Back From Crewe...

[Al Bion]

Oh where to start, so p'd off already and the season is only 90 minutes old. We got off to quite a good start today, Tiny looking very lively on the wing and it was no suprise when we went 1-0 up. Crewe hadn't been in the match at all till their first decent attack on 20 mins, Kuipers parried the ball and it ricocheted around in the box and hit Hammond on the hand, in my opinion def ball to hand, the ref clearly waved play on but the linesman almost broke his arm waving his flag so hard for a penalty, 1-1.

Our heads seemed to drop from here on in, Crewe's midfield gradually took over and we seemed to see less and less of the ball, there were chances to both sides, though not much to trouble FDM.

Midway through the second half, their guy broke wide and hooked a long ball in which was knocked in the net. Not sure if it was before or after this but we had a decent appeal for a penalty when their guy seemed to handle, though worse was to come when the completely inept buffoon of a referee totally bottled at the end of the match when Cox was brought down, clearly several yards inside the box and somehow the ref made this into a free kick. I was in line with the incident as was the ref so I cannot believe how he reached his decision, you could even see the divot on the grass inside the box that had been kicked up.

So another defeat at Crewe, another joker of a ref and another match spoiled by over officious stewards yet again (though not sure if anyone got chucked out in the end today as they did last season). Quite a good atmosphere in the first half but went a bit quieter as the match went on, probably around 800 or so there I'd guess.

Not sure who to make Man of the Match, Cox and Revel played well in the first half, Butters was as solid as ever, FDM did well with a couple of shots, nobody really stood out for me though. Maybe Wilkins will look to bring someone else in now after this display, hopefully a midfielder.

 

[portslade seagull]

He's apparently been trying to bring in 3 players for the last 2-months so can't see anybody coming in in the next few weeks...ie goalkeeper plus midfield....supposedly fatty was meant to be scouting probably got stuck in a macdonalds somewhere

 

[supaseagull]

?

 

[Yorkie]

?

Al Bion lives about 15 mins away from Crewe.

 

[supaseagull]

Al Bion lives about 15 mins away from Crewe.

I know...realised that after i'd hit the "post reply" button and amended it

 

[NMH]

Oh where to start, so p'd off already and the season is only 90 minutes old. We got off to quite a good start today, Tiny looking very lively on the wing and it was no suprise when we went 1-0 up. Crewe hadn't been in the match at all till their first decent attack on 20 mins, Kuipers parried the ball and it ricocheted around in the box and hit Hammond on the hand, in my opinion def ball to hand, the ref clearly waved play on but the linesman almost broke his arm waving his flag so hard for a penalty, 1-1.

Our heads seemed to drop from here on in, Crewe's midfield gradually took over and we seemed to see less and less of the ball, there were chances to both sides, though not much to trouble FDM.

Midway through the second half, their guy broke wide and hooked a long ball in which was knocked in the net. Not sure if it was before or after this but we had a decent appeal for a penalty when their guy seemed to handle, though worse was to come when the completely inept buffoon of a referee totally bottled at the end of the match when Cox was brought down, clearly several yards inside the box and somehow the ref made this into a free kick. I was in line with the incident as was the ref so I cannot believe how he reached his decision, you could even see the divot on the grass inside the box that had been kicked up.

So another defeat at Crewe, another joker of a ref and another match spoiled by over officious stewards yet again (though not sure if anyone got chucked out in the end today as they did last season). Quite a good atmosphere in the first half but went a bit quieter as the match went on, probably around 800 or so there I'd guess.

Not sure who to make Man of the Match, Cox and Revel played well in the first half, Butters was as solid as ever, FDM did well with a couple of shots, nobody really stood out for me though. Maybe Wilkins will look to bring someone else in now after this display, hopefully a midfielder.

It does seem a rather continuing and repetitive complaint, that our midfield needs serious help. Listening to the game today even on the radio, it always seems that the ball never fails to make it's way into our area whenever an attack breaks down. Possession for the oppositions, always seems to mean a tangible threat on our defence and goal - rarely is there a 'midfield battle for control' in our games.

I'd blame that on tactics to some extent, but we still lack a 'midfield general'. Such players, I realise, are rare, if they are any good.

People love to point at el-Abd as a weakness, but he is another rarity - someone prepared to get stuck in, and put himself out, and about, for the team.
In my opinion he needs a partner who can take command of any ball he shakes loose, and who can see openings and places to pass to.
Bertin was a decent-enough stop-gap - for while we should have been looking for a player of greater quality, to make that position their own.
That player would be worth much more than we have available to pay for him - but we should be scouring the world for that bargain.

 

[Al Bion]

I think we missed Reid last season, he came on for the last 15 or 20 mins today, didn't have chance to change the course of the game but, as he gets more match practice, I hope that will help the midfield a bit.

El-Abd did ok today, got stuck in as he normally does. Fraser was a bit lightweight, I think he will come good but he's not experienced enough just yet. Unfortunately, Hammond had a pretty poor game in my opinion, the team never seem to do well when he fails to function and Cox, though he looked really dangerous in the first 20 minutes, then went completely out of the game until the last few minutes.

In reality the game could easily have gone either way today. I think if we'd not have conceded the penalty we could possibly have held on for a win and then everything may have looked completely different now.

 

[Pigsy]

That was an absolutely appalling (non)penalty decision

 

[dougdeep]

You sounded really cute on the phone-in NMH.

 

[SJ's Love Monkey]

You sounded really cute on the phone-in NMH.

Does he sound like Julian Clary?

 

[dougdeep]

Does he sound like Julian Clary?

Yes, but with a yankee twang.

 

[eastlondonseagull]

Awaiting the video evidence with glee...

Why oh why do we get officials who are so gash?

 

[portslade seagull]

As i've said b4 our midfield is just not strong enuff to cope with most opposing midfields in our league....and we have has almost 4-months to rectify this.....As Micky Adams stated ' failing to prepare is preparing to fail ' and we certainly haven't with our midfield positions.....sorry but Reid..Fraser..Hart (sadly) just will not cut the mustard i'm afraid.

 

[strings]

Not sure quite what happened today I thought we played a lot better than Crewe, yet we lost. I didn't see the handball, nor did anybody directly around me, but it seemed strange the way that the decision was delayed.

I'm not sure why we seemed to trail off in the last 25 mins. I think the defence missed Fraser, who I thought did a good job (although he looked absolutely knackered). Reid tooka while to settle into the game, but I think he will be a great asset this season if he can stay fit.

All in all, we were good. I just wish I could say the same about the match officials.

 

[dougdeep]

Where was the damn lino for our penalty claim?

 

[Yorkie]

As i've said b4 our midfield is just not strong enuff to cope with most opposing midfields in our league....and we have has almost 4-months to rectify this.....As Micky Adams stated ' failing to prepare is preparing to fail ' and we certainly haven't with our midfield positions.....sorry but Reid..Fraser..Hart (sadly) just will not cut the mustard i'm afraid.

Reid was quality before his injury and he isn't injury prone so don't write him off. Some people have really short memories.

 

[Gully]

I would agree with much of the sentiment posted above, I was really up for the game today, despite the fact that we never get anything at Crewe...might add Gresty Road to Stoke as a ground that I won't go back to...it may change our luck.

I am pretty hacked off that we lost the game, we really did deserve to get something and but for a few iffy refereeing/assistants decisions we probably would have.

I prefer to draw on some positives, I thought that the Whing/Fraser combination on the right hand side looked very promising, most of our decent play and chances in the first half hour came through them...somewhat bizarrely we then switched play to the other side of the pitch and a Kerry/Tiny combo wasn't quite as effective (though both of them put in decent displays).

In defence Lynch looked superb, he made a couple of really telling tackles...one near the corner flag where he won the ball cleanly, instead of knocking it out of play...he even had time to tell Kerry to move behind him and cover before making the tackle. However, given how well the defence had dealt with the Crewe threat, who had done little before or even after their dodgy penalty (odd that nobody appeared to appeal for one and the referee was nearer the play than the linesman), it was a bit disappointing that we opened up a bit like the red sea for Moses to let them get their second.

In all, a good turn out from the Albion faithful...most of us were sat in our seats a good 20 minutes before kick-off, at which time the rest of the stadium was empty. I have seen us play far worse than we did today and win...we showed a fair amount of promise and at times played some really good football...one of those days where our efforts were not adequately rewarded.

 

[gullshark]

I think we played well, and crewe were lucky to win, we should have easily been 3 goals up by half time!

I was talking to a crewe fan on the walk back to the station who said the ball was DEFINATELY over the line as he was next to it.

I hate to use footballing clichés, but we were most definately robbed.

 

[dougdeep]

I think we played well, and crewe were lucky to win, we should have easily been 3 goals up by half time!

I was talking to a crewe fan on the walk back to the station who said the ball was DEFINITELY over the line as he was next to it.

I hate to use footballing clichés, but we were most definitely robbed.

Damned refs.

 

[Yorkie]

I hate to use footballing clichés, but we were most definately robbed.

It's not the first time we have been robbed at Gresty Rd. Crewe scored a goal after the ball had crossed the back line (I think it was 3 years ago) which the linesman had clearly seen but didn't flag for it.