Withdean Wanderer
Banned
http://www.theargus.co.uk/sport/arg...759.0.seagulls_cannot_afford_to_lose_joel.php
Although he seems to think Lynch is off....
The article:
Seagulls cannot afford to lose Joel
By Andy Naylor
If I was Dean Wilkins I would keep my mobile switched off this summer.
He must be dreading a phone call from Premiership or Championship managers about Joel Lynch.
West Ham's ex-Seagulls midfielder Alan Curbishley was at Withdean on Saturday.
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He could have been using the international break just to catch up with old friends but, if he was looking at any of the players on view, it must surely have been Lynch.
He would not have gone away disappointed. Lynch was not outstanding, nobody was in a dreadful game. But he continued his impressive recovery from a dip in form earlier in the season by helping Albion to a third clean sheet in their last six matches.
Lynch has grown up as the season has progressed. Remember when he used to go down rather too easily for a strapping centre half, like against Blackpool in October? Now he is using his physique to muscle opponents out of the way.
His talent has never been in doubt and, if like Bobby Zamora and Adam Virgo before him, he is the subject of a big money bid in the summer it will disrupt Wilkins' plans for next season.
The dependable Guy Butters is not getting any younger and Adam Hinshelwood is injured. With Lynch the centre of defence does not look an issue, without him it certainly would be.
Curbishley endured with the rest of us the drabbest of draws. The season ticket renewal notices are normally out by now.
Whatever the reason for the delay, I hope to goodness the Albion Board are following the trend set by several other clubs and, at worst, freezing prices for next season.
That is the least the fans deserve after another depressing afternoon at Withdean.
Even if the Falmer saga reaches a favourable conclusion in the summer, it will still be the Seagulls' home for the next couple of seasons. Some serious thinking needs to be done between now and August to produce an improvement, off and on the pitch.
The pre-match entertainment, with the exception of mascot Gully and his dancing girls, is horribly stale, especially in that crucial period before kick-off. Surely the powers-that-be can come up with something a little more innovative than a spectators' quiz to build up the atmosphere.
Choreographing the greatest show on earth will not, mind you, make much of a difference once the clock ticks past 3pm. It is up to the players then to lift the crowd and that has not been happening.
The victory from behind against Nottingham Forest and the stalemate against leaders Scunthorpe which preceded Saturday's turgid affair were notable exceptions.
Apart from those invigorating encounters, Albion have failed to score now in five of the last seven matches in front of their own supporters and in ten out of 16 games home and away this year.
The away record is excellent but the fact of the matter is six times as many people watch the team at Withdean than on the road. It would be better for the club, certainly from a financial point of view, if the results were the other way around. Comparing club with country should be an honour. In this instance the parallels between Albion and Steve McClaren's misfiring England side are not flattering.
Neither of them have won for five matches. Albion have scored twice in that period, which is one more than England have managed, but McClaren can point to missed chances in Israel.
It was the lack of chances created by the Seagulls, especially once Huddersfield had been reduced to ten men, which angered Dean Wilkins after he emerged from a "heated" dressing room.
On-loan centre half Frank Sinclair gifted numerical supremacy for the last 26 minutes. The veteran former Chelsea forward had already been booked for dissent when he brought down Adam El-Abd.
Sinclair, cautioned on his previous two visits to Withdean with parent club Burnley, was in danger of talking himself into further trouble as he trudged off.
He changed direction to remonstrate with the linesman he held responsible for his first booking in the 57th minute. Sinclair and the rest of the Huddersfield defence were convinced Jake Robinson was offside when he dragged wide a decent opportunity to break the deadlock.
Robinson's hat-trick when the teams met at the Galpharm Stadium in October seemed a distant memory. He spurned Albion's best chance three minutes into the restart when Huddersfield goalkeeper Matt Glennon, making a mess of his one true test, could only parry a shot by El-Abd as he rampaged forward.
Alex Revell set Robinson up 12 yards out but he blazed over before looking accusingly down at the pitch, suggesting the ball bobbled at the moment of impact.
Robinson, operating once more at the advanced point of the midfield diamond, was well-shackled by Jon Worthington. Huddersfield's combative captain ventured forward from his holding midfield role after the break to unleash an angled drive which Scott Flinders acrobatically palmed over.
The Crystal Palace loanee was marginally more occupied than Glennon in keeping his first home shut-out. He was at full-stretch to fall on the only effort on goal worthy of that description following Sinclair's dismissal.
The fact that it came from Huddersfield - a low shot from Luke Beckett - reflects Albion's abject failure to make the extra man count.
Wilkins had four strikers on the field by the finish. Joe Gatting had an excuse, so late was his introduction, but none of them ever looked like scoring.
Zesh Rehman, fitting in comfortably at right-back, must have felt at home on his return to Withdean after a three-year absence. Guess what the result was when Oldham's visit completed his previous loan stint?
Albion are turning into draw specialists. That is four on the trot now as they creep towards mathematical survival and, on the plus side, just one defeat in 11 in League One.
That goal record must improve though if they are to mount a challenge next season and satisfy those starved season ticket holders who may just be denied the pleasure of watching Lynch.
ALBION (4-1-2-1-2): Scott Flinders (GK); Zesh Rehman (RB), Joel Lynch (CB), Guy Butters (CB), Adam El-Abd (LB); Dean Cox (RM), Alexis Bertin (CM), Dean Hammond (CM), Jake Robinson (LM); Alex Revell (CF); Bas Savage (CF). Subs: Nathan Elder (for Savage, 63), Joe Gatting (for El-Abd, 83), Doug Loft (for Cox, 76), Kerry Mayo, Michel Kuipers.
HUDDERSFIELD (4-1-3-2): Matt Glennon (GK); Andy Holdsworth (RB), Frank Sinclair (CB), David Mirfin (CB), Joe Scarz (LB); Michael Collins (RM) 6, Gary Fletcher-Taylor (CM), Jon Worthington (CM), Danny Schofield (LM); Andy Booth (CF); Luke Beckett (CF). Subs: Martin McIntosh (for H'worth, 52), Mark Hudson (for Schofield, 66), Adnan Ahmed (for Taylor-Fletcher 76), John McAliskey, Simon Eastwood.
9:48pm today
Although he seems to think Lynch is off....
The article:
Seagulls cannot afford to lose Joel
By Andy Naylor
If I was Dean Wilkins I would keep my mobile switched off this summer.
He must be dreading a phone call from Premiership or Championship managers about Joel Lynch.
West Ham's ex-Seagulls midfielder Alan Curbishley was at Withdean on Saturday.
advertisement
He could have been using the international break just to catch up with old friends but, if he was looking at any of the players on view, it must surely have been Lynch.
He would not have gone away disappointed. Lynch was not outstanding, nobody was in a dreadful game. But he continued his impressive recovery from a dip in form earlier in the season by helping Albion to a third clean sheet in their last six matches.
Lynch has grown up as the season has progressed. Remember when he used to go down rather too easily for a strapping centre half, like against Blackpool in October? Now he is using his physique to muscle opponents out of the way.
His talent has never been in doubt and, if like Bobby Zamora and Adam Virgo before him, he is the subject of a big money bid in the summer it will disrupt Wilkins' plans for next season.
The dependable Guy Butters is not getting any younger and Adam Hinshelwood is injured. With Lynch the centre of defence does not look an issue, without him it certainly would be.
Curbishley endured with the rest of us the drabbest of draws. The season ticket renewal notices are normally out by now.
Whatever the reason for the delay, I hope to goodness the Albion Board are following the trend set by several other clubs and, at worst, freezing prices for next season.
That is the least the fans deserve after another depressing afternoon at Withdean.
Even if the Falmer saga reaches a favourable conclusion in the summer, it will still be the Seagulls' home for the next couple of seasons. Some serious thinking needs to be done between now and August to produce an improvement, off and on the pitch.
The pre-match entertainment, with the exception of mascot Gully and his dancing girls, is horribly stale, especially in that crucial period before kick-off. Surely the powers-that-be can come up with something a little more innovative than a spectators' quiz to build up the atmosphere.
Choreographing the greatest show on earth will not, mind you, make much of a difference once the clock ticks past 3pm. It is up to the players then to lift the crowd and that has not been happening.
The victory from behind against Nottingham Forest and the stalemate against leaders Scunthorpe which preceded Saturday's turgid affair were notable exceptions.
Apart from those invigorating encounters, Albion have failed to score now in five of the last seven matches in front of their own supporters and in ten out of 16 games home and away this year.
The away record is excellent but the fact of the matter is six times as many people watch the team at Withdean than on the road. It would be better for the club, certainly from a financial point of view, if the results were the other way around. Comparing club with country should be an honour. In this instance the parallels between Albion and Steve McClaren's misfiring England side are not flattering.
Neither of them have won for five matches. Albion have scored twice in that period, which is one more than England have managed, but McClaren can point to missed chances in Israel.
It was the lack of chances created by the Seagulls, especially once Huddersfield had been reduced to ten men, which angered Dean Wilkins after he emerged from a "heated" dressing room.
On-loan centre half Frank Sinclair gifted numerical supremacy for the last 26 minutes. The veteran former Chelsea forward had already been booked for dissent when he brought down Adam El-Abd.
Sinclair, cautioned on his previous two visits to Withdean with parent club Burnley, was in danger of talking himself into further trouble as he trudged off.
He changed direction to remonstrate with the linesman he held responsible for his first booking in the 57th minute. Sinclair and the rest of the Huddersfield defence were convinced Jake Robinson was offside when he dragged wide a decent opportunity to break the deadlock.
Robinson's hat-trick when the teams met at the Galpharm Stadium in October seemed a distant memory. He spurned Albion's best chance three minutes into the restart when Huddersfield goalkeeper Matt Glennon, making a mess of his one true test, could only parry a shot by El-Abd as he rampaged forward.
Alex Revell set Robinson up 12 yards out but he blazed over before looking accusingly down at the pitch, suggesting the ball bobbled at the moment of impact.
Robinson, operating once more at the advanced point of the midfield diamond, was well-shackled by Jon Worthington. Huddersfield's combative captain ventured forward from his holding midfield role after the break to unleash an angled drive which Scott Flinders acrobatically palmed over.
The Crystal Palace loanee was marginally more occupied than Glennon in keeping his first home shut-out. He was at full-stretch to fall on the only effort on goal worthy of that description following Sinclair's dismissal.
The fact that it came from Huddersfield - a low shot from Luke Beckett - reflects Albion's abject failure to make the extra man count.
Wilkins had four strikers on the field by the finish. Joe Gatting had an excuse, so late was his introduction, but none of them ever looked like scoring.
Zesh Rehman, fitting in comfortably at right-back, must have felt at home on his return to Withdean after a three-year absence. Guess what the result was when Oldham's visit completed his previous loan stint?
Albion are turning into draw specialists. That is four on the trot now as they creep towards mathematical survival and, on the plus side, just one defeat in 11 in League One.
That goal record must improve though if they are to mount a challenge next season and satisfy those starved season ticket holders who may just be denied the pleasure of watching Lynch.
ALBION (4-1-2-1-2): Scott Flinders (GK); Zesh Rehman (RB), Joel Lynch (CB), Guy Butters (CB), Adam El-Abd (LB); Dean Cox (RM), Alexis Bertin (CM), Dean Hammond (CM), Jake Robinson (LM); Alex Revell (CF); Bas Savage (CF). Subs: Nathan Elder (for Savage, 63), Joe Gatting (for El-Abd, 83), Doug Loft (for Cox, 76), Kerry Mayo, Michel Kuipers.
HUDDERSFIELD (4-1-3-2): Matt Glennon (GK); Andy Holdsworth (RB), Frank Sinclair (CB), David Mirfin (CB), Joe Scarz (LB); Michael Collins (RM) 6, Gary Fletcher-Taylor (CM), Jon Worthington (CM), Danny Schofield (LM); Andy Booth (CF); Luke Beckett (CF). Subs: Martin McIntosh (for H'worth, 52), Mark Hudson (for Schofield, 66), Adnan Ahmed (for Taylor-Fletcher 76), John McAliskey, Simon Eastwood.
9:48pm today
