25 Oct 2026 15:58:39
If we sign one top CM in January who has serious defensive awareness and positioning, we'll easily progress to another level. The midfield remains porous. Gravenberch walking around half the second half when we don't have the ball is telling. He raises eyebrows at times.
25 Oct 2026 16:18:25
He's on massive money. If he continues like this, I'd honestly sell.
{Ed666's Note - he was pathetic today
25 Oct 2026 16:40:56
Jeez, we've just beaten a team who have had a fantastic start to the season. They didn't even look like scoring today. Have a day of from moaning .
{Ed666's Note - They didn’t look like scoring??? Didn’t Ayari miss the easiest chance in the world just before we scored? Didn’t Jacquet and Ronald somehow defend a certain goal? Brighton were a threat all game
25 Oct 2026 16:49:31
Can't please some people, honestly. When the dust settles we will be talking about a statement win and performance against the league's form side.
{Ed666's Note - you can’t blame people for showing some objectivity. Yes it was a fantastic win but weren’t without faults.
25 Oct 2026 16:57:10
Said it a few times our best midfielder is the one on a short contract, gravs been given way too much money and I don't rate sob that much.
25 Oct 2026 16:57:12
OK, if you want objectivity, we limited the leagues biggest scorers to one big chance. Which they missed. Let the emotions settle and watch the game again.
25 Oct 2026 17:16:54
I thought we defended brilliantly, at least 3 from the 4 at the back anyways. Kirkez fries my brain though lol. If I wanted to be picky yes we could use another CM suited to hold and a better in possession LB. So pleased to get 3 points today however. got to love Arujo. I hope we keep him.
{Ed666's Note - Ronald and JJ were supreme.
25 Oct 2026 16:58:18
I did say to my lad Ed that we've been lucky and Brighton been unlucky but we did defend the 2-0 well.
{Ed666's Note - we were very fortunate not to concede. Brighton are a very very good side. They are excellent in possession and on the counter.
25 Oct 2026 17:39:53
I think macallister understands the double
Pivot better than grav and szoboslai as that's what he played at Brighton hence his upturn in form. It's up to gravenberch and szoboslai to understand and adapt to the role and up their game massively and play the role better if they can't they need to be moved on.
Having players in a double pivot that can't tackle is a worry for me
But I think you can see signs of the team gelling but agree on having a cm who can challenge and tackle in the middle would be a massive step forward for this team.
25 Oct 2026 17:43:24
I thought we went into gane management mode the 2nd half. If Brighton scored i always felt we could up the tempo and attacking intent. it was telling how we switched as soon as we went 2 up.
I liked the win, I could nit pick on certain phases, but on the whole we won the game in the 1st half.
Could Araujo be our best loan signing in PL history? Cult hero in the making that lad.
25 Oct 2026 17:46:13
Defenders defending, part of their job. Can't remember Becker making even a decent save ?.
25 Oct 2026 17:55:24
Another thoroughly enjoyable game.
25 Oct 2026 17:55:40
Brighton had chances which they didn't take so I would credit our defensive play given Brighton have been clinical all season. We need to strengthen in midfield and take account of the benefit not having Sob brings to Flo. He has had his best games since Sob got injured. I think the defensive midfielder we need is Sadiki to give Trey some cover.
25 Oct 2026 18:19:24
I felt Brighton lacked a certain creativity today, for what reason I can't say bit I don't feel like it was solely down to us outplaying them. Started off well, predictably dull 2nd half, again we failed to put the game to bed and struggled to control the game where you would expect big teams to do just that, it's been a runnng theme this season and will continue until we can et the fitness up and better adjust to the system. Scrappy at the back at times, lucky at others, but did well not to concede. Ali was on a different planet, looked like he wa on the beer last night, chalk it up to a bad day in the office, Gakpo was dirt, especially in the 2nd half, Nyoni lacked a bit of awareness, and not for the first time, kid still needs to adjust to the pace of senior ball, Barcola and Isak might as well have gone for a coffee in the 2nd half, but Gakpo was partially to blame for that too as both could have had a goal were his head not up his a**.
Lots of positives to take away though, the pressing as a unit looked much improved in the first half, Wirtz was looking sharp, Araujo was absolutely immense, MOTM, no doubt, we looked threatening going forward, especially on the counter, something we've been missing (though I think we were flattered by their high line). Good all-round performance, an excellent result against a tough side, a hugely important and well-timed home win. Very much something to build on.
25 Oct 2026 18:25:39
The way he's started the season I would definitely be looking to give Macca a new deal.
Sign a defensively minded midfielder in January be that Camara or similar then let Dom fight it out for Wirtz in the 10 as I think midfield looks better balanced without him in it.
Araujo has been fantastic so if Bradley is on the way back I would say that a LB would be by 2nd priority in January - I thought that Andoni might be able to get Kerkez back to how he performed for Bournemouth but it ain't happening & is our weak link.
{Ed666's Note - That left side of Gakpo & Kerkez is terrifying and not in the good sense either
25 Oct 2026 18:25:51
@666, are you saying the OP is objective? Once again, having not conceded and having beaten a team who are flying the first thing I saw was another criticism.
P12 W8 D3 L1 seems a reasonable start to the new Head Coach's tenure. Encouragingly we have won our last 4 games and seem to be accelerating in terms of the team getting to where we would want it to be.
I have no problem with people being critical of the team but I find it genuinely sad that some people seem to seek out fault (actual or otherwise) week in, week out when even Blind Pugh can see that the team are improving week by week.
I would add that I would play Nyoni on a regular basis ahead of Gravenberch, but, once again the team played well and the match was entertaining to watch - both the team playing well and the match being entertaining is what any fan would want imho.
{Ed666's Note - I have no problems with people criticizing the performance when it’s merited. I’ll be first in line to do so. Kerkez Gravy and Gakpo were muck at best today and that’s being kind. So we won 2-0 today and three players were garbage. Imagine the score line if two out of those three had decent games? It would have been a different game. Yes I understand this is the embryonic stage of AI’s tenure but if we can’t expect proffesional footballers to churn out at least a 5/10 performance every game than what’s the point?
25 Oct 2026 18:38:19
I agree I defensive midfielder would help massively I also think a left back is must I fail to see what Kerkez is good at other than working hard he would be a good second option.
25 Oct 2026 17:37:25
@ed666 - Brighton had one shot on target. One. Given all the recent press about then being super high scoring we restricted them to that by being a million times better in defence than we were all last season.
I'm not sure how pointing to someone making an 'easy miss' makes any difference to how we performed today, we were the best team with and without the ball.
{Ed666's Note - you said Brighton didn’t look like scoring but fashioned a guilt edged chance that 98 times out of a 100 they would generally slot in the back of the net. Yes defensively we were very good but at no point did I think Brighton could not score.
25 Oct 2026 19:18:45
Tell us what you think about the midfield Mr Funk.
25 Oct 2026 19:27:16
Going back to the original post - if Sunderland continue to tank we should be tapping up Sadiki.
25 Oct 2026 20:56:53
I couldn't get my head around Gakpo getting man of the match. I thought he was wasteful and selfish at times. When he did decide to pass he released it too late. In saying that, he didn't play bad, but was frustrating me.
I don't know where the MOTM came from. I would have give it to Ronald. He's my new favourite. Nice to see players getting stuck in.
25 Oct 2026 21:07:09
Credit to AI today. I was at the game and didn't feel like we were under pressure at any point. Lots of possession but their chances mostly came from working the ball wide and throwing in crosses which we defended well.
On the other hand we had many counters that with better decisions could have led to more goals.
I felt we controlled the game with less possession today.
25 Oct 2026 21:57:55
All good saying brighton could have scored a few but let's not forget, had we been a little more decisive and clinical upfront amd we cudve got 5 or more! Imagine salah and mane having a field day today.
25 Oct 2026 22:28:28
The disrespect Virg gets on here is criminal, the same lads wanting rid of Rio an 18 year old kid at the beginning of the season because he wasn't Lamine Yamal.
It's hard to listen to some fans anymore. Negative, I think half are trolls! Yes Brighton were a threat, they're a very good side who score for fun, they had one really good chance, easiest chance in the world ? ridiculous comment. Yes should have scored but to say that was the easiest chance in the world is someone who's clearly never played football before.
Anyway, absolutely buzzing with the 3 points, yes wasn't too pretty after we went 2 up but was a top class game management performance, yes we should have killed it off but we're still a work in progress.
By god Jacquet is an absolute baller, and Ronald. I think like most I've fallen in love with. A throwback. All on the line, 90miles an hour and plenty of talent to boot. Let's show Mikel and his anti entertainment bunch a good time next week, look forward to being back in the kop for it! Mon the Redmen!
26 Oct 2026 01:21:06
666 - Thanks for all the replies and your tough skin. If you're saying 3 players played badly then by my maths that means 8 players did well. 8 players did well in a home victory that saw us improve and move into the top 4. All we're saying is there's moire positives than negatives, let's start with that.
{Ed666's Note - I didn’t say the other 8 played well Clay..I thought we played well in parts and not so well in other parts. It wasn’t a comprehensive 2-0 win in my opinion. But AI hasn’t even got any players of his own yet apart from maybe Munoz so I’m exceedingly excited to see what this team will be cooking in the next 6-12 months.
26 Oct 2026 04:21:30
Definite signs of AI progress. Entertaining open game to watch and delighted with win against a good side.
JJ & RA have made such a massive difference to our defence. Great to see us playing with energy and heart.
Wirtz, Barcola & Isak starting to click. Mac looking better each week too.
Agree main concern is left side. Kerkez is not up to it and Gakpo is so selfish on the ball.
Hopefully will see more of Rio and Munoz in coming weeks. Hats off to AI for making all the wingers play both sides too.