What's happened to our football?

[London Irish]

Think we did OK. We are creating chances and 2nd half was pretty decent yesterday apart from their goal. He has had 5 weeks with the players. A lot of the signings have come in late and seem to be lacking fitness. 3-4 players light still and a lot of injuries to players who can make a big difference.
Been mentioned but Maccabi took 5-6 weeks to click into gear. The rest is history their. He will need till christmas to work with this current set of players and we will start to see the benefits.
As for tactics we are playing with much more movement than we used to. The players are currently struggling but Poyet's system was ridged Oscars has lots of players in constant movement.

Interesting comments although Maccabi did win 4 of their first 6, so were not struggling in the same way as we are. The thing that worries me is that combining such movement with accurate passing is one of the hardest technical things you can ask players to do - what a learning curve Oscar is giving them - if it works, the results will be superb but I'd have hoped for more green shoots by now

 

[Greg Bobkin]

need to keep the ball and not give it away all the time like we did yesterday i lost count on how many times we gave the ball away

Is that because you cannot count beyond four (based on your username)?

We are not playing "hoofball" we are just getting it up the pitch quicker than we used to. I thought that all the passes between the defence was what some people moaned at Poyet for?

Some people seem to have forgotten that the team turned in crap performances under Gus from time to time. It wasn't always "beautiful football".

 

[banjo]

Good things come to those who wait.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Is that because you cannot count beyond four (based on your username)?

We are not playing "hoofball" we are just getting it up the pitch quicker than we used to. I thought that all the passes between the defence was what some people moaned at Poyet for?

Some people seem to have forgotten that the team turned in crap performances under Gus from time to time. It wasn't always "beautiful football".

Correct, it wasn't always beautiful football. In fact it was only occasionally beautiful football. Some games contained passages of very good football whilst other games were just a frustrating struggle from start to finish.
Gus played the percentage game...he wasn't a gambler...he was more than happy with draws. At times, he was hoping the opposition died of boredom.
Anyone who thought we would be quick out the blocks this season was deluded. It was obvious plan Oscar would take time. If we lose too much ground, so be it. This is not a one season project.

 

[martin tyler]

Interesting comments although Maccabi did win 4 of their first 6, so were not struggling in the same way as we are. The thing that worries me is that combining such movement with accurate passing is one of the hardest technical things you can ask players to do - what a learning curve Oscar is giving them - if it works, the results will be superb but I'd have hoped for more green shoots by now

True they did do better in terms of winning but their fans were not happy and they were struggling. You are right in terms of hitting a moving target is tecnically differcult. Some of the squad have the ability some don t. The problem also is the movement as some of the players dont seem to be the most intelligent when it cones to this department. Ulloa was very good yesterday constantly dropping onto their right back knowing decent crosses in he would win it in the air like the goal. At times we were narrow and not utilising space. Going forward we are work in progress and with some tweaking we will be a very dangerous tweak. Defencivly we need more work as this system has exsposed the frailities. Upson can play it well but he can not be everywhere. Would not be surprised to see oscar strengthen here and get 1 more attacking player.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

I've also mentioned this as did the Maccabi fan who posts on here they had a dodgy 6-7 games then started to win almost every game I'm excited for the future.

Agreed , we need to judge again after 10 games if the new style works or not , can we give the players a chance to try it out first instead of moaning ?

 

[London Irish]

Agreed , we need to judge again after 10 games if the new style works or not , can we give the players a chance to try it out first instead of moaning ?

OK lets discuss chips and buses til then

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

OK lets discuss chips and buses til then

and the standard of refereeing.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Is that because you cannot count beyond four (based on your username)?

We are not playing "hoofball" we are just getting it up the pitch quicker than we used to. I thought that all the passes between the defence was what some people moaned at Poyet for?

Some people seem to have forgotten that the team turned in crap performances under Gus from time to time. It wasn't always "beautiful football".

The vast majority of the game, by us, yesterday was booting it upfield and losing possession.

 

[Meade's Ball]

I found parts of yesterday most disappointing when either Ulloa or someone out wide had absolutely no support within 40 yards of them. Surely the idea of the two-touch dream we aspire to is having it so that most of the time players are near enough to each other to crisply pass the ball around, before moving themselves into space to have a follow-up pass and dislodge the surety of the opposition's formation for moments. For every colleague to lurk from a distance and allow us as a team to lose the ball was simply poor, in my eyes. Only when losing did we get ourselves into action, responding to a slapping of pride, seemingly rather than instruction. The last 10 minutes or so being about launching the ball into the box was also an unspectacular and slightly defeatist denouement. We're a team of sweet intentions and grit, and it looked for the most part yesterday neither of those elements came to life. Merely hoping that Ulloa will save the day is not good enough. We are better than that.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Second game I have watched under Oscar. Like other people I have to ask, where has the organisation gone. We looked all over the place yesterday. We are miles miles better than this. We still have the same team. Let's hope team Oscar get it sorted soon, we must give him some time. My biggest concern is the players, I just hope heads don't start dropping and we fall in to a rot, that is scary place to be.

Yeah 100% agree. What l find baffling is why Oscar is trying to mend something that isn't broken. The same team (almost), very nearly won promotion last season, so what was there to change? If something is working well, then why not continue using, perhaps with the odd tweak, the same system.

After Micky Adams team won League Two in our first season at Withdean, Peter Taylor left well alone when taking over the following season after Micky's departure, and they then went on to win promotion again into the Championship.

This is a big season for Oscar too, because if he fails at the Albion, he might not get another chance to manage in England.

 

[tinycowboy]

Last season was not one way traffic in our favour: we were quite ropey quite often and in February we didn't look like the best candidates for the play-offs. Let's wait a bit and consider how our season last year went in fits and starts rather than us consistently being one of the four best teams in the division. There is still a huge amount of time left to assess how we're going and where we are at the moment is unlikely to be representative of the whole season. If it is, it's going to be a crazy season....

 

[Titanic]

The vast majority of the game, by us, yesterday was booting it upfield and losing possession.

Which of our players was 'booting it upfield' ?

 

[kalinski]

I have no idea what game you were watching. Which player was 'hoofing' the ball and where?

The amount of times we hoofed the ball down the centre of the pitch was a clue that towards the end of the game we decided to hoof it. I think Greer did that at least 3 times, he wasn't the only one.

But, more worrying was David's free kick from midway inside their half in a central position that he decided to float straight into their box. The amount if crosses we made between halfway and 18 yard box and the amount of desperately ambitious passes that just gave the ball away. If we are going to play like that, by getting the ball in the box ASAP, then we'll need two strikers.

Tbh I was more concerned about our midfield's ability to defend. Both full backs were exposed on too many occasions.

However, I thought Ince looked good, our Argentinian looks sharp and give it time I think it will be fine. We are one point worse off than last year

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Yeah 100% agree. What l find baffling is why Oscar is trying to mend something that isn't broken. The same team (almost), very nearly won promotion last season, so what was there to change? If something is working well, then why not continue using, perhaps with the odd tweak, the same system.

After Micky Adams team won League Two in our first season at Withdean, Peter Taylor left well alone when taking over the following season after Micky's departure, and they then went on to win promotion again into the Championship.

This is a big season for Oscar too, because if he fails at the Albion, he might not get another chance to manage in England.

vs Derby

Kuszczak
03 Greer
14 Calderon
20 Upson
28 Maksimenko
10 Agustien
21 David Lopez
32 Ince
09 Barnes
19 Ulloa
30 Buckley

v Palace (second leg, play-off)

Kuszczak
03 Greer
14 Calderon
20 Upson
28 Bridge
04 Hammond
11 Orlandi
21 David Lopez
26 Bridcutt
30 Buckley
19 Ulloa

Oh yeah - look at that - virtually identical. Apart from four players (or more than a third of the team)... Ah well, it's not as if those missing yesterday include a two-time Albion player of the year and an ex-England international left back. Oh.

 

[Guinness Boy]

We did what we did very well under Gus, but when you play a 541 formation you will have a solid defense with most of the tippy tappy football being played in your own half.

SNIP



For me it's not always about the winning, it's the entertainment.

We never played 5-4-1 under Poyet. Not once.

And while you need to strike a balance between results and entertainment we'd just hit both under Poyet. 6-1 v Blackpool. St Paddy's massacre. Cruise v Wolves on last day of the season. We were there.

 

[symyjym]

We never played 5-4-1 under Poyet. Not once.

And while you need to strike a balance between results and entertainment we'd just hit both under Poyet. 6-1 v Blackpool. St Paddy's massacre. Cruise v Wolves on last day of the season. We were there.

The role that Bridcutt played for Poyet was effectively the fifth defender / sweeper. Maybe the formation could be called 4141, but could just as easily have been 541 depending on how you look at it.

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

bashlsdir is right to be worried though. I am worried and I'm the eternal optimist as far as the Albion is concerned. Having experienced the halcyon days of last season, I wonder whether we can ever re-create that or whether we have returned to our mid table slot. How many more seasons will we have to wait to get into the playoffs and have a chance of a shot at the Premier. Oscar may be new, the team may be different, but does he have enough, or any, managerial experience to get us to where we want to be. Once the players get into that losing mentality, their heads do drop and we continue to lose games. I am not expecting miracles, or answers to these questions, because at this stage of the season there are none, but I truly hope that my worries are unfounded.

Dont be such a wet blanket mate. He's taken his team to the Title in Israel, has worked with Barcelonas rising stars and has a huge amount of respect from his peers for his aggressive play and team orientation.

Give it time eh?

 

[ruthers]

Oscar has preached about the merits of possession, high tempo, passing but worryingly the stats from Saturdays game look pretty poor.

Derby possession: 51%
Brighton: 49%
...And this with us chasing the game for the last 40 odd minutes.

Compare this with last seasons home game when Derby were chasing the game at 1-2 and the stats finished 59% Derby possession to 41% Seagulls.
Perhaps it'll be interesting comparing stats of possession and chances made on last seasons matches against the same opposition to see how things progress under Oscar to see if his 'talk' actually bears fruit.
(Perhaps Oscar wasn't aware we were actually losing as he didn't appear from the tunnel after half time until after the 2nd Derby goal went in and we were kicking off again).

I agree that we seemed to resort to more route one than usual but perhaps this was due to the fact Bridcutt wasn't squirrelling around the middle of the park collecting the short passes from the back. I can't believe Oscar will move away from his Barcelona pedigree but perhaps there is a place for the occasional long ball to change things, especially with a target man like Ulloa, and CSM to feed off him, and don't we always complain about the lack of a plan B?

Just seems to me that as a club we are still suffering from another Palace hangover.....one win will change all that but we need to learn how to put teams to the sword after going one up.
A team with a fit CMS, Bridders, Orlandi and a quality full back signing and all will be fine....