Look, our ultimate capability as a team is to do a Poch/Koeman era Saints. Otherwise known these days as "A Brighton".
That's the totality of our position. We aren't going to do better than that, bar a mental Leicester situation. Which won't happen.
So, with that in mind, today is utterly irrelevant in the grand scheme. Of course we want to win every game, but this might actually be a blessing, as now Russell knows for sure which players can and can't compete to take us back to that hallowed "top ten with a crack at the odd European adventure" land.
We're much, much, much better off concentrating on the how and why of that, than reaching the fourth round of the Caribou Cup and being knocked out by the first competent PL side we face. Sorry, but that's the reality.
I'm loving being in the Championship right now, because it's nice being in the unusual position of at least expecting to compete for a win in every game. There's quarter of a billion games every season in the Championship, so to do that, we need to prioritise. And reaching the fourth round of the Caribou is not a priority. Getting ourselves in a position to go back up and then solidify ourselves as a good PL team is.
I'd rather stay in the Championship than be a 'teetering near relegation' side forever in the PL. But that's not what the owners or manager are after. We're after that mid-noughties Saints, current Brighton position. And at that stage we go for competitions like this too.
It's not for now.