Winless in seven but still in the top 10 – the maddening life of a Brighton fan
Well, here we are. The 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa leaves Brighton without a win in seven games, time to really start worrying about our results.
Mind you, that was our first away defeat of the season, and only our third in 12 games.
Really though, it feels like we are back to the worst aspects of last season. We cannot score despite dominating possession, we are losing games in the final minutes.
But we have been in the top 10 throughout the first four months of the season. Last year we we were bumping around 15th or 16th.
Yes, but we will not stay in that top 10 much longer if we cannot score goals.
Although we have put two past Burnley, Watford, Leicester City (twice including the cup), Liverpool, Cardiff and Swansea. And what about that Mwepu goal at Anfield…
Still, we cannot beat teams from the lower half of the table, even the ones in real trouble like Villa and Newcastle United, who we struggled to draw 1-1 with at the Amex.
I know, but we played both of them just as they made managerial changes, and that always stirs a team out of a rut.
Leandro Trossard is no good as a false nine, we were better with him and Neal Maupay up front, like we were at the start of the season.
Thing is, other sides get wise to a winning setup and adapt accordingly. So Graham Potter has to change what we do too.
I thought we would be okay once Adam Webster, Yves Bissouma and Tariq Lamptey were fit again. Don’t worry, it will get better when Danny Welbeck returns.
But several others are on the verge of suspensions from cumulative yellow cards, so…argh!
As that wise sage Father Dougal once said: “I’m going mad, Ted”. Let’s face it, Brighton being Brighton, we were never going to sail through a Premier League season.
There was little danger of the Albion following up our best ever start with our best ever mid-season, topping it off with our best ever run-in to the final games having secured a place in Europe.
There were always going to be infuriating ups and downs, good games and then bad runs, after which us fans all search for patterns, causes and remedies.
Like pinning tails on pictures of farmyard animals whilst blindfolded, those of us on the terraces may get that right once in a while, but mostly we are just blindly grasping for hope.
Ultimately, it is the job of our highly respected honchos Potter, Dan Ashworth and the coaching team to locate the rear end of a donkey with as much precision, and on a regular basis, as a whole herd of asses desperate not to have a sharp pain in the rear will permit. And of course they are trying to jab us in the backside at the same time.
Stretching that metaphor is probably getting quite annoying, a bit like the constantly shifting Premier League fixture list.
With Ole Gunnar Solksjaer finally biting the bullet at Manchester United, getting on for half of the sides have switched their managers before the season is past the halfway point.
Because of that every week is a challenge, every team is trying to improve, and previous form is a relatively poor indicator of future results.
Winning every week – or losing the games we expect to – would be comforting but predictable and dull. Overturning a two goal deficit at Anfield or breaking a bad run with a free-scoring win is a lot more fun.
Or, who knows, we could dominate for 85 minutes only to lose to the opposition’s only attempt on goal? To quote Father Dougal once more: “Like I said last time Ted, it won’t happen again.”
