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

[Berty23]

We really missed Dunk today and with Igor coming in for his first start it was a baptism of fire he’s certainly a unit and can make a good pass if given time but he didn’t seem to be able to keep up with the game a little lost almost unsure of what his role was mind you he did a great rugby tackle.

The played us as WHU did we need to find a way to counter that style of physical play two banks of well drilled defender's who worked really hard and doubled up every time the ball went wide to March or Matoma.

First goal was terrible who was supposed to be marking the guy who scored, their second was a good goal from a really good cross and their third was a comedy of errors

Oh well onwards and upwards

Wait until you see a reply of their second goal. Van hecke got a good kick on it but it hit the striker and then bounced to hit the bloke on the floor who was still in a kicking position after van hecke blocked the initial cross. It real time it looked a great finish but it was very very lucky.

As was their third with the bounce off Steele hitting striker and bouncing in.

 

[Skaville]

I found the substitutions baffling. Fati was largely anonymous, yet he stayed on whilst the best player on the pitch (Pedro) was hooked. Buonanotte hasn’t featured all season but was introduced ahead of Dahoud/Lallana.

Then you have Milner starting. Definitely a rare off night for RDZ.

 

[Beach Hut]

were loose

Annoyingly correct, Dear Friend

 

[Berty23]

That was mitoma’s worst match in a Brighton shirt, I think. Shocking marking for the first goal. Gave the ball away badly for the third. Messed up two very easy crosses after doing the tricky bit of beating the defender. I would not be shocked to see Adingra start on Sunday.

 

[Cordwainer]

Frustrating watch..gave the ball away far too often..gifting them opportunities…really lacked fluidity. I think Ferguson would have been well suited tonight playing on the shoulder of their CB’s..there were pockets of space in and around their box, but for most of the game no one would shoot! Pedro played ok but has gotta stop the no look flicks..you can see Fati has skills but will need a bit of time to bed in..also seemed to take up similar positions to Pedro a few times. Still could have easily come away with a point though.

 

[nwgull]

For the life of me I can’t work out why anyone with European experience didn’t start. We were rabbits in headlights first half especially.

I would have gone with

Verbruggen
Lamptey Veltman Webster Pervis
Dahoud Gross
Lallana
Mitoma Pedro Fati

Igor, Milner, Pervis and Fati all played in Europe didn’t they?

 

[Eric the meek]

I found the substitutions baffling. Fati was largely anonymous, yet he stayed on whilst the best player on the pitch (Pedro) was hooked. Buonanotte hasn’t featured all season but was introduced ahead of Dahoud/Lallana.

Then you have Milner starting. Definitely a rare off night for RDZ.

As others have suggested, maybe RDZ was concentrating on the league. Take a look at Liverpool's line up tonight.

 

[Bodian]

Gave the ball away badly for the third. Messed up two very easy crosses after doing the tricky bit of beating the defender.

To be fair - the second one was a very good take by their keeper.

 

[Titanic]

Still not moving in the uni car park. Utter shambles. But it always is when we lose.

 

[beorhthelm]

This was the type of game where we needed a physical defensive midfielder, with pace, to Marshall the back four.

Veltman is a proper full back, Milner isn't. We play better when Veltman is in the team he just understands the position.

cant help think there's an obvious fix here, Milner to DM? (missing the pace bit)

 

[Berty23]

To be fair - the second one was a very good take by their keeper.

Yes. But it was too close to him. March did the same with the quick free kick to Welbeck. Simple passes but needed to be a little further from keeper.

 

[keaton]

I don't want Milner starting anytime soon, I'm sure he is a nice guy and all, but Veltman is so much better.

Also Igor wasn't great, and Dunk is a significantly better player but we all know that.

If your issue with tonight was Milner and Tudor we watched two different games

 

[Beach Hut]

Disappointing but 5 games left to put things right

 

[Berty23]

Less doom and gloom would be good. We could very easily have won with a bit of luck. We didn’t get it.

Win on Sunday and we go into the champions league spots

 

[Bodian]

If your issue with tonight was Milner and Tudor we watched two different games

'Tudor' again - am I missing something here?

 

[Weststander]

Very frustrating and very disappointing. 3 poor goals given away, 2 from set pieces with non existent marking. They were very well organised and took what little chances they had.

I’m not sure what was worse- our defending set pieces or our attacking set pieces, don’t mark in defence, don’t get the ball in the box or shoot from attacking set pieces and worst of all we don’t shoot on the edge of the box. Very frustrating game.

If we can’t beat what was the least difficult game on paper we might struggle in this group.

Time to focus on the Premier League now.

I thought they had other clear chances.

 

[Weststander]

As others have said Milner is abysmal. Nice guy to have in the changing room but he is slow and rubbish and certainly not a right back.

As a full back, he’s simply too slow at that age.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

No idea where it went wrong but we just lost to a team who are Championship League at best.
We just don't play against teams who don't press and pack midfield.
Solly and Mitoma sadly weren't really at the races tonight and yet they were always the easy outlet.
Was tonight and indication that we will take the Premier more serious than Europa League.

You can say they're championship league at best, but that's not really accurate. Yes, sure, that's their technical level, and if they were in the premier league they wouldn't finish very high. But, and it's a big but, they're Greek champions, they're winners, and they played like winners. They were strong, organised, committed, motivated, worked hard for each other and never gave up. Just like winners do.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

Difficult one to unpick that and obviously not helped by the forced change in defence. We struggled as badly in midfield as any other game under RDZ.

Not going to single anyone out for a slating but safe to say we collectively underestimated AEK Athens and thy gave us a bloody nose. Hope we learn from it and move on.

 

[BN41Albion]

You can say they're championship league at best, but that's not really accurate. Yes, sure, that's their technical level, and if they were in the premier league they wouldn't finish very high. But, and it's a big but, they're Greek champions, they're winners, and they played like winners. They were strong, organised, committed, motivated, worked hard for each other and never gave up. Just like winners do.

Agree. Far, far too simplistic to rank them as championship or whatever standard for the reasons you mention. Villa found out the hard way tonight too it seems.