[Albion] Brighton v Man U player ratings

[Grombleton]

Difficult game, fair loss. Potter's starting tactic proved suboptimal and individually you could expect more from plenty of players. That said, it was a really difficult game and the major difference between the teams were neither tactics or underperforming individuals, but raw class - they could very well be the best side in the league at the moment.

Ryan - 4
While I dont think he made mistakes on any of the goals, he would probably have saved one or two of the goals on his best day. A four rating feels a bit harsh but he really didnt do any complicated saves and his distribution was less accurate than it usually is.

Montoya - 4

Manchester abused him in November and did it again today. Poor with the ball, poor without it. A bit better in second half.

Duffy - 6

Average performance, did win some duels but his weaknesses were obvious as well. His performance sort of highlighted how much Webster has grown from the beginning of the season, as we really missed him both defensively and his skills on the ball.

Dunk - 6
Oddly enough didnt have that much to do as United primarly attacked on the wings and rather than cross it went for cutbacks. No particular mistakes but no real heroics either.

Burn - 5
One of his worst games despite Potter deciding to lend him Bissouma as an assistant for the first 30 minutes. Lots of poor passes and questionable defensive actions, yet I have to say that he was not completely ripped apart like Montoya on the right side in first half.

Lamptey 5
His role today was to counter-attack and help out Montoya in defense. About the counter-attacking I cant say much - the passes from midfield and defense was just too poor, and defensively he didnt have much success but played in a difficult and unusual role. That said, I'm not 100% opposed to him as a midfielder/winger - I think it could work out, but didnt today.

Pröpper 4

Started well the first 10-15 but then became perhaps the biggest offender in giving away the ball too easily. Unfortunately I still dont see the fantastic, high-quality playmaker a lot of people think he is, even though he is clearly allround and good enough to start in this team.

Stephens 5
Poor first half were he was always too slow and poor on the ball but really grew in the second half and showed its too early to count him out.

Bissouma 8
Did okay in helping Burn until Potter placed him centrally, which is when he turned into the monster we've seen over and over again the last six months. Earlier today I wrote that Maupay is the best player on the team, but this man is certainly challenging for it - he is very rapidly turning into a key player which I would never have imagined while watching him against Sheffield W in the FA Cup in the beginning of the year.

Macallister 5
Did alright but could have done a lot more in some situations, especially in first half. Worked hard and will turn into a fine player.

Connolly 6
Did what he could in first half, meaning usually not much as it was him against three or four United players all the time. Looking sharper together with Maupay. Tough game, decent performance.
Subs:

Trossard 7
Close to 8, looked really lively and could with a bit of luck and skill bagged a hattrick. As usual I feel he is about three times better when he comes on as a sub rather than starting.

Maupay 6
Didnt do much himself but his movement on the pitch makes all of the team so much stronger. Would have preferred if he rested a full 90 but Potter isnt as defeatish as I am.

Mooy, Bernardo, March N/A, but it was nice to see Bernardo back.

This pretty much sums it up for me.

I'm slowly beginning to get nervous each time I see Montoya's name on the teamsheet, and was surprised to see him stay on and Lamptey be taken off, when Lamptey's pace would have helped in the 2nd half and I don't trust Montoya's positioning.
Propper was awful, and i'm a fan of his.
Trossard looked like the player we had in his first couple of games for us, maybe the break has done him good
Mac Allister is clearly going to be awesome when he has players to play to and use his creativity....but Connolly upfront alone isn't that opportunity.
Bissouma is turning into a key player for us, fingers crossed his form continues...it's becoming a choice of him + others instead of Propper/Stephens and others.

 

[zefarelly]

All at 6's and 7's . . . . Hopefully Potter learnt something useful from a failed first half experiment.

I'd give him a 1 for the first half and a 7 for the second half

We weren't expected to win, Manure are on good form with world class players, thats not our players fault.

We did create chances and get some shots off even at 3 down, which is more than can be said for Our performances against lesser teams at thi time last year.

 

[rippleman]

Ryan - 6 Wicked deflection for second goal and no keeper was saving the third when the defence deserted him but I'm sure he would have been disappointed getting beaten at his near post for the first. Apart from picking the ball out of the net, he had nothing else to do.

Montoya - 5 Got taken apart again. Is he really good enough to be a starting RB particularly after Lamptey's brilliant debut.
Duffy - 5 Seems out of sorts. Never been a ball playing CH. I love him but I don't think he is a player that fits in with how we try to play
Dunk - 6 Gave his all as ever. Should have been taken off at HT when the game was already gone
Burn - 5 Exposed too often and not much help

Biss - 7 Better after moving into a more central position. Continues to look the business
Propper - 4 Lethargic and ponderous. Worst I have seen him play. Gave us nothing
Stephens - 3 Why? Just why? Too slow in mind and body now. Still diving in and caught out of position too often. Thanks Dale but it's time to go
Lamptey - 6 If you are going to play the speedster on the wing you have to give him the ball and a chance to run. We didn't. Felt sorry for him being played out of position in just his second start.
McAllister - 5 Didn't offer a lot. Free kicks and corners not good enough

Connelly - 6 Good commitment and effort and worked hard without the ball

Trossard - 7 Mystery why he plays so much better as a sub than a starter. Sparked us into life when he came on
Maupay - 5 Out of position when he finally came on. Much better player leading the line

Potter - 2 Weird selection and didn't make changes early enough. 2-0 down and we still had 2 right backs and 2 defensive midfielders on the pitch. Seems to be changing the personnel and tactics for the sake of it.

Officials - Having run the line in hundreds of games the easiest part of the job is seeing when the ball goes out of play. It went out of play by a long way too. Should never have missed it. Shouldn't be allowed to run a line in the PL if you get the basics so badly wrong. Ref had a good game let down by one lino.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

This pretty much sums it up for me.

I'm slowly beginning to get nervous each time I see Montoya's name on the teamsheet, and was surprised to see him stay on and Lamptey be taken off, when Lamptey's pace would have helped in the 2nd half and I don't trust Montoya's positioning.
Propper was awful, and i'm a fan of his.
Trossard looked like the player we had in his first couple of games for us, maybe the break has done him good
Mac Allister is clearly going to be awesome when he has players to play to and use his creativity....but Connolly upfront alone isn't that opportunity.
Bissouma is turning into a key player for us, fingers crossed his form continues...it's becoming a choice of him + others instead of Propper/Stephens and others.

Spot on. In my opinion Montoya isn't, and has never been, the right player for us. Playing for Barcelona, who dominate games and spend long periods in possession, in no way prepares a player for a Premier League relegation battle. We don't have a Messi to get us out of trouble, and opponents get far better service more often than he can have been used to.

I'm fully expecting Trossard to do a Solly March on us - look so good off the bench that he forces his way into the starting line-up for the next game only to remind everyone why he was on the bench in the first place.

Bissouma was wasted out on the left, where March could have done as good a job supporting Burn, if not better. We missed him in the centre.

 

[JBizzle]

Tough to make too many criticisms against a United side who started like a train and completely battered us from the beginning. I think the view of Propper and Stephens doesn't take into account just how good Pogba and Bernandes were on the night. They won't play many tougher midfield partnerships.

Also, I don't think Potter helped with his bizarre line up. It was both very strong and very weak at the same time and to be successful with that team we needed every one of our players to be "on it" from the first minute and hope United weren't. We were chasing our tails from the start and as a result, across the board, we were second best and deservedly lost.

Loosely, I think I'll just go with:

Brighton: 5/10
Potter: A rare 4/10
Man Utd: 8/10 - They were very impressive indeed

 

[sydney]

seems like Manu have "clicked" and bloody rightly so for the value of their team .......on a similar not i see Sane is of to the bundesliga for an "initial" 44 million euros...thats 14 Lampteys....perspective is a wonderful thing.

 

[hans kraay fan club]

Bissouma was wasted out on the left, where March could have done as good a job supporting Burn, if not better. We missed him in the centre.

Very much this.

At Norwich, we'll have to take the game to them, but if we revert to this kind of set-up for Liverpool and City, then get Bissouma in the middle with Davy, March in front of Bernardo, Lamptey at RB (maybe with Alireza in front of him).

 

[zamora the merrier]

A very difficult game where we played poorly against a bang in form team high in confidence. In mitigation they

6 is average

Ryan 4 Bad day at the office might have expected to keep first 2 goals out
Montoya 4 Off the pace defensively although wasn't helped by Lampty who was presumably expected to offer cover
Duffy 5 Not a game where he could show his qualities and just doesn't look comfortable playing out as Potter likes
Dunk 6 Best defender
Burn 5 Tries hard but struggled yesterday and doesn't offer much going forward. He must score from a corner soon with his height
Lampty 5 Looked lost and didn't help defensively as much as he should. Really tough ask on his second start
Stephens 4 Normally a fan over the years but he was poor and if we are to move on I'm afraid it will be without him
Propper 4 one of his worst displays couldn't cope with Man U midfield at all
Biss 6 looked out of sorts on the left way more effective in a central role 2nd half
McAlister 5 not involved enough but done to the fact that they completely bossed the 1st half. Has real potential though
Connolley 5 tried hard but never a lone striker. It was men v boys at times

Trossard 7 real bright spark and made thins happen. Unlucky not to core. Why can't he do that when he starts?
Maupay 6 ok but seemed out of position
Bernado/March - not lond enough

Potter 3 Too much tinkering! Our last 3 MoM's were strangely played out of position and it showed.

Hopefully everyone will learn from that.

Roll on Norwich which I think will be tough as it is getting last chance saloon for them. A point wouldn't be a disaster but if we play to our capability and take our chances we will win

 

[NooBHA]

I think the low scores for them all is a bit disingenuous.

There were a couple of periods in the game where if one of the chances from Connolly had gone in then it would have changed the momentum of the game and United would have panicked a bit.

There have been other games where luck has been ''on side'' and once back in the game it changed the whole complexity of those games when an equaliser came soon after going behind.

Too many players were asked to play a roll that they haven't played regularly this season - Lamptey as a wide right midfielder was mind boggling. Surprising as it may seem for his height but most of his 19 years he has been a Centre Half. So at only 19 years of age to be switched to an attacking midfielder in only your 2nd Full Game in one of the toughest leagues in the world is a bit naive. You need to let the lad become competent at this level in his full back role before you ask him to take on a new role. Positionally the poor boy was all over the place.

Overall I don't think it was as bad a performance by the lads as everyone is making out - United were clinical with the goals they got. On another day, one or two of those chances might not have gone in.

Other teams down the bottom are picking up nothing in terms of points, so no real harm done.