Opinion: Are Brighton going backwards under Fabian Hurzeler?

So, yet another Albion nearly but not quite. I came away from Old Trafford on Saturday night almost on the cusp of frustration and disappointment.

Were Manchester United the better team? The 4-2 scoreline would suggest that, but then I’d counter at times the Albion were the better side, a little bit of naivety in defending and an unfortunate deflection for the second United goal just before the break, told its own story.

But even then, at 3-2 with roughly five minutes left on the clock, the United fans I was sat with were genuinely worried the Albion would end up nicking a point!

But they didn’t and defeat in the North West prompted the inevitable Albion related meltdown on social media.

Many years ago, well before the advent of social media, I recall a conversation I had with the then Albion boss, the late Barry Lloyd.

Back at a time were in the main everybody kicked off at 3pm on a Saturday, aka The Good Old Days! ‘Baz’ was under fire from sections of the crowd over some inept performances on the pitch.

Whilst at times it was getting a bit lively at the Goldstone, I commented Barry was lucky, imagine if he was Newcastle manager, when they got beat. The overwhelming majority of Toon fans were still hurting until 2.55pm the following week.

Brighton fans clearly had a level of passion, but to a large number of them, by the time Cilla Black came on Blind Date on Saturday night, the result of that day was parked!

Barry did counter with, given the rumoured salary package at St James’s Park at that time, he’d love to manage The Toon, never mind how upset the fans got!

But the aforementioned social media meltdown, specifically a thread started on line Saturday which asked, “Are we going backwards or standing still?”

Naturally it generated huge traffic and over 200 individual comments, but whilst, with my phone-in hat on, I always loved a knee jerk reaction, reading it a couple of days later I do wonder if some sections, not all, of the Albion support are in danger of becoming self-entitled?

We are only 9 games in, it’s a symmetrical, 3 wins, 3 draws, 3 defeats, and you could argue 2 of those draws, Fulham and Spurs should have been wins.

But we could be Wolves, Forest or West Ham, even perhaps Fulham?

Brighton can finish between sixth and ninth

Although not a present, we are in and around the top 10 teams in the greatest league on the planet. Come the last game in May, ironically at home to Manchester United, I predict the Albion will be between 6-9 place and almost certainly above Man United!

Go back 30 years, with the Goldstone sold and relegation to the bottom Division all but assured before Xmas, for those who didn’t live through it, I assure you it was grim.

Hurzeler is not perfect, who is, just look at Arne Slot who has now lost four on the bounce up at Anfield! But we are certainly not standing still or even going backwards.

Given the gravity of the league, every game is effectively a Cup Final. I wonder how the keyboard warriors will react if as I believe the Albion now record back-to-back wins, in their next two games Leeds United at home and a trip to Palace in the M23 Derby?

Fun fact, it was Philip C McGraw, (Dr Phil) who first coined the phrase “It’s a Marathon not a Sprint.”, maybe the Fabian detractors should remember that.