James Milner gave his Albion colleagues some good advice when they were top of the Premier League.

That was back in August, one game into the season, following the 3-0 success at Everton.

No one was getting ahead of themselves, despite that flying start.

Milner made sure that continued to the case.

Jan Paul van Hecke told us at the time: “So it all now looks good and if you look forward maybe we can have a great season. I think everyone is up for that.

“Milner told me after ten games, then you can really see how it is.

“So let’s speak after ten games.”

Yes, let’s speak after ten games. Ten, not nine-and-a-half.

After nine-and-a-half it was all looking fantastic with Albion 1-0 up and on top at Liverpool as third place beckoned.

Chris Sutton, a notoriously hard-to-please pundit on the BBC, was on co-commentary for that game.

He said afterwards: “I have never seen Liverpool in 45 minutes get such a doing as they did (in the first half). Brighton were incredible.

“(Yasin) Ayari, I’ve not seen much of him, and (Jack) Hinshelwood in the centre of midfield, taking the ball and linking up. They were phenomenal. It is such a competitive Premier League.”

After ten games it felt a little flatter. Frustrating.

Disappointing – even if you told yourself it should not be.

Some of the reaction from fans who travelled was of the “great day out, great game” variety.

And that is fine. The key for happy travelling is to enjoy all the positives of the trip and make light of the more disappointing aspects if you can.

Life is too short and travel and tickets too expensive to think otherwise.

But, to answer Milner’s question relayed by van Hecke, where are Albion after ten games?

Well, eighth in the table. The seventh-best goal difference. Joint sixth for goals scored while 13th for xG, which suggests a good level of efficiency.

But, where they are heading is harder to tell.

It does not feel like it will be anywhere bad, it is just a question how good can it be?

Ten games into the season felt like a decent benchmark when we spoke in mid-August.

Now ten games have gone, it still feels too early to judge.

There are reasons for that. A new coaching set-up, new players.

The fact European fatigue has not yet kicked in for other teams.

We still have not seen Matt O’Riley or, really, Brajan Gruda.

We have not seen as much of Joao Pedro as we would have wanted and it feels like the best of Mats Wieffer is yet to come.

There is a lot of competition around the part of the table in which, realistically, Albion will aim to be involved.

That is that zone just behind the super powers, while retaining the right to upset them on any given matchday.

I was asked by a reporter from a national newspaper yesterday about what the season holds.

It still feels like the pieces are settling but, when they do, it could be very exciting.

Albion could be very good – in a thrilling way.

That was one thought which gradually fought its way through the disappointment of Saturday like an autumnal sun struggling to burn off the morning mist.

The points they could have had are starting to outweigh those they could have dropped.

They have only lost twice and they were 1-0 up in both those matches – away to two super-rich powers in Chelsea and Liverpool. We have had a few lows. Some of the game at Chelsea needed to be watched while peeping through your fingers. The last few minutes against Wolves were X-rated.

But there have been modifications since Stamford Bridge.

They have generally felt harder to play through since half-time in the 3-2 win over Tottenham, when they were 2-0 down. Players have progressed even in those ten games.

Yasin Ayari is a great example. Georginio Rutter has had exciting moments which have been translated into goals which brought points.

Speaking to and listening to more occasional Albion watchers, I often think they appreciate the football the team are playing more than those of us who see every game do. As with Roberto De Zerbi and much of the Graham Potter tenure, Albion matches are good to watch again even when you know what the result is going to be.

Bart Verbruggen has looked strong in goal ever since he let James Maddison’s shot roll into the equivalent of double-three on a darts board.

And van Hecke himself is among the other pluses, along with Carlos Baleba.

Using the Milner guide, ten games in, where are they? It feels more like: Where could they go?

Still visibly disappointed about game ten, Van Hecke said: “We can build on this. We showed some football against maybe one of the best teams in the world.

“We need to keep going, I think.”