[Albion] Alireza Jahanbakhsh joins Feyenoord

[Stat Brother]

Yet your answer to why he wasn't playing was initially that he wasn't as good a Gross, before admitting he was probably fourth choice. We have four or five inside rights now?

No we have Groß and now Ali.
The team also have Trossard and Mooy who can comfortably move into that position whether or not Groß is playing at the time.

The moveable feast that is the Albion's front line probably means the only guaranteed #10 is Maupay.

I have no idea if Ali can pop up anywhere like the others, hopefully time will tell.

 

[Mancgull]

Who is old enough to remember Terry Connor when he was signed by the Albion for what was big money back in the early 1980s? I think the price tag got to him in his first season.....he could hardly trap a ball let alone do what he had been bought for....score goals.
He got his head down, worked really hard, and went onto have a good career with us and was loved by most fans for his great attitude. Early days in terms of Ali J's renaissance, but I'm hoping for a similar story.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Let's face it, Ali Js name appears an hour before Bournemouth on the team sheet and we all rolled our eyes. We all hoped he'd play well but I dare say nobody expected him to.
.

Guilty as charged. All of the above.

 

[Super Steve Earle]

I'd hate to be the other half of some of the posters on this thread. Halfway through a perfectly cooked fillet (Probably some Vegan shit these days but anyway) , they'd remind you about the Pizza you'd burnt in 1998.

Let's face it, Ali Js name appears an hour before Bournemouth on the team sheet and we all rolled our eyes. We all hoped he'd play well but I dare say nobody expected him to.

A week can be a long time in football.

Truly my eyes didn't roll. I wanted Ali J to play against Sheffield Utd, and sure enough we had a massive gap where he might have played. Once I saw Ali and Duffy were playing against Bournemouth, I really started to get excited about the game.

 

[Justice]

At last a player who has the ability to whip in that early ball into the box.

 

[Mellotron]

Not really, two banks of four, well organised, looking to hit on the break.

The whole ‘ultra defensive’ rhetoric isn’t exactly accurate either, well until Wolves.




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The heat maps tell the truth. I’ll go find some at some point.

 

[HP Seagull]

No idea if anyone has posted this as I haven’t read the thread, but an interesting stat from the BBC:

Did you know? Despite only coming on as a 68th-minute substitute, no Brighton player had more shots (3) or created more chances (3) than goalscorer Alireza Jahanbakhsh.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Alireza Jahanbakhsh signs on a 5-year deal for a club record fee

The heat maps tell the truth. I’ll go find some at some point.

Go for it [emoji2].

Unless we are inside our 18 yard box, we are not ultra defensive.

They also do not highlight, the tactic of inviting a team on to hit them on the break.

As with a lot of the football by technology they rarely tell the whole story, just part of it.

Edit - would be interested to see Wolves away vs the average, say Arsenal/West ham / Fulham / Southampton for example.

Do they map?

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[Stat Brother]

Heat Maps are here

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1376283/Live/England-Premier-League-2019-2020-Brighton-Bournemouth

Sadly I'm such a simpleton I can't get individual ones to copy and paste over to here.

This is the small rubber ring of hope I was clinging onto while Kate Winslet was trying to make me let go:-



It can't be a coincidence that his Bournemouth map is brightest in that sweet spot just outside the right hand corner of the penalty area.

It is also how I probably wrongly have come to the conclusion Ali isn't as flexible, or probably losses more from his game, when interchanging positions with Groß, Mooy and Trossard.
All of whom seem comfortable just roaming across that entire third of the pitch.
Something that seems very Potterball.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Truly my eyes didn't roll. I wanted Ali J to play against Sheffield Utd, and sure enough we had a massive gap where he might have played. Once I saw Ali and Duffy were playing against Bournemouth, I really started to get excited about the game.

Me too. And the resting of Stephens the icing on the cake.

BTW I am not saying CH made a mistake by not playing AJ. Nor am I saying that Stephens should never play. What I am saying is the hostile aggressive dismissal of one of our players by some last season was disgraceful. The total lack of understanding about how football works is almost incidental.

 

[Frankie]

Very pleased for him and the club who really have been patient with him, we now know he has the ability to be a Premier league player, it's up to him to now kick on and become a transfer target for Arsenal, so not much more to do there! Good luck to him and us, wonderful goal and excellent set up play for Maupay late on.

 

[Stat Brother]

[tweet]1213080279667093510[/tweet]


So which poster is Ali?

I do hope he hasn't got a grandchild called Ben

 

[Guinness Boy]

Heat Maps are here

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1376283/Live/England-Premier-League-2019-2020-Brighton-Bournemouth

Sadly I'm such a simpleton I can't get individual ones to copy and paste over to here.

This is the small rubber ring of hope I was clinging onto while Kate Winslet was trying to make me let go:-

View attachment 118802

It can't be a coincidence that his Bournemouth map is brightest in that sweet spot just outside the right hand corner of the penalty area.

It is also how I probably wrongly have come to the conclusion Ali isn't as flexible, or probably losses more from his game, when interchanging positions with Groß, Mooy and Trossard.
All of whom seem comfortable just roaming across that entire third of the pitch.
Something that seems very Potterball.

There's no way I can see of linking them directly from that site. They are dynamic and therefore you have to screen shot them. The url doesn't change.

For comparison here is the heatmap from the crucial Huddersfield home win, a game in which even Hughton had to go for the win.



He played on the "wrong" side (but was briefly there when he came on v Chelsea) but very much in an inside forward role - just on the left. The heatmap bears that out.

Other stuff from that site for that game? Our second lowest rating for an outfield player starting that game (after Murray) and hoiked after 78 minutes.

You could argue that at that point his confidence was already dented by covering back in the harder games, but he was certainly played at inside forward and NOT as a defender.

 

[Stat Brother]

There's no way I can see of linking them directly from that site. They are dynamic and therefore you have to screen shot them. The url doesn't change.

For comparison here is the heatmap from the crucial Huddersfield home win, a game in which even Hughton had to go for the win.

View attachment 118814

He played on the "wrong" side (but was briefly there when he came on v Chelsea) but very much in an inside forward role - just on the left. The heatmap bears that out.

Other stuff from that site for that game? Our second lowest rating for an outfield player starting that game (after Murray) and hoiked after 78 minutes.

You could argue that at that point his confidence was already dented by covering back in the harder games, but he was certainly played at inside forward and NOT as a defender.

I believe the comments are more 'defensively minded' along with 9 of his teammates.
That's rather borne out in your heat map where Ali is across all but the diagonal opposite of the pitch.

I'm not sure how highlighting a poor game played out of position, when compared to his AZ map, does anything other than aid my point, when compared to his Bournemouth HM.
A game where we were all amazed by the player who appeared from nowhere.



Oh and please, I'm not going 'there' today, I have no intention of returning to yesterday's high drama, .
So I'll make my excuses now, just in case I stop mid 'disagreement'.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I believe the comments are more 'defensively minded' along with 9 of his teammates.
That's rather borne out in your heat map where Ali is across all but the diagonal opposite of the pitch.

I'm not sure how highlighting a poor game played out of position, when compared to his AZ map, does anything other than aid my point, when compared to his Bournemouth HM.
A game where we were all amazed by the player who appeared from nowhere.



Oh and please, I'm not going 'there' today, I have no intention of returning to yesterday's high drama, .
So I'll make my excuses now, just in case I stop mid 'disagreement'.

Hey, I've given my shovel back. There was someone else in greater need.

I should have multi-quoted Icy and Mello as well but those posts are a long way back for some reason That is not the heatmap of a defender (as Icy claimed) and, in a game that we should have been bossing it looks like he has been forced out wide (or chosen to go there, or told to go there). The AZ one is, as you say, far better but I'm not sure why, when played as an left inside forward on the teamsheet, he hasn't kind of got that same coverage but on the left. Hughton always played his attacking wide men inverted so they could cut in. Knockaert was good at it - but a different kind of player, obvs. That is all.

*runs off*

 

[Stat Brother]

Hey, I've given my shovel back. There was someone else in greater need.

I should have multi-quoted Icy and Mello as well but those posts are a long way back for some reason That is not the heatmap of a defender (as Icy claimed) and, in a game that we should have been bossing it looks like he has been forced out wide (or chosen to go there, or told to go there). The AZ one is, as you say, far better but I'm not sure why, when played as an left inside forward on the teamsheet, he hasn't kind of got that same coverage but on the left. Hughton always played his attacking wide men inverted so they could cut in. Knockaert was good at it - but a different kind of player, obvs. That is all.

*runs off*

The Albion didn't boss any games in the first half of 2019, whether they should have done or not.

But again Ali's Bournemouth HM would have been the first layer on his 25+ goal AZ season long map.

His use by Hughton didn't make any sense to me.
His lack of use by GP was tough for me to explain.
His reappearance is equally bafflingly.

Despite being able to make sense of the whole 18 months, as I can easily make it follow my narrative, oddly I'm still at a loss as to how we got to this point.
But odder still is the fact I now have no idea which direction the story heading.
(If that makes any sense)

 

[Guinness Boy]

But odder still is the fact I now have no idea which direction the story heading.
(If that makes any sense)

*runs back*

Indeed it does. I know exactly what you mean. Let's leave it there

 

[Icy Gull]

Ding ding round 8

Oh and yes I maintain that Ali J’s first and most important job was as a back up FB under CH. when he did get the ball in the opposition half he was hard pushed to find an Albion player let alone an unmarked one to pass to. Am I surprised he didn’t look very good in a formation like that? No, no I’m not. I have only ever said “let’s give him a chance in a team that plays to his strengths”. I now, rather smugly, rest my case

So many just wrote him off (viciously) because he wasn’t very good in a CH team.

 

[Stat Brother]

Ding ding round 8

Oh and yes I maintain that Ali J’s first and most important job was as a back up FB.

No chance.


Not unless we can maintain a level of post fun decorum.

 

[Icy Gull]

No chance.


Not unless we can maintain a level of post fun decorum.

Yes it was and Solly March and AK were much better at it, so obviously were preferred most of the time