Just got back from the game thread

[Hans Kraay]

Well after being under the cosh for at least 20 mins at the start when really Watford should have scored I'm pretty happy with the end result. CMS ran his socks off tonight and ran out of steam but to be honest we had 3 one on ones to kill this off and it should have been a lot easier. The penalty was clear cut with no complaints from Watford and the travelling support were superb. My mom was Buckley tonight he had their defenders in his pocket. The only player I would pick a hole in was Orlandi who to be honest had a shocker. All in all a good result away from home against a big physical team.

 

[jonny.rainbow]

Agree with the above.

Orlandi didn't look at the races. Luckily Buckley did a job down both wings to compensate.

 

[Hyperion]

Your Mum is Will Buckley?

 

[West Upper Seagull]

The radio commentary suggested Watford had 3 very strong claims for a penalty and we were very fortunate not to concede one of them - what was your view on this ?

 

[Hans Kraay]

The radio commentary suggested Watford had 3 very strong claims for a penalty and we were very fortunate not to concede one of them - what was your view on this ?

Difficult to see from our end but the ref to be fair was right up with play although he also had a poor game

 

[Hans Kraay]

Your Mum is Will Buckley?

Yes but only for one night

 

[Caveman]

Your Mum is Will Buckley?

Breaking news. I am a little shocked about this.

 

[Hyperion]

Yes but only for one night

Tempted though

 

[Hamilton]

Still on the train on the way back. Agree we had chances but think we got off the hook tonight. But as people say, that's the sign of a team heading up. But are we heading up?

Based on tonight's performance we need to work out a Plan B. Zola gave a great team talk at half time, because in the 2nd half Watford worked out how to play us and pressed up the pitch. What we didn't do was work out a way of playing the ball through the middle. Our midfield all got pushed deep and we lost our ability to switch play from side to side. The result was that we were reduced to playing long balls over the top to CMS and then Dobbie.

Their penalty calls weren't penalties, and our penalty was 50/50. I thought the ball got caught under CMS's feet more than anything.

Still, 3 points and a good reminder of what we need to work at.

Great atmosphere too and "we're Brighton Hove Albion, we'll sit where we want" despite the efforts of stewards to make us sit in our seats. Clearly Watford also think the best stewarding policy is to hire twenty something girls to try and plead you to your seat. Didn't work. Never does. Why do they bother?

 

[Goldstone Rapper]

Tempted though

Me too. Lovely hair.

 

[jonny.rainbow]

The radio commentary suggested Watford had 3 very strong claims for a penalty and we were very fortunate not to concede one of them - what was your view on this ?

I didn't think any of them were from our end. Blatant dives after minimal contact.

 

[Sussex Nomad]

We won after being jostled, bullied, harried and generally muscled out. They have some huge lads! In Euston station now ta ta!

 

[Rugrat]

They say the sign of a good team is that it still wins when they play badly and that was us tonight I think. They started strongly as you would expect and when they ran out of ideas after 25 min's or so we had our best spell ... for the remainder of the 1st half and we had 2 or 3 good chances, (diff to see from my position in the back row) Buckley was tormenting the hell out of them with the normal good supporting work from Bridge and Bruno.

2nd half they pressed up on us and it got so you couldn't tell our midfield from the defensive line and we had palyers getting tangled up all over and some almost comical attempts to pass our way out of trouble ... don't know what possession was but we didn't have much but we did hold firm and all credit to our back line for holding strong. Kooshack didn't really have a save to make but controlled the box well. His distribution is naff although not helped by having very little space to work in.

Diff to pick a MOM ... Buckley or El Abd

Orlandi was very disappointing, just didn't see him do anything and after a decent game Saturday Dicker looked poor too. Barnes is going to get sent off very soon, he needs to get a bit more self control, even if his actions are retaliatory.

But all credit to Watford they pressed right up on us and we couldn't deal with it

 

[clapham_gull]

Watford won't lose many games playing that like. We road our luck tonight at times tonight.

 

[HitchinSeagull]

Well after being under the cosh for at least 20 mins at the start when really Watford should have scored I'm pretty happy with the end result. CMS ran his socks off tonight and ran out of steam but to be honest we had 3 one on ones to kill this off and it should have been a lot easier. The penalty was clear cut with no complaints from Watford and the travelling support were superb. My mom was Buckley tonight he had their defenders in his pocket. The only player I would pick a hole in was Orlandi who to be honest had a shocker. All in all a good result away from home against a big physical team.

Agree with this pretty much a summary of my player markings on the other thread, after last years shocker Im delighted with a poor win.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

I didn't think any of them were from our end. Blatant dives after minimal contact.

That's good to know. Our commentators seemed to feel at least 2 were nailed on, and the word 'stonewall' was used 3 or 4 times.

 

[nwgull]

Our penalty was dodgy IMHO. Other than that we were ok in spells, but certainly under pressure during the last 15-20. Lots of long ball clearances to CMS (and then Dobbie), and generally giving the ball away cheaply during this spell. Having said that, I don't remember any great chances in front of goal for them, and we had 3 good ones that I remember. Their penalty appeals all looked like dives from the other end. Although you do get tense thinking that the ref will eventually give one.

Best players for us were Bridge and Bridcutt. Orlandi was disappointing and Dobbie didn't offer any threat or much of an outlet for clearances when he came on.

 

[clapham_gull]

Our penalty was dodgy IMHO. Other than that we were ok in spells, but certainly under pressure during the last 15-20. Lots of long ball clearances to CMS (and then Dobbie), and generally giving the ball away cheaply during this spell. Having said that, I don't remember any great chances in front of goal for them, and we had 3 good ones that I remember. Their penalty appeals all looked like dives from the other end. Although you do get tense thinking that the ref will eventually give one.

Best players for us were Bridge and Bridcutt. Orlandi was disappointing and Dobbie didn't offer any threat or much of an outlet for clearances when he came on.

They hit the bar.

 

[Barry Izbak]

I haven't seen a team give us more trouble this season than Watford did.
I can't say Watford deserved much more than they got, but neither would we be grumbling if we'd come home with one point instead of three

 

[clapham_gull]

Luckily I have a cold so I was immune to that smell of vomit on the train on the way back.

Anyone unlucky enough to be in our carriage will understand.