martyn

Don't really blame VK for Murphy getting those couple of shots, off, all of those moments came about from the midfield being bypassed, and Isak then rinsing the centre halves with his footwork meaning he had to come over on the cover.

A bit like with the Winks signing, i thought it might be a case of us unfairly maligning a player in advance of actually seeing him, but he looks like a total nothing player so far, and I'm not just using today to judge that either. Was expecting him to be safe but limited on the ball, which he is, but off the ball he is orders of magnitude worse than I thought he would be.

Justin had his best game of the season today and kept a better player than Barnes quiet.

Hopefully Ndidi is ok, they were doing the knee ligament tests on him on pitch which is always a worry.

I sit in B3 so have had prime position to watch this all time disasterclass from Ayew. Watching him try and cope with the movement of Rutter and Lamptey has been a horror. Absolutely needs hooking at HT, for anyone frankly. McAteer not much better. Need to try and get El Khannouss closer to Vardy but the Brighton press is suffocating and our defence too deep so we can't connect through the lines when we do have it.

Ayew has been astonishingly bad

Really bizarre cameo this evening. Looked to be moving in slow motion and gave up tracking back defensively on more than one occasion, which he never did under Maresca.

Harem Scarem, but thought second half we improved a fair bit and were slightly better organised. Pleased to see Ruud use all the subs at the right times, and for Daka to have such a great impact, not just his goal but his work rate was outstanding. Mavididi and Faes on the other hand. Still a lot of work to do to try and improve off the ball to limit the chances the opposition create against us as it's still far too high, but at least we attempted to maintain a constant threat in attack, unlike under the previous manager.

Justin's confidence is in the gutter.

Matter of time here for West Ham. Midfield is so open.

Skipp has looked bang average to me pretty much every time he has played and was the invisible man against Chelsea on his last outing. The team is the team, you can't say anybody on the bench is particularly unlucky to be there.

Or as Gregg "Banter" Wallace calls him, John the Chode.

Armstrong didn't affect anything there. Thought Archer looked off but if he wasn't, pretty harsh to disallow that as no Brighton player was impacted by anything Armstrong did.

No idea how this is going to go, but he does speak incredibly well and you can sense an aura about him just by how he communicates. I think as long as we can get some semblance of excitement back into our play, he'll get far more leeway than Cooper even if the results don't immediately pick up.

So we're pretending to appoint Ruud as the dead cat for this story, and this story is the dead cat for then appointing Warnock on a 5 year deal.

I wouldn't say Corberan is having a stinker, even though they have fallen away a bit after their fast start. WBA have an absolutely bang average squad, and I think that's still not taken into account sometimes with WBA given they are one of the bigger names in the division. Id be happy enough with him still.

Correct decision. Was an uninspiring appointment from the get go but didn't think he'd be as evidently out of his depth as transpired.

Faded badly 2nd half, but showed more than enough first half to suggest he is a talent. Some lovely footwork, vision and weight of pass, just a shame it was mostly to get out of tight spots in our own half rather than around the opponents box.

His constant criticism of officials is winding me up as well. Absolutely doing it as a cover for his own shortcomings.

Agreed, Soumare probably my MOTM especially as BEK faded quite badly after a promising first half. Thought the full backs were ok as well.

We're very fortunate for next year in that the in laws are paying everything for Disney except our flights as it's their dream to treat the grandkids, Mexico is the same as we're just staying with family, and San Sebastian i've used a load of hotel credit built up with expedia. That, and being an avid collector of air miles over the years means we'll probably only end up spending about £4000-5000. comprising mainly flight taxes and then spend whilst away. Without that, you're right, it'd be nuts, probably £15000 at least.

Yes we considered February half term 2026 because of this, but in the end, on the balance of probability, chose October as we'll be there at the very end of the month where the risk, whilst still present, should be less than earlier in the month. Really useful advice on the evening hours, thank you.

I'd considered Vueling to Bilbao, and even Ryanair to Biarritz, but filtering out return flights departing at silly o clock meant San Sebastian direct only ended up being £80 or so more expensive, included a baggage allowance, and LCY is a far more convenient airport for me than Gatwick or Stansted which the Vueling/Ryanair options would be. That, and having a preference to base in San Sebastian swayed the decision in the end.

Have now got 2025 mostly sorted. Mexico (family) in April, San Sebastian/Basque country with the wife in June for 4 nights, then Disneyland Florida with kids in October. Always wanted to go to the Basque country so i'm particularly looking forward to that one. Originally planned on using Bilbao as a base, but some reasonably priced flights popped up direct to San Sebastian so heading there instead. Obviously Google has loads of suggestions, but any recommendations for food (from Pintxos to Michelin) and day trips welcomed if anyone has been. Same for Disney/Florida, if anyone has any suggestions/recommendations, they'd be gratefully received, particularly things kids enjoyed the most, and also any place within 2/3 hours of Orlando/Miami for a few days relaxing on the beach after the mania of Disney.

1) Technique (Ball control, dribbling, turning, balance) - Mahrez 2) Mindset ( Passion, motivation, leadership quality) - Walsh 3) Intelligence (tactical awareness, vision, risk assessment) - Cambiasso 4) Physicality (body type, strength, speed, athleticism) - Heskey 5) Team player (Loyalty, personality, popularity) - Vardy