Navarro sinks his old mates (From The Argus)

Oh dear, oh deary deary me! What a dreadful performance from a dreadful team. Seems like Brighton have started where they left off last season. How funny that Navarro came back and bit them on the behind.
Promotion 5/1 Relegation 18/1. I know where my fiver’s going.

A very poor performance. The players really need to pull their socks up otherwise a season of struggle and possible relegation awaits.

Why oh why did Poyet releae Navarro. A very costly mistake.

We were poor in the first half .. but we took our chances second half.
Greer looked pretty dire tonight, sure he isn't that bad normally.

I still hold Gus P in high respect and sure he has or will get things sorted.

Oh dear!! well when I saw the starting line up I didn't expect to see a dismal result like that!! Well at least we know for sure that we will fail to make any real impact in the championship this year without a goal scoring striker (or two), that's if you didn't know that already, based on last season. I appreciate that the league cup is pretty irrelevant in the grander scheme of things, and  I know we will pick ourselves up from this however I am worried and we all should be if you think we are going to be promotion chasers . Last year we had the 5th worst away form in the league and we scored the 2nd fewest goals away from home. Our defence in comparison was one of the best in the league ( home and away).... So why have we spent the past 4 months strengthening our strongest asset (our defence) at the detriment of letting our weakest asset (our striking options) get weaker?. We dominated the first half this evening and couldn't score (or even get remotely close) and yet when a lower division club dominates in the second half they score 3, easily. I pray that gus and the team can sort something soon otherwise I worry that we will be a mid table team at best. Goals = promotion.... Simples. All these excuses regards 'its complicated' don't work for me. We have known since January that we needed more goal power, and yet with 2 weeks to go in the transfer rumour we are no closer to a solution after waiting 8 months!!  Hull v Brighton will be 0-0 at best !!

HOVEPARKRESIDENT wrote:
Oh dear, oh deary deary me! What a dreadful performance from a dreadful team. Seems like Brighton have started where they left off last season. How funny that Navarro came back and bit them on the behind.
Promotion 5/1 Relegation 18/1. I know where my fiver’s going.

So do we: a magazine off the top shelf.

This is probably the kick up the backside we need!!! And a bit of money to be spent on this striker we need.

I know this was the first game of a new season but it was exactly that and it's summed up with one word......pathetic!

Barnes isolated as usual, Noone was a waste of space with crossing and the rest just had no idea what to do.

I love watching the albion.

The good news is we've still got three days to get it sorted.

Pleased that Navarro has got off to a good start at Swindon.
I thought Swindon defended well to keep us out in the second half, and I am not bothered by our lack of goals in that game.
A bit bothered by conceding three, but probably not a bad thing to be out of that competition.
It gets real on Saturday.

I was one that could not understand nav's departure when we have worse players in dicker and harley still with us. Looks like I may have proved right! The only saving grace is its a tin pot cup and should be treated like a pre season warm up for bigger and better sides.

Absolutely dire performance,match seemed like a practice match first half and Noone was dreadful,not one decent cross. Bridge,Salti and Bridcutt played well and Barnes cannot change the way he plays too predictable, notice Kusczak seemed to say something to Oatway when he went off,any one else notice that.We did not look like scoring all night and until this striker problem is solved nothing will change,we will still struggle for goals.

true fan wrote:
I was one that could not understand nav's departure when we have worse players in dicker and harley still with us. Looks like I may have proved right! The only saving grace is its a tin pot cup and should be treated like a pre season warm up for bigger and better sides.

Navarro's contract was up, Harley and Dicker have time left on theirs.

Pretty get us nowhere football again.Crying out for two top class strikers .No punch no commitment,always going to lose.

Looking forward to the start or the season now the friendly and warm up matches are done with. Overall a good pre season considering the previous games.

Oh dear, oh dear, not much positive to take from the game other than Bridcutt, Bridge & Bruno. Dicker so slow, Harley just not up to it, Barnes nowhere to be seen in the second half. Noone, does he practice crossing the ball? Got to spend on some muscle up front and in midfield, however I just fancy a win at Hull.

Baldseagull wrote:

true fan wrote:
I was one that could not understand nav's departure when we have worse players in dicker and harley still with us. Looks like I may have proved right! The only saving grace is its a tin pot cup and should be treated like a pre season warm up for bigger and better sides.

Navarro's contract was up, Harley and Dicker have time left on theirs.

So instead of giving a better player a new contract we keep worse ones or in dicker case, who from what I have seen even before he broke his leg was useless, we give the worse players time to prove themselves with a contract extension? Very strange. I know he wants to slim down the squad but surely gus can do this by getting rid of dead wood rather than keeping them just because they have a contract, heaven forbid we may actually get some money on the transfer market for them!

HOVEPARKRESIDENT wrote:
Oh dear, oh deary deary me! What a dreadful performance from a dreadful team. Seems like Brighton have started where they left off last season. How funny that Navarro came back and bit them on the behind.
Promotion 5/1 Relegation 18/1. I know where my fiver’s going.

HoveParkBellEnd, I'll take your fiver on Brighton to be relegated. I'll take your grand on it if you like. Put up or shut up.

we should give swindon credit, me thinks? they looked a decent outfit when they stopped giving us too much respect. play-off material i would say. good luck to them in league one this season. as for us, hey, things are gonna get better chaps... gus will be glad to be rid of the cup. worrying we huffed and puffed but we did that a few times last season too. get vincente back in his pocket, get cms (or a nother) to feed off him, inject a bit more pace on the wings with buckers and kaz and we can get the job done. bridcutt was outstanding tonight. harley and nooney out of sorts. bridge neded the game, but bruno needs to chill....

Very disappointing night - only the two full backs, Bridcott and Vicente (at times) anywhere near their best. Kusczak no chance with any of the goals and apart from that didn't have a shot to save. Very odd that neither of the kids on the bench were given the opportunity to make their debuts towards the end, especially given that Noone was having such a poor game.

By the sounds of it I don't think a new striker would have made much difference. It was an awful team performance, the least I expect when we lose is to still perform well.

It's too easy to call this a warm up match sat at home and listening to it on the radio, I don't think the fans who travelled up there see it this way though. Feel sorry for them and I even feel sorry for the commentators.

Was hoping Noone would have been practising his final ball over the summer. Toby should have started rather than Harley.

Pleased for Navarro, it's a great way to prove a point to your old club. Hats off to him.

Oh well, can only get better one would hope. ;o)

Blimey what a load of miserable gits! A meaningless cup match in the grand scheme of things when several key first team members were missing through injury and international call-up. Also Swindon are now a decent side and would have been up for this one far more than the Albion., who are still a work in progress.

As for those moaning about Gus getting rid of Navs, as others have pointed out in the past, he is not good enough to get us where we want to go.

It will get much better, and be another season where we can be proud to be BHA fans, I am certain of that.

Neville wrote:
Absolutely dire performance,match seemed like a practice match first half and Noone was dreadful,not one decent cross. Bridge,Salti and Bridcutt played well and Barnes cannot change the way he plays too predictable, notice Kusczak seemed to say something to Oatway when he went off,any one else notice that.We did not look like scoring all night and until this striker problem is solved nothing will change,we will still struggle for goals.

Regular posters on here have been saying for some weeks that a striker needs to come in sooner rather than later.
On the evidence of this performance Poyet and Co. need to stop dithering and take some action. I am not even convinced one new striker will be enough but that depends on CMS.
I still think we need a 'powerhouse midfielder' notwithstanding the fact that we have signed Crofts. As I have posted before such a player and Crofts are NOT mutually exclusive. Our performance seemed to cry out for someone with a bit of physical presence.
Losing in a tricky tie away to Swindon is one thing but losing 3-0 is another.
What a wake up call !
We seem to have picked up from where we left off last season.
No doubt Poyet will be working the squad hard to put things right.
I appreciate he has limited resouces at present given the injury list. However a solution is available to him.
Rather than talking about getting players in, sign them. After all Poyet has people like David Burke to help him or so we have been led to understand. Really acquiring a striker and a midfielder might make all the difference.
Finally I was surprised that there didn't seem to be any midfield cover and had anticipated Sparrow at least being on the bench if he didn't start.

Utter rubbish, over paid cretins! Perhaps it will shut up the plastics who thought we were Brazil after beating Chelsea. At least Crawley beat Millwall.

i want to see Brighton do well this season, and would rather see it in the league than the cups. Yes, cups are nice and we saw some good games at the Amex last season. But league is what we want. We just need to be play better than that in the league...that's all! Lets see where we are in a couple of weeks...then we can all moan with justification..for the moment, it is too soon....at least forster-caskey will be playing in second round!

pjwilk wrote:
Pretty get us nowhere football again.Crying out for two top class strikers .No punch no commitment,always going to lose.

I agree, although I think there was commitment . The problem is that Gus does not seem to learn from the mistakes of last season. He never plays two strikers together. He may have two on the pitch but always makes one play on the wing like Barnes and Agdestein tonight, or CMS previously. It does not work. Use wingers as wingers and strikers as strikers.

I saw a good match between two teams that like to play football the way I want to see it played. Disappointed we lost, obviously, but not heartbroken. We didn't panic, just kept playing the way we know. That will do for me.

Watched it with a friend who asked me who was favourite to get promoted from the Championship. Had to admit I had no idea so checked the odds online. I see Bolton are favourites, like West Ham were last year. We are about 10th I think. That's worth a cheeky punt!

You guys in the UK are lucky, it's nearly midnight for you and you can sleep and forget our teams performance, or lack there of, I have 8 extra hours to contemplate the result.

The fact that it was a no nothing league cup game is the only good part about it. Looking at the bigger picture does not really help much as tonight showed just how easy it can be to pull us apart. I odn't think we can use the fact that some players are out injured, the team we put out looked, and i say looked, good enough to get the job done.

If there is an up side to this I guess it's this, any striker we are looking to sign will be aware of the fact that he will get a game every week going on tonight's result.

Well done Swindon you deserved the win. .

That's the spirit Vegas

That's now 9 games without a win in the league and cup.
Long hard season to follow. Hope that's the last we see of Harley. Really not good enough. Noone very poor tonight.

Lighten up you lot. It's one game.

I have a concern about the defence. I'm not convinced about Greer. Last season he gave the ball away far too many times, often put our keeper under pressure with some risky back passes, and often his distribution out of defence was poor, sometimes giving suicidal passes to his team mates with the result that we lost possession.
In the air, however, he was very good, often making important clearing headers.
Dunk is another whose distribution is often poor, and he lacks vision. Defensively he is mostly good, and seems to play well with El-Abd.

Midfielders like Dicker (too slow, and gets caught in possession) and Harley (lacks quality and easily knocked off the ball) are not the answer.

Wingers:- Noone has great qualities but his end product is inevitably poor.
Lua Lua has the potential to be brilliant, and could be used as a striker in the future. Buckey - excellent all-round skills.

Forwards: CMS fantastic workrate, but sometime his control lets him down, unselfish, moves into all the right channels - but rarely receives a quality ball. Capable of being prolific, .
Barnes - goal hungry striker, needs to improve ball skills and control.
Hoskins - a class player, good link up skills and close control, and scores goals, but injury prone.
Agdestein - has potential. Needs to sharpen up - could develop into a useful striker, but probably unlikely to reach premiership standard.

Bearing in mind the missing players, and those who did play (like Harley, Dicker and Noone), I'm not surprised at the result.

They have a better manager who has pashion and can motivate his players.We had a manager who looked as if he could not care less.

Dave in Hastings wrote:
Blimey what a load of miserable gits! A meaningless cup match in the grand scheme of things when several key first team members were missing through injury and international call-up. Also Swindon are now a decent side and would have been up for this one far more than the Albion., who are still a work in progress.

As for those moaning about Gus getting rid of Navs, as others have pointed out in the past, he is not good enough to get us where we want to go.

It will get much better, and be another season where we can be proud to be BHA fans, I am certain of that.

At last a measured view.

The knee-jerk moaners are disappointing by their predictability and unreadably depressing.

I'm not too fussed. We had several key players out, Swindon were indeed a decent side (as I expected them to prove), unsurprisingly hungrier and Navs wanted to make a statement.

In a prediction comp with some mates I originally put Crofts down as a scorer. He is our replacement and upgrade from Navs in a manner of speaking, so the fact he didn't play (rested for Saturday's infinitely more important match) while Navs did and somehow bagged a stunning brace out the blue shows that last night's match is no realistic measurement of the wisdom of letting him go.

We want promotion and the players we have to come back: Kaz, Crofts, Buckley, CMS, *the new striker* make a big difference.

IMHO Dicker and Harley won't feature in games that matter and that will be the difference.

thetungsten wrote:
Oh dear!! well when I saw the starting line up I didn't expect to see a dismal result like that!! Well at least we know for sure that we will fail to make any real impact in the championship this year without a goal scoring striker (or two), that's if you didn't know that already, based on last season. I appreciate that the league cup is pretty irrelevant in the grander scheme of things, and  I know we will pick ourselves up from this however I am worried and we all should be if you think we are going to be promotion chasers . Last year we had the 5th worst away form in the league and we scored the 2nd fewest goals away from home. Our defence in comparison was one of the best in the league ( home and away).... So why have we spent the past 4 months strengthening our strongest asset (our defence) at the detriment of letting our weakest asset (our striking options) get weaker?. We dominated the first half this evening and couldn't score (or even get remotely close) and yet when a lower division club dominates in the second half they score 3, easily. I pray that gus and the team can sort something soon otherwise I worry that we will be a mid table team at best. Goals = promotion.... Simples. All these excuses regards 'its complicated' don't work for me. We have known since January that we needed more goal power, and yet with 2 weeks to go in the transfer rumour we are no closer to a solution after waiting 8 months!!  Hull v Brighton will be 0-0 at best !!

In my view this comment shows a complete lack of understanding of our team from last year. It's not like we had an amazing defence and a rubbish attack - the two are fundamentally related. We had a good defence as we played an extra man in midfield, and were very content to knock the ball around our half. As you would expect this meant relatively few goals but a tight defence. Most of the posts on here are a complete joke. We have seen one cup game that is not a priority. Sure it is worrying that a lot of the team were first team players, but equally a lot were not. The system did not quite work, too many players did not get in the game, but lets just be a bit patient. Gus has made some quality signings this summer, Bridge and Bruno looked good and the Keeper will make a big difference. We will be a much, much better team than last year.

LACHANCE wrote:
They have a better manager who has pashion and can motivate his players.We had a manager who looked as if he could not care less.

No they don't. They have a very good manager who's side got the better of us in one game...are a good promotion bet though.

Wouldn't say Gus couldn't care lesS either. In fact couldn't agree less. He looked pretty pished off throughout the second half to me, blanking an attempt to cheer him up by Tanno.

Northampton 2 Albion 0 - did that result mean anything 2 years ago?

Well said seagull 31. Football supporters are the most fickle bunch. I love the way we play under Gus and when we get it right it is very entertaining and we score goals. Just remember, Spain won Euro 2012 with no strikers. If we get the right mix of ood quality players, formations don't matter so much.

Disappointed in the score, obviously - we looked worryingly toothless up front. How ironic that Navs has already got more goals against us than for, after just one game.
However - lets look back at this game from the middle of September and see how much it matters then... I bet most will have forgotten this... after all, we were missing Buckley, KLL, CMS, Crofts.
The League Cup - its a competition you only take seriously if you reach the semis... and we never do that.
Poor start, but thats all it is. 2000-01 we were well beaten on the opening day at Southend, debut keeper (a former dutch marine) was so poor he was taken off and nobody ever thought we'd see him again.... we ended up storming that league.
Two seasons ago, knocked out of the league cup at Northampton... we ended up storming the league.
Not saying we are going to "storm" the league this year - just saying its far far too early to make assumptions about the season ahead.

Give it a few weeks before throwing your hands in the air...

So the recipe for success appears to be ......get turned over by lower-league opposition?

Captain Haddock wrote:

Dave in Hastings wrote:
Blimey what a load of miserable gits! A meaningless cup match in the grand scheme of things when several key first team members were missing through injury and international call-up. Also Swindon are now a decent side and would have been up for this one far more than the Albion., who are still a work in progress.

As for those moaning about Gus getting rid of Navs, as others have pointed out in the past, he is not good enough to get us where we want to go.

It will get much better, and be another season where we can be proud to be BHA fans, I am certain of that.

At last a measured view.

The knee-jerk moaners are disappointing by their predictability and unreadably depressing.

I'm not too fussed. We had several key players out, Swindon were indeed a decent side (as I expected them to prove), unsurprisingly hungrier and Navs wanted to make a statement.

In a prediction comp with some mates I originally put Crofts down as a scorer. He is our replacement and upgrade from Navs in a manner of speaking, so the fact he didn't play (rested for Saturday's infinitely more important match) while Navs did and somehow bagged a stunning brace out the blue shows that last night's match is no realistic measurement of the wisdom of letting him go.

We want promotion and the players we have to come back: Kaz, Crofts, Buckley, CMS, *the new striker* make a big difference.

IMHO Dicker and Harley won't feature in games that matter and that will be the difference.

Captain H I am not sure one could claim Crofts was being rested since he's on international duty with Wales.
Oh well perhaps you could.
The best thing about this result is that it's a wake up call for Poyet re signing extra players especially a striker and, as you and I have posted before Captain H, a 'powerhouse' midfielder - I thought we looked lightweight in midfield like last year.
One further comment is that I think the mental approach to this match appeared totally wrong. It seems we fans, the players and, dare I say it, the management were all treating the tie as if it was another pre-season friendly and of no consequence.
How unwise since the first match of any season quite often sets the 'tone' for the rest of it..

Captain Haddock wrote:

LACHANCE wrote:
They have a better manager who has pashion and can motivate his players.We had a manager who looked as if he could not care less.

No they don't. They have a very good manager who's side got the better of us in one game...are a good promotion bet though.

Wouldn't say Gus couldn't care lesS either. In fact couldn't agree less. He looked pretty pished off throughout the second half to me, blanking an attempt to cheer him up by Tanno.

Sorry but you need to get real what game did you look at?We should have walked all over Swindon last night,we did not show up.Tony is not to pleased.

Our attacks were very predictable up the line on both sides but few defence busting moves around the box and no Plan B
We must obtain another decent striker without delay and play Hythen -Smith,we need to know whether he is fit or being moved on.
Swindon should do well if they continue to play as they did last night.

Hey ho these things happen. Still predict top 6 finish this season. Weakened team against another team that will do well this season and may take bigger cup scalps than us. Focus must be on the hull game, draw will suffice but think we will sneak a 1 nil.

seagull31 wrote:

thetungsten wrote:
Oh dear!! well when I saw the starting line up I didn't expect to see a dismal result like that!! Well at least we know for sure that we will fail to make any real impact in the championship this year without a goal scoring striker (or two), that's if you didn't know that already, based on last season. I appreciate that the league cup is pretty irrelevant in the grander scheme of things, and  I know we will pick ourselves up from this however I am worried and we all should be if you think we are going to be promotion chasers . Last year we had the 5th worst away form in the league and we scored the 2nd fewest goals away from home. Our defence in comparison was one of the best in the league ( home and away).... So why have we spent the past 4 months strengthening our strongest asset (our defence) at the detriment of letting our weakest asset (our striking options) get weaker?. We dominated the first half this evening and couldn't score (or even get remotely close) and yet when a lower division club dominates in the second half they score 3, easily. I pray that gus and the team can sort something soon otherwise I worry that we will be a mid table team at best. Goals = promotion.... Simples. All these excuses regards 'its complicated' don't work for me. We have known since January that we needed more goal power, and yet with 2 weeks to go in the transfer rumour we are no closer to a solution after waiting 8 months!!  Hull v Brighton will be 0-0 at best !!

In my view this comment shows a complete lack of understanding of our team from last year. It's not like we had an amazing defence and a rubbish attack - the two are fundamentally related. We had a good defence as we played an extra man in midfield, and were very content to knock the ball around our half. As you would expect this meant relatively few goals but a tight defence. Most of the posts on here are a complete joke. We have seen one cup game that is not a priority. Sure it is worrying that a lot of the team were first team players, but equally a lot were not. The system did not quite work, too many players did not get in the game, but lets just be a bit patient. Gus has made some quality signings this summer, Bridge and Bruno looked good and the Keeper will make a big difference. We will be a much, much better team than last year.

Good post!

Defence did need strengthening exactly as it has been. Why would that be to the detriment of the defence? If our CBs didn't have an off day we wouldn't have conceded at all (were so solid on flanks).

Generally the players we've brought in will improve the solidity of our team and resultantly allow us to play a more progressive attacking game with players able to commit more and for our passing game to be more high tempo and incisive in the opposition half.

Yes, we also need a striker but that's being worked on....it's happens when (if) it happens!

tooncgull wrote:
Disappointed in the score, obviously - we looked worryingly toothless up front. How ironic that Navs has already got more goals against us than for, after just one game.
However - lets look back at this game from the middle of September and see how much it matters then... I bet most will have forgotten this... after all, we were missing Buckley, KLL, CMS, Crofts.
The League Cup - its a competition you only take seriously if you reach the semis... and we never do that.
Poor start, but thats all it is. 2000-01 we were well beaten on the opening day at Southend, debut keeper (a former dutch marine) was so poor he was taken off and nobody ever thought we'd see him again.... we ended up storming that league.
Two seasons ago, knocked out of the league cup at Northampton... we ended up storming the league.
Not saying we are going to "storm" the league this year - just saying its far far too early to make assumptions about the season ahead.

Give it a few weeks before throwing your hands in the air...

And again great points.

ballantrrae wrote:

Captain Haddock wrote:

Dave in Hastings wrote:
Blimey what a load of miserable gits! A meaningless cup match in the grand scheme of things when several key first team members were missing through injury and international call-up. Also Swindon are now a decent side and would have been up for this one far more than the Albion., who are still a work in progress.

As for those moaning about Gus getting rid of Navs, as others have pointed out in the past, he is not good enough to get us where we want to go.

It will get much better, and be another season where we can be proud to be BHA fans, I am certain of that.

At last a measured view.

The knee-jerk moaners are disappointing by their predictability and unreadably depressing.

I'm not too fussed. We had several key players out, Swindon were indeed a decent side (as I expected them to prove), unsurprisingly hungrier and Navs wanted to make a statement.

In a prediction comp with some mates I originally put Crofts down as a scorer. He is our replacement and upgrade from Navs in a manner of speaking, so the fact he didn't play (rested for Saturday's infinitely more important match) while Navs did and somehow bagged a stunning brace out the blue shows that last night's match is no realistic measurement of the wisdom of letting him go.

We want promotion and the players we have to come back: Kaz, Crofts, Buckley, CMS, *the new striker* make a big difference.

IMHO Dicker and Harley won't feature in games that matter and that will be the difference.

Captain H I am not sure one could claim Crofts was being rested since he's on international duty with Wales.
Oh well perhaps you could.
The best thing about this result is that it's a wake up call for Poyet re signing extra players especially a striker and, as you and I have posted before Captain H, a 'powerhouse' midfielder - I thought we looked lightweight in midfield like last year.
One further comment is that I think the mental approach to this match appeared totally wrong. It seems we fans, the players and, dare I say it, the management were all treating the tie as if it was another pre-season friendly and of no consequence.
How unwise since the first match of any season quite often sets the 'tone' for the rest of it..

Oh yes! Haha. Totally forgot about the internationals!

This start of season is a bit weird, perhaps the League Cup being the curtain raiser has led to the indifference you allude to Ballantrrae?

LACHANCE wrote:

Captain Haddock wrote:

LACHANCE wrote:
They have a better manager who has pashion and can motivate his players.We had a manager who looked as if he could not care less.

No they don't. They have a very good manager who's side got the better of us in one game...are a good promotion bet though.

Wouldn't say Gus couldn't care lesS either. In fact couldn't agree less. He looked pretty pished off throughout the second half to me, blanking an attempt to cheer him up by Tanno.

Sorry but you need to get real what game did you look at?We should have walked all over Swindon last night,we did not show up.Tony is not to pleased.

And Chelsea should have walked all over us!

I watched the same game as you....didn't suggest we deserved to win at all - hinted at the opposite in fact.

Am I happy? No.
Am I gutted? No.

Tbh, I'd rather we get out of this comp, conserve energy etc for the "thick and fast" upcoming league schedule (less injuries than last Autumn / Winter please footy Gods!!) and have ourselves a great FA Cup run in Jan ->

Captain Haddock wrote:

seagull31 wrote:

thetungsten wrote:
Oh dear!! well when I saw the starting line up I didn't expect to see a dismal result like that!! Well at least we know for sure that we will fail to make any real impact in the championship this year without a goal scoring striker (or two), that's if you didn't know that already, based on last season. I appreciate that the league cup is pretty irrelevant in the grander scheme of things, and  I know we will pick ourselves up from this however I am worried and we all should be if you think we are going to be promotion chasers . Last year we had the 5th worst away form in the league and we scored the 2nd fewest goals away from home. Our defence in comparison was one of the best in the league ( home and away).... So why have we spent the past 4 months strengthening our strongest asset (our defence) at the detriment of letting our weakest asset (our striking options) get weaker?. We dominated the first half this evening and couldn't score (or even get remotely close) and yet when a lower division club dominates in the second half they score 3, easily. I pray that gus and the team can sort something soon otherwise I worry that we will be a mid table team at best. Goals = promotion.... Simples. All these excuses regards 'its complicated' don't work for me. We have known since January that we needed more goal power, and yet with 2 weeks to go in the transfer rumour we are no closer to a solution after waiting 8 months!!  Hull v Brighton will be 0-0 at best !!

In my view this comment shows a complete lack of understanding of our team from last year. It's not like we had an amazing defence and a rubbish attack - the two are fundamentally related. We had a good defence as we played an extra man in midfield, and were very content to knock the ball around our half. As you would expect this meant relatively few goals but a tight defence. Most of the posts on here are a complete joke. We have seen one cup game that is not a priority. Sure it is worrying that a lot of the team were first team players, but equally a lot were not. The system did not quite work, too many players did not get in the game, but lets just be a bit patient. Gus has made some quality signings this summer, Bridge and Bruno looked good and the Keeper will make a big difference. We will be a much, much better team than last year.

Good post!

Defence did need strengthening exactly as it has been. Why would that be to the detriment of the defence? If our CBs didn't have an off day we wouldn't have conceded at all (were so solid on flanks).

Generally the players we've brought in will improve the solidity of our team and resultantly allow us to play a more progressive attacking game with players able to commit more and for our passing game to be more high tempo and incisive in the opposition half.

Yes, we also need a striker but that's being worked on....it's happens when (if) it happens!

*sorry, should read "why to the detriment of our STRIKER recruitment?", not defence!