AFC Bournemouth v Brighton - the thread

[Brighton Boy]

chill out it is a friendly.......

wait till the season starts.......we will be ok.

MM will have this sorted....

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

Why didn't Leon play today? Is he injured? As for the age of our central defenders, how old was Simon Morgan? Apart from Bobby, he was our best player that season, and previously played in Division One. I agree though that it would be good to have a pacey young defender there, but it seems we are not going to spend despite the Virgo and Harding money.

 

[empire]

Remember this is a shit side that havent won at home for months.

Ashby is no solution, well past it imo! Derby will kill him and Tank!

are you cluless,they are a decent side,and have won most of their pre season friendlies

 

[the right footed denilson]

ashby isnt up to much. that back line will get slaughtered by any decent attack.

 

[Boroseagull]

Shouldn't be too worried about the next season. Having watched Stevenage v Luton today, can only come to the conclusion they will struggle this season. If we had kept our full team out for 90mins the result may have been embarassing, so we switched 9 players in the second half to lose 2-1. Seriously only their keeper & a couple of defenders kept them in the game. They play Southampton next week! Christ they must be worried!!!

 

[HampshireSeagulls]

To be honest, we gone from getting our arses kicked by third rate opposition to beating a team which is not really all that crap. I am hoping that MM is starting to get a team that is stabilising and getting used to each other. We are not going to get top level players, we have to make do with the best that we can - whether that is low cost, low wage players, or those that MM and others can use their contacts on to pull in for loans, etc.

Some of the players are working well together, and only MM knows why he is resting players, or trying different combinations against different opponents. I don't think we are going to set this division on fire, but I don't think we are going to get relegated.

Derby is going to be a strange game - either we win, in which case everyone is happy again, we draw, in which case everyone can breathe again, or we lose - but it's not the end of the world - there are loads of other matches in the season, and Derby are going to be a top 6 team - we aren't. We need to stabilise in this division, then get a ground, and then build again - we have a potentially huge fan base, but we can't get them (and their money) involved until we have something to show them - a ground and a team.

Our history is one of the most turbulent in any of the divisions - we have had our ground stolen from us, had money stolen from us, had players and managers stolen from us, we have been up and down divisions without having a settled period, and we have been reduced to the financial level of a Sunday League team. This should be the start of us settling down to get a foundation - and a victory against Bournemouth is better than the last two results!

 

[Race]

Exactly! and at least things are never boring when it comes to the Albion

 

[London Irish]

Just back here's my view on things

Martin - not ready, dunno why Liverpool were interested in him, nervous, and bad positioning for goal

Mayo - Solid

Dodd - Solid, will be a good acquisition, likes to roam forward occaisonaly aswell

Butters - back to his dependable best

Ashby - looked good, worth signing on a short term contract, great positioning, no nonsense stuff

Chippy - back to his best

Oatway - 110% in a friendly, coupled with a fair amount of talent. He definitely desrves his place in the side

Reid - very effective wide right, delivered some telling balls.

Hammond - beginning to ooze class, comfortable on the ball and deadly in the box, great header for his goal

McCammon - tried a bit at least today, but simply not good enough.

Mcphee - errr tried a bit at least today, but simply not good enough.

subs....

Jarrett - shockingly bad, running round in circles late in the game when he had acres of space

El - Abd - competent

CKR - struggled on his own upfront, showed signs of silly petulance, didn't do a lot, but he WILL come good this season I'm sure of that.

Nicholas - competent

Hart - ok until injured

-- A blind man can see that our defence is way too slow
-- Bmuff didn't attack us and sat back, but defence didn't look too shabby even with Martin in goal...Ashby will hopefully sign up.
-- CkR on his own upfront DOESN'T work
--Oatway is one of my favourite players now, tireless effort and has improved so much as a player in the last couple of years

Agree with a lot of that, and glad the penny has finally dropped about Oatway. He is a different player to two seasons ago - he's not simply a holding midfielder any more - and let's hope more people realise that than just simply repeat the age-old prejudices.

My take on the game is that we played very well indeed, MM will be delighted.

We tried out two different systems. First-half 4-4-2, second half 4-5-1. Both went reasonably well but we looked far more threatening in the second half. That was partly down to the fact we played the 4-5-1 system very well, but the major reason was another brilliant display by Kazza.

We had two honest journeymen playing for us up front in the first half and both did competently. Big Mac especially won all his headers and once again belied his NSC reputation with a lot of neat football and timely lay-offs. McPhee is a player I don't really "get" but he worked hard and was unlucky with a good header that just whistled over the bar.

But Kazza coming on in the second half - different class, different dimension entirely. Here was a player not simply capable of receiving the ball and playing the simple lay-off, but one capable of turning defences entirely on his own and bringing other players into the game.

Our first goal was almost entirely down to his brilliant work - he received the ball quite deep in his own half, but just has that jet-propelled acceleration from a standing start that sent him surging deep into BMuff territory. He played a visionary lofted ball over the Bmuff back 4 which was met by the overlapping player on the right, probably Reid, but maybe Dodd. That player centred and another neat square ball gave Charlie a chance to finish emphatically, which he did.

Playing the 4-5-1 system we absolutely ran away with most of the second half. Watching Kazza foraging as the lone striker reminded me of Zamora at his best playing the same lone role.

We again opened them up but Charlie missed a simple chance. But we got the deserved equaliser when Chippy swung in a quickly taken free-kick from the touchline. The disorganised Bmuff defence were nowhere in picking up Hammond, who got another of his trademark headers - surely the best header finisher in the team by far now!

The Bmuff goal was a bit sloppy - very disorganised work at a free kick. But by that stage we were throwing players on and the pattern of the game was disintegrating.

The fact is, we dominated the first half without creating good chances, we dominated the second, created good chances and finished them well.

So, lessons?

For me, the Dodd-Reid partnership on the right was superb. This is a major step forward in team-building, Reid is such a creative player and his best position is in midfield. Dodd oozes class and those two link up brilliantly.

Hammond - excellent in the left flank role, Strong, muscular dribbles down the touchline, even though he is not a natural flank player.

Oatway and Chippy - fine games. And get this, Nicolas introduced to play behind those two but in front of back 4 - was excellent - the most fluent he's played for ages.

Kazza - words cannot express what a great signing this guy is. Is head and shoulders above any striker we have. McGhee said last week that he is already worth far more than we paid for him. And how! If Virgs is worth £1.5m, then Kazza will finish next season in the £2m bracket.

Mayo and Ashby - both looked composed but our good defensive shape (for the first time this season we took defending SERIOUSLY) meant they never got a real test. Both both passed any test that was given to them.

Ashby fits the write-up given to him - he is composed, skilled and calm, passes very well, comfortbale with our game. But yes, he's not quick. But that won't matter so much as long as the midfield shape is organised properly protect him and Tank.

Those like Kinky are crying out for a back 3 and wing-backs. Hmm. Have we moved on from this?

I stand to be corrected, but I can't recall us playing this system at any point during pre-season. McGhee tested two today, 4-4-2 and 4-5-1. Perhaps he did the latter because of the coincidence of Leon being unavailable and not much should be read into it.

But the reality is, we looked really good playing it. Kazza is strong enough to play as the lone man. Alexis protects the back 3 and clears up the rubbish. The likes of Reid, Hammond and Oatway have license to break into the box and score (twice today), while Chippy hangs back looking for the blockbuster from 30 yards. It looks a good system.

I'm not saying we will play this system and drop Leon next week, but the thought must now be considered by MM. We looked very solid and we counterattacked fluently. It sacrifices the extra centre forward for winning the battle in midfield and protecting the back 4 - a good trade?

Otherwise we could play Leon in a 4-4-2 and leave out Alexis. You would expect a Leon-Kazza partnership to have done better than Big Mac-McPhee in the first-half today, so that's also an attractive option.

Of course MM could still go back to the 5-3-2 and wingbacks. He wants his team to play in a flexible style, so if Derby suit that system, then who knows.

A lot of food for thought - fascinating stuff seeing the team come together like this. I thought a fine day out for us and a lot of confidence built for next week!

 

[Race]

Hope you've had a beer after typing all that up!

 

[Icy Gull]

My 1st game of the season and I reckon Dwayne got it pretty well spot on except Kerry was defensively competant but his distribution is still as appalling as ever. Giving the ball away with aimless hoofs will cost us against better opponents - all 23 of them.

Martin had one very nervous moment when he spilled the ball but the goal he conceded was as much the defensive wall's fault, there was a massive hole in it and they should be experienced enough not to expose a young inexperienced keeper. The save he made early in the game was class and quite possibly kept us in the game as we were clueless up front in the 1st half. If that's the best McPhee and McCammon can do I doubt either will get a game unless there is no other choice. CKR caused more problems in the 1st 5 mins on his own upfront than the two Mc's caused in the whole 1st half.

Oatway was my MOM and looked a very good player today and Ashby looked composed and capable. The pace issue is still there at the back though may MM will start to sort that this week if he isn't given a week's runaround trying to sign Blayney.

 

[London Irish]

Hope you've had a beer after typing all that up!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

...glad the penny has finally dropped about Oatway. He is a different player to two seasons ago - he's not simply a holding midfielder any more - and let's hope more people realise that than just simply repeat the age-old prejudices.

 

[Scotty Mac]

i was pleasantly suprised by oatway today - if he can perform like that in the actual championship then he will do ok

as for mccammon - class

 

[Yorkie]

Oatway is good Tom.

 

[Beach Hut]

Oatway has certainly moved on from when we won the Division 2 championship a few years back with Taylor and he wasn't even in the match day squad.

 

[Turkey]

Oatway played well.

 

[Beeercan]

Still not sure about Oatway, can be hot & cold. Pefer Chippy & Nicolas

 

[Beach Hut]

Hopefully we will see more of Alexis this season, could be a real star in the making.

 

[Blackadder]

Dwayne and London Irish

Thanks for your posts. I feel a lot better about the Albion tonight!

 

[Blackadder]

Hopefully we will see more of Alexis this season, could be a real star in the making.

Couldn't agree more Beach!