Crawley 1 Brighton 1. Thoughts on the game.

[London Irish]

Care to elaborate, I'm not sure he passed to a blue and white shirt in the last third of the pitch, was overrun throughout the match.

Ince is primarily a defensive midfielder, it is not his role to burst forward and be creative, it is more to be destructive which he excels at.

That's a nonsense assessment of JFC tonight but you'll probably get away with it as he seems to be emerging as a favoured scapegoat of many on here, fair enough I actually don't think he's good enough to be anything other than a squad player here.

No point me repeating myself re. Ince - but he does need more than one dimension.

But we are discussing two players who I wouldn't expect to be regular midfield starters for us - at least I hope not.

Was as disappointed by Kemy who showed no appetite whatsover for the game

 

[Harry H]

The clock is ticking!

 

[London Irish]

We lost 3-0 there almost exactly a year ago. It's only a friendly, all about fitness at this point.

Not really - showed Holloway wasn't up to the job, which you eventually figured out

 

[Eeyore]

I sat in the main stand, which was a throwback to the days of the old East Terrace. Old blokes, with hit and miss humour, benignly challenging the referees eyesight and imploring the Albion players to find their centre of balance. It made me quite nostalgic.

 

[supaseagull]

I saw Garry Nelson in a pre season friendly in 1987 and thought he was utter gash.

9 months later he was a legend.

Please remember pre season friendlies must be taken with a pinch of salt and are not an indication of a teams performance in an upcoming season

 

[London Irish]

I am so pleased that my view of Ince and JFC contrasts so strongly with yours.

As with all your opinions and arguments on this forum.....you are always in the minority.

You were rightly, hounded off this forum before....if you are going to stay, at least try and temper your outlandish views.

I'll say what I like thanks and if you don't like it, well.. nothing actually, it's an irrelevance

 

[CPFC G]

Not really - showed Holloway wasn't up to the job, which you eventually figured out

Yep he wasn't up to the job, But it wasn't obvious at that point pre season. Just saying it's a pre-season kickabout and will have little indication on your coming season.

It's a run around for fitness.

 

[The Wizard]

Pre-season friendlies mean nothing. I don't know why anybody really takes any notice of them, we need to strengthen we all know that but pre season games are really just for match practice & fitness. Just unfortunate tonight we appeared to be playing the 90's Wimbledon team.

 

[Silverhatch]

Regardless of the lack of numbers tonight what worried me most was the fact that we seemed devoid of any real pattern of play. Very little shape to speak of and very little creatively (with as said earlier our first shot on target coming in the 47th minute). I'm sure Sammi is working hard behind the scenes but at times it looked a bit like a school playground kick about.

Clearly required are a keeper (although Walton did give me great hope that he will become a good keeper in a season or two), a left back to compete with Chicksen and ideally to be ahead of him in the pecking order, two additional strikers (we struggled to score with Ulloa last season - now he's gone I fear we could set a new low goal scoring record if a decent striker or two is not found), and someone in midfield with that bit of creativity - whether it be a new winger or central player (I'm not quite sure Solly is ready yet - but maybe Sammi will give him his chance).

5 players is my view of what is needed and quick. Last thing we need is them coming in on the eve of the season and we then end up having a whole heap of players who don't know each other, haven't trained together, and we end up losing the first few games.

The fans forum on Tuesday week will be interesting if no new faces have been brought in.

I live in hope!

Spot on. It's difficult to see what we're trying to do. As per the last three seasons we move the ball left to right beautifully but invariable struggle to make a decent/penetrative pass forward - especially when we're playing one up top. I know it's only a friendly but once again we were shot shy and gave their defence plenty of time to set up in front of us.

 

[London Irish]

Yep he wasn't up to the job, But it wasn't obvious at that point pre season. Just saying it's a pre-season kickabout and will have little indication on your coming season.

It's a run around for fitness.

No it was obvious - he lost it at that game and spent large parts of its arguing with Crawley fans, it showed the pressure he was under at the time and how badly he was coping with it.

 

[Justice]

Some strange comments on here. I doubt Chelsea were to bothered when we beat them in a friendly. You could tell tonight there was no intensity in the play these games mean nothing.

 

[London Irish]

Pre-seasons are not good predictors of a season, but to say they do not show indicators, for me that's stretching a reasonable idea too far. The indicators are flashing red for us at the moment but we all knew this before tonight, the squad is not good enough for the task ahead of it. You would hope as many board members as possible watched that game tonight.

 

[brightonmark1234]

But Crawley are not in the championship

i know that but some of the championship teams will play like that

 

[bhafc1972]

i know that but some of the championship teams will play like that

Not many I would hope.

 

[perseus]

Just watched the match on Seagulls Player. More of the same, possession without hurting the opposition in Crawley. Merits due to Agustien, Lualua and Ince. Demerits to Mackail-Smith.

Crawley; merits to Collins John with a good goal and their right back wasn't too bad. Forwards as well caused a little trouble. Receiving the ball in the penalty area was the problem as there strikers were able to do this and threaten to lay off the ball for a half chance. Calderon was beaten on the inside which was worrying. Chicksen looked better, which is not saying that much but up until now I thought he was awful.

http://buff.ly/1nhgosF

There was some encouraging bits: the role Lualua played.

Different from the Partick game when Agustien played poorly. Most of all, it put me off watching friendlies. I thought we played awful against Partick and average this match consider the players out there.

 

[atfc village]

Did Lewis Young play for Crawley?

 

[London Irish]

Did Lewis Young play for Crawley?

Yes. Doesn't appear to be very good

 

[atfc village]

Yes. Doesn't appear to be very good

Cheers he was at Aldershot last year and was dirge ,he scored a few for Crawley in pre season against Billinghurst and Oakwood .A couple of Crawley fans i know were saying that they couldn't believe we let him go.

 

[Easy 10]

It never ceases to amaze me how much some people read into pre-season friendlies. If we'd lost 3-0 it wouldn't mean we're in for a "long hard season". If we'd won 3-0, it doesn't mean we're going to walk the League. Its effectively a TRAINING session, a half-paced trot-around as the players continue their build-up to the start of the season. The result and performance is largely irrelevent. Players aren't yet match-fit, they're not wanting to overstretch themselves or risk an injury in a pointless game. Its a pre-season friendly in the middle of July - its just 90 minutes training, no more no less. I can remember many a pre-season where we've swept all before us and then STANK the place out when the action starts. Its meaningless !

By all means go along and enjoy the sunshine, have a look at the new strip, catch up with some regulars. But don't look at it like its a serious game of football. Its not an indicator of whats to come at all - its training.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

That's a nonsense assessment of JFC tonight but you'll probably get away with it as he seems to be emerging as a favoured scapegoat of many on here, fair enough I actually don't think he's good enough to be anything other than a squad player here.

No point me repeating myself re. Ince - but he does need more than one dimension.

But we are discussing two players who I wouldn't expect to be regular midfield starters for us - at least I hope not.

Was as disappointed by Kemy who showed no appetite whatsover for the game

It's not about getting away with it re JFC, it's about you backing up why you think he was the pick of the midfield.

He was poor last season as well, I'm not into finding a scapegoat, more calling it how I see it. Last night was like last season, played around a 5-10 yard area poor vision, poor passing and very little about him. I guess its when does a promising talent, pushes on in their development.

What I would say in JFC's defence is that he looks better when he is pushed further up as he was for England under 20's and also when Poyet was manager. Hopefully Sami will try that.

Clearly we disagree re Ince. But agree re Kemy, who needs to start applying himself, otherwise we might as well pay up his contract and give him a 'free'.