Andrew Crofts

[clippedgull]

Was surprised that many applauded him off the pitch. He had effectively ruined our chances of salvaging anything from the game.

Better than booing him off.

 

[clippedgull]

Glad I am not the only one who thought we played well until they scored.

Played well? Shocking performance. If Sheff Wed had been a good team we would have been slaughtered!

 

[Spun Cuppa]

Stummm everyone

The BBC have him down as Sam Crofts

Might be able to swindle out of the three game ban

 

[BUTTERBALL]

He didn't play well but did make 2 excellent crosses in the first half though. Shame he got sent off, but a rash tackle.

 

[Joe Gatting's Dad]

The referee implied the tackle was above the knee - not seen it yet as still on the train back to the West Country.

 

[dazzer6666]

Not seen a replay yet but looked bad and can't blame the ref. If he'd stayed on, JFC would've gone in the second half for a 2nd yellow.

 

[Blues Rock DJ]

Until their goal, we'd outplayed them in all departments.

what ?

 

[Sam-]

I would speculate that at a pre-season gathering of referees for the football league it was stressed that tackles where a player has a foot off the ground/studs showing should be an immediate red card. As it was the first game of the season, referees are going to be very keen to enforce the law.

Not saying he didn't deserve a red just that on another day you could reasonably expect a different decision. Although I am very surprised that Nuhiu didn't get a yellow for persistent fouling.

I think Bruno and JFC lost their cool a bit towards the end. Several challenges that were unnecessary and could easily have put an average ref in a difficult position.

 

[SIMMO SAYS]

Until their goal, we'd outplayed them in all departments.

You have been

 

[Hornblower]

Wow, just goes to show how we all view the game in different ways. I thought he was the only committed player in the first half, he was helping out Bruno and closing down their players from where i was sitting in WSU and look really up for it.

Absolutely this. He was MOM for me up until the sending off. Also, didn't the SW players seem a bit uncomfortable in their reaction?

 

[Dorset Seagull]

I am struggling to see why so many people thought we were poor today. Compared to the laborious build up and sideways passing of last season today was a breath of fresh air

 

[bn1&bn3 Albion]

Knew it was a red straight away. High, late and from my view studs showing..

 

[London Irish]

Yep, I appreciate I'm in the minority when it comes to crofts. I just think he lacks technical ability. Has a poor touch and his passing is not good enough. I know he works hard but I expect that from all our midfielders

I know the pile-on on Kemy is in full swing but Crofts is the only player I think really let the team down today. Thought it was bordeline red card when watching it live but on SSN it was about the most stonewall red you will see, both late and high.

I'm afraid I agree with you about Croft's ability. He contributed little up to the red card. He lost his place under Gus because he wasn't good enough but fair enough fought back well season, but I think the good goal tally took the spotlight off other deficiencies, particularly his movement and passing. I would have liked others to start ahead of him this season so I am not overly fussed by his 3-match ban. With any luck we'll have Clayton, Stephens and March in to give us better options soon and I'd like to see Toko now.

 

[Acker79]

I am struggling to see why so many people thought we were poor today. Compared to the laborious build up and sideways passing of last season today was a breath of fresh air

I saw plenty of sideways passing, particularly from JFC. I saw bruno run up the wing and have little support while offering no real threat, no crosses of not. I saw several times a promising ball played forward only for our forward line need to take it done and spend half an hour with it before trying to take a shot, by which time they've been closed down, and if they did make some space, the shot was a tame effort. I saw players who in the last few seasons would threaten down the wing with their pace and directness become stifled as they tucked inside. I saw under hit passes, passes that were no where near their intended recipient, I saw brighton players eased off the ball and outnumbered in the challenges, I saw a goal keeper kick the ball straight out of play too many times, I saw no creativity or attacking threat, especially late in the game when we're supposedly pushing for an equaliser and more than half our team are in our own half.

That's essentially why I thought we were poor today, though, I didn't think we were much better last season. But game of opinions, eh?

 

[Dorset Seagull]

I saw plenty of sideways passing, particularly from JFC. I saw bruno run up the wing and have little support while offering no real threat, no crosses of not. I saw several times a promising ball played forward only for our forward line need to take it done and spend half an hour with it before trying to take a shot, by which time they've been closed down, and if they did make some space, the shot was a tame effort. I saw players who in the last few seasons would threaten down the wing with their pace and directness become stifled as they tucked inside. I saw under hit passes, passes that were no where near their intended recipient, I saw brighton players eased off the ball and outnumbered in the challenges, I saw a goal keeper kick the ball straight out of play too many times, I saw no creativity or attacking threat, especially late in the game when we're supposedly pushing for an equaliser and more than half our team are in our own half.

That's essentially why I thought we were poor today, though, I didn't think we were much better last season. But game of opinions, eh?

I didn't say I thought we were brilliant, however, I did see progresss and the start of a system that when mastered will bring us greater rewards. Yes there were a few weak links out there today but if we do manage to get those replaced with players able to make the system work then I think that is the important thing. I think much of what tou say can be overcome with a quality playmaker in the final third. Something we don't have in our current squad.

 

[DavePage]

He plays with passion, you can hear it in his interviews. He wants to play, to win, to succeed.
Unfortunately, with passion there needs to be restraint, he tries too hard for the badge.
If he didn’t, he would be knocked. He will learn from the suspension and come back stronger.
He missed too many games last year, my guess he was trying too hard to get back.

 

[Bakero]

From the east lower, it looked like no foul at all, from reading previous posts on this thread perhaps there was a lot more to it.

I don't know.

I was in the east lower. The tackle was late and knee high.

 

[Bakero]

I saw plenty of sideways passing, particularly from JFC. But game of opinions, eh?

JFC was our most positive player. He frequently looked for a forward pass and picked out the overlapping runs of the fullbacks a few times. The problem was he was playing too deep.

 

[Skaville]

I am struggling to see why so many people thought we were poor today. Compared to the laborious build up and sideways passing of last season today was a breath of fresh air

Absolutely and it was such fun to see us peppering their goal with glorious chance after chance. Could have been a cricket score. In fact it was, a duck.

 

[supaseagull]

I saw plenty of sideways passing, particularly from JFC. I saw bruno run up the wing and have little support while offering no real threat, no crosses of not. I saw several times a promising ball played forward only for our forward line need to take it done and spend half an hour with it before trying to take a shot, by which time they've been closed down, and if they did make some space, the shot was a tame effort. I saw players who in the last few seasons would threaten down the wing with their pace and directness become stifled as they tucked inside. I saw under hit passes, passes that were no where near their intended recipient, I saw brighton players eased off the ball and outnumbered in the challenges, I saw a goal keeper kick the ball straight out of play too many times, I saw no creativity or attacking threat, especially late in the game when we're supposedly pushing for an equaliser and more than half our team are in our own half.

That's essentially why I thought we were poor today, though, I didn't think we were much better last season. But game of opinions, eh?

Yep that's pretty much how I saw it also.

One thing you have failed to add is that I thought we were shockingly bad in defence. I shudder to think how we are going to play against a Cardiff or Fulham.