[Albion] Brighton & Hove Albion vs Wolverhampton Wanderers *** Official Match Thread ***

[Jimmy Grimble]

Agreed, the work rate of those 2 was phenomenal.

Annoyingly Pedro looked absolutely spent after he made that long sprint back to defend.

 

[Bozza]

@Bozza

2 dropped. You know it, everyone knows it

I was going to do a poll to see if I should do a poll on that.

 

[Flounce]

I haven’t read a post on this thread but during the second half tonight, I thought it was bloody groundhog day as I watched us attacking such was the tedious repetition of complete cluelessness. Wolves were feisty and defended very well though. I was happy to take a point in the last 20

 

[Jimmy Grimble]

Add Welbeck and Lallana to Milner & Gross and we must have played our slowest side ever.

Within five minutes of coming on Lallana was desperately waving his hands trying to slow things down as we charged forward on the attack down the left trying to catch them on the break. I don't get his late inclusion as he adds nothing except a few side ways passes.

Welbeck is not slow.

Lallana tried to do the same as he successfully did against Marsielle, find pockets and create space for others. Wolves were just very good defensively and we had no proper wide outlets.

 

[Insel affe]

Disappointed in Lampty not taking anyone on, Pedro dithered to much, but a point was a fair result considering we created very little, save the luck and the clinical finishing for the 3rd of February and all will be well.

 

[Oh_aye]

Its absolutely pointless playing a through-ball to Milner. Yes he was sometimes running into space, or had space to run into, but the reason he was left largely unmarked was because a blind turtle with 3 flippers could easily catch up with him anyway. See also Gross (who had a real stinker tonight).

We are badly missing the pace and guile of Solly, Karou and Adingra. No amounts of running in behind from Grandpa Milner is going to come anywhere close to giving us that width we so desperately need. But it is what it is, as someone used to say.

Was hoping we may have gone 3 at the back to get Perv, Hinsh / lamptey as.wing.backs to get some pace out wide.

Goodnight and Milner either side when we are trying to break is horrible

 

[Easy 10]

Was hoping we may have gone 3 at the back to get Perv, Hinsh / lamptey as.wing.backs to get some pace out wide.

Goodnight and Milner either side when we are trying to break is horrible

We did go 3 at the back when Perv went off, and it could easily have cost us. Webster was left exposed, he got no help when Neto and friends started charging down our left at will. The subs we made tonight made us weaker, albeit I appreciate RDZ's hand may have been forced as Perv was labouring.

 

[Springal]

Frustrating - very laboured performance from us with lack of quality. Don’t even start me on our free kicks and corners, we’ve got back to Dean Cox hitting the first man every time territory

Wolves were deceptively good, very organised in defence, tight and compact not letting us play. Much like West Ham which was concerning

 

[Wardy's twin]

Craig Mackail-Smith had a phenomenal work rate, doesn't mean he wasn't generally pretty crap.

Joao Pedro had his worst game for us tonight IMO. Not for want of trying, it just all went wrong for him when it mattered.

Trouble is both of those had to work extra hard to cover problems with others. Sure not brilliant performancesbut better than a lot of others.

 

[WhingForPresident]

Frustrating - very laboured performance from us with lack of quality. Don’t even start me on our free kicks and corners, we’ve got back to Dean Cox hitting the first man every time territory

Wolves were deceptively good, very organised in defence, tight and compact not letting us play. Much like West Ham which was concerning

Gary O'Neil is proving to be a very astute and talented manager. Did a superb job in keeping Bournemouth up IMO, despite their end of season droop, and has taken a Wolves side that looked resigned to relegation under former Spain, Real Madrid and Sevilla manager Lopetegui, right up into the fight for European football. They've had a lot of dire decisions against them this season as well which have cost them points.

Tbh I thought Bournemouth may have dropped a bollock in sacking him as they were very unlucky not to get something out of us at home and away last season, but they are getting there eventually as well with Iraola.

 

[mile oak]

Obvious lots to thank RDZ for but this evening I think his tactics lost us 2 points.
At the back keeper 9/10, defence oh dear what has happened to Webster total disaster looked well off the pace (as to be fair defenders often do coming late on as subs) but as soon as he got on the field of play I was worried he could lose us the game,
This was a game we desperately missed width of March and Mitoma so ok we put Lamptey on (Maybe not quite up to playing more than a half hour was it?) but he goes on and we barely give him the ball, add to that Milner was outstanding his passing movement and creating space (that clearly he is invisible often to teammates) was superb - he doesn't get enough of the ball and then what? We sub him and play he ball down the side he was desperate to get the ball. He looked well p1ssed off being sub'd and rightly so.
Why oh why on why do we try and pass the ball 100 times and shoot in a crowded box at the 'd; of the penalty spot so often? Wolves sussed that out long ago and when Pedro tried to spin on a sixpence (he did superb to not lose the ball) but was crowded out it was excellent defending but far too easy to defend too as we didn't break enough on the counter and go wide enough.
The last 2 subs seriously why? Players take 5 mins at least to get up to the speed of the game and were they? No way. It smacked of desperation from a manager that ran out of ideas.

 

[PILTDOWN MAN]

Disappointed in Lampty not taking anyone on, Pedro dithered to much, but a point was a fair result considering we created very little, save the luck and the clinical finishing for the 3rd of February and all will be well.

Difficult when in space no fucker passed to you

 

[Auckland seagull]

The Premier League reminds me of the Italian league of around 1960/1990, with most teams set up defensively for a 0-0 and hoping to steal a 1-0. Only around five or six Premier League teams are willing to overcome the fear of losing and actually go for it. The competition is becoming awe inspiringly boring to watch. There is a lot of frustration on here, but at least we are one of the few teams that tries to win every game every week, regardless of who we are playing. As others have said, we are doing so without the services of Mitoma, March, Adingra, Enciso, Fati and others - all of whom are capable of unlocking the tightest of defences. I am confident a full strength Albion would have beaten Wolves.

 

[Garry Nelson's Left Foot]

Draw was fair. We weren't bad just not particularly great. We really struggled in the final third against a very well organised Wolves defence. Probably that shouldn't be too surprising when we're missing Mitoma, March, Enciso, Adingra and Fati. That's a lot of creativity and game changers to be missing. Milner is a good solid pro but he's not exactly the same threat on the left as Mitoma is he?

Wolves looked decent to me. Organised, solid and posed a threat on the counter. It'll be interesting to see what O'Neill can do with them with a full pre-season.

 

[JOLovegrove]

Standard tactics that, as always, worked perfectly against us.

Saying that, when we can't play a fit winger under the age of 35, we shouldn't be too downbeat with a draw.

Take the point and move on. They're not as bad as everyone was making out prematch.

Bring on the cup, Luton, then that lot.

 

[Stat Brother]

We were 1 (one) more back heel away from me Sollying onto the pitch, banging some heads together and slapping the back of a few legs.

Time and a place boys & the 89th minute, 0-0 at home to Wolves, is neither.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

WBG and Dunky were a level above anyone else.

Milner left the field really frustrated, snatched his jacket off the coach holding it before he sat down and I don't blame him. He did literally dozens of attempts at running in behind and almost no service to him. Especially in the second half he was left unmarked for large portions of the match but not played in when he had acres of space. Lots of sideways and back passing without the incisive through balls that he was wanting. If Mitoma was on the pitch, I'm sure he'd have been fed a couple of passes but we seemed to ignore Millners runs for some reason.

Similar to Lamptey when he came on. At one point he went over to the left and I swear it's because he thought that was the only chance he was going to get near the ball!

 

[maltaseagull]

That's fair. I didn't think he was as good as he usually is today but he was at the heart of most of our play in the middle.

I really like Billy but he did give the ball away too much last night. (He wasn´t alone in that though.)

 

[albionalba]

Similar to Lamptey when he came on. At one point he went over to the left and I swear it's because he thought that was the only chance he was going to get near the ball!

Yes I agree. It was as if no one knew Lamptey had come on. Seemed to be totally ignored.

 

[Sid and the Sharknados]

Yes I agree. It was as if no one knew Lamptey had come on. Seemed to be totally ignored.

It's because he's so small they can't see him over the grass.