Brighton vs Birmingham - Player Ratings

[Brighton Mod]

A 3? Seriously? Runs his socks off, in all the right positions and passing is great. Just unlucky at the moment.

The miss in the first half was bad luck? Looks to be out of his depth and slow.

 

[The Tactician]

I've been disappointed with this season's football (not the results, obviously, just our performances). My main complain being our inability to control a game for more than 20-30 minutes. That we are solid and defiant, but that it feels like we are reacting to opponents, rather than playing on the front foot and forcing them into reacting (plus, I just generally prefer the possession and slow build of recent years).

Today I felt we controlled the game for most of it. Again, our inability to convert chances is a concern. We seemed to settle with 2-1 by the time Wilson came on, I wonder if he'd played from the start if we would have converted more chances.

I was disappointed with the last ten minutes or so. Not because we weren't controlling the game, but because we allowed Birmingham to be more of a threat than they had any right to be given the rest of the game.

Stockdale - 7.5
Bruno - 7.5
Greer - 8
Dunk - 7
Rosenior - 7
Kayal - 8
Stephens - 7.5
March - 8.5
Murphy - 8.25
Zamora - 7.5
Hemed - 7

Calderon - 7
Wilson - 7
Ince - Not really on long enough.

What will it take to please some people?

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Stockdale 8
Bruno 8
Dunk 7
Greer 9
Rosenior 7
Stephens 7
Kayal 9
Murphy 7
March 9
Zamora 8
Hemed 7

Calde 7
Wilson 7
Ince 6

 

[origigull]

Stockdale 8 Brilliant save at the end.
Bruno 8 Class
Dunk 7 Decent
Greer 7 As Dunk
Roseinor 7 Good when he was on, terrible luck
March 10 My word he was brilliant. Can't do his performance justice with words
Kayal 7.5 Standard Kayal, classy
Stephens 7.5 Good performance
Murphy 7.5 Was threatening throughout
Zamora 7.5 Got the winner, played well
Hemed 6 Needs a goal desperately, but wasn't woeful
Subs:
Calde 7 Good job filling in at left back
Wilson 7 Looks quick, so unlucky with that finish.
Ince 6.5 Did okay

This all day . . . and if March had scored two or more goals today it would have been 11 out of ten.

 

[wallyback]

Stockdale - 8
Bruno - 8
Greer - 8
Dunk - 6
Rosenior - 7
Kayal - 8
Stephens - 7
March - 9
Murphy - 8
Zamora - 7
Hemed - 6

Calderon - 7
Wilson - 7
Ince - 6

 

[portslade seagull]

Stockdale 8 - Poor parrie which gave them their goal but made two smart saves in the 2nd half to make amends
Bruno 8 - Seems to have found another level
Dunk 7 - Prone to rash tackles
Greer 9 - Holds the defence together
Rosenior 7 - Hope the injury isn't too bad, will be missed
Stephens 8 - Solid once again
Kayal 9 - Why did Celtic ever let him go, there loss our gain very good today
Murphy 7 - Put some decent balls in today pity no one run onto them
March 9.5 My MOM was his best game in the stripes today. Again decent balls in but no-one making anything out of them
Zamora 8 - Just instinctively knows where to be when the ball drops
Hemed 5 - needs a break maybe Wilson can take his place

Calde 6 - Worry if he is LB against anybody pacy
Wilson 7 - He will be class
Ince 6 - Not long enough to assess

 

[goldstone]

.... (plus, I just generally prefer the possession and slow build of recent years).....

I was hoping you were joking, but unfortunately I don't think you are. That "possession football" created some of the most boring football I have ever seen played by an Albion team. This season has been a revelation. We are playing exciting football at a fast pace. Just how the game is meant to be played in my opinion.

 

[um bongo molongo]

Stockdale 8.5 our most important player this season
Bruno 8
Dunk 7
Greer 8.5 we're so much better now he's back
Rosenior 7.5 excellent again, hope he's ok
Stephens 7
Kayal 8.5 God, he's good
Murphy 7
March 9 I think he's often been marked too generously on here. Not today, he was superb
Zamora 7.5
Hemed 6

Calde 7.5 He'll never let us down, will he?
Wilson 7 lively
Ince 6.5

I'd second the above

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Stockdale 8 Brilliant save at the end.
Bruno 8 Class
Dunk 7 Decent
Greer 7 As Dunk
Roseinor 7 Good when he was on, terrible luck
March 10 My word he was brilliant. Can't do his performance justice with words
Kayal 7.5 Standard Kayal, classy
Stephens 7.5 Good performance
Murphy 7.5 Was threatening throughout
Zamora 7.5 Got the winner, played well
Hemed 6 Needs a goal desperately, but wasn't woeful
Subs:
Calde 7 Good job filling in at left back
Wilson 7 Looks quick, so unlucky with that finish.
Ince 6.5 Did okay

I agree with all this.

 

[El Turi]

I was hoping you were joking, but unfortunately I don't think you are. That "possession football" created some of the most boring football I have ever seen played by an Albion team. This season has been a revelation. We are playing exciting football at a fast pace. Just how the game is meant to be played in my opinion.

I agree. We are still playing a lot of passing football but with much more purpose. There was one outstanding one touch move early in the second half that ended with Hemed turning and having a shot saved. It would have been a sensational team goal.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Stockdale 8 Kicking was very good in bad conditions, good save at the end and no fault for the goal.
Bruno 9 Commanding, and he was the one who ran off over to Rosenior - comes across a real leader.
Greer 9 Awesome performance, once again. His spell out has really refreshed him.
Dunk 7 He was generally very good but I don't think he's really on top form at the moment.
Rosenior 7 Hopefully it wasn't as bad as it seemed but his reaction was worrying.
March 10 Worked harder than he's worked before, involved more and best winger performance since Buckley vs Harding!
Kayal 8 Much more influential after a couple of quieter games in terms of moving us forward.
Stephens 8 Such a brilliant partnership with Kayal, they play together brilliantly.
Murphy 8 Enjoyed getting the ball a bit earlier than usual and not quite so tight marking.
Hemed 6 He's just suffering a lack of confidence, he's not become a bad player overnight but he needs a goal.
Zamora 7 A few nice flicks, but not as good as he was at Burnley. Love his 6 yard box winners!

Subs

Calderon 7 Defensively he's a bit of a concern as he gets singled out, but his honesty and his desire masks that flaw.
Wilson 7 Looks quick, nice feet but a shame he didn't get off to a goalscoring start.
Ince 6 Doesn't impose himself as much as he should do and he hasn't progressed at all.

Unlike the majority of games this season, despite the results, the game was very entertaining and we looked every bit a top of the table team.

 

[Acker79]

Unlike the majority of games this season, despite the results, the game was very entertaining and we looked every bit a top of the table team.

I would very much agree with this. I think my earlier post concentrated too much on my disappointment with the rest of the season so far and didn't clarify how much I enjoyed yesterday.

 

[Tekanne]

I would very much agree with this. I think my earlier post concentrated too much on my disappointment with the rest of the season so far and didn't clarify how much I enjoyed yesterday.

Disappointment?! You know we're unbeaten and currently top of the league, right?

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Stockdale 8
Bruno 8
Greer 8
Dunk 7
Rosenior 7
Murphy 8
Kayal 9
Stephens 8
March 9 MOM
Zamora 8
Hemed 6

Subs
Calderon 7
Wilson 7
Ince 6

 

[Acker79]

Disappointment?! You know we're unbeaten and currently top of the league, right?

Football fans are a weird bunch, aren't they?

We look on and scoff at so called fans of supposedly bigger teams and suggest they only support them because they're in the premier league. Plastics, we call them. These people who happen to support Man Utd and live far away, we suggest they only like them because they are winning the premier league title. Not us. We're fans of our local team because there's so much more to football than winning or losing.

We face teams like Big Sam's West Ham and console ourselves with the home loss that sure, they won, but you'd hate to watch that sort of football every week.

"Boring, boring Arsenal!" sing the opposition fans as Arsenal trudge away 1-0 win after 1-0 win to title success.

Yet the moment someone expresses disappointment with our performances, expresses a preference for a different type of football (the type of football that was being heralded by the most of our fanbase a couple of years ago as we looked down our noses at opposition playing 442, long balls, etc) suddenly I have to shut up because we're winning (something I have mentioned I am happy about, btw) and that trumps everything else.

 

[5mins-from-amex]

Football fans are a weird bunch, aren't they?

We look on and scoff at so called fans of supposedly bigger teams and suggest they only support them because they're in the premier league. Plastics, we call them. These people who happen to support Man Utd and live far away, we suggest they only like them because they are winning the premier league title. Not us. We're fans of our local team because there's so much more to football than winning or losing.

We face teams like Big Sam's West Ham and console ourselves with the home loss that sure, they won, but you'd hate to watch that sort of football every week.

"Boring, boring Arsenal!" sing the opposition fans as Arsenal trudge away 1-0 win after 1-0 win to title success.

Yet the moment someone expresses disappointment with our performances, expresses a preference for a different type of football (the type of football that was being heralded by the most of our fanbase a couple of years ago as we looked down our noses at opposition playing 442, long balls, etc) suddenly I have to shut up because we're winning (something I have mentioned I am happy about, btw) and that trumps everything else.

You may have looked down your nose at other teams playing 442 but I know plenty of people who were crying out for that formation, in this league 442 works simple as that.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Stockdale 7

Bruno 7
Dunk 5
Greer 6
Rosenior 7

Stephens 7
Kayal 9
Murphy 8
March 9

Zamora 7
Hemed 6

Subs:

Calderon 7
Wilson 7
Ince 6

 

[GT49er]

What will it take to please some people?

100% pass completion rate, ball permanently on the ground, 100% possession...........












...................but all in our own half, of course.

 

[neilbard]

Stockdale 7 - some great saves but will be disappointed with the goal
Bruno 8 - the beard has Herculean qualities
Dunk 7 - some rash decision making. Still not at his best
Greer 8 - still our best centre half this season
Rosenior 7 - please be okay

Stephens 7 - solid
Kayal 9 - wonderful performance. Had everything today
Murphy 6 - overshadowed by...
March 10 - simply amazing, I've never given a 10 but he absolutely terrorised a very good side. I can't believe this is the same player who didn't seem to be able to find a team mate with a pass earlier in the season

Zamora 8 - a pest. Great anticipation for he goal
Hemed 6 - I'm guessing he'll be benched soon for Wilson

Subs:

Calderon 6 - got done for pace but terrific commitment as ever
Wilson 6 - struggled to make an impact as we say back. Unlucky not to score
Ince 6

I know I've dished out a lot of 7's but it was a really good team performance today and no-one had a bad game (apart from possibly Hemed who is very short of confidence).

Harsh!
Wilson 6 - struggled to make an impact as we say back. Unlucky not to score
Murphy 6 - overshadowed by...
I thought both players warranted at least a 7

 

[Acker79]

You may have looked down your nose at other teams playing 442 but I know plenty of people who were crying out for that formation, in this league 442 works simple as that.

I don't think I did. Personally I think fluidity and flexibility in formations is a good thing, and it's more important that the players and the formation marry up than which particular formation you use.

But there was a widespread sense among our fan base that 442 was outdated, and the football we played was sublime. There absolutely were people who didn't feel that way. Especially last season when we were struggling. People calling for two wingers, people calling for two men up top, people calling for 442, but they were largely in the minority (or at least the minority of people who voiced opinions on the matter), that is until we started to struggle.