Brainy

From Brighton reserves to Brighton reserves

Leading at half time. Fuming

Oh god you're standing your ground on the word abysmal. You're daft. You are aware of the definition of the word, right? If 9 goals in 44 games is abysmal then how many goals would you need to score to be considered as having simply a decent season? By your standards I am guessing in the 35-40 range. The mind boggles. The 2nd top scorer last season had 17 goals, safe to say only one striker had a season better than, shall we label it "very bad"?

Abysmal? get a grip, absolutely seeking to be offended by anything

The narrow mindedness on display that a player at a new club in a new environment (not to mention a division lower) can only match and not exceed his stats from last season is just insane

Here's a fun game - who's said he's the new Matt Elliott?

These people don't look for this detail or little gains. If we lose, it's dreadful. If we draw it's dreadful. If we win they will look for excuses as to why we were lucky or focus on a player who stunk the room out. We have fans who seek to be miserable and revel in it when even the smallest aspect of the game justifies it. Nothing will convince me otherwise that they are at their happiest when they are radiating their negativity

It's not controversial, just I think you (and I) are in the minority. I don't even bother with this forum anymore as there's so much brainless, irrational guff spewed that there is no point engaging in debate. The first reply you had to this thread is classic "we're near the bottom of league 1" as though it's a worthy response to your very fair post. None of this makes me "KpfC" or a Martinite. I very much look forward to the day we're under new ownership and, if we're not successful under him, the day we have a manager that isn't hugely unpopular with us before he's even walked in the door. The patience is paper thing amongst our fanbase, understandably. But a 1-1 draw away to Notts County on day one does not at all justify a splurge of "Martin out" calls. Is it not bloody obvious over the last few years that the manager is only part of the problem? Our fans hate and don't rate half the playing squad yet expect them to win 46/46. Work that one out. Can only imagine they think we just need to rock up to get 3pts, didn't work last year so why would it now? The knives are already out for a selection of our new signings after probably no more than 250mins played. From a mental standpoint I'd hate to be a player for our club right now, these guys are obviously built to withstand this but I'd be petrified to misplace a pass or pass it backwards/sideways because that is literally all it takes at the moment for fans to turn on you. It makes me wonder when PL clubs like Brighton/Man City loan us their players if they consider the environment they're exposing them to.

Hate this resale argument. If we get 5 or 6 years from him, plays on average 30/35 games a season before we let him go on a free, is that really going to be considered a waste of money? Even if he sees out his original contract and plays a decent part before we perhaps outgrow him, what's the issue? Our entire PL winning backline had no resale value at the time of their purchase. They all left at the end of their contracts as legends. I understand the need to have a few of these resale players on our books but this obsession with it and the collective horror of signing anybody over the age of 25 is daft. Especially when the players who drag our average age up substantially are the same ones who are most likely to leave in the next month.

I'll give you five matches until you tire of seeing our youth fail to see out games or do everything but score. We're in a position where our more experienced players are part of one of the more disgraceful eras of the club, I get there will be this hasty, OTT thought process of not wanting to see a 24yo+ on the pitch again but there is 100% room for the right bit of experience in a squad full of kids.

Welcome back Can you name the 2000 crap ones

She a keeper then?

Don't disagree however there have definitely been some errors from VAR which haven't been subjective

Mistakes on VAR is pretty unforgivable. Though each incident is unique and they can't necessarily be trained beforehand in how to deal with it. Everything else I'm with him though. The referee usually (probably, dunno) makes the least amount of mistakes on the pitch of all 23 people out there, will be the lowest paid yet also are the easy go-to excuse for managers and fans alike when the result goes against them.

It is hard to please though We should stop paying huge fees for players. Woyo "remember him" Coulibaly We should stop buying players that "know England/PL”. Julian "81mins, I've seen enough" Carranza We should stop looking for managers that know England/PL. Marti "look at his track record, it's shite" Cifuentes. Ultimately just needs someone to do a good job no matter what their fee/background etc

So you're giving him 81mins across 3 or 4 sub appearances because of the boards incompetence?

From Oscar's onboard you can understand why it would have irked him. Would like to think after the race he'd probably have understood it a bit more. Imagine the conspiracy theories had Oscar's engine given up in Zandvoort. Monza was a unique situation. Both McLaren's had waited til near the end of the race for a SC which never came. By this point it's fair to say that the race is over between them, not exactly called off but because there was a 4/5s gap from what I recall, it was extremely unlikely they'd end up engaging in a wheel to wheel battle. I personally thought the swap was fair enough and in-line with their incredibly friendly, yet sometimes tedious team-tactics (see Hungary 2024). They were also in an uncommon position where they could actually fix and revert the positions as there was no traffic between them. If this happened mid-race I think it's possible they wouldn't have switched it back as it feels like more of a live pit stop. Towards the end in Monza it was clear they'd settled for their 2-3 in that order. Singapore... I mean if we want to just watch them hold position then sure he was in the wrong "rubbing is racing" "if you dont go for a gap......" seems to only go when the narrative suits. It's clear though it's now the fashionable thing to hate on McLaren/Norris. They didn't even favour Norris against Piastri last year when it was him Vs Max until it was too late and think that was only on one occasion

People forget how insane the top four were that season. I'd have had Leeds down to finish ahead of them meaning 3rd was the best they could have done anyway. As you say who cares how they finish the season, I'm sure their goal was promotion no matter how it came.

It suited the squad the season before though? You'd then think the players signed last summer were bought in because they're suited to his style. I get it's a higher level but you don't generally see promoted sides rip up their recipe for success and implement a totally contrasting style of play, though I do think his style is very extreme as far as possession based football goes. There should be enough of a gulf in quality in Scotland for him to have been able to implement his style of play from the off without hindering the results. Absolutely no need for him to tip toe around the first few months. I've not really watched any of their games so no idea how it has ended this badly

So we're saying the 85/90+pts or whatever he got in that season was a disaster!? No doubt the PL stint was poor, but they were expected to be down there no? Absolutely he didn't help himself with the one dimensional football In truth I'm not sure if he really set the world alight at MKD/Swansea, think he may have just been seen by Southampton as an up and coming young manager with an "appealing" brand of football. Think it's harsh to judge his overall time at Southampton as anything too critical. This is the first time he's totally stunk a place out though

I know he has his flaws in being one dimensional but is this not the only disaster of a job he's had??

As well as a huge chunk of people on socials. Perhaps he's just an FT troll and doesn't roam around the internet that much

David Croft is insufferable most of the time but his repeated plea to ban blue flags is up there with the worst shouts imaginable

This and the Monza team order are not comparable