Brighton Away: BFTG

[brighton_royal]

Positives: Guthrie was completely solid, MOTM for me. Drenthe looked dangerous throughout and put in ? His longest ever shift for us. Wound up the home fans worse than Jason Roberts did Obita quality and has to have potential for great things at LB. Hector assured and mature and should start again.

Negatives: Blackman not good. Jake looked paralysed by fear when he came on. We have no on form striker.

Enjoyable if frustrating match.

[RG7Fan]

First away game for me:

+ve's
----------
Transport
Friendly away fans in Lewes
Decent stadium
We played better
Drenthe broke his duck and came over and acknowledged the fans after the game for quite a long time
Red card for Brighton
Floor wasn't wet

-ve's
----------
Failed to put away a number of chances (esp Jobi)
Awful Ref (AGAIN)
Gunter / McCarthy screw up

[Pepe the Horseman]

What was Roy's goal like?

[RG7Fan]

What was Roy's goal like?

Low shot, edge of box left side near post - not a blaster but not slow either. Not nearly as good as the one that was blocked would have been - that would have taken the net out of the stadium.

[brighton_royal]

What was Roy's goal like?

Good run in from the right and left footed strike from inside the box iirc. He was the one player that they really looked unable to control. Great game for him and a massively encouraging sign for us. If he stays fit and emotionally stable then we're in for a real treat until the end of the season.

[RG7Fan]

What was Roy's goal like?

Good run in from the right and left footed strike from inside the box iirc. He was the one player that they really looked unable to control. Great game for him and a massively encouraging sign for us. If he stays fit and emotionally stable then we're in for a real treat until the end of the season.

It was left side of the goal - but maybe not near post as I said (I'm getting old). Just pleased he scored - but annoyed with the bloke behind me calling him a c**t but was happy to sing his praises when he scored.

[RG7Fan]

Great game for him and a massively encouraging sign for us. If he stays fit and emotionally stable then we're in for a real treat until the end of the season.

Hopefully next year as well. He does seem to have got his mojo back and Adkins is clearly happy to play him again - I've had a feeling the goal was coming, hopefully that will open the floodgates.

[SHORT AND CURLY]

Dreadful first half. Would have been 0-0 but for McCarthys clanger. Thats two now, although he did make a brilliant and his only save of the game on about 90 minutes.

Second half was all Reading and the fact that there keeper got MOM tells you everything. If only we had a decent striker (ALF pretty poor again today)

The sending off was on the far side and I couldn't see it clearly. As much as I dont like to see it, it was our players getting at the ref which got theirs sent off We all thought it was ALF that got fouled for the red card but the fact that they spent the rest of the game booing Royston it may have been him that was fouled

Anyway from that point on it was all us.

Obita had a much better game. Drenthe caused them all sorts of problems. McCarthy and Hector almost fkkd up at one point, but Hector went on to give a very assured performance.
Jobi missed a one on one Grrrrr.

Referee was dreadful and falling for their diving and time wasting.

Overall much better than last week but two points dropped AGAIN!

[winchester_royal]

From the match thread.

We played some decent stuff there. I was massively disappointed with what we saw last week, but today there were signs of progress apparent again. Not least through the performance of Hector who looked very much at home at this level up against one of the best strikers in the league. He's composed, athletic, and sharp in the tackle. He's also 10x the footballer of the other centre backs. Very promising.

We should have won though. Not enough penetration in the final third meant we couldn't take advantage of some excellent buid up play. Guthrie is back to form, controlling things in the middle, and Drenthe was quite sublime in moments. Fitness still an issue though, NA made the right decision bringing him off so he's for Leeds. They'll love him up there.

Jobi's miss was typical McAnuff. Did well to break through, but absolutely no composure when it mattered. A massive opportunity missed and he knew it.

Happy enough with what was on display though, there's some light at the end of the tunnel again, which is all I really expected from this season.

Oh, and Brighton fans are the biggest bunch of bumtards that I've encountered this season. Reputation is well deserved.

The defensive f*ck up summarised the season quite nicely tbh. We'd started well, controlled possession, looked really quite assured, and then we hand the opposition a goal that knocks the stuffing out of us for the rest of the first half. All. Too. Familiar.

I would like to emphasise my previous comments about Hector. The guy is a class act. I really do think he can go on to be one of the best in the country. NEED to get him signed up. The ease with which he brings the ball out of defence is really something to see close up. A number of times our attacks started with him playing a tricky ball into midfield that the likes of Pearce wouldn't dream of playing. His defending wasn't at all shabby either, though his yellow card in the first half made him a little jittery at times in the second.

[brighton_royal]

Incidentally, interesting "you are the ref" type of incident today.

Brighton took a corner which hit the near post (looked q close to scoring in fact) and rebounded back towards the corner where the taker was still standing. He curled it back in. Ref blew up for a foul as the original taker took a second touch after hitting the corner. Correct decision but

[Royal Ginger]

How was Pearce today (before their sending off)? He's been shakey for the last few weeks. He wasn't mentioned much in the commentary, but that's often a good thing from a CB.

[brighton_royal]

How was Pearce today (before their sending off)? He's been shakey for the last few weeks. He wasn't mentioned much in the commentary, but that's often a good thing from a CB.

Ok. What you said, really.

[Archie's penalty]

Good to see people are being positive about Hector. I really don't trust Morrisson long term and Pearce too.

I'd play Gorkks and Hector until the end of the season.

[Struggle Pig]

What ever has been going on with Royston, the fact that he ran straight to the dugout, to celebrate with the management & coaching team when he scored, is a very good sign for us and the remainder of the season.

He can still play an important part in our endeavour of the play offs (and promotion if at all possible). Hopefully he can knuckle down and continue the season as well as he has shown in this match.

[RoyalBlue]

Dreadful first half. Would have been 0-0 but for McCarthys clanger. Thats two now, although he did make a brilliant and his only save of the game on about 90 minutes.

It"s actually four clangers now if you take into account his failure to hold two relatively easy shots which presented forwards with tap ins as the ball came back off his body.

[genome]

Brighton head coach Oscar Garcia:
"The sending off completely changed the game. We had the match completely under control, we were 1-0 up and expecting a good second half.
"I'm proud of all of my players for the performance and how they competed against a big team.
"We showed great character and, even though we only had 10 men, we still created some good chances and could've won it."

Brighton fans won't like that.

[EarleyRoyal16]

That was...interesting.

Absolutely dreadful first half capped off by what can only be described as a comical own goal. Obviously a miscommunication between Gunter and McCarthy, can't only blame one of them really.

Much better second half, Drenthe was brilliant, my MOTM, looked like he was limping a bit before he came off though, hope it's not too bad as I think he could be a big player for the rest of the season.

However again it's another story of not being able to take our chances, how McAnuff didn't score his chance I'll never know, Brighton fans will probably sing the praises of Kuzsack(Spelling?) for the save, but it was just a woeful finish. Also Blackman had a good chance, but again hit it straight at the keeper.

McCarthy - 6: Miscommunication aside, pretty decent game for him, great save in the second half to deny Ulloa(?), and seemed to be distributing the ball a lot quicker.
Gunter - 7: Again, bar the own goal a very solid game for Gunter, one of my players of the season, arguably has been our most consistent player this season.
Pearce - 7: Can't recall him doing much, but that's a good sign for a CB.
Hector - 8: Looks like he's already at this level, defended well and passed the ball very well, got a big future in this team.
Obita - 8: Another very solid game for him at Left back, starting to look like a long term option there.
Blackman - 5: A few good runs, but as usual he looks out of place in this league.
Akpan - 7: Good game for him, worked for it and almost scored a few times, passed the ball well also.
Guthrie - 7: Passed well, got forward, passed forward, almost scored a great volley, hope he stays in the side now.
Drenthe - 9 MOTM: Brilliant. Tore their full back to shreds again and again, great finish, and always looked a threat, shame he had to come off.
Robson-Kanu - 5: Can't recall him doing all that much, at one point forgot he was even on the pitch.
Le Fondre - 5: Anonymous. Was crying out all the game for the ball to be played through for him and it just wasn't happening. Needs a physical presence like Pog to work off.

McAnuff - 5: Worked hard, the usual, woeful finish for arguably our best chance to win the game.
McCleary - 6: Gave their full back a problem but delivery was quite poor.
Taylor - 5: Don't recall him doing much.

[RG7Fan]

It was left side of the goal - but maybe not near post as I said (I'm getting old).

When I said left - I meant left from where I was watching which is obviously the right hand post.

[3points]

Don't normally do full ratings, but as it was my first away game of the season I thought I'd do my first player ratings too

McCarthy - 5 - again largely at fault for the goal. Shot stopping is still first class but his decision making on coming off his line is poor. Some good throws to Obita in second half and didn't keep punting it long
Gunter - 4 - would have been a 5 without the own goal. Yes, McCarthy should have told him to clear it, but a defender should never head a ball back towards goal like he did today. Looks like he's lost confidence in recent weeks after being really solid and while he gets forward he isn't a threat and final ball is weak. I'm not sure he's got much of a footballing brain.
Obita - 8 - much better today after poor performance last week. Kept the ball on the deck, passed and moved and some decent balls into the box. Drenthe didn't use his overlaps enough
Pearce - 6- OK today but Ulloa isn't exactly Usain Bolt. Still gives me nightmares with ball at his feet
Hector - 8.5 - very impressed; made a couple of mistakes with the ball but looked pretty comfortable throughout and we need to sign him up fast. Should continue to start. +1 for wearing old school black boots
Blackman - 6 - flatters to deceive; some good touches but lacked consistency and didn't work well with Gunter. Should have done better with a decent chance 2nd half when shot straight at their keeper
Drenthe - 8 - some comedy moments in first half when flying into challenges and ending up on his arse. Good pace and skills and looked to have a bit more of an end product. Didn't look like he was too tired either when coming off
Guthrie - 6/8 - average first half, better in 2nd when he had more time on the ball and played further up the pitch
Akpan - 7 - decent performance especially competing against their giant in midfield (Vine) and had a couple of chances to score;
HRK - 5 - was far too distant from ALF, especially 2nd half. Played too deep when against 10 men
ALF - 5- did nothing except get Greer sent off. Made a meal of the 2nd challenge and stayed down while ref booked him. Not sure he had a single chance, though our midfield have problems seeing his runs between the centre halves and full backs

Subs:
McCleary - 7 - some good runs but final ball lacked quality; concerned that Adkins said he was out on his feet after 20 minutes. Clearly doesn't handle jet lag well
McAnuff - 6 - minus 1 for shocking finishing. Thought he did well and put a ,lot of pressure on their full back and worked better with Obita than Drenthe did
Taylor - 5 - kept falling over and didn't do his future claims much good

Ref - 4- poor. Gave us nothing in 1st half and kept falling for their falling over slowing the play down tactics in the 2nd half; 2nd yellow was harsh in my view having watched the FLS

Adkins -7- thought he needed to make changes after recent performances. Some were enforced but good to see him getting the players to try to pass it around more today. Good call on bringing in Hector for a start.

[blueroyals]

ALF - 5- did nothing except get Greer sent off. Made a meal of the 2nd challenge and stayed down while ref booked him. Not sure he had a single chance, though our midfield have problems seeing his runs between the centre halves and full backs

So why is Adkins telling them to launch balls into the box from wide. He's not going to win many header, is he?