[Albion] Brighton & Hove Albion vs Arsenal *** Official Match Thread ***

[Greenbag50]

Well thanks God for the apocalyptic walk home. As if the freezing temps weren't enough.

My take homes from that:

1. Pretty shambolic first half, players not sure what they were supposed to be doing and little pattern - against a genuinely not very good arsenal.

2. Gruda O' Reilly and Adingra, dogshit in the first half and Adingra lucky to get any more time.

3. Big and good changes and much more structure in the 2nd Half - Rutter holding hre ball and being physical compared to whatever the hell Gruda and MOR were supposed to be doing made a huge difference.

4. Veltman doing what he does.

5. Doesnt always do it for me, but I thought Ayari was man of the match.

6. Pedro carrying the fight in the 2nd half excellently meant I didn't have to be annoyed at him doing the arms.

7. I don't really like to whinge about refs but he's a fùcking shocker. I'm still fuming at THE WORST one which was him giving a foul against Minteh as he only managed to turn his lazy arse around to see Mintehs reaction to having his shirt pulled while breaking against 2 opponents for about 10 yards. How him and the lino can't figure that out between them is shocking. He latent seeen the pen so no idea but looked soft.

8. Arsenal's hilarious set piece drills and Arteta pushing his SP coach around as if to say 'go on then! Sort them out!' They were so busy getting their little Strictly routines right they kept forgetting to actually head the ball.

9. Arsenal wasting time on 38 minutes against Brighton = enjoy your title Liverpool.

10. Adingra. One beauty every 15 games, but he's not for me I'm afraid.

Spot on!

 

[Beach Hut]

were loose

Very wrong, Dear Friend

Were drawered

 

[Oh_aye]

Very good. Strictly Set Piece FC.

We were laughing our heads off. The look of intense concentration on their faces as the they did the little in-out space invaders things. Followed by the shock as the ball came in and they realised they were at an actual football match.

 

[Mike Small]

I think coming back to get a draw today was a better achievement than coming back to beat an exhausted City.

Delighted to take points of Arsenal again. They consistently time waste and complain. They are boring. Their back 7 are all centre backs or holding midfielder's. It's f***ing boring.

Do think our second half comebacks are because of our freshness and we had a better rest than Arsenal. That said, Fab's subs were very good. The way we defended corners was great and I appreciated his frustration with Minteh's effort.

JP was class today. Well done. Ayari got better as the game went on and wish he slid in with his left as may have got a touch. Well played lads.

 

[brighton_tom]

I'm happy with that, some good substitutions too.

Yep they worked well.

 

[maltaseagull]

Arteta having a right good moan saying it wasn’t a penalty.
Jamie Rednapp sums it up well.
The fact that Arteta is pissed off pleases me greatly.

Arteta is a complete dick.
Hope Arsenal finish 5th.

 

[Bodian]

Say what you like about us and our performance; Declan Rice is stealing a living as a professional footballer. Joke player. Have never seen him have a good game for West Ham, Arse or England.

He should have been booked in the second half when Mitoma made a fool of him - and Rice just tripped him instead. Petulant.

 

[pigmanovich]

England call up for Webster incoming, Tommy’s seen enough

 

[HangletonGull]

England call up for Webster incoming

Yeah let’s not get carried away

 

[pigmanovich]

Yeah let’s not get carried away

Indeed, let’s not take everything on the internet so seriously

 

[tedebear]

First half we looked lost, like we were playing walking football, sadly Potteresqe (shudder!)...So much the better team in the second half...Van Hecke dug us out of a few holes as usual, JP was stonking and Baleba strong. Curious as to why we still try and play it back to Verbrugen so often...we do everynow and then tend to stop and pass backwards...is it a confidence thing? Does get a bit frustrating...

There was one play where Veltman toe punted the ball over Arsenal and we ran on with it, and it was flipping magnificent. Arsenal mid field completely stock still, and we looked exciting and challenging. So it is in there in our team, it'll come!!

A couple of dreadful referee calls (Minteh foul, and Rice on Mitoma), but then he waved play on through some of the Arsenal diving and cheating so he got that right. Arsenal never seem to be able to throw the ball in from where it went out, and neither the lino nor the ref seem to care, and their time wasting is embarrassing for them. You'd think for how much they are paid, the club would want more football from them...

 

[J2 DOG]

Rutter should be first name on the team sheet.
Raises everything.

Did you watch the Palace game, he was awful. Rightly dropped after that!

 

[chrisg]

Seems to be a lot of slipping over. Far too frequent.

Cost Adringa a goal today and Minteh did it twice last week in scoring positions.
It can’t be too hard to select studs that allow you to stand up ?

 

[brighton_tom]

Did leaving 3 up top just crack how to deal with arsenal’s corners? We seemed to deal with them very well.

 

[Mackenzie]

I thought we were the better team overall but didn't create too much. Arsenal didn't look great considering their lofty position in the league. I guess I'm happy with a point.

That win won't be long coming now.

 

[South Stand Bonfire]

Very good Second half and we should have edged the win really if our finishing was better. Thought Webster played well when he came on considering he hasn’t played for a while and put the team on the front foot more with fresh legs on the Wing with Mitoma. Shocking first half performance in my opinion by A Taylor. How he only allowed 4 minutes extra time (thought it should have been 7) only he knows.

 

[pigmanovich]

Pointed out to an Arsenal mate before KO that we had a superior bench and predicted that it would make a difference. Feel vindicated - we made four substitutions and Arteta only two and ours helped us up our game.

That Arteta didn’t trust either his youngsters or the other experienced players on the bench to change the course of the game speaks to two of his biggest shortcomings as a manager, his excessive cautiousness and his skepticism toward young players not named Saka.

Sure, Arteta started Nwaneri but he went off at halftime and I’m not sure I buy the claim it was a precaution. Sooner the case he trusted Martinelli to see the game out when in truth they had a fragile lead and Martinelli was a downgrade.

 

[Dave the OAP]

Anyone ever been at a match where a home supporting fan near you is face timing an opposition fan( obviously mate) in the away end during the game And keeps it going for about 10 minutes!

we don't have have some dicks as fans

 

[Mancgull]

Did leaving 3 up top just crack how to deal with arsenal’s corners? We seemed to deal with them very well.

Absolutely. A very positive way of dealing with a defensive situation.

 

[oneillco]

I hope Arsenal fans are as bored by all the "professional" tricks Arteta has coached into them as I was. Imagine having to watch that every week? If they had concentrated on playing football in the first half when we were a shambles they could have been 2 or 3 goals clear at the interval. But instead they went into full dark-arts mode, staying down every time they were challenged, using-up 3 minutes before every corner was taken, subtle shirt pulling all over the pitch. Boring boring Arsenal....