[Albion] Crawley Town v Brighton And Hove Albion Tonight 19.45 K.O Peoples Pension Stadium

[Bod]

Very excited about the EFL Trophy now.

 

[GT49er]

Really?

Lots of people didn't know this.
We knew about the Fulham match but the club didn't advertise the Crawley game as a reserve match.

Many guessed right I'm sure, based on the closeness together of the two fixtures. Next Friday we're playing Ebbsfleet, and then Birmingham on Saturday. Best put thinking caps on before deciding which match to buy tickets for.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Many guessed right I'm sure, based on the closeness together of the two fixtures. Next Friday we're playing Ebbsfleet, and then Birmingham on Saturday. Best put thinking caps on before deciding which match to buy tickets for.

Even one the most knowledgeable fans on NSC [MENTION=1276]AZ Gull[/MENTION] didn't have this down as a reserve/ U23 game on his friendlies thread ( no disrespect to AZ obviously)

I didn't see this game listed as a reserve game and two years back it was a first team game.

Why was the game tickets in advance? I know tickets were available on the night, but today's game is POTG and at a small stadium.

 

[blue-shifted]

And I agree with whoever-it-was who said that in prior seasons when we've had these double-headers, first-teamers have been spread across the two games. That's certainly my recollection anyway.

Yep, I certainly didn't exercise any "common sense" as I assumed we would do what we have done for years in these sort of back to back friendlies, which is that we'd mix the first team, squad players and under 23's in both fixtures

 

[dazzer6666]

Well, I was only expecting it to be the kids so wasn't disappointed.

As for the match, Crawley came out strong. Clarke looked cool and composed, but not sure about his pace. Tomer had to keep coming deep, but held the ball up well. Conolly was buzzing around at speed, looked quick and direct but was continually clattered. Ahannach was the only midfielder that stood out. Second half, we lacked anything in midfield and missed Tomer holding the ball up. Very scrappy. However, the new kid was lightning quick, looked around before he received every ball, and palyed some clever passes. Bit over ambitious at times for the level of the match, but looks close to first team levels already. Would look better with better players around him on his wavelength. Full of confidence as shown by the pen. Looks £2.5m well spent on that cameo.

I’d agree re Richards - instantly looked a cut above. He’s a bit of a beast for an 18 year old too, and must be very confident (chipping a pen un your first appearance ?). He looked a bit frustrated at times that his runs weren’t being picked up but after 48 hours with the squad that’s hardly a surprise. Good initial signs anyway.

 

[Icy Gull]

Are you sure that’s not a regular occurrence?

[emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

Blooming brilliant Icy, the irony is I agreed with most of your comments because we were extremely ordinary U23s or not, and none of them looked PL ready......


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I did notice that

 

[Taybha]

He looked a hungry chappy , there could of been a toys and pram moment when he wasn't allowed to take the free kick he'd won leading up to the penalty award , he bit his lip and walked away , early days but hopefully he will develop into a very good player , hopefully he impresses further in the two years and we give him another contract to reward this , probably just me but i thought he moved remarkably like Ya Ya and there's certainly no lack of confidence there for a young man , time will tell on this lad but he has all the attributes to push on .

From what i saw last night i really liked the look of Mlakar (until he was up front on his own ) , Connolly took a whack to the back in the first half and obviously upset the ref before kick off , Baluta looked a cool customer didn't he , can't wait to get to a few of the U23 games this season to see if we can improve on last seasons excellent PL2 table finish .

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

I liked the tactical changes. We've been told that Potter alters formation during games but seeing it actually happen was interesting. Roberts, Sanders and Ahannach were especially stretched in being asked to play several different roles in the same match. Now we'll see if the first-team players can be as flexible.

 

[the right footed denilson]

It was mad at times wasn't it? Ahannach played all over the shop (24 this season, needs a move for his career). It's gonna be VERY interesting to see how we shape up today after the dogged rigidity of last season. Under Pottter players will be rated primarily on totally different factors to last season- adaptability, intelligence, work rate, speed of thought, spacial awareness, vision, flexibility....

 

[Stat Brother]

It was mad at times wasn't it? Ahannach played all over the shop (24 this season, needs a move for his career). It's gonna be VERY interesting to see how we shape up today after the dogged rigidity of last season. Under Pottter players will be rated primarily on totally different factors to last season- adaptability, intelligence, work rate, speed of thought, spacial awareness, vision, flexibility....

T'is a shame us fans are still weighed down with dogged rigidity.

 

[Baldseagull]

Messy game, Crawley were certainly better organised, and for the most part had more pace. Not sure if Connolly was persistently fouled, or was persistently looking for a foul, either way he wasn't getting them, pretty sure the first time he went down it was more of him than the challenge.
I thought Hayden Roberts had a decent game, did nothing outstanding, nothing awful, but he was probably the youngest player out there, 17?
For those complaining that this was an U23 match, there were a couple of U18's in there too, but Hemed, Clarke, Ahannach, Richards, Baluta, Mlakar Walton and Sanchez are all listed as first team on the club website.

 

[AZ Gull]

Can someone provide some information of who the various Albion players are in the photos? I know Hemed, Clarke, Richards, Connolly and Potter but struggling with quite a few others.
It's a shame the club are unable to caption them.

Crawley v Albion photo gallery from official website

The players I don't know are in pics:
2,4,5,8,10,12,13,15,16,17,20,21,22,24,28,31.

2: No.18 - Jan Mlakar
4: No. 25 - Soufyan Ahannach
5: No number visible - Haydon Roberts
8: No number visible - Tudor Baluta
10: No number visible - Viktor Gyokeres
12: Baluta
13: Mlakar
15: Peter Gwargis (left) and Alex Cochrane
16: No. 20 - Alex Cochrane
17: No. 7 - Viktor Gyokeres
20: Ahannach
21: Baluta
22: No number visible - George Cox
24: Roberts
28: No. 11 - Jack Spong
31: Cochrane playing the ball (Gwargis in the foreground)

 

[Lethargic]

Today Horsham beat Crawley 3-1 therefore Borsham are better than Brighton. It's a strange game!

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[Glanders]

Might be a Catch there.

Boom boom! His family were sitting near us in the stand and they were extremely happy to see him score.

 

[AZ Gull]

Kipras Kazukolovas. Not heard that name before - new to us or an U18?


Heaven help Warren if he ever makes it to the 1st. team ...............................

Joined us in the summer of 2017 to commence his scholarship. Centre-back. He was captain of the Lithuanian U-17s. Did his ACL in just his 3rd appearance for the U-18s that September. Had surgery, but 7 months later discovered he would have to undergo another surgery. Finally returned to action in March.

Jeez. Unlucky his middle name?

If this bloke didn't have bad luck, he wouldn't have any luck at all. Posted less than an hour ago:-