Brighton & Hove Albion vs Preston North End *** Official Match Thread ***

[RM-Taylor]

Two very difficult away games next, would have taken two draws in those games before today's result. We need to win at least one of them now.

 

[Diablo]

Oh dear ...we missed Kayal more than I thought we would..Where has the ince of two years ago gone ?

 

[symyjym]

Well I thought this morning 13th game, we could lose our unbeaten record.

Still there and this could be our blip! 2 wins in last 6 is not what we want but still top. Onwards and stay top

14 games unbeaten if we include the last game of last season, and I think we can as far as records go?

 

[Seagull kimchi]

How long can this unbeaten run last? - It's quite remarkable and the scrappy draws are the reason why we're 4 pts better than the rest.

Com' on the lads - amazing run we're on here.

 

[RM-Taylor]

Burnley at home to Huddersfield and Hull away to MK Dons next week, can't see either of those not winning tbh.

 

[BBassic]

What a poor game that was.

Dunk needs a rest, he looked out of sorts.
Hemed also off the boil. Still need a striker.
We need to practice set pieces. So many wasted free kicks and corners in the last few seasons.

Today, for me, showed we're a bang average side in the absence of Kayal and Stephens. Their five man midfield had the combo of recently uninjured Crofts and young Ince completely sussed.

Our saving grace today was that they were as poor as we were.

 

[midnight_rendezvous]

Where has the ince of two years ago gone ?

Two years ago he was playing regularly. It's hardly surprising he isn't in world beating form when he has barely played.

 

[Steve in Japan]

Didn't get into their box nearly enough to cause problems.

 

[Stuart Munday]

What a poor game that was.

Dunk needs a rest, he looked out of sorts.
Hemed also off the boil. Still need a striker.
We need to practice set pieces. So many wasted free kicks and corners in the last few seasons.

Today, for me, showed we're a bang average side in the absence of Kayal and Stephens. Their five man midfield had the combo of recently uninjured Crofts and young Ince completely sussed.

Our saving grace today was that they were as poor as we were.

Spot on we all agree we need another striker, losing Kayal was a pain but Crofts could replace him and this was the best game as Preston were dreadful but to lose Stephens as well cost us the game

 

[nwgull]

Two years ago he was playing regularly. It's hardly surprising he isn't in world beating form when he has barely played.

I don't think he's even come on from the bench since the Bolton game - that's a 4 week break with no competitive football.

I think if you were to take both first choice central midfielders (that have played 90 mins every week) out of any team in a league as competitive as this, then the team is going to struggle.

 

[midnight_rendezvous]

I don't think he's even come on from the bench since the Bolton game - that's a 4 week break with no competitive football.

I think if you were to take both first choice central midfielders (that have played 90 mins every week) out of any team in a league as competitive as this, then the team is going to struggle.

Exactly. Not to mention two years ago we were playing a different system which utilised a three man midfield.

 

[ferring seagull]

Today's result will bring many of us back down to earth but, when we consider the effect of the loss of our excellent midfield partnership, at least we managed a clean sheet. It is worrying that the wheels as a consequence appear to have come off which beggars the question of whether not the squad is as strong as we had imagined just a few weeks ago.

I do wonder about the wisdom of having played Bong given he was apparently 'not fit' according to reports ( stiches in foot after Leeds ), and the introduction of Holla, who hasn't featured for some time, as a replacement for Bong when perhaps we should have been, at that time, conserving the draw. Good time to have introduced Goldson perhaps.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Today's result will bring many of us back down to earth but, when we consider the effect of the loss of our excellent midfield partnership, at least we managed a clean sheet. It is worrying that the wheels as a consequence appear to have come off which beggars the question of whether not the squad is as strong as we had imagined just a few weeks ago.

I do wonder about the wisdom of having played Bong given he was apparently 'not fit' according to reports ( stiches in foot after Leeds ), and the introduction of Holla, who hasn't featured for some time, as a replacement for Bong when perhaps we should have been, at that time, conserving the draw. Good time to have introduced Goldson perhaps.

The wheels come off when we lose a game or two, not when we get a scrappy draw against a team that we never beat, when we have a third of the first team missing.
We are still unbeaten, and still top of the league when I last looked. We have to take the rough with the smooth, and we've come through this one.
It's October and we've already got 8 points out of it which is a vast improvement on the last four years.