[Albion] Chelsea vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[Triggaaar]

Just watching MOTD - Palmer’s 3rd goal, the free kick, WTF, he takes the free kick a good 10 yards nearer our goal than the foul. Why have none of our players picked up on this? There is NO WAY he scores that if it’s taken from where the actual foul is committed.

I didn't notice this. We got a free kick about 30 yards from goal, and had to take it from about 36 yards.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Wieffer does look worryingly average at best .

We really should have signed a centre back .

Think Chelsea will be top 4 so in the context of things it isn’t so bad .

That first half had been coming for weeks though and it’s a slight worry that literally everyone I spoke to pre game predicted it yet the manager didn’t

Work to be done before Sunday

Agree with most of this other than Weiffer comment.
He will be very good. Taking him a while to get up to speed with the Prem (175 minutes so far) , but has all the attributes needed.
Hoping he gets a run of games with Baleba.

 

[Han Solo]

I thought Wieffer was fine yesterday, but looks like I’m in the minority with that opinion. He was nowhere near one of our worst performers.

Every time someone passed him the ball you had to pray Caicedo was in a different hemisphere or he'd just go in and take the ball from Mats.

He's not used to the tempo, that much is clear. When you get a non-perfect pass from the goalie or defenders in the Eredivisie, you can wait for it to arrive. In the Premier League you need to sprint to meet the poor pass or someone else will come and take it. Mats is learning this the hard way and hopefully it will turn good eventually although I remain firmly in the "I dunno.." camp on this signing, as I've been from day one.

We accidently sold our the only really comfortable player in this role to Napoli for coffee money and have to work around it. For the time being this should mean Baleba goes into the final midfield outpost/playmaker-mix role that Wieffer played in yesterday. Baleba doesn't really have the necessary playmaking skills for it, but its a role where we can't afford easy mistakes.

Once the DMC loses the ball a few times to pressure after receiving it from defenders, they will get reluctant and insecure to make the pass again. And thats when we'll flood ourselves with poor mistakes.

Its the most important role in this setup and Wieffer currently can't handle it.

 

[Triggaaar]

Just watched MOD god there were some calamitous mistakes by both sides, our high line is there for every team to see and will be targeted throughout the season by everyone.

It's been there for every team to see all season. It's a joke.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I didn't notice this. We got a free kick about 30 yards from goal, and had to take it from about 36 yards.

Yeah nobody noticed this at the ground either.
One of those moments of naivety we still all have clearly.

 

[Snowflake]

Just watching MOTD - Palmer’s 3rd goal, the free kick, WTF, he takes the free kick a good 10 yards nearer our goal than the foul. Why have none of our players picked up on this? There is NO WAY he scores that if it’s taken from where the actual foul is committed.

Just checked it as I didn’t realise . It was at Least 10 yards further back. How did the ref allow it and even more importantly our players not flag it!

 

[Dorset Seagull]

If we continue to play such a high line this will be the end result against any team with pace

I sense that this is maybe not the case. I think that Fab believes that the high line is not the problem and will stay. The issue is the effectiveness of the press higher up the pitch. If you get it right then the opposition don’t have a free player to make the pass. Its about stopping the long ball at source

Its a risky game but if you get it right you win the ball high in dangerous areas. Look at the press for the Rutter goal

 

[sagaman]

Current tactics are naive and self defeating.
We should have conceded many more goals this season

I have been banging on for over two. years about the need for more pace in defence. Fab playing the high line with this squad is an invitation to other teams to win.

Also our midfield has been stripped bare with outgoing transfers and no quality replacements to date. Baleba may in time but Wieffer loos very slow

 

[Kosh]

Right now, I’m reminded of the Sami era… it’s about as convincing on the maverick tactical disposition vs stark reality front.

 

[raymondo]

Just checked it as I didn’t realise . It was at Least 10 yards further back. How did the ref allow it and even more importantly our players not flag it!

So much 'accuracy' in the game now (var etc) but there's no accuracy for where a foul is committed!
Should be a student on the roof with a red laser that pinpoints it.

I sense that this is maybe not the case. I think that Fab believes that the high line is not the problem and will stay. The issue is the effectiveness of the press higher up the pitch. If you get it right then the opposition don’t have a free player to make the pass. Its about stopping the long ball at source

Its a risky game but if you get it right you win the ball high in dangerous areas. Look at the press for the Rutter goal

Yes I think Fab does think that.
But I think that we're quite likely to get that high press wrong.... more than we'll get it right, against the better teams!
(I hope I'm wrong of course).

 

[Dorset Seagull]

So much 'accuracy' in the game now (var etc) but there's no accuracy for where a foul is committed!
Should be a student on the roof with a red laser that pinpoints it.

Yes I think Fab does think that.
But I think that we're quite likely to get that high press wrong.... more than we'll get it right, against the better teams!
(I hope I'm wrong of course).

The problem he has that he can't drop the line if he wants to press in this fashion as it will leave too much space between the lines giving the opposition too much room to make the pass over the top. Interesting to see what he does

 

[Balders]

Just an alternative view on the high line, remembering that points are actually won or lost on what actually happened, not what could have happened:

First goal - Webster brain fart back pass (it happens) but he more than made up for it in the 2nd half. Abused on Twitter now - what is wrong with people?
Second Goal - bit of a soft penalty imho, but didn't come from a ball over the top. 2 players covering giving the pen away!
Third Goal - we didn't get the bounce of the ball and it was a ricochet in the middle of the park - just seen the 10yd freebie for Palmer
Fourth Goal - Verbruggen brain fart, nothing to do with the high line. He also did the same on a couple of occasions after standing on the ball for hours....

So even though Chelsea had the ball in our net a few times from playing the high line, the high line actually did it's job! Remember up to this game we'd conceded 4 from 4 games - our issue with Ipswich and Notts Forest was us not getting the ball in the onion bag.

Lastly, not seeing the negativity around Weiffer. Thought he did ok and more of a case of Verbruggen playing him a hospital ball rather like Sanchez did on a few occasions at the other end. Also we looked better balanced with Igor at the back (another one who gets pelters on here) but I suspect Chelsea were being more pragmatic in the last third of the game.

 

[raymondo]

The problem he has that he can't drop the line if he wants to press in this fashion as it will leave too much space between the lines giving the opposition too much room to make the pass over the top. Interesting to see what he does

Yes I agree.
For me, given our squad skillset, I think we should compromise by dropping the defensive line and accepting that we don't press so high...but then I'm old school and not totally up to speed with these new 'tactics'

 

[raymondo]

Just an alternative view on the high line, remembering that points are actually won or lost on what actually happened, not what could have happened:

First goal - Webster brain fart back pass (it happens) but he more than made up for it in the 2nd half. Abused on Twitter now - what is wrong with people?
Second Goal - bit of a soft penalty imho, but didn't come from a ball over the top. 2 players covering giving the pen away!
Third Goal - we didn't get the bounce of the ball and it was a ricochet in the middle of the park - just seen the 10yd freebie for Palmer
Fourth Goal - Verbruggen brain fart, nothing to do with the high line. He also did the same on a couple of occasions after standing on the ball for hours....

So even though Chelsea had the ball in our net a few times from playing the high line, the high line actually did it's job! Remember up to this game we'd conceded 4 from 4 games - our issue with Ipswich and Notts Forest was us not getting the ball in the onion bag.

Lastly, not seeing the negativity around Weiffer. Thought he did ok and more of a case of Verbruggen playing him a hospital ball rather like Sanchez did on a few occasions at the other end. Also we looked better balanced with Igor at the back (another one who gets pelters on here) but I suspect Chelsea were being more pragmatic in the last third of the game.

Fair post with good points

 

[Weststander]

Every time someone passed him the ball you had to pray Caicedo was in a different hemisphere or he'd just go in and take the ball from Mats.

He's not used to the tempo, that much is clear. When you get a non-perfect pass from the goalie or defenders in the Eredivisie, you can wait for it to arrive. In the Premier League you need to sprint to meet the poor pass or someone else will come and take it. Mats is learning this the hard way and hopefully it will turn good eventually although I remain firmly in the "I dunno.." camp on this signing, as I've been from day one.

We accidently sold our the only really comfortable player in this role to Napoli for coffee money and have to work around it. For the time being this should mean Baleba goes into the final midfield outpost/playmaker-mix role that Wieffer played in yesterday. Baleba doesn't really have the necessary playmaking skills for it, but its a role where we can't afford easy mistakes.

Once the DMC loses the ball a few times to pressure after receiving it from defenders, they will get reluctant and insecure to make the pass again. And thats when we'll flood ourselves with poor mistakes.

Its the most important role in this setup and Wieffer currently can't handle it.

Gilmour was insistent on leaving, once he knew of Napoli’s interest.

He wasn’t going to remain an Albion player.

 

[Han Solo]

Gilmour was insistent on leaving, once he knew of Napoli’s interest.

He wasn’t going to remain an Albion player.

Could have told him what we've told others. "Unless we get a good enough offer you're not going anywhere".

 

[Freddo]

Every time someone passed him the ball you had to pray Caicedo was in a different hemisphere or he'd just go in and take the ball from Mats.

He's not used to the tempo, that much is clear. When you get a non-perfect pass from the goalie or defenders in the Eredivisie, you can wait for it to arrive. In the Premier League you need to sprint to meet the poor pass or someone else will come and take it. Mats is learning this the hard way and hopefully it will turn good eventually although I remain firmly in the "I dunno.." camp on this signing, as I've been from day one.

We accidently sold our the only really comfortable player in this role to Napoli for coffee money and have to work around it. For the time being this should mean Baleba goes into the final midfield outpost/playmaker-mix role that Wieffer played in yesterday. Baleba doesn't really have the necessary playmaking skills for it, but its a role where we can't afford easy mistakes.

Once the DMC loses the ball a few times to pressure after receiving it from defenders, they will get reluctant and insecure to make the pass again. And thats when we'll flood ourselves with poor mistakes.

It’s the most important role in this setup and Wieffer currently can't handle it.

Quite a lot of hyperbole there, Wieffer was dispossessed once all game while Kadioglu was dribbled past 5(!) times, and I’m not seeing anything like the same amount of criticism for him.

 

[Weststander]

Could have told him what we've told others. "Unless we get a good enough offer you're not going anywhere".

I haven’t a clue on why TB accepted that Napoli fee. Perhaps NSC’s experts will explain.

 

[Triggaaar]

Did they discuss whether a penalty was the correct decision on MOTD?

 

[Justice]

We were missing at least 3 first teamers yesterday

So now we are relying on Pedro whose replacement Rutter scored?