't we?

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[Albion] Brighton & Hove Albion vs Arsenal * Official Match Thread *