Post Brighton 0-0 Reaction

[Wes Tender]

Having browsed the whole thread, there is one thing I forgot to mention in my earlier summary and I see that nobody else has covered it.

 

Brighton's no.3 should have been red carded. When the ball was crossed high into the box, Barnard jumped at it at the same time as their keeper, which he is entitled to do. Being Barnard, he put his usual commitment into the challenge. Their number 3 lost his rag and punched Barnard in the face. Because there was a bit of handbags just before where Barnard and he had a bit of pushing each other, the referee decided to speak to both of them, but the rules are clear; if a player strikes another like that, it is a red card.

 

How would the match have turned out had their defender gone off? But it was just another incident highlighting the general incompetence of the Referee.

[doddisalegend]

Agree wholeheartedly that Harding is the best LB in the division and hardly ever allows a player to get past him. As I already mentioned after SCOTN's post earlier, towards the end of the game, Brighton had identified our left flank as our weak point and exploited it. We looked tired there, but Harding battles right to the 90 minutes. Maybe Adkins is allowing Dickson a bit of a run to make his assessment of him and perhaps Harding has to wait until Dickson has a poor game, but Harding could come back in at any time and do a good job as far as I'm concerned.

 

As he hasn't even got on the bench for two games I'm wondering if we will see Dan go the way of Puncheon TBH.

[sidthesquid]

Many more positives than negatives last night, despite the frustration. Brighton came to get a draw & they got it, but it was the manner of our performance rather than the result that was important last night. We matched physically a tough, niggly team and with a bit mor luck might have won it. It is always tough breaking down even poor teams set up like they were, never mind a good team, but we stuck at it all game. My only reservation was the forward line - all of them, not just Rickie, wanted one touch too many at times & passed when they should have shot, but otherwise a good effort and a draw was probably fair between to evenly matched teams. (Ref was sh1te, mind.)

[hypochondriac]

As he hasn't even got on the bench for two games I'm wondering if we will see Dan go the way of Puncheon TBH.

 

Brighton fan on footballforums who claims to know him says he was injured. I'm not sure.

[del boy]

Harding is the best LB in the division and hardly ever allows a player to get past him. .

 

I always marvel at the range of views on here. How differently we can see things.

[Gemmel]

Question:

Why was a free/goal kick awarded after the penalty save. It looked from where I was that Kelvin pushed it for a corner?

 

Kelvin pushed it away but it didnt go out, Dickson, went to the ball and was then pushed in the back by the Brighton player. It was the decision that the lino got right all night.

[Red&White]

Well that was probably the most bizarre game I've seen. Appalling refferee, new record for handballs not given, managers at loggerheads, should have been at least 1 up at HT, Brighton shocking first half, sorted it out second. Was scared of giving the game away at 80 mins where we looked tired. Cannot believe Davis saved that penalty.. Fkin blinder... And for that reason it goes down as point gained for me and don't feel two bad about the other two...

 

What an atmosphere tonight. Good stuff.

 

This

[Ken Tone]

Having browsed the whole thread, there is one thing I forgot to mention in my earlier summary and I see that nobody else has covered it.

 

Brighton's no.3 should have been red carded. When the ball was crossed high into the box, Barnard jumped at it at the same time as their keeper, which he is entitled to do. Being Barnard, he put his usual commitment into the challenge. Their number 3 lost his rag and punched Barnard in the face. Because there was a bit of handbags just before where Barnard and he had a bit of pushing each other, the referee decided to speak to both of them, but the rules are clear; if a player strikes another like that, it is a red card.

 

How would the match have turned out had their defender gone off? But it was just another incident highlighting the general incompetence of the Referee.

 

Mind you the ref also overlooked Kelvin pushing their forward over in the box as he tried to get the ball off him for a kick. On another day that could have been a sending off.

[lethallee]

I thought 1st half we played quite well with some neat crisp passing but without creating any clear cut chances. Ref could of easily given us penalty when Lallana went down in box. 2nd half we were not as good and again no clear cut chances of note other than Lambert who should of got his header on target. Brighton came for point and got it by deploying somewhat negative tactcs. But have to credit there defending it was top draw.

 

In terms of individual performances I thought Hammond had good game and actually think he is better holding player than box to box. Shame Chaplow was injured as he and Hammond is good partnership. Morgan had quiet game and never really looked threatening going forward (especially considering he was playing as the more attacking CM). Although Lambert worked hard he looks sluggish with no spring in his step - I suspect more to do with confidence rather than fitness. Fonte worries me when left one on one with opposition player. Jaidi dominant but poor distribution.

 

There were lots of positives to take from last night and I am confident we will win most home games this season. Just need to get Lambert scoring and sort out our away perfomances. I actually think both will come good by end of the year.

[Give it to Ron]

Funny the differing views on the result...those that went and those that didn't basically.

Anyone who was there knew how good we were for 80 minutes when all the chasing and harrying we did caught up with us.

Great defensive display ...yes Jaidi may be dodgy for his distribution but thats not his job. He wins the ball and clears the danger.

How many chances did the top of the league team create? How many headers at goal did they have? Jaidi is a stopper and thats his job and no-one does that better.

For years we have had namby pamby centre halves like Davenport and Lancashire and some of you want him dropped against the top of the league side.

Saturday is the day to play Martin.

I came away disappointed but elated at the way we played.

[hypochondriac]

Mind you the ref also overlooked Kelvin pushing their forward over in the box as he tried to get the ball off him for a kick. On another day that could have been a sending off.

 

Hardly. The guy deliberately kicked the ball away when Kelvin tried to get it so he gave him a shove to tell him to stop acting like a fool.

[LostBoys]

2 ponts dropped - Lambert missed his chances and Lallana did not make the correct decision whether to pass or shoot once. Also Guly's control at the end was Sunday league. Stars of the game were the referee and linesmen - absolutely dire. Great game though

[Ken Tone]

Hardly. The guy deliberately kicked the ball away when Kelvin tried to get it so he gave him a shove to tell him to stop acting like a fool.

 

Hey I'm on Kelvin's side, but the fact remains that he did shove the guy in the back, and hard enough to knock him over. My point was simply that some refs might just as well have taken a dim view of that as of the elbow on Barnard ..and it was an elbow, not a punch as such.

[del boy]

Hardly. The guy deliberately kicked the ball away when Kelvin tried to get it so he gave him a shove to tell him to stop acting like a fool.

 

At which point the guy threw himself to the ground and forward a couple of yards - they must have a specialist coach for diving lessons.

 

The niggly, body checking, time wasting, gamesmanship from last night is one of my lasting memories of the Brighton boys.

 

Whilst I'd like to see another south coast team go up in second place I'm not sure i'd like to see those tactics rewarded with promotion.

[HedgeEnder]

Brighton fan on footballforums who claims to know him says he was injured. I'm not sure.

 

Dan Harding was in the Terry Paine suite before the game and confirmed he was injured

[Sour Mash]

Excellent performance first half, we looked much the better team, just poor decision making and a lack of finishing stopped us going in at half time a couple up.

 

2nd half was a very different story and they finished much stronger, we looked very tired, can't believe Jaidi continued, he looked f****d!

 

I think the best word to describe Brighton's attitude to the game would be "embarrassing". To be top of the league and approach a game like that, with so much time-wasting and negativity should be embarrassing to any professional supposedly at the top of their game. No problem with teams being defensive/cautious etc, but their attitude at times last night was pathetic.

 

Thought the atmosphere was poor considering the size of the crowd and importance of the game. Not sure what it would take to get 75% of the St Mary's crowd animated and on their feet getting behind the team.

[doddisalegend]

Excellent performance first half, we looked much the better team, just poor decision making and a lack of finishing stopped us going in at half time a couple up.

 

2nd half was a very different story and they finished much stronger, we looked very tired, can't believe Jaidi continued, he looked f****d!

 

I think the best word to describe Brighton's attitude to the game would be "embarrassing". To be top of the league and approach a game like that, with so much time-wasting and negativity should be embarrassing to any professional supposedly at the top of their game. No problem with teams being defensive/cautious etc, but their attitude at times last night was pathetic.

 

Thought the atmosphere was poor considering the size of the crowd and importance of the game. Not sure what it would take to get 75% of the St Mary's crowd animated and on their feet getting behind the team.

 

well the Chapel was a damn sight more animated than it normally is (granted thats not saying much) but a good (probably the best this season) atmosphere in the chapel end I thought.

[Weston Saint]

Their injured defender suffered a cut to the thigh needing stiches.

[eurosaint]

Funny the differing views on the result...those that went and those that didn't basically.

Anyone who was there knew how good we were for 80 minutes when all the chasing and harrying we did caught up with us.

Great defensive display ...yes Jaidi may be dodgy for his distribution but thats not his job. He wins the ball and clears the danger.

How many chances did the top of the league team create? How many headers at goal did they have? Jaidi is a stopper and thats his job and no-one does that better. For years we have had namby pamby centre halves like Davenport and Lancashire and some of you want him dropped against the top of the league side.

Saturday is the day to play Martin.

I came away disappointed but elated at the way we played.

 

I agree, in a very basic way he was awesome, some of their players looked petrified when near him (when he made his 'Pele' run, one little bloke actually stood aside rather being steamrollered, you could almost see the fear in his eyes!).

I accept that his distribution is poor but he did do a job for us last night !

[del boy]

I agree, in a very basic way he was awesome, some of their players looked petrified when near him (when he made his 'Pele' run, one little bloke actually stood aside rather being steamrollered, you could almost see the fear in his eyes!).

I accept that his distribution is poor but he did do a job for us last night !

 

I agree with this also - he is an awesome presence. I just get very anxious however when he is the last man back.

[Wes Tender]

Mind you the ref also overlooked Kelvin pushing their forward over in the box as he tried to get the ball off him for a kick. On another day that could have been a sending off.

 

Kelvin wanted to get the game moving, probably as frustrated as the rest of us at Brighton's blatant time wasting. He shoved their player in the back to get to the ball. Their player over-balanced and fell over. No malice intended and the ref saw it like that IMO.

 

Ken Tone:

My point was simply that some refs might just as well have taken a dim view of that as of the elbow on Barnard ..and it was an elbow, not a punch as such.

 

I was in the Northam right behind the incident and it was clearly a punch and aimed at Barnard's head. Where was your view of it from?

[Tractor_Saint]

Their injured defender suffered a cut to the thigh needing stiches.

 

Incident here:

 

Going to have to chop that blokes head off in front of me

 

And some skill from Lallana:

 

[up and away]

Brighton are a horrible, niggly, time wasting team that I would pay to avoid watching. That said, I think they will definitely get an automatic spot because all that negativity, combined with resolute defending is very difficult to break down, They are at present on a bad run with injuries compounding their problems and on events, should have won that game.

 

Saints played well, in a very controlled manner and but for the lack of fire power, should have won this. Ricky's form is why we can't guarantee an automatic spot and we will have to get someone else in to get that guarantee. That does not mean we are going to sell him, firstly who would have him in his current form and when he gets over his problems, he will come good the same as Fuller. Adkins gave a hint to key players playing with injuries but would not highlight this for the opposition. Not that he needs to, after all this time I think we can all work it out for ourselves. The defence is consistently making errors that are or should be costing goals, going across the back four and the goalie. We have to be consistent here as the combination of not scoring and leaking is going to cost any team. Adkins is right, the defence has to be selected primarily for being able to defend. I was sure Morgan was going to get himself sent off last night and have nigh given up on him as a Saints player.

 

We have a lot of very good and talented players, all we really need is that performence coupled with a 25 goal striker to pull this league apart. until then we will have to do the best with what we have. Guly has taken a bit of a pasting, but amongst the negatives he looks the one player from glimpses, that could do a job for us given a run. It's pointless using Ricky away where 451 is required, I would far prefer to develop Guly with the possibility of something coming out of the other end. Well done Kelvin, did well in staying awake the first half, superb in what he did.

[up and away]

Originally Posted by Ken Tone

Mind you the ref also overlooked Kelvin pushing their forward over in the box as he tried to get the ball off him for a kick. On another day that could have been a sending off.

Kelvin wanted to get the game moving, probably as frustrated as the rest of us at Brighton's blatant time wasting. He shoved their player in the back to get to the ball. Their player over-balanced and fell over. No malice intended and the ref saw it like that IMO.

 

That was totally dumb. All it needed was for the ref or linesman to catch a glimpse out of the corner of their eye, turn to see the aftermath and we would have been in real trouble. You don't have to cast your mind back that far where Kelvin has done exactly the same and had to pay the penalty.

[Dimond Geezer]

Kelvin pushed it away but it didnt go out, Dickson, went to the ball and was then pushed in the back by the Brighton player. It was the decision that the lino got right all night.

 

Thanks

 

Their injured defender suffered a cut to the thigh needing stiches.

 

Is that all, what a lightweight , with the amount of medics on the pitch I thought ball had hit him in the face & he'd been knocked out.

[Vershinin]

well the Chapel was a damn sight more animated than it normally is (granted thats not saying much) but a good (probably the best this season) atmosphere in the chapel end I thought.

 

I was impressed with the Chapel last night. I usually stand in Northam/ Kingsland Corner but was in the middle of the Kingsland last night and was amazed at the noise coming from the Chapel. Fair play to the people in there, almost any chant from the Northam got going a couple of seconds behind in the Chapel. Was that a good night for the Chapel though as you alluded to? I wasnt sure whether they were making more noise than usual or whether it was because you can never hear them when in the midst of the Northam singing.

[Thimble]

I have read most of this thread but not all but will add an Albion perspective. You came at us more than I expected as I thought you would get men behind the ball and try and stifle us...Also, you play a bit more football now which I am guessing is due to the change in manager as last season at Withdean you were direct and very physical. But attacking us should have helped us as we could have played our game and opened your defence up in the similar vein to when Posh & Charlton came at us and we saw them both off comfortably.

 

The problem was we were are own worst enemies as the first half performance was the worst I have seen from us this season. We seemed to be unable to string more than 2 passes together and when we got the ball forward it was not sticking and this I put mainly down to our on-loan forward Wood. He has been borrowed from West Brom and it is clear Poyet is only doing it as a favour to his ex-Chelsea team-mate Di Matteo. As for alleged time wasting, it is just our patient game and all the time we are not losing we always play like that...Even at home! Thankfully, whilst we were woeful with the ball we were pretty good without it and were well organised and defended excellently. Saints were clearly the better team though without, in my opinion looking that great...But I was aware that if the game carried on in similar fashion then you would nick it.

 

As for the second half, things started looking up for us when we brought Jamie Smith for a bit of pace and you could see early on that Saints had begun to tire...This meant you were not harassing our players in possession as much anymore and we finally found space to get out passing game going and started to take control. What made it even better was that Murray soon came on and we finally had someone up-front who could hold the ball and use it...The downside of this was that Barnes had to make-way which I thought was harsh and he was clearly not happy with the decision and nor was I. Especially as Barnes is now our penalty taker. That said I could not fault Wood's penalty too much (even scored a good one on Saturday) as he struck it well and into the corner but Davies' save was amazing.

 

It seemed following the penalty you had the air of a team who had just got out of jail and with us controlling the game more you seemed resigned for trying to take a point...Especially as Davies decided to start taking his time with the goal-kicks. Murray was a constant menace proved that your no 15 (much like he was at Withdean last season) is not very good...Had we had Murray on from the start and putting him under pressure from minute one we might have got more joy in the first half. I was also extremely happy when Barnard went off as he always scores against us!!

 

All in all, I cannot be too disappointed considering how truly terrible we were in the first period and I will always take a draw as a minimum from an away game no matter who we play...

[Wes Tender]

That was totally dumb. All it needed was for the ref or linesman to catch a glimpse out of the corner of their eye, turn to see the aftermath and we would have been in real trouble. You don't have to cast your mind back that far where Kelvin has done exactly the same and had to pay the penalty.

 

Are you insinuating that both the referee and linesmen weren't watching like hawks where the ball was, all match? Shame on you for disparaging them like that!

 

I agree though that Kelvin shouldn't have lost his cool in shoving their player in the back, but the way that Brighton played running down the clock it was frustrating and understandable.

[John B]

I hope you enjoyed your visit to St Mary's and will be back next season when we are both in the Championship

 

I think your analysis is very interesting I think we lost impetus after about 35 mins and never fully recovered

[Rusaldo]

As he hasn't even got on the bench for two games I'm wondering if we will see Dan go the way of Puncheon TBH.

maybe Adkins is giving Dickson a few run outs as he plans to use him as cover for LM following the departure of Puncheon?

[Kingsland Codger]

Funny the differing views on the result...those that went and those that didn't basically.

Anyone who was there knew how good we were for 80 minutes when all the chasing and harrying we did caught up with us.

Great defensive display ...yes Jaidi may be dodgy for his distribution but thats not his job. He wins the ball and clears the danger.How many chances did the top of the league team create? How many headers at goal did they have? Jaidi is a stopper and thats his job and no-one does that better.

For years we have had namby pamby centre halves like Davenport and Lancashire and some of you want him dropped against the top of the league side.

Saturday is the day to play Martin.

I came away disappointed but elated at the way we played.

 

Whilst I'm of the view Jaidi is a very effective stopper and can put the fear of God into some of the other side, having won the ball he doesn't always 'clear the danger'; sadly (especially later in the game as he tires) he sometimes gives the ball straight back to the opposition and he becomes a bit of a liability.

 

Were I an opposing manager in the last 15 minutes of a game I would put my best tackler/hassler onto Jaidi to put him under pressure and have my speedster nearby to hopefully capitalise on any loose ball that results.

[Whitey Grandad]

I agree though that Kelvin shouldn't have lost his cool in shoving their player in the back, but the way that Brighton played running down the clock it was frustrating and understandable.

The Brighton player had just kicked the ball away so Kelvin stupidly shoved him in the back. The referee was calling that player back for a rollicking/booking when his number was held up for substitution so I guess that the referee decided to let him off.

[Phil the Saint]

Dan Harding was in the Terry Paine suite before the game and confirmed he was injured

 

He will struggle to get back in Dickson is the business. Only faded last night at the end as he is short on match fitness.

[del boy]

He will struggle to get back in Dickson is the business. Only faded last night at the end as he is short on match fitness.

 

Fully agree. It was the first time I'd seen both full backs together and was very impressed with both.

[saintrich]

Thought a draw was a fair result. We played quite well first half, but I thought lallana could have done better in his decision making - there was a great opportunity for him to bend one in the top corner 1st half and he passed. and then had 2 men to pass to and skied his shot (also him and guly mucked up at the end). gave too much space to Brighton second half schneiderlin bit sloppy and jaidi - someone teach him to pass!

 

Dickson, Hammond and Davis the pick of the bunch for me - good interception by Richardson second half too.

[Supersubpuckett]

I'd rather be us than Charlton (on the basis some on here moaning about the fact we're still not 2nd or whatever) - took my lad to see them last night (local team, got free tickets via school before I get slated) and they were terrible, clueless up front and very dodgy in defence. Rely far too much on Doherty. They were lucky not to lose and were outplayed by Rovers in most departments.

 

We are showing nice steady progression which should see us right up there by the end of the season - Brighton aren't top without good reason.

[Toadhall Saint]

Brighton are a horrible, niggly, time wasting team that I would pay to avoid watching. That said, I think they will definitely get an automatic spot because all that negativity, combined with resolute defending is very difficult to break down, They are at present on a bad run with injuries compounding their problems and on events, should have won that game.

 

Saints played well, in a very controlled manner and but for the lack of fire power, should have won this. Ricky's form is why we can't guarantee an automatic spot and we will have to get someone else in to get that guarantee. That does not mean we are going to sell him, firstly who would have him in his current form and when he gets over his problems, he will come good the same as Fuller. Adkins gave a hint to key players playing with injuries but would not highlight this for the opposition. Not that he needs to, after all this time I think we can all work it out for ourselves. The defence is consistently making errors that are or should be costing goals, going across the back four and the goalie. We have to be consistent here as the combination of not scoring and leaking is going to cost any team. Adkins is right, the defence has to be selected primarily for being able to defend. I was sure Morgan was going to get himself sent off last night and have nigh given up on him as a Saints player.

 

We have a lot of very good and talented players, all we really need is that performence coupled with a 25 goal striker to pull this league apart. until then we will have to do the best with what we have. Guly has taken a bit of a pasting, but amongst the negatives he looks the one player from glimpses, that could do a job for us given a run. It's pointless using Ricky away where 451 is required, I would far prefer to develop Guly with the possibility of something coming out of the other end. Well done Kelvin, did well in staying awake the first half, superb in what he did.

 

This about sums last night up for me. As to the niggly, time wasting etc - Poyet has obviously coached them in the Uraguian way!

[Griffo]

http://www.northstandchat.com

 

There's some right ****s on there. Claiming we were outsung, outplayed etc. They even call us 'Stains'.

[Kingsbridge Saint]

If we win the league this season this will look like 2 points dropped. We are playing catch up and results matter more than performances. So on balance, disappointed. Again.

[Chez]

Very very good game last night. Despite losing Chaplow the intensity of our play in the first half was excellent. They tried to overplay it out ofrom the back like we did at Huddersfield and we swarmed all over them. If the ref had given us the pen we would have been deservedly in front at half time. The second half was much more of a struggle at Brighton grabbed hold of the game. We struggled to put two passes together and then tired badly towards the end. I didn't think there's was a pen, but I'd like to see a replay. The linesman gave it, not the ref. A draw was about right, but Lambert shoud really have won it with a guilt edge chance. He is so low on cofidence its not true.

Davis 9 caught crosses, swept well and saved the pen. Distribution choices good.

Richardson 8 a few eye of the needle balls when a simpler pass would have been better, but very strong. He is a winner.

Fonte 7 given a tough time, and lost a few big headers to their number 17. Lucky not to be sent off for two footed tackle, also there were several slaps thrown when he tangled with Brightonplayers in the box

Jaidi 8 very solid and won everything and was a threat at other end

Dickson 8 solid display, very adventurous in the first half and a couple of lovely turns in the box almost had him in. Hopefully the doubters can see what he is trying to do now.

Lallana 8 some excellent runs, tricks, the usual stuff.

Hammond 9 My MOTM. First half display was brilliant. He was everywhere and all over them. Faded a little towards the end

Schnerlin 5 Poor first half, looked a little lost and doesn't get goal side enough for me. Was improving when subbed. Lucky not to see red with a blatent tug when already on a yellow

Chamberlin 2 Very poor display. Never at the races at all. Not sure if it was nerves or the tight marking, but he miscontrolled time after time. None of his runs came off (that happens sometimes I suppose). Got cramp, which is a worry, and tired after about an hour. Should have been subbed 20 minutes earlier IMO. By his standards this was a nightmare game.

Lambert 4 one delightfully weight pass to Lallana in the first half showed his class, but miscontrols and a big missed chance summed his game up right now. He won more headers than he has recently, especially in the first half, but no where near last season's best.

Barnard 7 Great pressing and workrate. Offers himself for throws all the time. When he goes off that option goes and we give posession away much more cheaply. We need to get more than an hour out of him, especially as we are carryign Lambert

 

Gully no significant impact, when badly needed as Brighton took charge

Holmes - tiredness from the whole side meant we were not closing them down quick enough, Holnme's lack of pace didn't help that situation

Butterfield - only on a few minutes

 

I thought Adkins made the wrong subs. Chamberlain should have gone off with Holmes replacing him not Morgan. If Morgan had to come off then Gobern should have got his chance.

 

I have to say Poyet's comments on the BBC website seem a little arrogant to me. "They tried to press us high, but not team can do that to Brighton for 90 minutes". He might be right, but we didn't just try to press we totally murdered them by our pressing in the first half and they were extremely lucky to get to half time on level terms. Whether we could do that for 90 minutes or not would not have mattered if we'd been a goal or two in front. He suggests the dealt with our shots easily when in fact they had to chuck everything in the way to prevent Lallana etc scoring.

He's right though that their subs changed the game for them.

 

Great game. This won't have set us back at all.

Edited 24 November, 2010 by Chez

[Neil]

Very good performance, although a frustrating result. We were much the better team over 90 minutes, and by a long way in the 1st half.

 

As for Brighton, I thought they were pretty embarassing for a top-of-the-table side in their attempts to spoil the game and waste time. Although admittedly they got what they came for, and could have even have nicked it near the end - which would have been a travesty of justice.

 

Brighton clearly can't match us for quality, but they are well organised and stubborn to break down. You can clearly see Poyet's impact, I wondered if were playing Uruguay at times they were that niggly!

 

Plenty to be positive about, if we can get Lambert going. Nothing much to worry about in League One going by Brighton!

[Window Cleaner]

If we win the league this season this will look like 2 points dropped. We are playing catch up and results matter more than performances. So on balance, disappointed. Again.

 

Doubt if we'll win the league this season to be honest, not unless we can find someone to score goals against sides who defend reasonably well. Maybe second though.

[doddisalegend]

I was impressed with the Chapel last night. I usually stand in Northam/ Kingsland Corner but was in the middle of the Kingsland last night and was amazed at the noise coming from the Chapel. Fair play to the people in there, almost any chant from the Northam got going a couple of seconds behind in the Chapel. Was that a good night for the Chapel though as you alluded to? I wasnt sure whether they were making more noise than usual or whether it was because you can never hear them when in the midst of the Northam singing.

 

Normally the Chapel is full of kids (including mine) evening games though the kid count is a lot less far more noisy grown men last night made for a good atmosphere I wouldn't want the chapel to turn into the Northam becuase I enjoy taking my kids on saturdays but evening games are a nice change of pace.

[Born In The 80s]

Despite the score being 0-0, I haven’t enjoyed myself at a game like I did last night all season. It was probably the best quality of football I’ve seen in any of the league 1 games I’ve watched over the last 18 months and Brighton fully played their part in that. I’ve read a lot of posts this afternoon whinging about Brighton and their negative tactics and I couldn’t disagree with the more. It was clear in the first half that we were all over them and I’d be willing to bet that any other team in the league would have buckled under the pressure we threw at them. Periods of solid, out and out pressure usually last in quick bursts, but last night we threw everything at them for the first 35/40 minutes of the game. It takes a very brave defence to withstand that kind of pressure when your forward line is misfiring as much as there’s was last night in the first half, and I thought they defended fantastically well. Probably the best defence I’ve seen in this division.

 

The game reminded me so much of another midweek game at St Mary’s in our first year down from the prem against Reading. After that night I remember reading similar comments from saints fans about negative reading tactics, and how they won’t win the league etc. Well, they did and they fully deserved it. I know it’s early days still, but Brighton look every bit good enough to get automatically promoted in the same fashion that Reading did. Football isn’t as straightforward a game as some fans like to think. Sometimes, when your front line is playing badly and your away at one of the divisions stronger sides, what’s needed is strong, committed, resolute defending and that’s exactly the kind of performance that Brighton gave. They were organised, disciplined and as for the time wasting whingers, I didn’t see Kelvin rushing to take the goal kicks in injury time (which really ****ed me off by the way).

 

I could be wrong, but I think Brighton will look back on games like last night at the end of the season and think what a great battling point they gained with their backs to the wall. Can we say the same about our performances when we’ve been in a similar position? Huddersfield sticks out like a sore thumb to me. A very similar type game, in which would have been a great point for us if we’d got it. But we failed to show the battling qualities that Brighton showed last night and ended up losing.

 

Unless we correct that in the coming months, I’m afraid we won’t go up automatically. I’m not being negative, just realistic.

[Liquidshokk]

Despite the score being 0-0, I haven’t enjoyed myself at a game like I did last night all season. It was probably the best quality of football I’ve seen in any of the league 1 games I’ve watched over the last 18 months and Brighton fully played their part in that. I’ve read a lot of posts this afternoon whinging about Brighton and their negative tactics and I couldn’t disagree with the more. It was clear in the first half that we were all over them and I’d be willing to bet that any other team in the league would have buckled under the pressure we threw at them. Periods of solid, out and out pressure usually last in quick bursts, but last night we threw everything at them for the first 35/40 minutes of the game. It takes a very brave defence to withstand that kind of pressure when your forward line is misfiring as much as there’s was last night in the first half, and I thought they defended fantastically well. Probably the best defence I’ve seen in this division.

 

The game reminded me so much of another midweek game at St Mary’s in our first year down from the prem against Reading. After that night I remember reading similar comments from saints fans about negative reading tactics, and how they won’t win the league etc. Well, they did and they fully deserved it. I know it’s early days still, but Brighton look every bit good enough to get automatically promoted in the same fashion that Reading did. Football isn’t as straightforward a game as some fans like to think. Sometimes, when your front line is playing badly and your away at one of the divisions stronger sides, what’s needed is strong, committed, resolute defending and that’s exactly the kind of performance that Brighton gave. They were organised, disciplined and as for the time wasting whingers, I didn’t see Kelvin rushing to take the goal kicks in injury time (which really ****ed me off by the way).

 

I could be wrong, but I think Brighton will look back on games like last night at the end of the season and think what a great battling point they gained with their backs to the wall. Can we say the same about our performances when we’ve been in a similar position? Huddersfield sticks out like a sore thumb to me. A very similar type game, in which would have been a great point for us if we’d got it. But we failed to show the battling qualities that Brighton showed last night and ended up losing.

 

Unless we correct that in the coming months, I’m afraid we won’t go up automatically. I’m not being negative, just realistic.

 

Brighton lover...

[hypochondriac]

Chez, agree with some of your marks but Chamberlin a 2 and Jaidi an 8? I really didn't see it like that. Chamberlin wasn't great but I would still give him a 6 or a 7. He made a few decent runs. Jaidi was solid in the first half but gave the ball away too much in the 2nd. 6 at best IMO.

[Sour Mash]

Despite the score being 0-0, I haven’t enjoyed myself at a game like I did last night all season. It was probably the best quality of football I’ve seen in any of the league 1 games I’ve watched over the last 18 months and Brighton fully played their part in that. I’ve read a lot of posts this afternoon whinging about Brighton and their negative tactics and I couldn’t disagree with the more. It was clear in the first half that we were all over them and I’d be willing to bet that any other team in the league would have buckled under the pressure we threw at them. Periods of solid, out and out pressure usually last in quick bursts, but last night we threw everything at them for the first 35/40 minutes of the game. It takes a very brave defence to withstand that kind of pressure when your forward line is misfiring as much as there’s was last night in the first half, and I thought they defended fantastically well. Probably the best defence I’ve seen in this division.

 

The game reminded me so much of another midweek game at St Mary’s in our first year down from the prem against Reading. After that night I remember reading similar comments from saints fans about negative reading tactics, and how they won’t win the league etc. Well, they did and they fully deserved it. I know it’s early days still, but Brighton look every bit good enough to get automatically promoted in the same fashion that Reading did. Football isn’t as straightforward a game as some fans like to think. Sometimes, when your front line is playing badly and your away at one of the divisions stronger sides, what’s needed is strong, committed, resolute defending and that’s exactly the kind of performance that Brighton gave. They were organised, disciplined and as for the time wasting whingers, I didn’t see Kelvin rushing to take the goal kicks in injury time (which really ****ed me off by the way).

 

I could be wrong, but I think Brighton will look back on games like last night at the end of the season and think what a great battling point they gained with their backs to the wall. Can we say the same about our performances when we’ve been in a similar position? Huddersfield sticks out like a sore thumb to me. A very similar type game, in which would have been a great point for us if we’d got it. But we failed to show the battling qualities that Brighton showed last night and ended up losing.

 

Unless we correct that in the coming months, I’m afraid we won’t go up automatically. I’m not being negative, just realistic.

 

Agreed, excellent post. Think it's fair to criticise Brighton for the tactics they used, as I've nexer seen a team time waste and be negative in a first half like that before, but it was all done for a reason and is certainly something we can learn from, like you say, would have helped us massively up at Huddersfield.

[Window Cleaner]

Agreed, excellent post. Think it's fair to criticise Brighton for the tactics they used, as I've nexer seen a team time waste and be negative in a first half like that before, but it was all done for a reason and is certainly something we can learn from, like you say, would have helped us massively up at Huddersfield.

 

Of course we can criticise Brighton all we like for their tactics, but at the end of the day they got what they wanted and we didn't.

They'll go up and perhaps we'll only go with them if we win the play-offs,that is unexcusable. We need to go to Huddersfield,Carlisle and Charlton and play in exactly the same way,except that we probably won't miss a penalty if we get one.

[jasoneuelllfanclub]

Brightons formation in the 1st half was almost a 4-1-2-1-2. one midfielder in hole behind two strikers and other midfielder sitting in front of defence. the amount of pocession and space we had in the 1st half was astonishing. Really we would have been home and dry by half time but for lack of killer instinct. lambert is well of the pace at the moment. we definately play better with barnard in the team but his hernia injury means he cant complete 90 mins which is a problem for us if we need a goal. guly touch and passing is awful. on a bright note some of our play especially in the 1st half was sublime with lallana showing majestic touches. he should have had a pen for sure. ref should have booked him for diving if not a pen. why would he have gone down when he was in a great position to score other then cus he was fouled.

[supersonic]

I really don't see why everyone started getting o nthe brighton keeper's back, he was a damned sight quicker at taking goal kicks than some keepers i've seen at SMS this season, especially Orient and Plymouths!!