[Albion] Brighton & Hove Albion vs AFC Bournemouth *** Official Match Thread ***

[The Fits]

Great second half. But nonsense in the first. It will be interesting how De Zerbi processes this because clearly there's a balance here between rotating and picking a line up that's cohesive and has enough quality in it.
Baleba looks incredibly exciting and will give Gilmour or Dahoud a bit more license to focus on creativity. Gilmour clearly has to be taking set pieces.

 

[Marxo]

I'm very happy with the win but this was far too nerve-racking. Now I'm slowly calming down. When I get up at 4am for a pee this will be making me smile!

 

[Mustafa II]

Very poor first half, very good second half. Good three points. Deserved win.

Mitoma is f***ing magic.

I'm already a Baleba. Great debut, looks like exactly what we're missing - no pressure on the lad at 19, but hopefully this is a sign of things to come.

Dunk & Estupinan as ever put in great shifts defensively.

Can't fault Bart for their goal as he was clearly instructed to do that, strange strategy in the first half. Can only assume it was to save energy for the second half.

Very chuffed. 3rd in the league after six games!

 

[Si Gull]

Nicely done.

Bit of a strange game. Awful first half and gifted an equaliser. Second half instantly better with Mitoma's goal setting the tone.

Defensively still fragile with Bournemouth getting several good chances that they didn't take. Work to do there, but overall a great win after going behind.

 

[AlexBH]

A much better second half, but I can’t believe we won that game 3-1, Bournemouth must feel a bit hard done by. What a second half performance from Mitoma, Pedro great as well and Baleba with an encouraging cameo.

 

[US Seagull]

That'll do nicely, although a tad of good fortune.

Indeed. Felt like we were due some though.

 

[The Fits]

I thought Bart was excellent. First half and mistake wasn't really his fault. No idea what was going on there.

 

[birthofanorange]

3rd...after 6 games.
Can't be bad, eh?

 

[Kosh]

Right so far. And it's working!!

Well… nearly right, but in essence I was obviously 100% spot on

 

[Eeyore]

Little stat:

In the first six matches of this campaign, Albion have scored more than half the goals they did in the full 2017/18 league season.

 

[Arthritic Toe]

Awful first half and we needed a change of tactics - those balls through the middle to the midfield just werent working. Really poor officiating - very inconsistant in terms of balls that were kicked away and waving of imaginary cards. At least three incorrect corner/goal kick decisions (both teams). We were flattered with 3-1, but edged it overall despite the first half showing.

 

[Robert Codners Nostrils]

An important win. It shows we can do it when not at our best and a first win from a losing position for De Zerbi. It shows that the “Blueprint” for beating us does not guarantee the win. Bournemouth were successful in the first half when using it, but the equalizer and subs knocked the stuffing out of them. A sign of a good team when you have to dig deep to win.

A few thoughts about players. Pervis looks lost without mitoma ahead of him. Better second half. Buonenotte does not look like a wide player. Hopefully he’s got more to off playing centrally if he gets a chance there. Pedro draws an enormous number of fouls which helps when we’re seeing out games! Great to have dunk back.

 

[Stato]

3rd...after 6 games.
Can't be bad, eh?

2nd of the other 19.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Better second half. Not great, but better.

I think my take away is two fold. One, we're now a team that clubs make special plans for. Didn't ever expect to see that in the premier league.

Two, we now have standards so high that we can come from behind to win 3-1 and a close second to the happiness of winning is disappointment in the performance. For the first four seasons in this league wins were so hard to come by that I celebrated any and every one wildly, now, again due to the incredibly high standards set by this team in the last 12 months, I'm thinking we can't play that poorly too often if we want to maintain a challenge for the European places.

Also, lovely little cameo by Baleba.

 

[Gully Forever]

Nice to see order was restored in the 2nd half.

 

[chickens]

Only listening on the wireless, but was momentarily distracted at the start of the second half, and thought the announcement of the early Mitoma goal was an audio clip from a previous match.

Imagine my delight when I realised the second half had actually started and it was a genuine Mitoma goal.

 

[Klaas]

Gonna be a lot of disappointed Japanese people at he Amex!

Were they f***

 

[Horses Arse]

So, Dunk misses a header and was caught upfield on occasions when pushing for a goal. Had a great game though I thought. As Igor on Thursday.

Will he get slgged off? Hope not.

 

[dazzer6666]

 

[Beach Hut]

were loose

Wrong Dear Friend, were won