Crawley 1 Brighton 1. Thoughts on the game.

One Teddy Maybank · Jul 23, 2014

Back from Crawley

I realise it is 'only a friendly', but in case anyone is interested......

Great turn out and support from the Brighton fans.

We started quite brightly when Solly was on the pitch, but as soon as he went off we were void of any creativity, and Crawley opened us up quite easily. However, arguably this was because we were down to 10 men for approx. 15 mins, due to two very bad elbows by Crawley players on Greer that led to stitches and Calderon, who was patched up (a la Steve Foster).

The Crawley goal was well taken, but was poor marking perhaps as a result of Greer being off the pitch.

The second half was a bit stop-start. Kaz equalised with a great goal from a free-kick.

Other observations were:

Walton played well throughout, though is a little lightweight and was pushed about on corners. Great prospect.

Chicksen, JFC and Kemy were awful.

CMS no support.

The return of Andrew Crofts - excellent news.

If I was pushed for a MoM, I think I would go with Ince.

Overall, after Lewes and Partick, I thought we were quite poor particularly in midfield when Solly went off. Disappointing O'Grady didn't play.

I would get Ward in as a matter of urgency.

clippedgull · Jul 23, 2014

Good summing up, watched it live on youtube and can't argue with any of your points. :thumbsup:

CMS got an elbow in the face in the first half as well.

doogie004 · Jul 23, 2014

Would agree with most thought Walton deserved m o m not ince but looked very much like last season void of any idea in final third lets hope for so e arrivals as it's going to b a long season on that display friendly or not .

One Teddy Maybank · Jul 23, 2014

doogie004 said:
Would agree with most thought Walton deserved m o m not ince but looked very much like last season void of any idea in final third lets hope for so e arrivals as it's going to b a long season on that display friendly or not .

Yes my son went with Walton as MoM. I just felt Ince was the only presence, he probably stood out as the others were so poor.

Mackenzie · Jul 23, 2014

Good summery OTM. That's how it looked on the screen too, probably had Walton in front of Ince for mom though.

goldstone · Jul 23, 2014

First off have to say I was very impressed with Crawley. Looks like they have the makings of a decent team.

As for the Albion, very poor first half (first shot on target in the first minute of first half added time), better second half.

Best news probably the unexpected appearance of Crofts as a second half sub.

Other positives were Walton's performance in goal; Agustein who I though had a decent game apart from one or two misplaced passes; March looked good until his early injury; Ince looked strong particularly in the 2nd half; great thunderbolt of a free kick for Lua Lua's goal who had a decent game overall.

Not so good (in my opinion) were Calderon whose defensive work was not up to standard and, although he spent much of the game in Crawley's half, he didn't offer much of an attacking threat; and CMS who proved he cannot play the lone striker role effectively.

Maksimenko did OK in central defence with Greer, and Chicksen was reasonably effective at LB. JFC took a succession of poor free kicks and corners and did not appear to offer anything more than last season. Goodwin looked OK when he came on as sub.

Only a friendly, but clearly the squad still needs strengthening.

London Irish · Jul 23, 2014

Really dont get the cult of Ince, he did very little in an outplayed midfield, at a pinch JFC was the best of them

Munchkin · Jul 23, 2014

It appears Hyypia was not very impressed with Crawleys 'Aggresive Approach'

One Teddy Maybank · Jul 23, 2014

London Irish said:
Really dont get the cult of Ince, he did very little in an outplayed midfield, at a pinch JFC was the best of them

Ince won more possession than any of the other midfield players and gave the ball away a lot less than JFC.

TBH, whilst I can understand why some may disagree with Ince as MoM, to say JFC was the best of them is staggering - all opinions though :smile:

Rogero · Jul 23, 2014

One Teddy Maybank said:
I realise it is 'only a friendly', but in case anyone is interested......

Great turn out and support from the Brighton fans.

We started quite brightly when Solly was on the pitch, but as soon as he went off we were void of any creativity, and Crawley opened us up quite easily. However, arguably this was because we were down to 10 men for approx. 15 mins, due to two very bad elbows by Crawley players on Greer that led to stitches and Calderon, who was patched up (a la Steve Foster).

The Crawley goal was well taken, but was poor marking perhaps as a result of Greer being off the pitch.

The second half was a bit stop-start. Kaz equalised with a great goal from a free-kick.

Other observations were:

Walton played well throughout, though is a little lightweight and was pushed about on corners. Great prospect.

Chicksen, JFC and Kemy were awful.

CMS no support.

The return of Andrew Crofts - excellent news.

If I was pushed for a MoM, I think I would go with Ince.

Overall, after Lewes and Partick, I thought we were quite poor particularly in midfield when Solly went off. Disappointing O'Grady didn't play.

I would get Ward in as a matter of urgency.

Thanks for that. You could get a job at the Argus

One Teddy Maybank · Jul 23, 2014

Munchkin said:
It appears Hyypia was not very impressed with Crawleys 'Aggresive Approach'

Good - we were saying on the way home, that we wondered whether we will bother having a 'friendly' with them next season due to their approach.

The challenges on Greer and Calderon were very poor, and I half expected the ref to request that Gregory subbed the players responsible.

London Irish · Jul 23, 2014

Tonight was a big wake-up call. This was a Crawley team with only 2 first team players left from last season and yet they edged the game. That is credit to them, Gregory had picked up a few decent signings but they will be celebrating if they finish 5th from bottom in League One this season. Albion looked pedestrian and disinterested. The midfield lacked any pace and urgency and were outplayed by Simpson and Henderson. Collins John can barely walk these days and to give him a free header was poor. The attacking players lacked any nous and it was only the dogged bloody mindedness of LuaLua who kept going in the second half that got the draw. CMS was disappointing - LuaLua recovered from a poor first half where he kept doing that annoying falling over routine to finish strongly but we saw very little from the attacking players.

This really is a comedown from 14 months ago when the squad looked good enough to get to the Premiership. We look midtable at best now and need a shake-up in all parts of the pitch

HH Brighton · Jul 23, 2014

London Irish said:
Really dont get the cult of Ince, he did very little in an outplayed midfield, at a pinch JFC was the best of them

Really? JFC was awful, couldn't get a free kick or corner off the ground, passing was terrible and hardly made a tackle.

London Irish · Jul 23, 2014

One Teddy Maybank said:
Ince won more possession than any of the other midfield players and gave the ball away a lot less than JFC.

TBH, whilst I can understand why some may disagree with Ince as MoM, to say JFC was the best of them is staggering - all opinions though

Yes, JFC did something with the ball, Ince was all over the place. We know he can tackle til the cows come home but we need more from a Brighton midfielder than that. Totally lacking in any playmaking quality - think the Chelseas coaches had it right, he's a defender

One Teddy Maybank · Jul 23, 2014

London Irish said:
Yes, JFC did something with the ball, Ince was all over the place. We know he can tackle til the cows come home but we need more from a Brighton midfielder than that. Totally lacking in any playmaking quality - think the Chelseas coaches had it right, he's a defender

Care to elaborate, I'm not sure he passed to a blue and white shirt in the last third of the pitch, was overrun throughout the match.

Ince is primarily a defensive midfielder, it is not his role to burst forward and be creative, it is more to be destructive which he excels at.

brightonmark1234 · Jul 23, 2014

Munchkin said:
It appears Hyypia was not very impressed with Crawleys 'Aggresive Approach'

hes got to get use to that that how teams play in the championship

cjd · Jul 23, 2014

London Irish said:
Really dont get the cult of Ince, he did very little in an outplayed midfield, at a pinch JFC was the best of them

I am so pleased that my view of Ince and JFC contrasts so strongly with yours.

As with all your opinions and arguments on this forum.....you are always in the minority.

You were rightly, hounded off this forum before....if you are going to stay, at least try and temper your outlandish views.

bhafc1972 · Jul 23, 2014

brightonmark1234 said:
hes got to get use to that that how teams play in the championship

But Crawley are not in the championship

southstandandy · Jul 23, 2014

Regardless of the lack of numbers tonight what worried me most was the fact that we seemed devoid of any real pattern of play. Very little shape to speak of and very little creatively (with as said earlier our first shot on target coming in the 47th minute). I'm sure Sammi is working hard behind the scenes but at times it looked a bit like a school playground kick about.

Clearly required are a keeper (although Walton did give me great hope that he will become a good keeper in a season or two), a left back to compete with Chicksen and ideally to be ahead of him in the pecking order, two additional strikers (we struggled to score with Ulloa last season - now he's gone I fear we could set a new low goal scoring record if a decent striker or two is not found), and someone in midfield with that bit of creativity - whether it be a new winger or central player (I'm not quite sure Solly is ready yet - but maybe Sammi will give him his chance).

5 players is my view of what is needed and quick. Last thing we need is them coming in on the eve of the season and we then end up having a whole heap of players who don't know each other, haven't trained together, and we end up losing the first few games.

The fans forum on Tuesday week will be interesting if no new faces have been brought in.

I live in hope!

CPFC G · Jul 23, 2014

We lost 3-0 there almost exactly a year ago. It's only a friendly, all about fitness at this point.

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Crawley 1 Brighton 1. Thoughts on the game.

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