Brighton & Hove Albion 1-1 West Ham Utd (17/08/19)

[Peaches]

The weakness of our team is well known to us and apparently to everyone else too. We are soft in the middle of the park and on the left side of our defence. We are also prone to individual errors. We can compensate for that going forward. Yesterday we were without Anderson and Haller who are the primary focus of our attack. We are also very light on leadership and without Balbuena, Zabaleta and Noble we had none at all. Also without Haller and Antonio, we were tiny against a massive Brighton side.
A big problem is we are still carrying Reid, Creswell, Ogbonna, Sanchez and Hernandez who are collecting between 400and 500k a week combined and prevent us addressing our biggest needs. Some of them offer nothing, some are liabilities and some just don’t fit with our system or style. It’s clear Pellegrini wanted Maripan and we need a successor to Noble.

[brooking1966]

The most worrying thing for me, although I agree the defensive organisation is appalling, The player's application to get behind the ball, press tackle and be in the faces of the opposition.

We are very easy on the eye in possession, but seem to be going nowhere most of the time, is too much time on the training ground spent doing the pretty stuff and not enough on hard graft?

Front 6 need to roll their sleeves up & prepared to defend as 1 unit. The likes of the 2 Silva's & Mahrez at Man City should be an example. They are slight of build yet can hold possession 2 Secs (body position) & do a job defensively for the team. Wilshire, Yarma & Haller are the only ones who can hold possession, Lanzini, Fornals, Anderson, all need bigger butts on the ball imo

[bubbles1966]

Ratings:

Fabianski - 6 - goalkeeping fine; distribution very limited and one of the root causes of why we had that dreadful spell between 20-40 minutes. He needs a percentage ball because he clearly lacks confidence/skill with the ball at his feet. Hernandez isn't that ball, and them having three huge CBs meant the alternative of kicking it towards the full back area was also taken away.

Fredericks - 6 - solid enough, aside from an iffy 10 minutes.

Masuaku - 6 - a blend of good feet in possession and very good aggressive tackling, alongside the usual lapse in concentration here and there.

Ogbonna - 7 - very good game. Most of Brighton's 'chances' in the box were actually offside in the first hour and he gave a solid and robust performance.

Diop - 5 - a poor 10/15 minutes in an otherwise solid performance. Poor in terms of initial positioning and the challenge for the goal. Having a poor start to the season.

Rice - 7 - energetic, combative, decent in possession.

Wilshere - 4 - completely peripheral. Game passed him by.

Fornals - 5 - reasonable effort levels, a few 'nearly' moments on the ball but needs to come to terms with the tempo and refereeing differences between La Liga and the PL.

Snodgrass - 5 - desperately ineffective in the first 40 minutes, but okay after that.

Lanzini - 7.5 - some moments of real quality.

Hernandez - 6 - largely ineffective and peripheral in the first half - Antonio's arrival helped him/us.

[Peaches]

I disagree with those ratings. Fredericks and Masuaku were much better than Diop, Ogbonna and Rice. I would also argue in the first half Wilshere was better than Rice. Wilshere was caught in possession once, Rice was out of position a dozen times. Lanzini was our best player going forward and defending. Hernandez was caught in possession once in our half that could have been costly but otherwise did very well given the service he had. Antonio changed the game but should have scored at least one of the two chances he had. Snodgrass and Fornals were both poor. Fabianski was average at best, and much below his normal standard. Made two saves look much better than they were, was horrible distributing the ball and didn’t go agreat job organizing the defence or commanding his area.

[Crossd_Hammrs]

The weakness of our team is well known to us and apparently to everyone else too. We are soft in the middle of the park and on the left side of our defence.

Are we weaker on the left of defence than the right?
I'm not familiar with Brighton's team - I knew two of their players before the game but afterwards I'd learned four more names through being a constant threat: they all played on Brighton's left: Trossard, Stephens, March and Burn.

[61dicksey]

Ogbonna 7 ? more like a 4 or 5 at best

Rice was a 5

Lanzini lost the ball everytime in the 1st half improved in the 2nd half but was a 6

[bristolhammerfc]

My ratings

Fabianski-6 A couple of good stops, but could marshal his back line better. Slow to come for the ball sometimes

Arthur-6 Good going forward, poor defending against players running at him. Linked well on the wing but his positional sense is poor when defending.

Ogbonna-5 Charged about like a headless chicken at the beginning, should have closed the attacker down for the goal and didn't play the captains role when the side needed settling

Diop-6 Poor for the goal, but otherwise is growing as a player

Fredericks- 6 Needs to do better in possession. Looked unfit further into the game

Rice-8 was towering in the middle in an often lone role. Broke up play well and calmed down the defence. Slow to track back for the goal but looks assured on the ball

Wilshere-4 Just didn't get into the game. Looked unsure of where to play, was blowing out of his arse early on and gave the ball away too often.

Fornals-5 Another who looked unsure of where he fitted into the system. Played most games for Spain on the left so of course we started him on the right. looked off the pace

Lanzini-6 Needs to do more than have a couple of jinky runs to impress. Didn't defend and played for the foul too often. Got better when Antonio came on but looks shoehorned in at times.

Snodgrass-5 Settled better in the second half. Good on delivering the ball in but headless chicken at times.

Hernandez-6 Gets six due to a well taken goal and his timing of the run. Otherwise spent most of the time on the halfway line with his hands on his hips. Doesn't drop deep to collect the ball and wants everything on a plate.

Antonio-7 Worked his socks off. The end product still frustrates but at least gave us something different.

Yarmolenko-5 looked off the pace and touch let him down a few times

Sanchez -5 Touched the ball twice.

[e17]

I’d mainly forgotten that Arthur was a starter - which means an improvement over last week when it was painfully clear that paycheck merchant Cresswell was

[WienIron]

I found that quite difficult watching, but glad in the end to come out with a point.

So disappointed to see Haller out yesterday. If the ball sticks up there, the game looks totally different and brings more out of Lanzini/ Fornals/ Wilshere's passing, Fab's kicking and Snoddy's crossing ability. Really excited to see him in action against a non top 6 side.

Antonio made a big difference in the general run of play when he came on, and I hope that''s the last time we see Hernandez up top without a physical presence around him. Antonio is a great example of a player who may not be Pelle's cup of tea, but has become indispensable to the squad given the need for a plan B in games like this. Even if the tippy-tappy central midfield experiment does work, he should bear squad diversity in mind and bring an athletic midfielder in regardless.

VAR should disproportionately help us this year due to our high line. Already 1 point added on that front.

Things I hope Pelle's learnt:

- Like last year, Masuaku-Ogbonna-Diop lined up next to each other doesn't work
- Like last year, Hernandez up top alone will see us get squeezed
- Like last year, Rice can't cover every gap on his tod and our other midfielders need to muck in.

[Aceface]

Antonio is probably quietly having a more effective spell over his last 15 or so league games than he did even during his hot streak in his first season.

Still far from perfect. But In terms of sparking things he's where it's at right now, far more consistently than anyone else.

[Patito]

Antonio is probably quietly having a more effective spell over his last 15 or so league games than he did even during his hot streak in his first season.

Still far from perfect. But In terms of sparking things he's where it's at right now, far more consistently than anyone else.

For sure. He should probably start next match. Watford struggled with him big time last time out...

[Gsbgsb]

Only seen the highlights so cannot comment on the whole game but why is Ogbonna getting the grief for the goal - highest on the 2019/20 villain list?

First Diop should have dealt better with the first ball, second Arthur and the midfield worked harder to get back. Ogbonna was left with a Hobson’s choice- close Trossard and he has two free to his left with an easy chance if the pass is made, cover them and the guy has a reasonably difficult shot to beat Fab from 18 yards with about half the goal covered.

Whatever he did was potentially going to be wrong but I am far from sure that it was the wrong option the moment the decision was taken.

[Johnny Byrne's Boots]

It was obvious Trossard was setting up for a right foot shot so you deal with the immediate threat, close him down by getting face to face. Yes he had players to his left, but the pass would still have needed to be made and would have been more difficult under the pressure of a CB in your face. Ogbonna didn't close down the shot, he didn't cut off the pass. He stood two paces off, giving him time to make and execute his decision.

[Croydon]

Ogbonna has long been the guy that people like putting the blame on, despite being one of our higher performers.

[Absolutely Hammered!]

Lanzini-6 Needs to do more than have a couple of jinky runs to impress. Didn't defend and played for the foul too often. Got better when Antonio came on but looks shoehorned in at times.

:lol:
Yeah that's right... all he did was beat a few players and slot hernandez in for an assist. If anything he doesn't get enough credit.
He was the only one who showed anything going forwards. I look forwards to seeing lanzini and anderson link up as the season progresses.

[bristolhammerfc]

Ogbonna has long been the guy that people like putting the blame on, despite being one of our higher performers.

Wilshere has had more stick on this thread. Obiang got loads of stick. Sanchez was constantly dug out. I don't think Ogbonna has had much at all?

He should have closed the shot down yesterday.

[goa127]

The interesting thing for me was reading the opposition views. They generally seemed to think a point was a good result which is strange considering how scathing most have been on KUMB. Perhaps it's to do with expectations?

[Croydon]

Wilshere has had more stick on this thread. Obiang got loads of stick. Sanchez was constantly dug out. I don't think Ogbonna has had much at all?

Just opened a random few pages from this thread and:

Oggy is terrible, he also upsets his partner and brings them down to his level.

Why is Ogbonna even playing. Dross.

Ogbonna is woeful.

He definitely gets a much harsher critique than the rest of the squad.

[Gsbgsb]

He closes down the shot and the pass is played to a player through on goal - bet many would then blame him for not stopping that and for throwing himself in front of Trossard. Why sell himself etc.

More importantly we had gone one nil up a few minutes before, you know a home team is going to come at you for the next ten minutes. Why was Rice not with five yards of the two centre halves? Why was Arthur not with 5 yards of Ogbonna? Any of this and you do not leave it to one player to make an invidious choice.

The problems posed for Ogbonna on that move were caused by those in front of him not him. We looked to be defending as individuals not a team.

[Cuenca 'ammer]

the most dangerous player on the field is the one with the ball...

coaching 101