My brothers, who are Leicester season ticket holders, have now seen both ourselves and Brighton this season. Interesting to hear their comments on our respective clubs. The main comment was 'Brighton aren't in the same league as you lot'. They think Brighton will struggle to finish top half and they are worried we will run away with it and be out of sight by Christmas. This is coming from two people who hate saying anything good about Southampton. They said Brighton were time wasting from the start, incredibly boring to watch and Mackail-Smith was shockingly bad. They said Saints outplayed them for long periods, were unlucky to give away the third goal that should have been disallowed and if it wasn't for Schmeichel we'd have won. Personally, I have to disagree to a certain extent with them. I agree that the way Brighton play is not what I would pay to see week in week out but I think they will be effective and be contenders for the top six. I also find it unlikely that we will be out of sight by Christmas. Anyway, well done Leicester. Good to see Brighton finally lose.
I remember Brighton time-wastig endlessly when they came to St Mary's last season. I remember them bring very poor too. We dominated the whole of that game but just couldn't get it in the net...
I agree with you. Although Poyet comes across as an ungracious berk I think he is a good manager who has organised his team well. They defend well and will score goals so I wouldn't rule them out of being in the mix come the end of the season. As much as it's nice of your reletives to compliment Saints, I don't think they can really judge us or Brighton on the one performance they've seen (unless you've treated them to a visit to St Mary's).
Always nice to get compliments, and they are richly deserved. I haven't seen a Saints team play with such style since the Lawrie Mac days. One of the best things is how that first defeat was quickly forgotten and we have subsequently beaten two very good teams at home. "Old" Saints teams would have blown up after that defeat. Adkins deserves all the plaudits going.
And but for a Kelvin penalty save they would have taken the 3 points. Brighton are seriously dangerous and I still haven't decided who will finish higher out of us and them.
I know Macail-Smith is a good player, but I've seen him miss more sitters than score goals this season!
It's seems a bit of a coincidence that alot of fans of different teams have said the same about brighton,there must be some truth in them being boring and dirty,i know they were when they came to st marys last season,couldn't believe they were top!
I think you can criticise Brighton all you like, but just look where they are. After Poyet went into the club it was almost like turning a switch - they immediately started to improve. Boring they may be, but they have a tenacity about them which is effective. As far as CMS is concerned, I noticed that everything he touched last season turned into a goal. It's not so easy this time out. Think the Championship may be his quality level, but then again, Brighton aren't anywhere near so gung-ho as Peterborough, so he doesn't get so many chances to score.
Couldn't have really summed it up any better to be honest! Wouldn't mind seeing Poyet shake Adkins' hand next time we play them however.
I am leaning towards us right now as well. But they have all of that too, which is why we are both doing so well. I like Brighton so hopefully we will both have good seasons.
i think we will finish above brighton - trying to use my head and not my bias here, i think that we have more strength in depth and more quality in our team all throughout whereas brighton have some decent players but some of them are being carried and they may fall away. they will be in and around the top 6 me thinks but i thought they might falter when they played one of the more quality teams and i think that may continue to be the case. we certainly wont stay top and should enjoy being top while we still are, not to say im writing us off for promotion though - i honestly think if we come out with 3 points from our next 2 away league games then we may be serious automatic contenders. i say that because alot of our wins have been at home already
I don't really have a preference, because neither appear on my could-I-give-a-toss? radar. But I can imagine people being more excited by finishing above Brighton than Pompey because this season, by my definition, I believe finishing above Brighton will automatically mean we'll finish above Pompey. It won't necessarily the case the other way around.
My reasoning would be that Brighton are more likely a top 6 side than Pompey so the maths is simple, and I expect many people's reasoning to be the same? I hold no grudge over Brighton and don't consider them a rival as such other than being a league rival and we want to get promoted. However, as I live in Pompey, and was at the 2004 game, I do hold a massive grudge but don't consider them promotion rivals....
Finishing above Portsmouth FC is hardly a target to aspire to is it. We would probably achieve that if we didn't win another game all season.
