Don’t be too disappointed by Brighton falling to the new manager bounce

There were a lot of downhearted Brighton fans out there following the Albion’s 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa on Saturday and it was very sad to see so many terrible comments pop up on some social media sites.

The sacking of Dean Smith meant that the game already featured a tremendous amount of hype in the media as Villa looked to shake their five game losing streak. When Steven Gerrard then signed on the dotted line, the hype went into overdrive really.

For 83 minutes, the Albion did well against a Villa side containing the likes of Ollie Watkins and Danny Ings. When you have strikers that good, there is always the chance that one of them will slot home a goal, which is why you need every opportunity of your own to be fully exploited in the final third.

To lose 2-0 is not the end of the world. If you look at the Premier League teams with newish managers this weekend, none of them lost. The record of fresh appointments read three wins and one draw.

Eddie Howe oversaw a 3-3 draw for Newcastle against Brentford. Smith is now in charge at Norwich, they beat Southampton 2-1. Claudio Rainieri and Watford won 4-1 at home to Manchester United, causing another manager in Ole Gunnar Solksjaer to lose his job.

Gerrard got his new club three points from Aston Villa 2-0 Brighton. And Antonio Conte and Spurs beat Leeds 2-1.

They call this the new manager bounce effect. Villa, Newcastle, Watford and Norwich might be benefiting from it now, but it does not last for too long as players lose their eagerness to impress the new manager beyond those initial few weeks.

Another game to keep an eye on at the weekend was Liverpool v Arsenal, where the Gunners lost 4-0 at Anfield. Only three weeks earlier, we had gone to Liverpool and drawn 2-2, suggesting we are not in a bad place.

Brighton’s squad is young and will improve through learning from this seven game winless run, which will end very soon.

The efforts at Villa Park of Leandro Trossard, Tariq Lamptey and Jakub Moder were to be applauded. Jason Steele also made some important saves on his Premier League debut.

Listening at home via BBC Radio Sussex, it sounded like a very loud Villa crowd to start with. I was really pleased to hear our travelling support making a lot of noise as the game wore on to drown out the home fans.

The familiar chants of Albion fans are always a comfort as I really miss seeing the game. Johnny Cantor and Warren Aspinall do a good job, but it is still frustrating when somebody tells you it is a free kick and you do not know which team has it.

Still, there will be less need to listen on the radio with such a packed fixture list coming up. This Saturday, we have the joys of watching Leeds United at the Amex as Marcelo Bielsa tried to coach his team to their third league win of the season.

Graham Potter has been putting in the hours, watching Bielsa and Leeds live. Those with eagle eyes tuned into that Spurs v Leeds game on Sunday may have seen the Sky cameras zoom in on Potter and Billy Reid watching from the stands.

It was not just Leeds who they were there to make some notes on. Brighton also face Spurs at the Amex on Sunday December 12th, so this was a timely day out for both Potter and Reid, who are certainly doing everything they can to try and give the squad every bit of help and advice possible.

I wonder what they made of Antonio Conte getting very animated with the crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium? He was being very, very Italian and it certainly got the Spurs fans going.

We will need to be in similar voice, making lots of noise against Leeds this Saturday. Up the Albion.