[Albion] After a night to sleep on it

[Albion Dan]

I dont mind losing at all and didn't expect us to win. What I despise though is rancid defending at set pieces and throwing goal after goal away from them. It's school boy and the reason there was so much angst here after the game is that its simple stuff that you should be able to deal with if you're in league 2 let alone a team with top 10 Premier league ambition.

It should have been stamped out after the Chelsea game yet here we are 3 games later and the same mistakes over and over.

 

[Hastings gull]

We got what we deserved against a very good side. We weren’t terrible, we were ok overall but made some silly errors. We were very good last 20. Passing football played the right way. Everton squad and wages is huge. We have looked great overall this season. We’ll be mid table - we’ve had 3 very hard games against top 6 teams and should have got 4 points arguably. We twatter Newcastle and we’re magnificent. I’m pleased with our start due to performances. And yes, some pathetic moaning and attitudes yesterday on here from some. Vocal minority I think though.

Exactly -disappointing yesterday but not by any means a disaster. A sense of proportion is needed -if we fail against the likes of west brom, then time to really worry.

 

[deslynhamsmoustache1]

I think this could be one of the weirdest Premier seasons ever with results all over the shop. For example, Newcastle beat West Ham away, we beat Newcastle at home. West Ham then demolish Wolves at home Palace beat united away, but lose heavily to Chelsea, Leicester go to Man city and put 5 past them. I can't believe a lot of fans of various clubs aren't talking the same talk as us, Even City fans must think their world is about to end as they could only draw yesterday with newly promoted Leeds. The difference being of course that they will over react and spend tens of millions to be seen putting it right.

 

[Goldstone1976]

After reading a couple of threads (I didn’t have the stomach to read more), it seems as though our problems are limited to:

- our keeper doesn’t dominate his 6-yard box and is rooted to his line, meaning we concede; change him.
- Dunk isn’t the player he was
- White makes too many mistakes
- As does Alzate
- As does Bissouma
- Zonal marking is shit
- We can’t defend corners
- Or free kicks
- The opposition have sussed us out
- Specifically, they know how to control Lamptey
- We’re too slow
- We miss a decent defensive midfielder
- We need a LWB
- We need a striker
- We can’t take corners
- Or free kicks
- Our players are too scared to shoot

Apart from the above we’re fine, apparently.

 

[Richy_Seagull]

Bit embarrassing the level of stupidity when it comes to fans.

2 weeks ago a performance that was arguably the best since getting promoted. Oh and a 3-0 away win.

Last week we play a team that cost about half a billion off the pitch, a game that could have gone our way but due to the variance in football didn’t, sometimes shit happens. We should have won by a couple of goals but millilitres/bad pen call etc

Then we have one bad performance and people are laying in to individual players, Potters tactics, and the team as a whole.

Football fans, a fickle bunch.

 

[Gabbafella]

I'm not angry as I knew we wouldn't come away from the game with anything, I'm more disappointed with how fragile we looked at the back.
Dunk doesn't seem like his head is in it over the past couple of games, he's usually solid but he's been making some very odd decisions and mistakes. White looks pretty poor. I'm failing to see what all the fuss is about with him. He's very lightweight and can't seem to defend set pieces at all (although that's a team trait at the moment.)
Overall, I don't think we were great yesterday but we also weren't as bad as some make out. Everton look a class act this season so we shouldn't act so entitled as to think we should be turning them over. We had good spells, we look confident going forward, we just need to be a bit more ruthless when we're on the front foot.

 

[Reddleman]

I wasn’t angry but I was frustrated and still remain so despite a good nights sleep.

The frustration is born from the predictability of the way the goals were conceded, we don’t seem to be leaning.

Caught on the break, again, set pieces again, giving possession away in our own third again, very poor game management again.

Nearly every goal we concede falls into one of these categories and it does need to be improved.

I thing Potter is a genius but he got a lot wrong yesterday not least our bizarre approach to set pieces and our Unwillingness to take advantage of a dodgy keeper in horrendous conditions.

I’m also hugely frustrated that when we turned to the bench to find a way back into the game we had no real attacking option to bring on.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

I think many of us were still nursing a hangover from the desperately unfair Utd result. We knew Everton was going to be tough. We've never won there and haven't got a point in the PL there. In fact, up there we haven't even got close to them. Saying all of that, I was looking for a reaction. We had made basic mistakes against Chelsea and Utd that had left us, frustratingly, with nothing. Both those sides were under par and it was a great chance to take points off them. We ended up shooting ourselves in the foot with sloppy, careless play.
I was looking for a tighter, more disciplined display and not letting them get off to a flyer. Those thoughts went out the window when Bissouma conceded cheap possession in the early seconds and DCL nearly scored. Everton piled forward and had two or three efforts at crossing from wide left, eventually ending up with Lamptey standing off Gylfi Sig. Cue a floated high ball to the far post, where Dunk, White and Webster watched a relatively unchallenged DCL head home easily. Same old, same old. All the better sides now know that taking an early lead against Brighton opens the game up for them and usually results in a win. Ok. Poor start but time to recover. We did better and were gifted an equaliser. Great. Lets take 1-1 into HT. I said to friends..." no silly free kicks or corners now "....guess what....silly and unnecessary free kick given away by Solly, in a dangerous position. I knew they would score against our flat line and zonal marking. It was schoolboy stuff. HT...back foot again. Now it was important to stay in the game in the 2nd half. 7 minutes in, Trossard gifts the ball to them, 35 yards from goal...result...game over. 52 minutes and game over. Everton sit back and coast. We play the ball around in front of them, not creating anything. Everton sit and wait for another mistake....bang...4-1. Consolation from Bissouma. Anything learnt from Chelsea and Utd?
1) We are still making basic mistakes in games. Not just one or two but plenty.
2) We are still guilty of ' overplaying ' and are not Man City. We haven't got world class players who specialise in superb control and ball retention.
3) Zonal marking isn't working. Teams have long since worked us out. Nullify Dunk in the centre, pick us off near post or far post. White and Webster are not Duffy or even Murray, in the air. Rest of the team is fairly small. Ryan stays on his line and can't dominate the six yard box. Overload on Brighton from set pieces and you will score.
4) Why keep farting about from set pieces? Playing it short, not getting crosses in and working it back to the CB's all the time. Pointless. Pickford was like a nervous kitten yesterday and for some strange reason, we failed to play on it.......on the other hand.......
5) We look very good going forward and do play some lovely stuff
6) We have a young side that is going to get better
7) We have a striker who looks like getting 15 this season. We need another good string to our bow upfront. A younger Murray Mk2.
8) We have a talented manager, who I believe will work to improve the above issues.
9) We are better than at least three teams this season
10) This is a tough opening 8 games. 8 points would be a very good return.

The better sides make fewer basic mistakes and work on concentration levels for 90 mins. Thats our target.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Bizarrely the thing that angered me most was Dunk taking a free kick. Please, this should not happen again. Biss's goal was a thing of beauty and 4-2 was a more realistic score than 4-1. We have been gifting goals to the opposition (accepting that most goals in a game arise from a mistake). Other than those stand out glaring errors on reflection we weren't too bad. And they had one truly world class player on his game, passing, positioning and finishing.

 

[Seasider78]

Not worried about the points as 3-4 is what would be expected from that group of fixtures and we have looked excellent at times. My concern is with the volume of basic areas, poor game management and how leaky we are at the back. We are matching teams but too often the architects of our own downfall. It is not just the top sides who will punish those issues so in many ways the international break comes at a good time to reflect and address those weaknesses before we go into what looks on paper like a much more winnable run of fixtures.

 

[Palacefinder General]

Bit embarrassing the level of stupidity when it comes to fans.

2 weeks ago a performance that was arguably the best since getting promoted. Oh and a 3-0 away win.

Last week we play a team that cost about half a billion off the pitch, a game that could have gone our way but due to the variance in football didn’t, sometimes shit happens. We should have won by a couple of goals but millilitres/bad pen call etc

Then we have one bad performance and people are laying in to individual players, Potters tactics, and the team as a whole.

Football fans, a fickle bunch.

‘Potter’s tactics’ please Richy.

 

[vagabond]

Not too worried. I didn’t expect us to get a result at Everton and predicted the moaning and over dramatics on NSC last night.

I don’t know what some expect. We lost to Man U and Chelsea. No shame there.

And yesterday we were playing away at THE form team right now, with the most on fire striker in the PL. We still got a couple of goals. See where GP and the boys are around Christmas. We’ve had a tough opening fixture and gave a good account in all.

The only thing main thing that disappointed me yesterday was the set pieces. I think Pickford was in a right flappy state, and sometimes a few old school crosses may have put him under real pressure.

Hey ho. Onwards to Palace.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Was 'very disappointed' with the defending yesterday, as one or two astute observers on here may have noticed. Probably wasn't the smartest idea to watch it all over again on MOTD this morning. Doh!

 

[BBassic]

I've made a conscious decision to not get too carried away with football for the foreseeable.

This year has got enough shit to feel stressed about without football taking a swipe at my delicate mental state as well.

Whatever will be, will be. We'll play better than yesterday and probably we'll play worse.

 

[Icy Gull]

I still have lots of faith. GP knows what’s going wrong and as usual talks sense in the post match interview with no running down of players. The future is bright is my little head

https://www.bbc.com/sport/av/football/54403905

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Any of you who completely lost your shit yesterday over our defeat feeling any different this morning?

Last night NSC was like a grumpy day at the creche with toys flying everywhere

We really were not as bad as some of the posts on here would suggest.

Or are you still REALLY Angry?

I posted the equivalent of a reply to your question (which I hadn't seen) on another thread a few minutes ago. As my shit was intact yesterday I have no colonic disregulation to re-evaluate; my general comments today are that it is early days and Potter can surely see what we can, and not being stuborn like his predecessor will affect a change.

So, as we have little time for all that 'emotional intelligence' bollocks I say sack him now and bring in Big Sam, Pulis or Curbs.

 

[clockend1983]

I really hate the habit we now have of conceding goals immediately after we score.

I hope Potter comes up with a plan to minimise this.

Firstly you need centre halves that can head a ball other than when they are unopposed and it’s right down their throat.None of the three we had playing yesterday are that great in the air when challenged which will always give us problems at set peices
It improved when Veltman came on and last season Murray did a lot of clearing in our box from set peices and I was always a lot more confident when Duffy was on the park that we had a better chance of defending corners etc
It’s become very apparent that we haven’t got anyone who has taken responsibility for this
They all just seem to be rooted to their zone with the not my job look on their faces as we concede again
If that’s what their told to do then it needs to change
Simple or it will go on and on

 

[maltaseagull]

Lots of training themes for the international break.

Zonal marking vs Man to Man.

How to defend set pieces.

How to notice when a keeper is out of form and how to exploit them.

Finding a proper free kick taker.

How to make short corners work.

How to test a keeper with corners.

Protecting yourself from a break attack.

You missed how to keep possession when we have a throw in! So many times we give it away.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

After reading a couple of threads (I didn’t have the stomach to read more), it seems as though our problems are limited to:

- our keeper doesn’t dominate his 6-yard box and is rooted to his line, meaning we concede; change him.
- Dunk isn’t the player he was
- White makes too many mistakes
- As does Alzate
- As does Bissouma
- Zonal marking is shit
- We can’t defend corners
- Or free kicks
- The opposition have sussed us out
- Specifically, they know how to control Lamptey
- We’re too slow
- We miss a decent defensive midfielder
- We need a LWB
- We need a striker
- We can’t take corners
- Or free kicks
- Our players are too scared to shoot

Apart from the above we’re fine, apparently.

Indeed. An embarassing shit list of entitlement. I can picture, now, what their Christmas list for Santa looked like when they were kids

- an aeroplane
- a submarine
- a Koala bear
- a wardrobe full of little lord Fauntleroy suits
- a genie in a bottle

etc.

 

[highflyer]

After reading a couple of threads (I didn’t have the stomach to read more), it seems as though our problems are limited to:

- our keeper doesn’t dominate his 6-yard box and is rooted to his line, meaning we concede; change him.
- Dunk isn’t the player he was
- White makes too many mistakes
- As does Alzate
- As does Bissouma
- Zonal marking is shit
- We can’t defend corners
- Or free kicks
- The opposition have sussed us out
- Specifically, they know how to control Lamptey
- We’re too slow
- We miss a decent defensive midfielder
- We need a LWB
- We need a striker
- We can’t take corners
- Or free kicks
- Our players are too scared to shoot

Apart from the above we’re fine, apparently.

'Can't play in the rain'