November Summary Can we get back to winning ways?
Genoa in the cup
Ince scores a belter
Genoa 1 v 1 Brighton (EC) Ulloa
Possession 51%
“Ulloa gave us the lead in the 30th minute. Been using him mainly as a impact sub but he still doing better than Hooper and Doumbia. Gilardino had to ruin the lead by equalizing in the 87th minute.”
Brighton 1 v 2 Arsenal (L) Ulloa
Possession 55%
“Another game where we played well but couldn’t get anything from the match.”
Wolves 2 v 2 Brighton (L) Ince, Milner
Possession 56%
“We played well and took a good lead through Ince, but a couple of defensive mistakes let them back in. Milner managed to get a goal before full time.”
Sunderland 1 v 2 Brighton (L) Ince, Coleman
Possession 58%
“20th place Sunderland, hopefully we can win here. Sunderland took an early lead but two late counter attacking goals won it for us.”
Brighton 2 v 0 Reading (L) Torres, Papadopoulos
Possession 64%
“A great win. Back to back victories can hopefully give us momentum to fly up the table.”
Player of the month:
Tom Ince – scored a couple of important goals and has been our best player this season
December Summary Euro group decided
Southampton in the FA Cup
Doumbia out for 4 months
Brighton 4 v 0 Tromso (EC) Ince (2), Forster-Caskey, Mancienne
Possession 76% (record)
“Ince gave us the lead in the 36th minute. Caskey added a second with a 20 yard free kick. Ince added again in the 77th minute. Mancienne added further misery for Tromso just before full time. Forster-Caskey also set a new passing record with 178 passes/ out of 189 attempted passes.”
Stoke 1 v 1 Brighton (L) Doumbia
Possession 57%
“A good hard fought point at the Britannia Stadium.”
Everton 0 v 0 Brighton (L)
Possession 55%
“A good point but really needed a win. Our strikers are having problems scoring.”
“With top spot automatic decided to play my second team. But Ulloa got sent off within 2 minutes, so had to play the rest of the match without a striker with no backups on the bench. A great away win.”
Brighton 1 v 0 Norwich (L) Ince
Possession 62%
“A narrow win with Ince scoring the only goal. But a win is a win and moving up the table.”
Brighton 0 v 1 Man City (L)
Possession 54%
“An even game that could have gone either way. Bit disappointed we couldn’t get anything from the match.”
Fulham 0 v 2 Brighton (L) Buckley, Barnes
Possession 60%
“Both Hooper and sub Torres got injured but luckily had Barnes on the bench. Barry missed a penalty in the 41st minute. Buckley gave us the lead in the 52nd minute and Barnes added just before full time.”
Brighton 2 v 0 Tottenham (L) Martins Indi (OG), Torres
Possession 56%
“Enjoy playing Tottenham. They gave us the lead within minutes and Torres another to put us out of site.”
Player of the month:
James Milner – has been assisting many of the goals and has been influential in all the matches he has played in
“West gave us the lead just after half time. Theophilo added a second in his first start. Progress to the next round.”
Brighton 4 v 1 Blackburn (L) Bertrand, Hooper, Bridcutt, West
Possession 64%
“3 goals inside 21 minutes and cruising. Blackburn pulled a goal back but we were too strong for them. West added further misery with a 30 yard free kick.”
West Ham 0 v 2 Brighton (L) Papadopoulos, Ulloa
Possession 60%
“The giant Greek gave us the lead with a storming header in the 24th minute. Ulloa added a second in the 81st minute. A great win which keeps us on course for a top ten finish.”
Player of the month:
Liam Bridcutt – 3 man of the match awards says it all
February Summary Man City in the FA Cup
Home and away trips to Schalke
No league wins this month
Liverpool 1 v 0 Brighton (L)
Possession 52%
“Normally be ok with a 1-0 loss away to Liverpool but we played really well and had so many chances to win it!”
Brighton 1 v 1 Hull (L) West
Possession 65%
“West gave us the lead with a close range header in the 33rd minute but Hull pulled a goal back before the end. We also loss Bridcutt and Ince to injuries.”
Brighton 1 v 0 Man City (FAC) Barry
Possession 59%
“Never get any straight forward ties in the FA Cup! A Barry penalty was the difference between the two sides. This could be our year in the FA Cup!”
Schalke 2 v 1 Brighton (EC) Buckley
Possession 52%
“The giant Greek returns to his old club and gives away a penalty! We went 2-0 down but Buckley pulled an away goal back which could help us in the second leg.”
Brighton 2 v 0 Schalke (EC) Hooper (2)
Possession 57%
“Hooper gave us the lead within 12 minutes. He added a second in the 36th minute. The pace and flair of Hooper, West, Hughes and Buckley caused them too many problems! A fantastic win!”
Brighton 1 v 1 Man Utd (L) West
Possession 54%
“A great point against a strong United side especially losing key players West and Hughes to fatigue.”
Player of the month:
Will Hughes – has been great this month for us, supporting the striker
Chelsea 5 v 1 Brighton (L) Bertrand
Possession 54%
“We were awful. We didn’t help ourselves by conceding 4 goals in the first 35 minutes. A poor start to the month.”
Ajax 0 v 1 Brighton (EC) Hughes
Possession 51%
“He gave us the lead and an important away goal after some messy Ajax defending. A great win to take to the second leg.”
Brighton 0 v 1 West Brom (L)
Possession 52%
“With the second leg with Ajax decided to rest some key players and give youngsters Walton and Markoutz a match. A disappointing loss in a match we should have won.”
Brighton 1 v 0 Ajax (EC) West
Possession 66%
“Decided to move West upfront for the last 10 minutes and he scores! A great win, 2-0 on aggregate. Will play Espanyol in the Quarter finals.”
Aston Villa 2 v 2 Brighton (FAC) Ulloa, Milner
Possession 63%
“Pogba injured Ince after 30 seconds and Villa took the lead through Grant Hanley. But Ulloa pulled a goal back through a pen. Few minutes later they injured Bridcutt. Pogba was the culprit again and wasn’t sent off! Milner gave us the lead in the 70th minute. Hanley then scored a free kick from his own half. McGregor dived under it!”
Arsenal 0 v 0 Brighton
Possession 52%
“A good away point but could have done with a win.”
Brighton 1 v 3 Sunderland (L) Ulloa
Possession 60%
“Ulloa gave us the lead with a powerful finish but Sunderland soon equalised. They scored 2 goals in the second half. Another poor display from us.”
Player of the month:
Papadopoulos – based on league form no one should get it. But the giant Greek gets it for some great displays with Dunk and De Vrij out injured
“After going 1-0 down, I thought oh no here we go again! But a great comeback and win!”
Espanyol 5 v 0 Brighton (EC)
Possession 56%
“We were dreadful and completely destroyed in the second half. McGregor also conceded another goal from the opposite half. 5-1 on aggregate.”
Brighton 1 v 2 Wolves (L) Barnes
Possession 58%
“Another poor display in the league from us.”
Brighton 2 v 1 Aston Villa (FAC) Hooper, Torres
Possession 55%
“Aston Villa went infront through Grant Hanley. But supersub Hooper and Torres put us through to the next round.”
Brighton 0 v 2 Reading (FAC)
Possession 61%
“Pleased we reached the semi-finals but we should have beaten 20th place Reading for a place in the final.”
Brighton 3 v 0 Stoke (L) Mancienne, De Vrij, Ince
Possession 66%
“A good victory after our disappointing cup loss.”
Norwich 3 v 1 Brighton (L) Ince
Possession 60%
“A disappointing loss for us.”
Man City 2 v 1 Brighton (L) Dede (OG)
Possession 50%
“Man City took a 2-0 lead but we quickly pulled a goal back. Felt we should have least got a draw. In the last 15 we hit the post, missed a pen and had a goal disallowed. It was also spoilt by injuries to Ince, Bridcutt and Gibbs.”
Player of the month:
Tom Ince – has been scoring, assisting and making defences look awful
May Summary 2 games left
Which players will make the European Championships?
Ince scores a Messi-esque goal
Brighton 1 v 1 Everton (L) Ince
Possession 53%
“We were completely over Everton, Hooper had a chance after chance but we couldn’t get a winner. Hooper has been very poor this season (22 league matches, 2 goals). Should have won!”
Season Summary Our third season in the Premier League and we finished 8th. We got to the 3rd round of the League cup, semi-final of the FA cup and the quarter-final of the Euro cup. This season was mixed as we won’t able to build on last season’s success but still got a respectable position. In the League Cup we won’t out early again but to Man Utd. But in the FA Cup we achieved our best finish reaching the semi-finals, disappointed we couldn’t beat Reading though. In the Euro Cup we did well and reached the quarter-finals beating Schalke and Ajax, only a poor second leg stopped us reaching the semi’s.
At the end of the season Man City won the league. Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea make up the remaining Champions League places. Misery for Blackburn, Sunderland and Reading who were all relegated. They have been replaced by Southampton, Swansea and Watford who have come up from the Championship. Man Utd won the League Cup and Chelsea won the FA Cup. Liverpool (5th), Tottenham (6th) and Reading (FA Cup runners-up) all will be in the Euro Cup next season.
Round Europe: Montpellier, Leverkusen, Ajax, Juventus, PSV, FCP and Real Madrid won their leagues. Man City beat Real Madrid 4-2 in the Champions League. Espanyol beat Valencia 3-1 in the Euro Cup.
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Premier League awards:
Footballer of the year: Jack Wilshere
Player’s player of the year: Thiago
Top scorer: Oliver Giroud (29 goals)
Young player of the year: Phil Jones
Manager of the year: Ciro Ferrera
Brighton awards:
Player of the year: Stefan De Vrij
Top scorer: Tom Ince (11 goals)
Top assists: James Milner (12 assists)
Highest average rating: Papadopoulos (7.51)
Average possession (league): 59%
Average possession (overall): 62%
New Season Season Objectives:
Top 6 finish
Final of a cup
Play attacking possession football
Pre-season:
Beijing 1 v 0 Brighton
Jiangsu 2 v 1 Brighton
Shensua 0 v 4 Brighton
FC Red Bull Salzburg 0 v 2 Brighton
Barcelona 1 v 0 Brighton
Brighton 2 v 1 River
“With no Euro Cup, had a lot of time to setup up friendlies with a tour of China then some better friendlies. After a slow start playing youngsters we kicked off and played well in most of our games and only narrowly loss against Barcelona. The new signings gelled well but need to loan out some of the youngsters to gain some experience.”
Out:
Stefan De Vrij - £26m
Ashley Barnes - £2.6m
Kazenga LuaLua - £250k
“Both Maupay were signed before the transfer window and will give us more quality and potential. Chalobah comes in and I hope he can take over the anchorman role off the aging Barry. Carrick was 35 but hopefully he will have the same quality that Barry brought to the side. Fischer was not originally a target with Zaha and Chamberlain not available I decided to sign him and he seems a good prospect. Robson was signed a while ago and Sheldon Boswell is a defensive midfielder/ left back who has already got 30 caps for Jamaica so will loan him out but again he is one for the future. De Vrij was the player of the season last year but £26m is a lot of money, plus I have Smalling coming in. The rest were not good enough for Brighton’s ambition.”
Norway manager Decided to take up international management alongside Brighton with only Poland and Norway available decided to take over the Norwegians with my ultimate aim of managing England. Hopefully, I can guide Norway to the World Cup and further.
September Summary First international win
Arsenal in the League Cup
5 goal thriller with Everton
West Ham 2 v 1 Brighton (L) West
Possession 57%
“A disappointing loss.”
Fulham 2 v 2 Brighton (L) Maupay, Dunk
Possession 55%
“A good point against Fulham.”
Brighton 2 v 1 Arsenal (LC) Papadopoulous, West
Possession 54%
“Papadopoulous gave us the lead just before half time with a header. West added a second with a classy finish. Giroud scored a consolation. A great win.”
Brighton 3 v 2 Everton (L) Doumbia, Ince (2)
Possession 55%
“Simon *** gave Everton the lead before Doumbia pulled a goal back. Ince then buried 2 further goals before they scored a consolation.”
Player of the month:
West – has scored some great goals and produced good performances
League position:
8th
--- Internationals: Norway 3 v 0 Luxembourg (WCQ) Hedenstad, Forren, King
“Our first win and hopefully the start of our journey to the World Cup!"
October Summary Man City face Seagull barricade
More Norway games
Mixed league form
Brighton 1 v 1 Arsenal (L) Ince
Possession 50%
“We went behind after some scrappy defending but Ince pulled us a goal back with 10 minutes to spare.”
Aston Villa 0 v 1 Brighton (L) Gibbs
Possession 55%
“Gibbs scored a great goal which was the difference between the sides.”
Wolves 2 v 1 Brighton (L) Maupay
Possession 56%
“A disappointing loss against Wolves.”
Brighton 4 v 0 Ipswich (LC) Hooper (2), West (2)
Possession 58%
“Hooper gave us the lead after 6 minutes with West adding a penalty a few minutes later. West added his second in the 19th minute. Hooper made it four with a few minutes left. A great win!”
Brighton 1 v 0 Man City (L) Bertrand
Possession 49%
“Bertrand gave us the lead after 9 minutes with a classy finish. Dede got sent off for them with an hour of the match still remaining. A great win! Dunk was phenomenal!”
Player of the month:
Lewis Dunk – has been a rock in the defence this month
League position:
8th
--- Internationals: Norway 2 v 1 Australia (F) Elyounoussi, Abdellaoue
“A great win considering Australia were heavy favourites.”
Norway 1 v 0 Iceland (WCQ) Abdellaoue
“A solo goal was enough to get us the win. Expect better performances in the next game.”
“After our poor display against United I need the players to react and that they did. Milner was on fire.”
Watford 2 v 5 Brighton (L) Hughes, Hooper, West (2), Maupay
Possession 62%
“Hughes scored the first goal after some excellent build up play. Hooper added a belter from the edge of the box. West added another 2 goals just before half time. Maupay added our final goal in the second half. A great win but disappointed we conceded two sloppy goals.”
Player of the month:
James Milner – purely based on his hattrick and performance against Stoke
“I spent quite a bit on some top English talent. Brought in Zaha and Welbeck who will hopefully provide us with goals to help maintain our top 4 ambitions. Motohashi was a youngster I was interested in before he went to Valencia. Luckily Valencia listed him and with 22 caps already seems a real prospect. With the transfers in I needed to get rid of some players. Tottenham came in with a £12m offer, thought I was dreaming considering his goal return. Buckley and Ulloa both signed for Liverpool. Both have been great players for us but unfortunately it was time to leave. Takes our British players to 20/ 25.”
Brighton 3 v 0 Fulham (LC) West (2), Hooper
Possession 60%
“West gave us the lead at the stroke of half time. Hooper added a second in th 51st minute. West completed the scoring a minute later. A great first leg victory.”
Ulloa scored on his Liverpool debut against Man City. Hopefully with our game in hand we can overtake Liverpool. Cheers Ulloa!
Brighton 2 v 0 West Ham (L) West, Maupay
Possession 61%
“A great win with West and Maupay scoring. Zaha also made his debut.”
Liverpool 1 v 1 Brighton (FAC) Hughes
Possession 62%
“Just as Ulloa helped us overtake City he almost put us out. Luckily Hughes got a goal with 10 minutes to spare.”
Everton 0 v 2 Brighton (L) Fischer, Welbeck
Possession 52%
“Fischer gave us the lead in the 35th minute. Welbeck finished them off in the last minute.”
Fulham 2 v 1 Brighton (LC) Danilo Theophilo
Possession 47%
“Through to the final with a 4-2 victory to face Chelsea. Could this be revenge or another Chelsea thrashing?”
Newcastle 0 v 2 Brighton (L) Welbeck (2)
Possession 51%
“6th against 5th. 2 goals from Welbeck was enough to defeat Newcastle. He looks a great signing.”
Arsenal 3 v 0 Brighton (L)
Possession 54%
“Just a very poor display which ends our unbeaten run.”
Brighton 1 v 2 Liverpool (FAC) Maupay
Possession 54% 2-1 AET
“With 10 minutes to spare Ulloa does it again and scores against us which takes it to extra time. He also added with 2 minutes left in extra time. Gutted.”
Brighton 1 v 0 Fulham (L) Hooper
Possession 65%
“Hooper gave us the lead in the 52nd minute. That goal was enough to keep our Champions League hopes alive.”
Player of the month:
Matthew West – could have gone to Dunk, Welbeck, Hughes or Smalling but West just edges it with some great performances.
“This is reminiscant of my first season in charge of Brighton where we thrashed a fairly inexperienced side 4-0 with the only survivors Christensen, Bridcutt, West and Bertrand (opposite team). A lot has changed since then with us now a top 10 Premier League side rather than a midtable Championship side.
Looking at the line up Chelsea have got a decent young team. Will look to exploit the inexperience of the back four apart from De Vrij (who I hope doesn’t Ulloa us) lack competitive games.
Kick off. We started well testing Courtois with a few shots. But after a Chelsea counter attack they tooked the lead through Comes. However, we were awarded a penalty in the 34th minute which Ince cooly slotted home. Mata gave Chelsea the lead just before half time with a free kick.
Second half. With us still trailing decided to move West to DLF position and brought on Danilo Theophilo for Fischer. But he got injured a few minutes later so brought on Hooper. We gave everything just couldn’t score!”
Man City 2 v 0 Brighton (L)
Possession 49%
“A very poor display from us.”
Brighton 1 v 0 Wolves (L) Welbeck
Possession 62%
“A better display after the City game but would like more goals!”
Player of the month:
Will Hughes – his Premier League player of the month says it all
“Bridcutt gave us an early lead with a thumping shot. Byram doubled our lead in the 36th minute. Danilo added another just after half time. Southampton scored a consolation late on.”
Hull 2 v 0 Brighton (L)
Possession 54%
“A very poor display against Hull considering we had so many chances.”
Player of the month:
Chris Smalling – has been great this month for us
League position:
5th
--- Internationals: Romania 0 v 2 Norway (WCQ) Berisha, Elyounoussi
“A great away win against one of our rivals for the top spot. Level with Belgium after 4 games with 10 points."
