Brighton tonight, standard of referring and match facts from the BBC

The Newcastle result wasn't what we wanted and the referring decision to dismiss Duran cost us, but we move on and today it's Brighton. But I can't just leave it at that, so there will be a little something on Duran. But it's not all bad.

Sure, we would have loved the three points and had we got three points instead of none we'd be joint fifth at the moment with an opportunity tonight to confirm fifth place. But we're just half way through the season and if we win tonight we could still be joint fifth (assuming Newcastle don't win) and that isn't that bad.

But you have to question the referring decision and where was VAR? As soon as it happened I tweeted that that seemed harsh and that was without too many replays. After replays and time and listening to others, I'm convinced it was the wrong decision. So you have to question how could such a decision be made when we have VAR and also why.

It doesn't seem right. And me writing the game is broken is too simple. But things are not right. That said and we are moving on and we are focusing on Brighton, it's not all bad because we have Ollie Watkins coming back with a point to prove.

And hopefully Ollie gets the support that he got last season and doesn't drift too far wide and I'm confident that if that happens, we'll get the three points tonight that we all know we need. But why wasn't he getting that level of support before getting dropped for Duran?

There was a lot written last season on Ollie playing more central and not drifting. But last season was quite different to this one and on that you've got to wonder why. Is it as simple as teams have figured us out. I don't buy into that. 

This time last season we had 39 points. This time the season Unai took over, we had 22 points. Based on the points we had at this point last season we would have been second but we would still have had half the season to come, so I'm not putting too much into just the points, but I will add to that that this season our goal difference is minus three and at this point last season it was sixteen. That's a 19 goal swing in 18 matches. 

And football is all about scoring more goals than your opposition. Do that and you win. At this time last season only Manchester City had scored more than us. This season, we've scored as many as the team currently second. Not where you thought it was going? I'm adding that really to emphasise that I don't think it's this simple. 

Sure, I can add how many we've conceded, but what has changed moving forward or defending. Not having Mings isn't the problem and not having Bailey playing at a decent level isn't the problem, so what is it? I don't know, but I do know we are only half way through the season and a lot can change.

And we have January coming up and I know people say it's not a great time to do business and I agree to one extent but on the other hand it's a great time to do business for specifically what you need. If Unai and his team have figured out what we need, now is a great time to go get it done and January is a great opportunity to kick start your season again with something fresh.

But more on January and that later. Today is about Brighton and that is where the focus should be. I'll be back in a few hours. Go have fun!

Match facts from the BBC