Brighton & Hove Albion 1-0 West Ham Utd (05/10/18)

[thejackhammer]

The front three had an off day, no decisions seemed to come off, always the wrong pass or the wrong cutback.

On another day we’d have scored a couple, Arnie’s volley would have been a stunner but for Murray being in the right place. Good routine though.

It was a bad day at the office, just need to get used to picking the lock against those teams. Reminded me of the Wimbledon game, we eventually got through in that game.

[mushy]

Thats would have been a goal, no Chance vor the goalkeeper, just Bad Luck that he was shot on the foot of the Brighton defender

Bad luck or smart defending?
We actually created more, and had more shots on target then we did last week, and for my mind Brighton and Hove Albion, played better then that Manchester lot last week.
Looking at the stats, we had a hell of a lot of shots blocked/charged down, this is a tactic we have used in the past (see Pinkys post as regards Allardyce). Collins was the master of this, its a dangerous strategy but one that works, and last night it worked against us.
We played some good stuff at times, some lovely football but my major concern is the plan B, I dont think we have one, or if we do its ineffective.
The long ball to one of our forwards heads just doesnt work, our three forwards won just one header between them all night, that simply is not good enough.
Antonio won one or two when he came on but they tend to go nowhere.
Having said all that, I thought we were unlucky, we didnt get the breaks, they did, last week it was the other way round.
A nice few fixtures coming up.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

Met Police West Ham Utd FC

Great support on a frustrating night down at Brighton, No West ham arrests however the chap who threw a marital aid onto the pitch can expect a call.

Also unfortunately a few inappropriate chants.

[Clucking Bell]

The way to beat these teams is to recycle the ball really quickly. It's what Citeh and the Bindippers do: as soon as one attack breaks down, they regain possession and attack from a different direction. After they've done this a few times, the opposition players have all been pulled out of position and they've created a scoring opportunity.

We're starting to do this under Pellegrini. We have two or three five minute spells where the other team is defending for dear life but, the problem arises when we don't convert our chances. We then go off the boil for fifteen or twenty minutes until we're ready to give it another go.

We're also really dependent on our front three all being 8/10 or better every week because, if they don't score, nobody else will and the options from the bench aren't anything to write home about. I haven't seen enough of Perez to make any kind of decision but, Hernandez and Antonio simply don't fit into the team that we're building and, if the last six seasons have taught us anything, any plan that includes Andy Carroll is a **** plan by definition

[Alan Pardew's Dad]

While disappointed with the result, it wasn't a bad game to watch.

We struggled to breakdown a resilient defence, but had plenty of possession and shots.

The players looked like they were trying, but ultimately came up short.

I'll take that and move on to the next game.

[Al Fisti]

Bad luck or smart defending?
We actually created more, and had more shots on target then we did last week, and for my mind Brighton and Hove Albion, played better then that Manchester lot last week.
Looking at the stats, we had a hell of a lot of shots blocked/charged down, this is a tactic we have used in the past (see Pinkys post as regards Allardyce). Collins was the master of this, its a dangerous strategy but one that works, and last night it worked against us.
We played some good stuff at times, some lovely football but my major concern is the plan B, I dont think we have one, or if we do its ineffective.
The long ball to one of our forwards heads just doesnt work, our three forwards won just one header between them all night, that simply is not good enough.
Antonio won one or two when he came on but they tend to go nowhere.
Having said all that, I thought we were unlucky, we didnt get the breaks, they did, last week it was the other way round.
A nice few fixtures coming up.

In General Brighton defended ver well, no doubt, but in that scene they had just Luck, cause There was no time to react for the defender

Agree with the Rest

[bubbles1966]

I can't blame Hughton for playing to his strengths...they have a 35 plus CF. He has got them competitive and hard to break down...

think bubbles 1966 posted something that they don't lose to many (if any) teams outside the top 6. Think the commentator said 29 of their 40 points came at home last season but I might not have heard that correctly.

If you strip out games against the top 6 - since Brighton came up last season they have had 15 fixtures at home - they've lost one. It was presumptuous of some to imagine we'd canter past them.

Our slight issue is that we've lost another game by just a single goal to a team who are in that midtable rump - Wolves, Bournemouth, Brighton - though that's better than the tonkings of last year.

We had a season high number of efforts on goal last night - but in those three midtable games we've had 41 shots but not scored from open play. We scored 6 from 23 against Everton, Chelsea, Man U.

We're an all or nothing team when it comes to having our shooting boots on. The better news is that we have gone seven games on the spin where we've conceded no more than one goal.

[mattyD]

Brighton were good - they did their thing, very fit and fast... got the goal through crap defending. We might have got something - especially if we hadn't have conceded as they might have lost confidence.... we were okay but not great and Brighton defended very well. We started like we were gonna walk it which was crap.

Yarma is great on the ball but a terrible athlete, Snodders should have come on for him and kept Obiang on - it disrupted our shape too much shifting players around when we were well on top at that point.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

probably other than the Arnie effort at the end, our shots were confined to the edge or just outside the box.

kudos to Brighton to restricting us and our failure yet again to break down a well disciplined and organised team.


how many is that I wonder ? seems like when we face a workmanlike blue collar team we find it hard to break them down.

we played possession but as I mentioned it was possession for possession's sake...nothing incisive really other than the odd once or twice..you have to come up with more than that against this Bournemouth, Burnley, Brighton type teams...

they're basically fighting for survival from the first game of the season in their approach and every game is a "must win" scenario for them.

[bubbles1966]

Balbuena should have buried the header from the corner and there were quite a few moments where the ball was screaming out for someone to knock it in from six yards but there was no one there. it was the kind of game where we dominated the ball so much that a poacher (hernandez/ayew/nolan) would have scored their goal from close in.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

%'s say long shots are more likely NOT to end up in a goal, but the occasional one might take a deflection and/or unsight the keeper..or we get a defeclected own goal, or a nice little drop to someone who can tap it in.

I think there were times last night (the end of the first half encapsulated it) where we might could have had a dig..

don't shoot, you don't score....also it keeps the defenders/keeper honest...not all the time, but worth a pop now and again.....

also the free kicks were abysmal...

[bubbles1966]

also the free kicks were abysmal...

I'd divide them into two.

The direct shots were poor, the set pieces (incl. corners) where we worked a move seemed quite intelligent where we worked good space in the box but never capitalised from there. Arnie and Balbuena had four clear sights of goal or opportunities to play a dangerous ball (sometimes headed) by my reckoning but nowt came of it.

[Samba]

Met Police West Ham Utd FC
No West ham arrests however the chap who threw a marital aid onto the pitch can expect a call.

The Met, hoping to place a large order..

[Puff Daddy]

Balbuena should have buried the header from the corner and there were quite a few moments where the ball was screaming out for someone to knock it in from six yards but there was no one there. it was the kind of game where we dominated the ball so much that a poacher (hernandez/ayew/nolan) would have scored their goal from close in.

It was almost a carbon copy of Yarmi's miss against Chelsea. Can't believe he didn't get in a proper thumping header from that position? Had he done so and aimed it anywhere in the general direction of the net chances are from that distance, it would have been a goal

[Samba]

any link to the incident where the player went down holding his head then being treated for his ankle?

Now, I can understand a bit of timewasting, all teams do it, but if it's true what that player did, well, that's just plain cheating. A decent ref would have noticed it & booked him for it.
I'd like to ask Hughton if the advice to do that came from him or if he is going to tell his players not to do it again.

[Rocketron]

]

any link to the incident where the player went down holding his head then being treated for his ankle?

"Ungentlemanly conduct".

[smuts]

Someone did exactly the same to us last year. Pinball in the box and a defender went down clutching his face only to make a miraculous recovery when the ref stopped play for a head injury.

Make players sit out the next 5 minutes if the ref stops play for them.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

Do like rugby, if the game is stopped for a head injury you go off and have a full independent medical assessment, whose word is final.

[hammer1975]

Difficult to know if the ref would have booked him had he not been subbed immediately

Wait until we play Leicester, they pulled that (fake head injury) trick twice in one game at the LS last season.

[Patito]

Still trying to work out how we didn’t score! At least we are creating the chances I’d be more worried if we weren’t. We are still a work in progress, there is plenty to work on both defensively and in an attacking sense. We played some great stuff though at times and that’s against a home side who are so adept at stifling teams. Onwards and upwards.