[Albion] Brighton & Hove Albion vs AEK Athens *** Official Match Thread ***

[Guinness Boy]

I know it’s a game of opinions- but blimey

Yes but apart from missing an open goal with a header and being useless at set pieces is he any good?

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

We got a lot of things wrong tonight, but the biggest thing we got wrong was our understanding of AEK. Had they been the flimsy bunch that we’d convinced ourselves they were going to be, even this new Albion line-up would have comfortably seen them off. But they weren’t. They hadn’t come here to lay down, as some of us thought. They were confident, muscular, determined and energetic. Halfway through the first half I was comforting myself with the thought that they couldn’t keep us this energy for long but they did. The wouldn’t let us settle, they fought for everything, and ultimately they deserved this victory.

We might have got away with it if AEK had been less singleminded. But we were poor, and had nowhere to hide. I can’t think of one player I’d single out for praise. I’ve seen Fati twice now and can see his quality a mile off — but he hasn’t yet been fully integrated into the team and our style of play. What I like about him is his instinctive, decisive passing and movement. What he does, he does well. We just haven’t yet seen enough of it. It’s hard to criticise someone who won and scored two penalties but I’m afraid I don’t fully share the love for Pedro I’ve seen from some posters here. He’s elegant and gets involved in delicate interplay but in a way is the opposite of Fati in that I find him indecisive and over-elaborate sometimes. Fati sees something and goes for it. Pedro, despite his obvious ball skills and quick feet, doesn’t have such developed instincts. He seems to hesitate sometimes, as if surprised to find himself in a good position, and can make the wrong decision. But as I say, hard to be too negative about a guy who produces two excellent penalties under pressure. Pervis was inexplicably poor tonight with barely a single pass finding its target. And…. but it’s best not to go through the team as there’s almost nothing positive to say.

The one consolation for me is that it might actually do us some good. After the West Ham defeat, the bloke next to me said something similar. "Sometimes we need to be reminded not to believe all the bullshit", he said, and thought the West Ham result might be a useful kick up the arse — as the results against Newcastle and United seemed to bear out. We all know that RDZ rarely repeats his mistakes. I think it’s true that he’s never lost two games in a row here (except possibly right at the beginning) because he quickly learns from his mistakes. So I’m expecting a a big rebound against Bournemouth, and against Marseille. Disappointing though the evening was, in the long run, it might just be the reality check we all needed.

Very insightful post.

And also, I do hope that we don't turn into the equivalent of entitled supporters of certain other clubs who imagine they have a right to win every game. We need to retain our Mustard sense.

 

[Simster]

Whilst it was a brilliant header that he could probably only put in the top corner once out of ten attempts, he had all the time in the world to get the perfect contact and place it into the corner, there’s no way we should have allowed him that much space on the edge of the box. Mitoma should have been much closer and could have put him off. Quite a basic mistake on our part.

True, but I'm more tempted to blame the last goal on Mitoma than the first. The problem with the first goal was that he didn't know which of THREE unmarked players to pick up. With the last, he just lost the ball pathetically like he did all game. Only this time, we got punished (primarily because Igor was miles out of position and didn't bother to try and get back into position) .

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

This may have been covered, but I wonder if RdZ intended to play Fati and Ferguson until Evan had to go home sick? In his post match presser, Roberto mentions that "JP did well" whilst he was talking about missing players (Dunk and Ferguson). I know Dunk was a huge miss, but having Evan and Fati rather than two very similar players together from the start could have made a significant difference.

 

[saafend_seagull]

A lot of discussion how we missed dunk (which also meant pervi was useless).

Aek missed their two centre backs and had a midfielder playing there so will only get stronger.

 

[Durlston]

Sussex police are gonna have a rude European awakening christ

Thankfully there weren't any stabbings as first reported but the news and Youtube videos show how Marseille will be a big step up for the police.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Brighton were 1 to 6 and Athens 16 to 1 to win the match lasth nighht so the equivalent of us playing a league 1 or league 2 team so it was a massive shock and a huge disappointment

 

[Bridcutt]

JP and Van Hecke are the same person though - maybe we’re a man short

Van Hecke and Joao Pedro are the same person?

 

[The Colonel]

I thought AEK were really good and much more than just a low block team as some suggest. They got forward with numbers, pace and power. If they play like that against Ajax and Marseille they'll pick up plenty of points in this group.

It also can't be a coincidence that all our attacking players had an off night and in some cases were largely anonymous. Sometimes you just have to say you were beaten by the better team.

We must not lose in Marseille.

 

[Austrian Gull]

Having slept (badly) on the bitter defeat I am a little more sanguine about everything but...

- I always feel we're a better team with Veltman in it. Don't understand why he didn't play right-back
- Dunk continues to make every central defensive partner look a better player
- RDZ waited too long with his subs
- Mitoma was awful going forward and cost us at least one goal
- Gilmour was probably the only player to be above criticism
- Not sure giving Fati 90 minutes was wise
- We may well do better in Europe away from home

Let's take our frustration out on Bournemouth!

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

This may have been covered, but I wonder if RdZ intended to play Fati and Ferguson until Evan had to go home sick? In his post match presser, Roberto mentions that "JP did well" whilst he was talking about missing players (Dunk and Ferguson). I know Dunk was a huge miss, but having Evan and Fati rather than two very similar players together from the start could have made a significant difference.

If Roberto said "JP did well" he was referring to van Hecke

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Van Hecke and Joao Pedro are the same person?

JP refers to van Hecke, not Pedro

 

[goldstone]

I can live with last night's defeat just as long as we beat Bournemouth.

 

[drew]

Yes we didn't play anywhere near like we can but two of their goals involved some deflections which another day may have gone our way.

 

[Horses Arse]

Good LORD.

I will say Igor looked alright in the second half going forward (and a massive improvement on the first half), but what the actual f*ck was he doing for the winning goal? Christ.

You realise that was lamptey for the winning goal? Van Hecke error too. Whatever Igor did was prior to two calamitous errors.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I didn't get a good view of it, from the North stand, but it looked like Solly got absolutely clattered down in the South west corner ,in the second half.
Looked like a probable 2nd yellow/straight red. Ref didn't even give a foul.

Considering how much the ref missed, I was wondering if anyone got a good look at it?

 

[Horses Arse]

Look at the replay,... Mitoma shifted across and was actually marking the ref,... I kid you not.

Stopped the ref scoring though, not all bad!

 

[WhingForPresident]

I didn't get a good view of it, from the North stand, but it looked like Solly got absolutely clattered down in the South west corner ,in the second half.
Looked like a probable 2nd yellow/straight red. Ref didn't even give a foul.

Considering how much the ref missed, I was wondering if anyone got a good look at it?

I think the lino gave offside which is why the free kick/card wasn't given. I was in the NWC though so can't say my view was much better!

 

[Simster]

You realise that was lamptey for the winning goal? Van Hecke error too. Whatever Igor did was prior to two calamitous errors.

Harsh on JPvH for reasons I said on another thread. The bloke has no choice but to go to the ball to prevent the shot. And Igor was miles out of position and sloppily barely trotted back when Mitoma gave the ball away AGAIN. I think Igor was more to blame than vH who was at least on the premises.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I thought AEK were really good and much more than just a low block team as some suggest. They got forward with numbers, pace and power. If they play like that against Ajax and Marseille they'll pick up plenty of points in this group.

It also can't be a coincidence that all our attacking players had an off night and in some cases were largely anonymous. Sometimes you just have to say you were beaten by the better team.

We must not lose in Marseille.

First half I was genuinely surprised how good they were.
Great press, full of energy and knocking the ball around nicely.
tbh I thought they looked like a version of us.

Our lack of penetration, in the first half, had far more to do with our ponderous play, than a low block.
The low block kicked-in in the second half, but fair enough, absolutely the right thing to do.