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Comments
I pretty much dislike Sullivan and Brady but they have provided funds and shown ambition, both with Pellegrini and Lopetgui. Both were pedigree managers but neither bought well when given funds.
We had three good seasons and if honest I would put it down to two things, David Moyes creating a great team spirit and organising the side well, and Declan Rice.
Don’t panic. I have it on good authority that a new manager is being lined up for 2028…….
Well it made me laugh
I'm going for Potter.....
Don't ask me who should replace him, that's not my job....but I do think it's only a matter of time......Let's see how it all unfolds....
My choice would be Chris Davies at Birmingham, but you’d need to pay for him & they’d not give him up without a fight.
Firstly, what a side he assembled. On the 7th May, 2022, his Brighton team beat Man Utd 4-0 at home (finished 9th in PL that season). This was the side...
Sanchez
Veltman - Dunk - Cucurella
March - Bissouma - Caicedo - Trossard
Gross - Mac Allister
Welbeck
What I note, & he played that formation with those players a lot, is how he actually is using wingers to play the wing-back role. Trossard and March are more RW/LW than RB/LB.
He also used a LB at CB and a RB at CB, with Dunk in the centre. A ball-playing keeper (but quite a weak keeper in other areas) & then two talented number 10s, behind a tall, mobile striker. Two combative, high energy, but technically good passers in CM.
So I compared that to our side in his first game, losing 2-1 to Villa in the FA Cup...
Fabianski
Wan-Bissaka - Mavropanos - Kilman
Summerville - Souček - Alvarez - Scarles
Kudus - Paqueta
Fullkrug
I'd argue, since he's been here, that is actually the best 11 he's ever had out at once. In another one of our more encouraging performances, we drew 1-1 at Villa in the PL. The side was...
Areola
Coufal - Kilman - Cresswell
Wan-Bissaka - Soucek - Alvarez - Emerson
Kudus - Soler
Paqueta
When you then look at the side this season so far...
Hermansen
Todibo - Kilman - Aguerd
Wan-Bissaka - Soucek/Rodriguez - Ward-Prowse - Diouf
Paqueta
Bowen - Fullkrug
It is simply not in keeping with the sort of tactical set-up, player characteristics & profile that he 1) used regularly at Brighton & 2) has had in a couple of our better performances under him at WHU.
JWP & Rodriguez are good on the ball, but not high energy nor combative.
Todibo, Kilman & Aguerd - he very rarely has ever used 3 natural CBs in a back three, usually at least one of them is a more natural full-back.
He isn't usually one to play two up front, usually playing two attacking midfielders behind a striker.
He usually likes more offensive wing-backs than AWB & Diouf, having used players like Summerville, Trossard & March there before.
Again, it all points to this squad not being reinvented this summer to try & profile it into a Graham Potter side.
Why would I give minutes of my life to re-state an opinion I've expressed before. It's not apathy, it's having better things to do than engage with opinions that I don't share.
If it makes you feel more validated to put that particular spin on the (lack of explicitly stated) response to your posted link, enjoy.
We had our 'brighter future' in the seasons 20-21, 21-22, 22-23 and 23-24.
When the board was the same, and we had an 'unsexy' manager. But it didn't last because the situation (many factors outside out control) changed.
The problems we are currently experiencing will not be fixed by changing one single factor, whether that's a new owner/new board/new manager/new Academy wonderkid....
Success (or, as I think it should be called, a 'successful spell' - because good times don't last forever, even for Man City) is dependent on a complex set of factors.
Separately from that, I wasn't keen on appointing Lopetegui (was just another Pellegrini mistake) because we aren't that kind of club. It's a mistake to try to act as if we are a top 6 club - we aren't, and even if we have a period of success that sees us challenging them and beating some of them in matches,we aren't that and will never be that sort of club (culture, wealth, global reach, cachet, etc). And I always thought Potter was over-rated and feel the board appointed him because they too believed the hype + wanted to appease the fans who were vocal about wanting a 'sexy/modern/progressive/young' manager. None of those things correlate to being any good.
PS. I tripped in the street and fell over and broke my finger, so I'm feeling extra grumpy today.
If I engage with the argument about the owners objectively this is what I come up with.
As people I suspect I wouldn't like Sully and Brady at all. Sometimes we do get surprised with people who have a public profile, celebs etc as you meet them and they are actually very nice, alternatively there is always the 'never meet your hero's' saying, the projection we create in our mind, who we think they are and we look for ourselves in them or their work, and our fantasies gets shattered upon actual contact. But I suspect I wouldn't like them.
If I take the last five seasons performance it looks like this and I am not sure anyone could show a better five year period during our history, one or two similar performances possibly.
6th
7th Semi Final of Europa
14th Winners of Conference
9th Quarter final Europa
14th
Investment wise I think they certainly had a 'barra boy' mentality when they first arrived but they do seem to have invested in managers and players in an attempt to progress the club. The issue has been that in two big moments we appointed the wrong guy who spent the money badly, but the ambition was there. Interestingly many people considered Pellegrini a catch, an Ex City manager! And most were up in arms at the clubs appointment of Moyes, both times, despite him bringing arguably our best five yearS in our history. I imagine at present we are sailing reasonably near our financial limits. So we are not in a great place at present, but appoint someone differentat the time of Lopetgui who works out and we could have moved on.
I can relate to the argument that we should have tried build our own stadium as that would have invested properly for the long term. However it could be spun the other way in that we got the lease agreement of the century.
I don't believe most people who want them out are that concerned with the business figures of the club, or even where we play, but rather the success of the team, and the memory can be very short regarding that. Should a hundred people sign a petition started this week to get owners out how much different would you imagine that to be had our first two results of the season be reversed? If we beat Sunderland 3-0 away and we beat Chelsea 5-1 at home. I imagine quite a difference.
So some will genuinely be in opposition to the actual running of the club, some just don't like the characters of the people involved and some just can't accept the wavering success of a middle tier football club. I don't think I like them too much personally but they do seem to have had a good go at progressing us, evidenced by a period of five years of possibly unmatched success, maybe they have not pushed us on from that now and we may have some trouble ahead, but unless we can identify the decisions the board have made that are causing that it's hard to place it at their door with confidence that it's deserved. It may just be for many, not all, I'm angry we are currently rubbish so get them out.
Oh. I see what you mean. Both. 😂
Trusting there is no lasting damage outside a temporary hit to your pride.