Kid Icarus

They're much nearer to Southampton really. Leicester struck gold winning the league and that springboarded them, but Southampton's player turnover was very similar to Brighton's now. I can't remember how they come unstuck, but there's definitely a pattern of clubs having a model and then a linchpin removed ends it. Who knows what it is with Brighton, but it's clearly not any player, Potter, or Ashworth. Bloom is probably the final boss tbh.

I love him and he's brilliant. He'll sort it out, no question

I do think eventually they're going to come unstuck ala Swansea, Southampton, Leicester etc, but them being a system team and being in the middle of a highly successful conveyor belt of players coming through means their players coming in are ready and were planned for. It won't last forever imo.

Not for me. Villa just took their chances. Brighton wiped the floor with us but couldn't finish.

Brighton were the best team we played away last year as well tbh. We were extremely lucky to get a draw.

Also funny considering how often we laugh at opposition fans when they say "We made them look good because we played so badly" ignoring the fact that we had a big hand in them play badly, as Brighton did with us today. They actually reminded me of us at how in terms of how they suffocated us.

Brighton have put in performances where they've shat on Arsenal and Man City (I know that was a draw but they were great), they've also had matches like the Everton and West Ham ones where they've come unstuck. If it's clear that on the day they're putting in a vs Arsenal/Man City performance, it just seems pointless pointing to the vs Everton/West Ham performances as a reason why we should have done better. It was so obvious that they were putting in a top performance today, everyone's passing, precision, positioning, first touch was top notch.

Shit happens. I was angry for a bit, but Brighton away is a horrible fixture and they were a horrible team to play against. We were poor but I think some people aren't truly up to speed with how good they are now. Brighton at home aren't too dissimilar to us at home in terms of the way they suffocate teams and move the ball. Unless we were going to do what West Ham did last week, which isn't really in our wheelhouse, it was always going to be tough and I predicted a loss, almost the exact scoreline. Honestly, the worst thing about this match will be having to read the inevitable reactionary nonsense on here as if it's still the Brighton of 2017 or something. I saw a post before asking who we'd take from Brighton and that Gordon is better than Mitoma. Just pure insane fantasy land stuff. They have - by quite some distance - put in the best performance I've seen against us under Howe, including the Villa 3-0, they have been extremely irritating with how good they've been in the speed, precision, positioning, and one-touch snap in their play. When they're on it, they'll beat anyone - as we've seen them do - and they were on it today. It's the first time in a while where I've really had no complaints. We were poor, we had individual poor performances and mistakes, the ref was shit, but none of it would have made any difference had we played well imo. Even on the odd occasions where we pressed well and moved the ball well, they were so much better than us, played through us, snuffed everything out, and basically schooled us. You don't play badly in a vacuum. It was clear that they pressed us to play badly, or at least worse than we would have with time on the ball. Some might not be able to accept that, but that's my take on it. Take it on the chin, move on, they were very good. Pope: 4 Trippier: 5 Schär: 6 Burn: 6 Targett: 6 Bruno: 4.5 Tonali: 5 Joelinton: 5 Gordon: 6 Isak: 6.5 Almiron: 6 Wilson: 6.5 Anderson: 4.5 Barnes: 5

Aye, that'll be it. Definitely not that you describing us as 'absolutely shocking' is hysteria

Thanks for proving my point

Usual N-O overreaction I see. Brighton are a very good team. We're not bad in a vacuum.

I think I dislike playing against Brighton away more than any other team. Best team we've played this season by a mile for me. Horrible to play against.

Honestly had to Google it because I thought him going to Getafe was a joke

Google lens has done a really good job of finding every football top you can think of in that style but can't find that exact one

I'm certain I've never seen us play in that so it must be a training top. I'd guess around 99/00.

Was very much expecting The Rest is Football to be an extension of MOTD, TalkSport and Micah laughing, but I'm pleased to say that I think it's the football podcast I enjoy the most. I thoroughly enjoyed that Q&A and when Lineker doesn't have to worry about presenting and gets into anecdote mode he's excellent

Wew what's this like? 2003?

Me too I can't remember it, but it's managed by Roberto Mertinez and probably has Morata in there.

No way Literally "get off"

Just remembered cracking up at the adidas ceo dropping the wisecracks about his broken arm. Bet he's had tons of mileage out of it

He's a shoo in for my Inexplicably highly rated within football XI.

It's a ridiculous thing to say about a professional footballer who's won the world cup and it coming from me, a nobody, but Lloris just seems so meek and gutless, like Kif from Futurama. And he's also not very good. Incredibly dodgy.

My hunch is that it's because he's not actually very good

Let's hope he delivers

Christ that would have been awful.