Brighton & Hove Albion 2-0 Watford Fc - 21/08/2021

Discussion in 'Match Day' started by Smudger, Aug 15, 2021.

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What will the scoreline be ?

Poll closed Aug 20, 2021.
  1. Brighton by three goals or more

    7 vote(s)
    7.4%
  2. Brighton by two goals

    3 vote(s)
    3.2%
  3. Brighton by one goal

    14 vote(s)
    14.7%
  4. Score Draw

    27 vote(s)
    28.4%
  5. No Score Draw

    1 vote(s)
    1.1%
  6. Watford by 1 goal

    24 vote(s)
    25.3%
  7. Watford by 2 goals

    13 vote(s)
    13.7%
  8. Watford by 3 goals or more

    6 vote(s)
    6.3%
  1. Malteser2

    Malteser2 Reservist

    Our 7th consecutive PL away defeat.
     
    Dr. Roland likes this.
  2. We hate 48

    We hate 48 Reservist

    Got me thinking-we lost 7 on the bounce in 16/17 under Walt (after beating Arsenal away following the debacle at Millwall in the cup on the saturday) but then under Javi in 17/18 we lost the last 6 away in a season that saw us have one draw and 11 defeats in the last 12 games. Time to stop the rot on Sunday !
     
  3. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Fixed for you.
     
    HeiaWatford likes this.
  4. Hogg-DEENEY!!!

    Hogg-DEENEY!!! Squad Player

    Between Javi's arrival and the end of the 17/18 season, I don't think we scored a goal away from home, did we?
     
  5. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    What has this got to do with anything?

    If you're trying to imply that two lucky goals were the sole difference in that match, you must be in an alternate dimension.

    Apart from any of the other factors, they somehow contrived to miss an opportunity with an xG rating of 7,304, that would by all rights have put them 3-0 up. The fact it wasn't any worse was purely down to some of the ropey finishing they are renowned for, and the fact that after a certain point, they were so extremely aware of just how much they had the measure of us that they felt totally comfortable taking it down a notch and switching to a different tactical set up:

    [​IMG]
     
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  6. LondonOrn

    LondonOrn Squad Player

    Most of those "clowns" played an important part in our promotion, including conceding a record lowest number of goals. I think you can be constructive in your criticism while being a bit more respectful (same goes for a certain poster who "hates" players and a manager who he's adamant aren't up to the job in the Premier League).

    And while I can't defend his part in the second goal, WTE was just an inch from winning that header for the first, I wouldn't call that "totally misjudging" it.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2021
  7. HeiaWatford

    HeiaWatford Reservist

    Of course he totally misjudged it. He had a free run for the header and lost the flight of the ball. Even last season I said the defence was poor barring FS. The poor finishing last season is the only reason we had such a record.
     
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  8. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    That’s largely irrelevant, Kabs, Cathcart and Masina were not good enough for the PL last time around, what they achieved in the Championship hasn’t suddenly changed that. You can probably add Kiko to that list as well and then fears people had about WTE have already come home to roost in just our second game, whereas he more or less got away with it for 46 games last season.

    I’m not sure why people repeatedly place so much emphasis on what players did in the the championship, when for many of them we have actual empirical evidence for how they have already performed in the league we’re in now.

    The championship is not some sort of magical, time reversing, talent enhancing phenomenon, it’s just a grossly inferior league to the one we’re in now. Why do players deserve respect for performing in a sub standard league?
     
  9. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    Kabs and Cathcart hardly played last year and someone now find themselves in the first team. Numerous posters pointed out WTE would cost us numerous goals in premier league with his suicidal passing. And Masina was a weak spot last time we were in the league and we were forced to play him because Holebas’ legs were gone.

    None of what happened (and what will continue to happen) should be a surprise at this level. The continual lack of focus by the owners on defenders will probably cost us relegation this year unfortunately.
     
    HeiaWatford and Burnsy like this.
  10. Well that was a selective response! You seem to have entirely ignored my first sentence. No idea why really!

    Nobody's disagreeing that Brighton were far superior and fully deserved to win the match. But that header is a couple of inches higher and they don't get their birthday present and it's 0-0. Any number of football matches where one team is superior don't end up with them winning, but goaless instead, most often down to 'bad luck'.

    If you're referring to their chance towards the end that bounced back off Cathcart then that came back really quickly and unexpectedly. I've absolutely no idea what an xG rating of 7,304 means when it's at home (or any particular interest in finding out) but I certainly wouldn't put that one down as a 'sitter'.

    Much has been made of how they apparently took their foot off the gas in the second half after fully deserving to be 2-0 up at h.t. Repeat something often enough and it becomes gospel.

    Well not from where I was looking (just west of the away goal halfway up). To me the second half was much more end-to-end with chances for both sides. That's a funny way to see a game out.

    The alternative dimension that I inhabit is one where I address a complainant fully, rather than cherry-picking a bit, taken out of context, to have a go at.
     
  11. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    I think the glaring miss that Chumlax was referring to was the one by Connolly early in the second half.
    From my perspective watching the game live, We gave up attempting to control the game in the second half due to having no midfielders on the bench. One alternative would have been to bring Deeney on and bypass midfield by playing long balls up to him but, as some have pointed out, that would have suited the Brighton centre-backs so instead Munoz tried to make it a basketball match by throwing on all our attackers. That made it an end-to-end game and left us looking more dangerous but it was pretty random as to whether we would score more goals than them.
     
    Chumlax likes this.
  12. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    I'm sure most of our squad isn't really good enough for the prem but we don't have the funds to replace them all other than with cheap punts, some of which will come off, some of which won't. That's why we are logically one of the favourites for relegation.
     
  13. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    I don’t disagree.

    But then also, questions need to be asked of those who looked at our squad this summer and felt we needed to spend £/€8m on Imran Louza and completely ignore the backline save for a free transfer and a kid from L2 Grimsby.
     
  14. a19tgg

    a19tgg First Team

    That may well be the case, but people still don’t need to look at championship performances and think that will make everything ok, because it won’t.
     
  15. HeiaWatford

    HeiaWatford Reservist

    Rose tinted specs because of our very lucky defensive record last season. Yes Louza was a strange one that everyone Hope's comes good. But he needs to wise up quick smart. Again with Rose we all hope it's a shrewd move but I'm not pinning my hopes on that until I've witnessed if he's up for it. But yes CB was a big issue for me and it's been completely bypassed which is fookin worrying. There's quality out there but no inkling of even looking at anyone.
     
  16. Same chance I think. A bit earlier than I remember maybe. Point was that the ball had already passed him, he wasn't expecting it back at short notice and wasn't able to set himself properly.

    As to the second half altogether you make some fair points. My issue was that somebody comes on here, states that the reason the second half was different from the first was that Brighton decided it would be, and then a flock of sheep jump onboard. Nothing at all about the possibility that we might have actually played better and forced the issue ourselves.

    Some 'support'.
     
  17. LondonOrn

    LondonOrn Squad Player

    Actually Kabasele made 19 starts during which the team conceded 16 goals but hardly played in the second half of the season, I’d have him in central defence ahead of WTE (I can’t remember if he’s played much alongside Sierralta).
     
  18. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    There are plenty of people who have said we looked better in the second half because we went more attacking - maybe go back and read them before saying it didn’t happen and criticising their support?
     
  19. Since63

    Since63 Squad Player

    I assume they are not keen on Sassenachs there.
     
  20. Chumlax

    Chumlax Squad Player

    Again, just because you say one thing in your comment, it doesn't necessarily erase the clear implication of another part of it. Just because you throw out a 'yeah well they were better, but...' - the active part, and the point you were clearly making, comes after the 'but'.

    It's pointless to say 'a few inches and their perfectly taken header wouldn't have gone in' - how close to the exact centre of the goal does the ball have to be before you count it as fair, then? Most players would literally try to get it as close to the post or bar as possible, to have the best chance of beating the goalkeeper, and the vast majority of fans watching them would be hoping the same. In assessing the game, or, indeed, how we played, it's utterly meaningless.

    As @WillisWasTheWorst has correctly pointed out, I was talking about the Connolly chance that took place in the 52nd minute, not whatever happened near the end that you're referring to. If this isn't a sitter, then that alternate dimension is Dr Strange-level:

    upload_2021-8-24_10-47-42.png

    It's nothing to do with 'repeating something enough' - it's the majority of people honestly admitting the clear pattern of the game; it wasn't 'them being fully dominant in the first half', was it? They were fully dominant until about the 70 minute mark, around the time King had come on and we had thrown any caution to the wind whilst playing Sema in midfield, rather than some genius tactical masterstroke which allowed us to suddenly take control of the match.

    At that point, again, they were prepared to sit and soak up that kitchen sink pressure - an approach vindicated during that 'end to end' period by the fact that we still didn't score a single goal, barely threatening along the way.
     
  21. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Whilst I wouldn’t agree at all that our defensive record last season was ‘very lucky’, I would say that’s also unlikely to be the reason the owners have ignored it largely this summer.

    It’s been an ongoing thing in every PL season the Pozzo’s have been in charge for. I think it’s an investment thing and they don’t see the financial rewards from it that they (potentially) get from more attacking players. The investment in GK’s falls into the same bracket (but they have largely recruited well there granted).

    At least this summer they seem to have ‘lack of funds’ as a genuine excuse/reason.

    I alway return to the same test - if we put every defender at the club up for sale at market rate today, how many of them would stay in the PL? I suspect Sierralta MIGHT and Rose would given his pedigree. The rest? Forget about it. They’d be at Bristol City or Millwall on 1yr deals.
     
    Last edited: Aug 24, 2021
    HeiaWatford likes this.
  22. HeiaWatford

    HeiaWatford Reservist

    True even though they wasted quite a bit on Janmaat and Kabs.

    As for Sierralta again time will tell but he's head and shoulders over what we have. I would of loved to see us go for a Godin type player who has seen it all. A player who could totally rule the backline for us. But alas it wont happen and we will jumble through most likely.
     
  23. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    I would also. Kaba and Sierralta is best we have I think. Not that it detracts from the point the defensive unit is well short of premier league level.
     
    WillisWasTheWorst likes this.
  24. LondonOrn

    LondonOrn Squad Player

    Not every season, in 2015/16 we signed Nyom, Prodl, Britos, Holebas and Ake who all played a part in our excellent defensive record up until the Arsenal cup game. We conceded 50 goals during promotion which is poor for a promoted side and they must have rightly felt that our team would struggle big time without those reinforcements. Why they didn’t pay sufficient attention to the defence following the Mazzarri season and the two after that is baffling though other than the reason you gave.

    Playing Devil’s advocate, and people may find that way of thinking reprehensible, in contrast to 2014/15, I honestly think they may have considered our defence to be good enough this time round based on our record in the Championship. I think it’s overly simplistic to say that our defenders weren’t good enough in the Prem last time round and they won’t be any better two years on and say the proof is in the pudding based on just the opening two games - players can have resurgences even in the latter stages of their career (look at Holebas in 2018/19), still learn things and from mistakes, and regain confidence from playing in a winning team with all those clean sheets. And it’s quite common for a newly promoted team to have a shaky start in some areas and then improve sufficiently to stay up comfortably.
     
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  25. Jumbolina

    Jumbolina First Team

    Yes that’s fair. I think it’s also fair to question the wisdom of using a huge chunk of the budget on Louza. He may well come good but currently would appear to be behind Gosling in the pecking order so probably not the most sensible acquisition given the holes all over the squad.
     
  26. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Under Ivic we were so defensive it was impossible not to have a good defensive record !

    Some teams still dominated us and created chances but didn’t finish them .
     
  27. Yes they did. But mostly because 'Brighton allowed us to be'.

    Apparently.
     
  28. That wasn't it at all. I never had any real problem as an English bloke living in Scotland for 34 years. The only time it ever got a bit 'tasty' was during the football or rugby. And the answer to that was to give it back in spades even if you were outnumbered 50:1.

    No, that racism particularly targeted Romanians. It was in 2014 at the time of the Independence referendum. And there was an issue around whether Romanian immigrants would be allowed to vote in it or not. The good burghers of Kelso may have had a point that perhaps they shouldn't have been. I doubt that the Romanians were particularly bothered one way or the other.

    Anyway, that didn't mean that Romanians were all chancers, the scum of the earth and stealing a living from our taxes. Which would seem to have been the majority view in Kelso. Well in the pubs anyway! They (the Romanians) were probably working hard and keeping their heads down.

    The Scottish edition of the Daily Mail has as much to answer for as the same pernicious rag does down here.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Aug 24, 2021
  29. The undeniable truth

    The undeniable truth First Team Captain

    I guess the thinking was that we are likley to lose Hughes and maybe Chalobah, having lost Doucs and Capoue in the last year so filling that void was the most pressing need given the excellent defensive stats last season. However the whole team needed upgrading and money is limited - whether Louza can adjust quickly and become a real asset remains to be seen.
     
  30. LondonOrn

    LondonOrn Squad Player

    Is that the Daily Record (also known as the “Daily Ret@rd”)?
     
  31. Nope. But that's another hopeless rag.
     
  32. Charly says

    Charly says Academy Graduate

    Let's give Louza a break. Tony Cotton let in 5 on his debut and turned out all right.
     

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