Newcastle United promoted back to the Premier League

[Collage]

Brightons problems last season was the squad size - they lost quite a few through injury, which led to them slipping away and into the play-offs at the end.

 

Hopefully similar might happen this season to keep them behind us.

 

Boss at work reckons he doesn't see them losing another game this season, which seems quite arrogant given how they failed to go up last season after a similar run of form.

 

Also I may be wrong, but they seem to score quite a few in the last minute or stoppage time - either they just know how to keep going, or they have Fergies old watch!!

 

http://i3.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article3176729.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/Norwich-City-v-Tottenham-Hotspur.jpg

 

"Fuck, this is in Scottish or Gaelic or sumfin. What the fuck is còig?"

[Tubestationatmidnight]

All that matters is we end up at least a point ahead of 3rd place

[Colos Short and Curlies]

Never mind Brighton. It's Monday and no graphs yet following the weekend.

 

I know a lot of people have finished work already for Christmas but this slackness is unacceptable

[54]

Never mind Brighton. It's Monday and no graphs yet following the weekend.

 

I know a lot of people have finished work already for Christmas but this slackness is unacceptable

I'm away for a few days man, only have me phone

[xLiaaamx]

5 defeats at this stage isn't good enough, despite the fact we're leading? We aren't relying on others at all.

[merlin]

5 defeats at this stage isn't good enough, despite the fact we're leading? We aren't relying on others at all.

So you are saying that we aren't going to lose any more games...you sure about that ?

 

[cp40]

5 defeats so far- 2 of them were due to outrageous refereeing and are no meassure of our ability.

[Altamullan]

Next couple of home games seem really important. Brighton snatched a very late three points against Brum, and will obviously drop points soon. I would take a draw against Sheffield Wed if it was followed by a total demolition of Forest. Outside of the obvious (Makems, cup, relegation) I can't recall when I have had a stronger desire to win, actually not just win, but to humiliate a team: robbing hoods.

[Guest neesy111]

It's our win over Brighton that puts us above them, so I'd say we are both pretty even in terms of how good we've been so far.

[midds]

You'd expect Brighton to have a blip sooner or later like. They've shown they can put a great run of form together and they're still not top so when they do slip up we need to pull out a bit of a cushion. Still expect the pair of us to go up automatically like, clearly the 2 best teams in the division, the only question us who wins it. Still think we will.

[JP]

You'd expect Brighton to have a blip sooner or later like. They've shown they can put a great run of form together and they're still not top so when they do slip up we need to pull out a bit of a cushion. Still expect the pair of us to go up automatically like, clearly the 2 best teams in the division, the only question us who wins it. Still think we will.

 

This speaks volumes. Everyone is talking how good Brighton have been (which is true) yet we're still above them 

[xLiaaamx]

5 defeats at this stage isn't good enough, despite the fact we're leading? We aren't relying on others at all.

So you are saying that we aren't going to lose any more games...you sure about that ?

I didn't say that at all. You said our current results aren't good enough. But we're top. We replicate this over the second half of the season we win the league.

[Figures 1-0 Football]

We have a stronger squad than Brighton (although the first XI is close, player for player you can argue they shade it) and it showed with the ease of that winstreak - only really Preston massively troubled us. We're only 1 point ahead but that includes our hilariously bad start to the season and the single worst refereeing performance I've ever seen.

 

Brighton have a stronger starting 11 than us? Get away man.

 

There are players on our bench who would walk straight into their starting 11.

[Tubestationatmidnight]

We have a stronger squad than Brighton (although the first XI is close, player for player you can argue they shade it) and it showed with the ease of that winstreak - only really Preston massively troubled us. We're only 1 point ahead but that includes our hilariously bad start to the season and the single worst refereeing performance I've ever seen.

 

Brighton have a stronger starting 11 than us? Get away man.

 

There are players on our bench who would walk straight into their starting 11.

 

Some right ones on here isn't there. Brighton man. Give over

[TRon]

You'd expect Brighton to have a blip sooner or later like. They've shown they can put a great run of form together and they're still not top so when they do slip up we need to pull out a bit of a cushion. Still expect the pair of us to go up automatically like, clearly the 2 best teams in the division, the only question us who wins it. Still think we will.

 

This speaks volumes. Everyone is talking how good Brighton have been (which is true) yet we're still above them 

 

People seem to have also missed that we'd have another 3 points if we weren't robbed blind by the ref against Forest. We are miles ahead of everyone else including Brighton.

[Hanshithispantz]

Did yous even read what I said you creeps? "player for player you can argue they shade it"

 

If yous believe our first XI on paper is unquestionably better than Brighton's yous are deluded like, they've got an excellent side. Their defence is a lot stronger and their midfield is also great, a lot of their players would walk into our side, hypothetically.

[mrmojorisin75]

liked the look of that kid they brought on in the last game...stupid name, solly march or something, looked a classic winger type

[Hanshithispantz]

Never seen Solly March like, but Stockdale, Dunk, Bong, Stephens/Kayal, Knockheart are all probably better than some players we have playing regularly in their positions (Darlow, Lascelles, Dummett, Hayden/Colback, Gouffran). You can make a case for others like Bruno (who they seem to love).

 

Some people seem to think they've fluked ~90  points last year and 48 so far this year though.

[Altamullan]

liked the look of that kid they brought on in the last game...stupid name, solly march or something, looked a classic winger type

Yep, me too  . Would have/take a chance on  him and Knockaert, but suspect we'd have no chance of poaching either.

[afar]

5 defeats so far- 2 of them were due to outrageous refereeing and are no meassure of our ability.

 

Gotta agree here, I'm sure Brighton can point to instances of injustice too however. But If you look at each of the losses closely you can say Fulham, referee was awful missed at least one if not 2 clear pens, even their players said they got away with that one. Huddersfield we were beaten by a team who worked extremely hard and took their chances while we did not, 9 times out of 10 you don't lose that match. Wolves was an awful performance, but again we were not outplayed here, it was comically bad defending from Mbemba who scored their first and since this game he's not had a look in , Mitro misses a one on one that could have changed the game. Forest was the most ridiculous refereeing performance any of us have seen in a long time, even with 10 men we were by far the better team. Blackburn was classic poor team comes to the league leaders and sets up for a point, they catch us on a set piece and take the 3 points.

 

In all of the losses we've not been outplayed and lost to a team that was clearly better than us on the day. I would say Preston away was about as close as we've come to that situation and in the big game between the top 2, it was men against boys really. I'm not convinced Brighton will be able to sustain this, they obviously didn't last season, I like Hughton but he is nowhere near the level of Rafa, and has never won promotion with any other team than us despite a few close calls.

 

As for Hans point on them having a better starting 11 than us, that's not true, they have about 3 or 4 good quality players that would for sure compete for a spot in our team Knockheart is better than anything we have in a wide area, but outside of those they have a lot of filler. The other strength of their team is CB with Dunk and Duffy but I would argue that Lascelles and Clark are the best CB combination in this division. We have a much more well rounded first 11. Our weakest players in our first choice 11 are probably Dummet and Gouf, Dummet is more than capable at this level defensively and Gouf got a number of very important goals for us this year.

 

At the end of the day being in the top two is all that matters but I would still make us very strong favourites for the title based on what we've seen so far.

[Hanshithispantz]

I disagree that they have a lot of filler like, no more than you could say we have with Gouffran and Dummett - ie players who are more than good enough at this level but hardly the reason we're doing so well, although they contribute to it.  I'm not saying they have a better starting XI in any case. They have a really strong side and it can definitely be argued they shade it player for player, although being biased I'd disagree. In terms of the whole squads combined I don't think it's close however.

[TK-421]

I wouldn't say Brighton have fluked their places/points - they have been in the division a long time, and over last season and this, seem to have clicked what is needed fro Promotion.

 

However, they have had a degree of good fortune in recent matches too - 2 pens given/needed to beat Leeds, an opposition player sent off against Leeds and Blackburn.

 

Lets hope those decisions even themselves out in the 2nd half of the season, as the Forest ones hopefully do for us.

[TRon]

Even ignoring the squads comparative strengths, you can't overlook the glaring difference between the two clubs and that's the managers. Much though I like and respect Hughton, he's not in the same class as Rafa. If Brighton finish ahead of Newcastle maybe we should revise that opinion. But it's not going to happen.

[Scoot]

Still 10!

[Figures 1-0 Football]

Never seen Solly March like, but Stockdale, Dunk, Bong, Stephens/Kayal, Knockheart are all probably better than some players we have playing regularly in their positions (Darlow, Lascelles, Dummett, Hayden/Colback, Gouffran). You can make a case for others like Bruno (who they seem to love).

 

Some people seem to think they've fluked ~90  points last year and 48 so far this year though.

 

How have you come to the conclusion that Stockdale is a better keeper than Darlow?

Dunk would have been a good signing for us in the summer, but would he displace either Lascelles or Clark now? On this seasons form, they're as good if not better than him.

Are Stephens or Kayal a better player than Hayden? No.

 

Knockaert I would have in our team, definitely.

I'd probably take Bong too but Dummett has vastly improved since the start of the season and is performing very well.

 

Some massive overreactions on here to the standard of quality in this league. Other than a 10 minute spell at the start of the 2nd half against Brighton (when it was 1-0), we comfortably beat them at home.

 

Did yous even read what I said you creeps? "player for player you can argue they shade it"

 

If yous believe our first XI on paper is unquestionably better than Brighton's yous are deluded like, they've got an excellent side. Their defence is a lot stronger and their midfield is also great, a lot of their players would walk into our side, hypothetically.

 

Rather than getting your knickers in a twist and resorting to childish name-calling, have an adult conversation and back up your points.