[Albion] Brighton & Hove Albion vs West Ham United *** Official Match Thread ***

[tstanbur]

Not sure if I went to a different game to some on here but I thought we were bloody awful. Clueless, no ideas, no incisive passing and zero runners. Even Mitoma gave up trying to run in behind in the second half.

Yes they scored with virtually every shot, but we just passed it around and around and no-one tried anything different, the one time we did, we scored. Yes we huffed and puffed and their goalie pulled off some good saves, but it was all too ponderous, predictable and easy to defend.

Webster was particularly shite, Lallana made Gross look like a greyhound (was he always so slow?), our midfield was toothless and we allowed them to score on the break with some comedic defending.

Just like the Everton game last season, we 'go missing' in games and get punished.

Only plus is that we have 6 days left to get our midfield sorted and Colwills replacement.

You can’t dominate a PL match with 78% possession and be awful.

Three of those good saves aren’t made another day and you’d then be saying something completely different. Moyes has come straight out and said similar. Fine margins.

 

[zefarelly]

Better second half on the tempo front - all over them for 10 mins then they broke and scored. 82% possession is a bit embarrassing for them - they did their plan but it just shows how good we are that a team like West Ham who have spent much more in their squad than us resort to those tactics. I thought we were ok and didn’t play badly - just got done like a kipper and didn’t have a good day / luck in front of goal.

I don't disagree with that, but it highlights the chink in Bobtalians armour. Which is the same as it was with the splitter . . .

struggling to score against a double wall is one thing . . . . But getting dry humped on the break, numerous times, and conceding 3 near identical goals, is woeful.

 

[Sheebo]

I don't disagree with that, but it highlights the chink in Bobtalians armour. Which is the same as it was with the splitter . . .

struggling to score against a double wall is one thing . . . . But getting dry humped on the break, numerous times, and conceding 3 near identical goals, is woeful.

Yeh agreed. Defensively shocking - attacking decent enough - overall weren’t bad. Lessons to be learnt - high standards expected now I guess.

 

[Springal]

I don't disagree with that, but it highlights the chink in Bobtalians armour. Which is the same as it was with the splitter . . .

struggling to score against a double wall is one thing . . . . But getting dry humped on the break, numerous times, and conceding 3 near identical goals, is woeful.

We were told Everton and Newcastle were ‘freak’ results / performances - they weren’t. It showed teams how you can beat us

 

[Hovegull]

At times, it felt like Mitoma was the only person on the pitch giving it a go. Everyone else seemed very anonymous.

Love Dunk, but was he really MOTM?

 

[East Staffs Gull]

Just got back......did it come across on the TV that our build-up play was rather slow and also we were trying to walk the ball into the net (a la Arsenal) to score the perfect goal?.....................so frustrating

It did indeed. Build up play was very cautious and laboured. I wonder if that was deliberate, for fear of losing possession and getting caught on the break, which is what happened in any event. There seemed to be a reluctance to take risks in the final third, particularly in the first half.

 

[mile oak]

Outside takeaway next to Ruby, Coldean a Little Hamlet fan lording it on 'phone "would've been good had .... scored a 4th...I'm a 1901 member I'm not normally behind the goal" - YOU ARE A DISGRACE and I HOPE YOU HEARD A COUPLE OF LOCALS TELL YOU "WE SUPPORT OUR LOCAL TEAM"

 

[aolstudios]

At times, it felt like Mitoma was the only person on the pitch giving it a go. Everyone else seemed very anonymous.

Love Dunk, but was he really MOTM?

Nope.
Of course he wasn't

 

[mile oak]

Nope.
Of course he wasn't

Billy G for me never put a foot wrong.

 

[aolstudios]

Billy G for me never put a foot wrong.

Agreed.
Except he could've had a shot a few times

 

[London Irish]

We know we’ve got this kind of game in us because of the 5-1 Everton pasting. Caicedo played in that game worth recalling. So did Webster.

The key was after half time when the game opened up, presumably cos we were throwing men forward. We were either going to score or get caught on the break - and after a few good chances we had, we let them in. Benhrama was spectacularly good at this stage, perhaps the game changed with the Bart punch. But there you go, have no problem RDZ going for it rather than a sterile end to game.

I’m still amazed how we didn’t score 4 in the second half, Evan has to do better but he’s a clever enough kid thankfully to know this is the right club for him to improve rather than chase agent fantasies.

 

[Silverhatch]

West Ham were SO centrally packed and narrow we could’ve gone 3 at the back and thrown Milner & Pervis into another 3 with Gilmour. All ifs and maybes but Moyes’ hammers were always going to do that. Just think WE had no plan to deal with them. Oh, and btw, their Keeper had a worldy. Yup, move on.

 

[Blue3]

Albion v West Ham

PREMIER LEAGUE

Venue: The American Express Stadium
Date: Saturday 26th August 2023
Kick-off: 17:30 BST
Referee: Anthony Taylor
Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn
Fourth Official: Sam Allison
VAR: David Coote
Additional VAR: Adrian Holmes
​

TEAM NEWS

Brighton teenager Julio Enciso is set for an extended spell on the sidelines after suffering a knee injury in training this week.

Joao Pedro may replace the Paraguayan, while Roberto De Zerbi has confirmed that Evan Ferguson will start.

West Ham's latest signing Konstantinos Mavropanos is not ready to make his debut this weekend.

Fellow centre-back Nayif Aguerd is suspended, but Thilo Kehrer returns after recovering from a back problem.

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Brighton have never lost to West Ham in the Premier League, winning six and drawing six of their 12 previous meetings.
• The Hammers have won only once in 16 top-flight clashes with Brighton (D7, L8), a 2-1 home victory in March 1983.
• West Ham have registered just two away wins against the Seagulls in 15 attempts (D5, L8), with both coming in the second tier.
• Brighton won this exact fixture 4-0 last season, with goals from Alexis Mac Allister, Joel Veltman, Kaoru Mitoma and Danny Welbeck.

Albion

• Brighton are seeking to win their opening three league games for the first time since 2011-12 in the Championship.
• The Seagulls could become just the fourth side in English top-flight history to score four or more goals in each of their opening three matches, after Everton in 1890-91, Sheffield Wednesday in 1931-32 and Blackburn in 1958-59.
• Roberto De Zerbi's team have scored in all of their past 18 Premier League matches, finding the net 41 times in that run.
• Solly March is aiming to become the first Brighton player to score in the first three matches of a top-flight season.
• March has been involved in 15 goals in his past 19 Premier League starts, with 10 goals and five assists.
• Danny Welbeck has scored for Brighton in each of their past three Premier League home matches against West Ham.

West Ham

• West Ham can remain unbeaten in each of their opening three matches of a league campaign for just the second time this century, after two wins and one draw at the start of the 2

 

[The Fits]

We were told Everton and Newcastle were ‘freak’ results / performances - they weren’t. It showed teams how you can beat us

This is what I'm struggling with.
This idea that teams setting up like this won't be the norm.
Why would any manager not at least try and do this given that's now three teams in about the last ten matches that have tried the same trick and come away with an easy three points?

 

[mile oak]

I wouldn't enjoy watching the little Hammers every week boring team little possession going in the corner 3 up wasting time play acting, if we hadn't gifted them an opener they were there for a bore draw, nasty lot including the cat kicker and the 1901 fan that chose to wear a WHU shirt with "Prague" on the back and sit on the away end as ' already said on here YOU ARE A DISGRACE. IM PROUD TO SUPPORT MY LOCAL TEAM AND THE BRILLIANT EXCITING FOOTBALL WE PLAY

 

[LamieRobertson]

I don't disagree with that, but it highlights the chink in Bobtalians armour. Which is the same as it was with the splitter . . .

struggling to score against a double wall is one thing . . . . But getting dry humped on the break, numerous times, and conceding 3 near identical goals, is woeful.

Not sure Bob could legislate for such poor defending on all three goals ….the first two being obvious errors by AW and PE …should have done better on the third as well.

 

[LamieRobertson]

This is what I'm struggling with.
This idea that teams setting up like this won't be the norm.
Why would any manager not at least try and do this given that's now three teams in about the last ten matches that have tried the same trick and come away with an easy three points?

Three? Surely you aren’t including Newcastle in that…they played a lot differently and I’d put some of the thrashing (2/1 until the last ten mins) down to the previous Sundays events ..shrug

 

[Mancgull]

It did indeed. Build up play was very cautious and laboured. I wonder if that was deliberate, for fear of losing possession and getting caught on the break, which is what happened in any event. There seemed to be a reluctance to take risks in the final third, particularly in the first half.

I think you are right. A real fear of giving the ball away as we know we lack pace if a team counter us. Our passing therefore is a bit more laboured.
Hopefully Baleba has what we need.
Let’s not over react though.
There’s no in between with DeZerbi ball. If we’d have scored the first it would have brought them out. We didn’t, due to a bad mistake. That massively influenced the game.

 

[zefarelly]

At times, it felt like Mitoma was the only person on the pitch giving it a go. Everyone else seemed very anonymous.

Love Dunk, but was he really MOTM?

Gross played well, corners average, he works so bloody hard . . . Good goal.

I thought Dunk and Webster were shyte today. DUnk by his own standards, and Webster because I don't think he's good enough at the moment.

 

[maltaseagull]

Well that showed why we still need a DM. W ham were not great but broke thru us

At will. Far more effective attacks than our fannying around their penalty area.