The Pochettino Story | Season 2

Seagulls capitalize on easy fixtures to stay in top four race 

Marcus Edwards scored a terrific individual goal against his old team to secure a thrilling point against Tottenham. Tottenham remain 7 points ahead of second place Liverpool but struggled to find the second goal against a energized Brighton side. The next two matches for Brighton were against sides they should be beating. Ipswich, sitting on 4 points and already relegated, were brushed aside by the two new signings both scoring and assisting the other in the match. 

Everton were just as easy despite the score line. Brighton had 68% possession and out-shot the Toffees 18-2 in the match. With everyone healthy and the new signings fitting in, Brighton are looking like a side ready for Europe. 

"They are unbeaten in their last 8 matches in all comps and have won 7 of them. This is a scary side that Pochettino is putting together already. The board has already shown they will spend money, Pochettino has shown he knows the pieces needed. I am really excited to see this side continue to grow and what can happen with a few more pieces added."  TheAthleticFC Brighton and Hove Albion correspondent Andy Naylor wrote after the match.

Brighton have come a long way to see Everton as an easy fixture. Roll back the years to the 1980's with Brighton in the 2nd and 3rd tier and Everton winning league titles and the Cup Winners Cup too. I suppose a lot has happened since then.

I had a feeling that Callum O'Hare would be a good signing for you, given how well he's always performed, when I've played against him. And there you go, goal and assist in your FA Cup win.

Good to see you finding luck in the cup draw, an a trip to Wembley is looking rather likely. But one shouldn't take anything for granted and end up underestimating The Tractor Boys.

Looking good for Brighton. Amex Stadium is a fortress.

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@LABoog4 wrote:
I did not realize how great our home record is. That's one reason I switched to game by game updates, it gives me a chance to slow down and look at the stories and stats instead of just playing game after game.

I still need 3 clean sheets at home to complete one objective.

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Makes sense. I wish I could do this myself, but I just play the game too often to make game by game updates. I would probably spam the thread with new posts several times daily, and it would be a drag for me. And I also enjoy getting myself a number of seasons in, so game by game updates would certainly delay that process. But on the other hand I really enjoy other approaches like yours, where rumours, interviews and other things come to life between games.

Denmark! Good to see two Danish players at your disposal. We haven't seen too many Danish players in French football historically. There was a little phenomenon a decade ago, with Evian and Guingamp attracting quite a few Danes. Daniel Wass and Stephan Andersen to Evian. Jonas Lössl, Lars Jacobsen, Nicki Bille and Jesper Juelsgård to Guingamp. Currently there are also Rasmus Nicolaisen and Mikkel Desler at Toulouse, with Mohamed Daramy at Stade de Reims.

I could actually se Victor Nelsson make a move to a club like Marseille. He is currently trapped a bit at Galatasaray, refusing to sign a new contract, thus being left out of the matchday squad quite often. So a move to a top club in France could work out well for the defender, who was in the squad for the 2024 Euros, but was withdrawn last minute with an injury, replaced by Zanka.

Morten Hjulmand is too good and too expensive to join Marseille though. So you should count yourself lucky to have got him in your squad already. Rumours link him with Man United, Arsenal and other top clubs these days, and he actually has an Arsenal tattoo on his shoulder.

A good squad all in all. A little crowded with right backs though. I'm not familiar with the Pemi fellow, and Auba may find himself in a rapid decline. So I would expect your front three to be an area worth strenghtening...

Nice to see a mention about Ikoné. In real life, he's being seriously linked to Ajax actually (which is why I follow him with above average curiousity)

I like the Ikoné signing! Obviously the best French players end up in Real Madrid in such, but Ligue 1 really need the second best to remain in the league, rather than joining subtop clubs in Italy etc.

I like your presentation of stats. But may I suggest a minor change? From left to right it's presented with possession-passes-yellow-yellow-possession-passes.

In my opinion it's more logical to do it possession-passes-yellow-yellow-passes-possession, mirroring itself left to right. A minor detail, and perhaps it's just me finding it easier to compare the stats that way.