Abacus

Looking forward to Southgate leaving now in spite of how far he's got us in various tournaments - it might be different if you felt he was learning and developing, but I don't see it. In terms of who'd take over, the betting odds seem to have Potter as favourite, followed by Howe. And some nonsense about Pep as an option. I can't see Howe doing it, nor Pep. You'd think Potter would actually be a decent choice, despite his time at Chelsea. Not really sure who could have made sense of that club, so it's no stick to beat him with and he's probably worth a go. Have to say though, I've rarely been less interested in international football. It looks as if a few players may think the same way, choosing to sit on big contracts and not play regularly elsewhere - like Phillips or Maguire, which only makes it doubly perplexing that Southgate continues to pick them. You can kind of see Maguire (the old never lets England down etc), but really it sends a bad message imo.

I agree with this - even if he only has 2 more seasons at the very top, he could well be the difference between them finishing in the Champions League and not for at least this season. At which point, that sale price starts to look a bit less appealing.

Fair enough - and as others have said, what Brighton have achieved so far and continue to is fantastic. I'm not quite sure how you've done it given the continual raids on your team, managers and backroom team (errr, sorry). 'Big clubs' have always been a bit of a nonsense to me as an idea. You can argue all day about what that means, and it still doesn't matter a jot. One of my constant annoyances was seeing good players leave for a chance at some self entitled 'big club' and you've had that more than most. Regular European competition for you should hopefully lessen that over time, and I'm all for seeing a changing of the guard at the top end of the PL. There is a fear re plastic fans, that we'll inevitably attract more assuming we continue to grow - I guess that's the price of success, but it's a difficult one to navigate as you can't and shouldn't just pull up the drawbridge. Anyway, hope you have more good days oot enjoying the matches - the fan experience seems to be forgotten a lot when it's that atmosphere is what makes the league what it is.

I think Stavely is a canny operator and that PIF will listen to her - after all it's why they were interested in the club, then stuck with the deal to buy us when it ran into major problems, then delegated the running of the club to her. You couldn't buy the club for £350m now, and our profile is exactly what they'd have wanted, so she's more than done her job and can demonstrate that in what's happened. It's only if she loses faith in Howe that he is in any trouble imo and I think that is such a long long way off that it's not worth worrying about.

Bigger team - check Bestest fans - check Hope you win a trophy - check Forgive the cynicism Steven, it's just there's a tinpot club somewhere near the North Sea who routinely post this after every loss from 'an opposition fan' to make themselves feel better. Brighton were the better team for sure, it sounds like a great ground to visit, and the city is a friendly one with loads going on. But, there's no such thing as a 'bigger team', that's all Sky nonsense.

Incidentally, this whole plan B thing. I do think we actually have the tools to play on the counter if needed. Gordon in particular strikes me as that type of player you could release an early ball to, likewise Isak. We don't play that way, but there's nothing to say we can't learn to when the press isn't working. Think this European campaign could be the making of this team being more adaptable - I'm inclined to think of it as an enjoyable ride for us and part of a learning curve for both manager and players. Forget this group of death nonsense - that's hype we don't need.

We outperformed last season and the season before because we were complete underdogs and had that unity and mentality that comes with it. Both avoiding relegation and the top 4 finish were beyond expectations and you could see the togetherness in the squad that came from being written off. This season we're seen as a genuine threat to the top order and even (somewhat ridiculously) in the Champions League. There's a hype about us this year and suddenly that's a different problem to face. So it's not as easy as replacing a few players for better ones and straight away expecting better results, a trap I fell into when thinking about transfer business. Forest beat Chelsea despite yesterday with their togetherness meaning they were more of the sum of their parts. On paper, you'd hardly give them a chance, so Cooper is doing a hell of a job there. I get the sense that Howe's comments about supporting his team were about trying to reinforce that bunker mentality - it's us against the world. It's what all top managers do, the biggest example being Alex Ferguson.

Re the club atmosphere point. I think this a problem for Howe, but not a problem with Howe. Was just reading the match report on Forest Vs Chelsea, a huge underdog performance by Forest built on team unity by Cooper, with a number of bargain recruits and unfancied players all.playing out of their skins. Go back to when Howe took over - a team with a mismatched squad desperately short in key areas and looking like relegation certainties. But he built an incredible unity, with a few key additions, and we defied the odds to sail to safety. Then last season - we all hoped for a top 7 finish at the start of the season, and yet player after player outperformed, not as individuals but as a team, totally against the odds. Remember those intense team huddles before the match, the way every player dived in to help their team-mates, every victory greeted with sheer joy. Roll forward to this year - we're expected to compete at the top end of the table. Everyone sees us as a threat, things like the Amazon puff piece set out our ambitions to compete at the top and expectations have hugely changed, with big new kit sponsors etc. Think about the hype of us being a real danger in the champions league group of death as another example. I read a headline this morning saying "Forest and Brighton humble big spenders Chelsea and Newcastle" - to call us big spenders in the same breath as Chelsea is of course ridiculous, but it again shows how general expectations have changed. More than that I also got caught up in the transfer hype. We just upgrade player X or position Y and hey presto, we'll perform better, when it doesn't always work like that. But my point is, we're not underdogs any more, fighting against the world. It's something Alex Ferguson was always great at, even in their prime they were always fighting against some conspiracy and creating a siege mentality. Thinking back to that post match interview, I wonder if this was what was in Howe's mind about supporting his players. Perhaps he's closing ranks and these games have become a reminder that every point needs to be fought for tooth and nail.

There's nothing defensive in your post there, mate, nor any need to be. Because I completely agree - suspect it was just him straight-batting questions because he doesn't feel any value in a public inquisition, when he's got a group of players that will probably be feeling a bit bruised. He probably will be himself.

I also think you can't take what he said there at 100% face value. To me, he implied we were a bit unlucky with the scoreline, but I don't think that at all. I think we were taken apart. Very soon after, though, as you say he also said it was a time for him to support his players. In other words, he wasn't going to come out and say it was a poor performance in front of the press. He has a history of being economical in interviews with what he really thinks. I suspect behind the scenes he's thinking/saying something a bit different.

Sunderland well on top here and could have had it done and dusted within 20 mins, but not trying to underplay that, Southampton looking a mess so far. They've lost a lot of talent from what was easily the bottom PL side last season, so I guess it'll take them a while to gel. Now is probably a good time to play them. Saying that, just as I type they should have had a penalty and have come to life a bit

And fair enough, I probably over-egged the hanging on part a bit there. I did feel that we'd played ourselves back into the game towards the end even if our efforts were a bit powder - puff in the end. I think most teams go to the Emirates expecting a hiding especially us coming from where we've started from, and I agree that we showed too much respect rather than going for it, certainly in the first half. No question that you deserved to win it. I suppose my point is that this doesn't represent any fundamental problem with Howe, just something to take on the chin and learn from.

In some ways, you can understand the over reaction. It's a game we shouldn't have lost, and people get pissed off and need someone or something to blame when they're angry. It's genuine at the time but temporary. The subs have been criticised, but you can understand them in the moment due to players tiring etc. Nor was it some tactical masterclass by Klopp - it was a classic flukey suckerpunch by an individual error and an unlucky deflection. We dominated that game and with better finishing / luck would have steamrollered them. We did seem to step back a bit, but I doubt that was down to Howe - more the players thinking it was won. You can tell that because of Klopp's reaction in calling it a miracle and something that he's not seen in 1000 games, or whatever. Likewise, Pep was absolutely delighted with that 1-0 at the Etihad - we didn't start well but by the end they were hanging on a bit and he knew it. To say Howe was outthought comprehensively is hindsight based on the result in my opinion. We've played two of the best teams on the league, should have won one and taken a point from the other. That we didn't was fine margins and if you look at the quality of the 3 squads, we're still punching well above our weight with both performances. It's a few tweaks that are needed, not anything drastic - and Howe will be poring over both of those games looking for what they should be. Best since Keegan, and he might become better.

With Hall being so young, and Howe often ensuring new players are up to speed before integrating them into the team, I think it'd be a risk to move Target on just now. Post injury, he hadn't seemed the same player but often these things take time and matches, which is difficult if you can't get into the team. I can actually see the argument for him going out on loan from our perspective if it's games he needs. Also, he did leave Villa because he wanted game-time, so depends if he's happy here. Personally, I think he's a good defensive player who has been a bit unlucky to have lost his place through injury. Maybe a loan till Jan to give him games including a recall option if Burn picks up an injury. And if Hall is first team ready and working out by then, then maybe Jan is the time for Target to go. Shame, but longer term you maybe wouldn't expect him to be here either way.

If you put aside the FFP arguments and that everyone seems to have differing opinions on which bit of the squad needed strengthening (imo most of it did), it's been an excellent transfer window. Personally, think Tonali was the peak signing. However, I can't deny that some sort of explosive attacking player to get excited about would have made it perfect for me.

We were playing a very very good team, maybe one of the best there has ever been in club football. But I feel we showed them far too much respect in the first half and stepped off. We caused them problems when we tried to play our own game later. No grumbles with the result - they deserved to win. I just feel we could have given them more of a scare and would have done with the handbrake off. Still, there's the return leg.

Can't decide who I'd rather lose this one. I think it's Spurs, and for them to vanish without trace from any future Bollocks 6 discussion, but on the other hand Man U can also do one. Decisions decisions.

Happy birthday. But yeah, it's just a (deliberately crap) forum meme. Don't much like it either, but it's meant to be tongue in cheek.

I'd never heard of him before, or seen him play. But now I'm incredibly excited and will be gutted if it falls through.

What a bloody debut. Everything so economical and composed. Trying not to get carried after one game, but his guy looks like he could be pure class - can see why Milan fans were so pissed off now. I can't wait till see him against Man City.

Words words words. I'm hungry, what is there to eat?

Egg all over Bayern's face if he does stay. Making him their number 1 target, very publicly pursuing him, only for the player to turn them down for ... Spurs.

My guess is this whole rumour about Kane just now thinking of staying at Spurs was a ploy by him to hurry the transfer along. He stays for another year, refuses to sign an extension as Levy has messed him around, then goes for free after that. Meaning Spurs need to take the offer or leave it.

The pundits on Sky Sports were just waffling on about how it was a great deal for everyone on the grounds that they extended Raya's contract with Brentford for a year at the same time as signing it. I.e. if Arsenal don't take up the option and pay the £27m at the end of the loan, Raya goes back to Brentford with a year still on his contract and can attract a fee from someone else. So Brentford don't lose out. One after the other copied each other saying the same thing. Even when asked why Arsenal just didn't buy him outright, they said it again except adding that it would give Arsenal the chance to see if they wanted him. Not one mentioned the likely real reason - as you say it's obviously been structured that way for FFP purposes given how much Arsenal have spent already. Though, maybe it's hardly surprising that pundits seem to have less of a clue about the restrictions of FFP than the average Newcastle fan.

"Imagine how sickening it'll be. Bet they mention us within the first few sentences." Says one of them, within the first few sentences.