Premier League - Brighton & Hove Albion vs Ipswich Town Preview & Matchday Thread

[Charnwood]

Hutchinson is best on the right, Szmodics is best in the centre, I think it would be very hard for someone to argue against that, so I don't know why they're not being played that way...

That's my only minor quibble. I'm desperate to see Clarke Szmodics Hutchinson.

completely agree - if we must play just one up front every game then we need a bit of creation behind, and I think the middle 3 you suggest is probably our best option.

Clarke looked very good indeed when he got on

From the moment we signed Jack Clarke I’ve said he should be a permanent starter on the left of three with Szmodics & Hutchinson. This is even more important when Phillips starts as he will be forced to play deep to bolster the defence leaving a huge gap between him and the three in front. What Jack Clarke will do is come back looking for the ball and then use his electric pace to make up ground and even better over the course of a season score a decent number of goals.

[Charnwood]

What an excellent and battling point that was against a team that can trouble anyone on their day.

Much better after the break and made a game of it, stunning run and shot from Delap nearly had us in dreamland. We looked much better when the subs came on, Ogbene definitely helped improve that side, as did Clarke.

I hold my hands up today with Muric's performance, he's definitely atoned for the Man City errors, more of the same please and I'll happily be proved stupid. MOTM for sure.

Not far behind Muric was Tuanzebe for me who was also excellent while the rest of the back Four stood firm. Kelvin Phillips also looked very impressive after the break and won a lot of fifty fifty balls.

All in all a superb and somewhat unexpected point against a very good side,especially at home. I think we've proven we belong here.

Hope they serve lots of humble pie in Turkey mate. As I recall you’ve said both Muric & Tuanzebe are rubbish. As you’ve said both were fantastic yesterday and fully deserve their selection.

[ashfordblue]

I think we have to keep a more settled side and once it gets settled all are more confident of knowing what each player's qualities are, we can't expect miracles to happen just yet but once it gets more settled and into a rhythm as we played in divisions one and Championship where we played with more creative flare and as Brighton have shown with an excellent squad they've built up over 3 seasons it's paying dividends now and also Brentford have built a strong team.
I think by the time we get to the January window we should have more of a settled team and get more positive results and stop chasing around like headless chickens but start to hold onto the ball longer and stroke it around with more confidence Brighton showed what we must do by controlling the game, it will happen Kieran has said it will BUT it will take time to gell.

[ITFC2024]

Wolves did us a favour today keeping us above the drop zone. We need to go all out attack against Southampton and get the three points.

[Bluemike]

What an excellent and battling point that was against a team that can trouble anyone on their day.

Much better after the break and made a game of it, stunning run and shot from Delap nearly had us in dreamland. We looked much better when the subs came on, Ogbene definitely helped improve that side, as did Clarke.

I hold my hands up today with Muric's performance, he's definitely atoned for the Man City errors, more of the same please and I'll happily be proved stupid. MOTM for sure.

Not far behind Muric was Tuanzebe for me who was also excellent while the rest of the back Four stood firm. Kelvin Phillips also looked very impressive after the break and won a lot of fifty fifty balls.

All in all a superb and somewhat unexpected point against a very good side,especially at home. I think we've proven we belong here.

Hope they serve lots of humble pie in Turkey mate. As I recall you’ve said both Muric & Tuanzebe are rubbish. As you’ve said both were fantastic yesterday and fully deserve their selection.

Ive been saying for ages Tuanzebe is excellent at RB, didn't rate him at CB

[hallamblue]

Would love you see home givenbs go at CB now he's up and running though. He's so powerful ,quick and has physical presence. Problem is he'll be used St RB because the other options are much weaker.

So many fans judged him last season and wrote him off, when the poor sod hadn't played any football for a year.

Class is permanent as they say. We're now seeing what he's really all about.

What I want to see ASAP is Axel on a long term deal now. He's only on a current 1 Yr deal!

[shabba]

I was out in London all day on Sat so missed the game, but I met some town fans on the train up who were on their way to the game - great to have a little town chat with them .

Excellent point for sure, we need to keep picking up points where we can as the side starts to settle and develop, i.e the new signings settle in and get the KM magic coaching etc.

A win before the next international break would be huge.

[Bluemike]

Would love you see home givenbs go at CB now he's up and running though. He's so powerful ,quick and has physical presence. Problem is he'll be used St RB because the other options are much weaker.

So many fans judged him last season and wrote him off, when the poor sod hadn't played any football for a year.

Class is permanent as they say. We're now seeing what he's really all about.

What I want to see ASAP is Axel on a long term deal now. He's only on a current 1 Yr deal!

That's the thing Liz, we all form opinions, sometimes on very little, for example Liam Delap hadn't played a game for us and many fans including a few on here weren't sure he'd cut it and wasn't a good signing etc.

[Cabanas Blue]

Would love you see home givenbs go at CB now he's up and running though. He's so powerful ,quick and has physical presence. Problem is he'll be used St RB because the other options are much weaker.

So many fans judged him last season and wrote him off, when the poor sod hadn't played any football for a year.

Class is permanent as they say. We're now seeing what he's really all about.

What I want to see ASAP is Axel on a long term deal now. He's only on a current 1 Yr deal!

That's the thing Liz, we all form opinions, sometimes on very little, for example Liam Delap hadn't played a game for us and many fans including a few on here weren't sure he'd cut it and wasn't a good signing etc.

Your right Mike I was one who just didn't want Delap (Rory maybe ) but how wrong was I and with improved finishing he's going to be one hell of a player and as I said earlier Tuanzebe contract should get sorted asap but I do feel for Johnson who is in the same position at Town as he was at West Ham.

[Bluemike]

I wasn't sure Delap was worth anywhere near his fee either, I'm pretty sure he's going to be.

[Shed on tour]

Delap reminds me of an old style forward. Strong on the ball and certainly not afraid to put himself about against defenders. No doubt him, Hutchinson and Clarke will have spells like a lot of young players where their form drops off for a period of time. However, I feel all will prove to be good additions in time and even if we get relegated and have to sell one or 2 of them then we will get back at least what we paid for them.
As for Greaves, I said at the time he was the one signing I wanted us to get done and so far he looks a steal for what we paid for him.

[hallamblue]

Would love you see home givenbs go at CB now he's up and running though. He's so powerful ,quick and has physical presence. Problem is he'll be used St RB because the other options are much weaker.

So many fans judged him last season and wrote him off, when the poor sod hadn't played any football for a year.

Class is permanent as they say. We're now seeing what he's really all about.

What I want to see ASAP is Axel on a long term deal now. He's only on a current 1 Yr deal!

That's the thing Liz, we all form opinions, sometimes on very little, for example Liam Delap hadn't played a game for us and many fans including a few on here weren't sure he'd cut it and wasn't a good signing etc.

It wasnt meant as a criticism Mike, but more an observation really.

But you're right, us fans all do form opinions about players very soon after we see them.

Ashton / McKenna use player profiling matrix as we know. So I guess we all have to show patience and trust in their recruitment policy. They haven't made a bad one yet really have they.

Re Johnson, maybe he's just not quite up to the high standards McKenna/ coaches are looking for. But this doesn't mean he can't attain that level. True competition drives up standards, which can only be good for the Club.

[Bluemike]

Greaves last season was a stand out performer and you say Tony, the one I really hoped we'd sign

[Bluemike]

Would love you see home givenbs go at CB now he's up and running though. He's so powerful ,quick and has physical presence. Problem is he'll be used St RB because the other options are much weaker.

So many fans judged him last season and wrote him off, when the poor sod hadn't played any football for a year.

Class is permanent as they say. We're now seeing what he's really all about.

What I want to see ASAP is Axel on a long term deal now. He's only on a current 1 Yr deal!

That's the thing Liz, we all form opinions, sometimes on very little, for example Liam Delap hadn't played a game for us and many fans including a few on here weren't sure he'd cut it and wasn't a good signing etc.

It wasnt meant as a criticism Mihe, but am observation really. But you're right, us fans all fo foam opinions about players very soon after we see them. Ashton / McKenna use player profiling matrix as we know. So I guess we all have to show patience and trust in their recruitment. They haven't made a bad one yet really have they.

Re Johnson, maybe he's just not quite up to the high standards McKenna/ coaches are looking for. But this doesn't mean he can't attain that level. True competition drives up standards, which can only be good for the Club.

No, wasn't taken as a criticism, just pointing out every one of us has opinions at any given time and none of us are right every time.

I still go back to Muric. He came here with a reputation for gifting points with silly errors, Burnley fans said they love him and he will entertain, but he'll cost us points, one good performance and some think he's Gordon Banks, if players are based on one performance then Hutchinson is sh*te based on Saturday, clearly it doesn't work like that.

[ITFC2024]

Davis will have to contain Dibling when we play Southampton.

[ashfordblue]

I hope we can sign Ben Chilwell in the Jan window as cover for Lief Davis it's us and Palace who are showing interest in him, it's a shame he's been on the sidelines at Chelsea he's real quality, it would have made sense to approach Chelsea to loan him in when there was a slight chance after him not going to Turkey.
I'm sure he would have jumped at the chance and Lief could learn a lot from him, also a quality striker is still the main important requirement as we can't rely on Hirst we have to have this position covered urgently.

[Cabanas Blue]

I read that Chilwell is on £200-000 a week we can't pay anything like that as cover for Davis.

[shabba]

I hope we can sign Ben Chilwell in the Jan window as cover for Lief Davis it's us and Palace who are showing interest in him, it's a shame he's been on the sidelines at Chelsea he's real quality, it would have made sense to approach Chelsea to loan him in when there was a slight chance after him not going to Turkey.
I'm sure he would have jumped at the chance and Lief could learn a lot from him, also a quality striker is still the main important requirement as we can't rely on Hirst we have to have this position covered urgently.

ZERO chance that happens, I mean seriously....? Chillwill to come here, to be a backup......? When we already signed a backup LB, and have others who can play LB if needed.

I don't want to offend but no idea what the thought process is here. Especially given his wages.

[Charnwood]

As much as I like Leif Davis and appreciate how much he contributed to our promotion to the Prem I’m still not wholly convinced he’s a Premiership level defender yet and at times is often our weak link on the pitch and targeted by our opponent.

Whilst I’d pretty much guarantee Ben Chilwell won’t come to Portman Road on a permanent deal in January there’s no reason why he couldn’t come here on loan for the second half of the season with Chelsea paying the majority of his wages just as Man City are doing with Kelvin Phillips for a whole season.

I think McKenna’s profile is sky high at the moment and top clubs will be happy sending struggling players to Ipswich to revive their careers or simply increase the players value. Chelsea have already seen this first hand with Omari Hutchinson who arrived here as a young talent with a value of about £8m who struggled to earn a place in our starting X1 and 6 months later was one of our star players who’s value had more than doubled by the time his loan period ended.

I can easily see Kelvin Phillips career and value going in the same direction under McKenna’s guidance which will make acquisition of top quality available loan players much easier for us to bid for especially where their careers have been derailed for whatever reason.

Chelsea have already released 41 players so far this season either on permanent transfers or loans and they still have an excess and many of these players Chilwell included have plummeting values despite carrying high costs. If Chilwell hasn’t broken into the team by January Chelsea may well be happy to release him on loan and pay the bulk of his wages just to get him game. time. If they covered all his wages for the rest of the season it would be circa £4m, which they would easily recover in his increased value if he had a successful loan spell at another Premiership Club and where better could that be than at Ipswich with McKenna. If Leif Davis struggles at LB and McKenna sees this as an issue I could see Ben Chilwell at Portman Road as first choice LB as he won’t have lost his ability this quickly and he’s still only 27. I’ve no idea what’s happened at the Chelsea mad house as he only signed a new 4 year contract in 2023 and in August was appointed as the clubs new Vice Captain. I think there’s every chance it could happen if the player agreed to it and how Phillips develops could have an influence as could how well Town are positioned at the end of the year.