****Brighton and Hove Albion vs West Ham Official match thread ****

[the right footed denilson]

Then you probably need to find a good old fashioned English football team... Crewe? MK Dons? West Ham?

Huh? Crewe have always been a passing team, MK Dons are, West Ham were. Am i missing the point?

 

[the right footed denilson]

Birmingham up next......... Chris wood....... You know the rest........... Before we know it we could be in a relegation scrap. Its all good playing pretty football but we have no end product. All those corners and we didn't even come close to scoring on any of them. Maybe I'm in a minority but i'm worried where our season is going.

We'll beat the poorest teams. Brum will be a test though, Wood will almost certainly score. We could do with him now.

 

[Triggaaar]

Stronger and faster - yes, Bridcutt did not have the strength to hold on to the ball, or pace to recover.

What nonsense. With Bridcutt facing one way, and Nolan facing the other, it wasn't a lack of pace that meant Bridcutt couldn't recover. You're telling porkie pies.

 

[perseus]

I read somewhere that Lansbury is expected to be fit. It might be better if he is not.

Will the direct play West Ham try to make us play the ball long and lose possession?

Click on the bold text above. This is exactly what happened. When West Ham tired we ought to have been more creative.

It does look like both teams will be playing each other next season.

If you click on the text above, you know what to expect from Birmingham. That is a **** match as well. Not as a local derby but as a tactical battle.

In this picture you can see Nolan ready to pounce. If the full back is covered there still can be the central midfielder to pass to. The central defender and central midfielder are the spine of the side. These players need to be better than the others.

In my mind our central attacker should drop deeper and then we have a triangle in the middle.

It is arguable in the picture that one of the wide men is superfluous. The central midfielder has space to run with the ball if the opponents are pressing like maniacs.

 

[perseus]

Re the above diagram. Bear in mind the set-up is 4-2-4. The midfield is more congested. And West Ham only pressed with their front two. There was a passing outlet at full-back.