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Centre mid



dazzer6666

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Mar 27, 2013
55,208
Burgess Hill
This.

And the commentators mentioned this as well, praising our solid shape - especially Dunk's stewardship of the back four.

Propper has got a lot to offer imo, but this was a fish out of water game for him. Too early to judge

Just watching MOTD now. Add Palace to that list.
 




Weststander

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Aug 25, 2011
68,849
Withdean area
Based on the live games I've seen on the telly so far, our defence is better than that of Liverpool, Watford, Arsenal and Leicester.

True, but it's a balancing act. WBA, M'boro and Stoke are always excellent defensively, but with that the squad/team need to be able to score enough to eke out the points. That can be difficult if you have most of the personnel involved in keeping goals conceded down.

Liverpool and Arsenal play risky football, but have an array of match winners. Leicester too with the brilliant Vardy and one or two others. They all have pace to burn up front.
 


Weststander

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Aug 25, 2011
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Withdean area
Yeh your right I think I relaxed after they scored the 2nd - I still had hope at 1-0 coz I saw Knocky coming on but the 2nd left it too much to do when he did get on the pitch.

Jonathan Pearce (with 20 minutes to go plus stoppage time) said "a chance for Aguero to win it".

A slip of the tongue, when he should be unbiased, revealing that he knew if was game over so very early? From his experience of watching thousands of games, he could clearly read the feel of the game.
 


dazzer6666

Well-known member
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Mar 27, 2013
55,208
Burgess Hill
Jonathan Pearce (with 20 minutes to go plus stoppage time) said "a chance for Aguero to win it".

A slip of the tongue, when he should be unbiased, revealing that he knew if was game over so very early? From his experience of watching thousands of games, he could clearly read the feel of the game.

Nah, commentary added after the game has finished.......
 






sussex_guy2k2

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Jun 6, 2014
4,027
PS: i think i just meant that Hughton is a very experienced coach. Its tough to argue with him about it, not that its wrong to do so. Certainly didn't want to infer that he's not flawed and apols if you thought i was aggressive. Not my intention !

I don't disagree with that at all. He is very experienced and I am 100% behind him and the team, particularly at games. I'd have just liked to see us give it more of a go yesterday. Like you and others have said, the worry will be if we set up the same way against our main rivals within the division. My hope is that we don't as I think it would lead us to being relegated.
 


sussex_guy2k2

Well-known member
Jun 6, 2014
4,027
I think you are correct. Chris did set up defensively but that's his ''default'' position in this division when he comes up against the ''Man City's'' of this league. Keep them out and try and get free kicks or corner further up the pitch and nick a goal.

It won't be like that against everyone and his target is to get enough points to stay up, so you try and target your draws and your victories. Every Manager in the bottom 12 teams if you listen to them ''off camera'' They always say '' If you can't win it you have got to try and make sure that you don't lose it '' - Tony Pulis has done that very successfully for years. It's not pretty but he keeps teams up in that League and that is his remit.

I was a bag of nerves for 90 minutes but being a bag of nerves for 90 minutes got my adrenalin flowing and so although I didn't enjoy it, I most certainly got out of it what I watch football for. Points will come elsewhere because those players on that pitch are as good as others in the PL. They are just not as good as the Man City players.

All sensible enough. I guess my question would be whether you, or any other fans, really believe we have the players for such a defensive system? I'm not entirely sure we do and if we're going to get relegated, I'd like to get relegated with our players giving it a go and playing their natural games, as we did last year. I also think that allowing our players to play their natural games will give us the best chance to stay up. That's the one thing all the recent sides that have been promoted and stayed up have in common - they're not willing to sacrifice their playing principles just because they're playing the big teams.
 






Hampster Gull

Well-known member
Dec 22, 2010
13,465
This.

And the commentators mentioned this as well, praising our solid shape - especially Dunk's stewardship of the back four.

Propper has got a lot to offer imo, but this was a fish out of water game for him. Too early to judge

Easy to have a solid shape if you dont want to attack
 








chaileyjem

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Jun 27, 2012
14,567
All sensible enough. I guess my question would be whether you, or any other fans, really believe we have the players for such a defensive system? I'm not entirely sure we do and if we're going to get relegated, I'd like to get relegated with our players giving it a go and playing their natural games, as we did last year. I also think that allowing our players to play their natural games will give us the best chance to stay up. That's the one thing all the recent sides that have been promoted and stayed up have in common - they're not willing to sacrifice their playing principles just because they're playing the big teams.

That counter attacking football, strong defence (all those clean sheets), pace down the flanks is our natural game and the one Hughton used in the Champ. Didn't get to play teams like Man City at home much to be fair and we won't again either.
 




mickybha

Well-known member
Jan 2, 2010
518
Before we kicked a ball that game was a free shot, we were never going to beat the best equipped outfit in the country, City will hit some other teams with a hat full of goals and come the end of the season the fact that we held them to just two might just be what keeps us in the top flight
 










Hamilton

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Jul 7, 2003
12,931
Brighton
I was chatting to a Palace ST friend last night and he said that we'll be surprised by the amount of dross in the PL. I'm not worried yet.

Propper was thrown in the deep end in a new league and a new team and expected to be Xabi Alonso standard.

Stephens made an error that led to a goal. That's uppermost in our minds. They'll adapt.

However, we will need to work out what our plan of attack is. There's no point being brilliant in defence unless we can find some way of threatening to get the ball in the opposition net. It was interesting to note how Sollly was playing deeper than Bruno. I expect that to be different at Leicester.


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Biscuit

Native Creative
Jul 8, 2003
22,306
Brighton
I see so many comments criticising parts of our game, seemingly ignoring the standard of opposition we're up against. It's their job to stop us playing and prey on any perceived weaknesses we may have,

Let's see if this lack of pace in the middle is a problem when we play Palace, Swansea, Newcastle, et al. If it is I'll be far more concerned. They are the teams we need to beat, not your Man City's.
 


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