[Albion] Charlton Athletic vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[hart's shirt]

With hindsight, it probably wasn't a great idea asking Mitoma to share Japan's penalty taking secrets with the Albion boys.

 

[Si Gull]

to be expected after the break really

But only us. The other 5 PL sides playing lower league sides managed to get through despite the break.

 

[Mike Small]

Laying into people who've failed under pressure is the last thing he should be doing.
You need to remove the fear of failure and the pressure, not add to it.

Evening Graham.

I think he could talk with them about their attitudes and performance tonight. He could also insist that Gross, Trossard, Dunk and March take a run ups longer than 2 yards and hit the ball hard at goal rather than what they did tonight. It was arrogant, casual and didn't work. He's accountable for that.

 

[Webbo]

At Charlton station.
Sorry about my miracle prediction,
Best wishes for the rest of the season,

 

[dangull]

A top 6 premier league club team should not bottle so many in a low profile cup competition against a club 2 leagues below

Argentina for reference

 

[tigertim68]

So disappointing chance to progress to the last 8 of a cup competition, and we put in a performance like that , can’t break down a division 3 defence ,
we really struggle against teams who defend in numbers, no matter what level the team we are playing against.
we need players who can break down defences , with pace , skill or quick thinking,

 

[Mike Small]

By being brave, perhaps? - and March being brave enough to step up and take it.

Realised that could be levelled against what I was saying by the fact that he took the 5th penalty!! He's lent back so badly there, coupled with a two yard run up. Whoever decided for March to take 5th has made a terrible choice and quite possibly deluded themselves.

 

[tigertim68]

He’s a massive confidence player solly and that will hurt him.

That’s why solly will never be a top professional, because he lacks self confidence,

 

[Swansman]

Am I the only one who has quite enjoyed it? Frustrating a bit, but Charlton have defended like absolute warriors and they deserve to have gotten this to pens. Yes, we've been a bit disconnected, but I'm not massively surprised by that. It's been attack versus defence for 90 mins and the defence has been great. Fair play to them.

Their keeper has had a good game too, which is a bit worrying for the pens!

Probably...

 

[jcdenton08]

Poor half.

Very slow in possession. Gilmour standing and demanding the ball, only to lay a 5 yard pass and then demand it back, with very little if any “pass appreciation” (progression forwards).

Caicedo at left back is very strange, no idea why this is happening. He’s playing fine, but no idea why he is out of position.

Several players noticeably off the pace; Groß, Lallana, Gilmour and perhaps even Dunk at times.

Undav and, in particular, Enciso have been rather poor. Enciso has lost possession practically every single time and is in their right back’s pocket so far. Undav just looks off the pace, and to my eyes at least, not in peak condition physically.

We look physically lightweight without Welbeck, and have struggled for touches back to goal. Undav plays off the shoulder, there is nobody to play off in and around the penalty box. So we knock it around in front of their deep block hoping to find space for Solly or Lamptey. Then they have nobody to aim for in the box with any presence.

I think their keeper looks very shaky and I’m surprised we’ve done so little to test him.

We need to up the tempo considerably in the second half in order to win this match.

Continued…

I thought we were perhaps even worse in the second half. Some really poor performances tonight.

Undav didn’t exactly scream ready for the top half of the PL to me, nor Gilmour. Enciso had another mare, unfortunately, and was correctly removed at half time. I think a loan would be a fantastic option at this stage in his development.

We look light in central midfield after losing Bissouma and Mwepu - I really hope Cifuentes is the answer if he does indeed join. We need strong competition for MacAllister and Caicedo. Trossard was as bad as Enciso in his cameo.

And yes, extremely lightweight up front. A physical centre forward would give us different options against low block sides, and allow us to occasionally lift crosses into the box on the occasions Dunk hasn’t stayed forward.

The sheer number of times tonight March/Lamptey/Mitoma looked up, saw nothing whatsoever to aim at and cut back was astonishing.

Lots of overhit passes, underhit passes, poor touches, overrunning the ball, slips, stumbles… almost exactly as it was when we were poor against Villa, actually.

Overplaying, low confidence in front of goal (March racing through on his right, only to check back to his left and allow Charlton to get 11 men behind the ball) is fresh and damning in my mind.

A confident player would swing a boot at that, even a weak foot; the minimum would be to test the goalkeeper from less than 20 yards. Instead, low risk, recycle and pass the buck. It absolutely summed up our last few games.

On a positive note, I thought Lamptey looked good again, Estupinan looked quite sharp when he came on and… that’s about it really. No visible injuries or red cards.

Finally, credit to Charlton. They were combative, dogged and completely limited - and fully deserved their draw overall. It was prime Hughton-Ball.

But really we should’ve blown them away, and gave a very sluggish performance in practically every respect.

 

[Zeberdi]

I guess this has been said already but "whole game" he came on at 62 mins !

That’s probably why he looked ‘angry and sulky’— although, that does seem to be his default demeanour so maybe just fatigued. It can’t be easy for a striker to watch his team very much lacking in the final third whilst sitting on the bench for an hour either.

 

[POSKETT AT THE VALLEY]

If a centre half can step up confidently and put the ball in the net, why can’t a players further up the pitch. Really needs a post mortem on this one, rather than the concentrate on the league viewpoint.

 

[jimhigham]

Is there something buried away deep in our articles of association that says we must always stink out the League Cup?

Unexpectedly gutted by this result tonight. There was a proper opportunity to have a tilt at bringing home a nice little pot at the end of the season. We blew it.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Evening Graham.

I think he could talk with them about their attitudes and performance tonight. He could also insist that Gross, Trossard, Dunk and March take a run ups longer than 2 yards and hit the ball hard at goal rather than what they did tonight. It was arrogant, casual and didn't work. He's accountable for that.

Don't follow the cricket then?
This is basic man management, you don't need a masters in whatever it was Potter had to understand it.
If those players think that's their best approach to scoring a penalty, they should absolutely commit to it. If they think running up and nailing it straight down the middle is the right option they should do that.
Just telling somebody not to miss their penalty isn't going to achieve anything.

 

[Wrong-Direction]

Forgot hoe awful coming back from an away defeat is..

 

[Simster]

Continued…

I thought we were perhaps even worse in the second half. Some really poor performances tonight.

Undav didn’t exactly scream ready for the top half of the PL to me, nor Gilmour. Enciso had another mare, unfortunately, and was correctly removed at half time. I think a loan would be a fantastic option at this stage in his development.

We look light in central midfield after losing Bissouma and Mwepu - I really hope Cifuentes is the answer if he does indeed join. We need strong competition for MacAllister and Caicedo. Trossard was as bad as Enciso in his cameo.

And yes, extremely lightweight up front. A physical centre forward would give us different options against low block sides, and allow us to occasionally lift crosses into the box on the occasions Dunk hasn’t stayed forward.

The sheer number of times tonight March/Lamptey/Mitoma looked up, saw nothing whatsoever to aim at and cut back was astonishing.

Lots of overhit passes, underhit passes, poor touches, overrunning the ball, slips, stumbles… almost exactly as it was when we were poor against Villa, actually.

Overplaying, low confidence in front of goal (March racing through on his right, only to check back to his left and allow Charlton to get 11 men behind the ball) is fresh and damning in my mind.

A confident player would swing a boot at that, even a weak foot; the minimum would be to test the goalkeeper from less than 20 yards. Instead, low risk, recycle and pass the buck. It absolutely summed up our last few games.

On a positive note, I thought Lamptey looked good again, Estupinan looked quite sharp when he came on and… that’s about it really. No visible injuries or red cards.

Finally, credit to Charlton. They were combative, dogged and completely limited - and fully deserved their draw overall. It was prime Hughton-Ball.

But really we should’ve blown them away, and gave a very sluggish performance in practically every respect.

Excellent post, this.

 

[Zeberdi]

A top 6 premier league club team should not bottle so many in a low profile cup competition against a club 2 leagues below

Argentina for reference

Are we a top 6 PL Club now? Well at least that’s one good bit of news I’ve had tonight.

 

[Mike Small]

Don't follow the cricket then?
This is basic man management, you don't need a masters in whatever it was Potter had to understand it.
If those players think that's their best approach to scoring a penalty, they should absolutely commit to it. If they think running up and nailing it straight down the middle is the right option they should do that.
Just telling somebody not to miss their penalty isn't going to achieve anything.

Gross has had the same approach in his last 3 penalties (WBA, Palace and tonight. All missed). It's up to RDZ to spot this and get him to try a different technique or let someone else take one. You're right but I wasn't telling RDZ to lay into them for missing a penalty - imo it was their casual/indifferent approach and I'd like him to stop that from happening again whether that's by laying into them or by other more supportive means as you point out.

 

[Oh_aye]

For all you that rave about March he is just a good defender in PL but he does and never has contributed anything in attack. We know he cant shoot but had no defending to do tonight and was rubbish going forward.
Back to PL and people raving about him chasing opposition WB

He doesn't contribute anything in attack? Christ I've read some absolute cack in my time.

That said, I reckon his mum must have had an affair with some goalposts while he was in the womb because his psychology in front of goal can only be described as Freudian.

 

[Jeremiah]

I think that is the most disappointing Albion result I can remember in the Amex era. We have have some - Burnley 0-3 , Bournemouth 0-5 , Palace in the Play - Off Semi Final etc but they were against teams in the same league as us.

But playing against a team two leagues lower than us , and not even a decent League One side and creating so little and then blowing the shoot out by missing a penalty to win it is beyond frustrating. With our squad of players that should not have happened.

Personally , at this moment, I don't care if we beat Southampton and Arsenal with two Solly March hat-tricks - we are not going to win the League. We might, if we took it seriously , win a Cup (or reach a final).

I think the 6,000 who went should be given their money back by the players or Club - over to you Mr Barber.