Gazwag
5 millionth post poster
So how the rest of the club is actually two then, can we change the thread title to something like "How half of the Yorkshire clubs see the Albion next season"
My thoughts exactly. We battered them last year because they were poorThe Leeds team we faced at Elland Road were gash.
Not another club, but here is what "we love betting" think:
Taking a 10-year sample, we can see the average price of the three teams to win promotion to the Premier League is a rather hunky 28/1. Obviously Burnley (80/1 in 2013/14) and Crystal Palace (80/1 in 2012/13) have pushed the average up but in each of those 10 campaigns, a team quoted at 20/1 or bigger has won promotion. In fact, 43% of those 30 promoted sides were 20/1 or larger.
Brighton fans might laugh this off but I’m reasonably confident the Seagulls could well be the big-priced side that takes the second tier by storm this year. Albion are 25/1 (Bet365) to top the division but I’ll be having a bit on promotion at 8/1 (Bet365).
It’s 32 years since Brighton were a Premier League club and after a hugely disappointing season, they should return to par, if not better. The Seagulls went dramatically backwards following successive play-off semi-final defeats but – with Chris Hughton having replaced Sami Hyypia as manager in December – survival was ensured despite a seven-match winless streak to end the campaign.
The club’s recruitment has failed a little too often in recent years. January’s capture of Beram Kayal was one of few bright spots and in Tommer Hemed, Albion may have finally found a goalscoring gem. The Israeli striker is hoping to be the missing piece to the Brighton jigsaw; only Sheffield Wednesday (43) scored fewer goals outside the bottom three than Brighton (44) and it’s an area that required serious surgery.
If the Seagulls can keep hold of Lewis Dunk then the centre-half partnership with Gordon Greer remains resolute, allowing the team to build from the back. The league’s best defence has not finished outside the top-eight in the past 10 years and you’d assume Albion will continue to give little away to opposition teams.
The unavoidable departure of Young Player of the Year Joao Teixeira is the only black mark against their off-season. With a new training facility, the club is ‘Premier League ready’ off the pitch and in Hughton they have a manager experienced in Championship promotion to guide a challenge on it. They’re in a more stable and healthier position than 12 months ago and I certainly don’t see another season of toil.
Should imagine we're seen as a pushover.
Nobody tipped Bournemouth to do as well as they did.
Who cares what others think.
Clearly has been written by someone to rival perseus for footballing knowledge. Not much knowledge of players brought in, lists 2 players who we've released and 1 who has been injured since Hughton took over as players he needs to get the best out of. What a poorly researched load of bollocks, if you are going to go to the effort of writing a preview of a side at least put the effort in on the research first.
One of the reasons I write so little about football on my blog is because, whilst I love the Albion, I have feck all knowledge about the game. That's the reason why I find reading pieces like the above painful. The writer is trying to present themselves as being something they are not.
I don't write about cooking on my blog. It would pretty useful of what not to do though.
I burnt the stew in the slow cooing. That means lots of washing up.
You might not agree, but sadly you can't fault the logic.
You might not agree, but sadly you can't fault the logic.
You might not agree, but sadly you can't fault the logic.