saintant

I think it goes beyond the group of players Brighton have. Their success is largely built on having been well coached so that they have developed a pattern of play that they are all used to - like a Ralph playbook but a much more effective one. They are superbly drilled all over the pitch and all know which positions to take up at any given time. Dunk talked about this after the match saying that he knows the roles of their 6 and 8s so well he could probably play there himself. Yes, they have some good players but I believe it's the way they are trained that makes them what they are - I'm sure they play training matches to hone this whereas I imagine we just stick on bibs and have a kick about with little structure - at least that's what it looks like when we get to competitive games.

Brighton are everything we are not - we have been the team that is the best on the south coast but right now we are a million miles behind them. We need to look at a lot of things they do (not just on the field) and try to catch up but it's going to take time. Studying them recently they have a very clear pattern of play which is largely built on the way their centre backs bring the ball out then look for a fast, low pass into the midfield players who face them waiting for the ball. The midfielder controls the ball, spins and sets up the next attack. They do this move time and time again and it is very simple but also very effective and they are a great side to watch - the polar opposite to us.

In 60 years supporting this club the current set of players is far and away the weakest in terms of physical and mental strength. They are donkeys led by donkeys.

Hope someone on TV or radio is going to ask Selles to explain the logic of his substitutions - would love to hear what he has to say on that because he gave Newcastle complete control of the second half. Ok, they'd probably have gone on to win anyway but to hand the game to them without them having to break sweat was a disgrace.

Sulemana gets a good assist in the first half, his confidence is building...tell you what, let's take him off bring on all the weaklings and try to defend for 45 minutes. When did that ever work?

Leeds, Forest and us for the drop. Everton and Leicester are bound to escape.

Selles loves a false number nine.

Can we go back to the days of only one sub.

They must be due another goal surely.

If we can just keep them out for the rest of the game then 3-1 is better than I expected.

Masterclass of how not to use subs from the clueless Selles. Handed them the game.

That's more like it 🙂 Panic stations resumed.

Knew Theo would score 🙂 Took them a long time to concede again after the offside goal - good work Saints, nearly held out.

Are we pressing for the winner?

They'll probably score in the time added on for VAR check.

Saudis on VAR 🙂

Fortunately we are already all but down so it doesn't matter but it's still infuriating.

Has Selles taken a big brown envelope from the Saudis?

Bringing on all those who were the most shit against Bmuff 🙂 You couldn't make it up.

Because Selles is the coach.

Typical Selles sub - bring on someone who is weak and ineffective when we are under the cosh.

Selles is clearly expecting a big defeat and has picked a side to limit the damage. Looks to me as though we'll go five at the back and probably have Alcaraz as a lone front man with the rest trying to pack out the midfield and hope for the odd quick break through Sulemana. 5-0 defeat would be a reasonable outcome today.

Time for a major rebuild and not just involving players and coaches. Can we please go back to a more traditional striped shirt - the current design is hideous. Somehow we need to reconfigure St Marys so that the home support covers the whole of one end to create a better atmosphere and stick away fans somewhere that makes it harder for them to generate so much noise. We need a new manager along with a set of good coaches who pride themselves on having the fittest team in the division, who have fast, progressive attacking beliefs coupled with looking to get every player moving off the ball and getting between the lines - no more static robots who are quite happy to hide from the ball. Clear out the dead wood and introduce some experience so we have a better blend of younger and older players and bring in some bigger, faster more aggressive types. This will encourage more exciting football, energise the crowd and get the fans back on side. I'm hoping Jason Wilcox will bring some fresh ideas to help rejuvenate the club. If we do nothing we are headed only one way so an urgent reset is needed during the summer and let's have a team we can be proud of again - it's been too long.

He got totally mixed up - instead of threading the ball through the eye of a needle he's been shitting through it.

Apparently Semmens was inconsolable at the end of the game. Somebody told him he's got 4 extra away matches to go to next season so will be away from his family even more.