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

[Thunder Bolt]

Plenty of young players get offered contracts but don't make the grade also longer contract = bigger sell on asking price. The reason he turned it down was lack of game time. Their manager obviously didn't think he was good enough for a regular place and no other Prem club were willing to take a free transfer player and offer him regular first team football which suggests they didn't think he was good enough either.

Overall he is a fantastic Championship player but struggles at this level against better opposition which is understandable.

The reason he turned it down was for family reasons. His brother had died & his father started being ill. His home in France is right on the Belgian border. He thought his father was getting better when a few months later he came to us.

 

[KVLT]

Good call.

There was definitely a message contained in the clearance.

 

[sydney]

we didn't turn up for this game .......live and learn

 

[seagulls4ever]

Why was the Knockaert thread deleted?

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Sadly a typical Albion awayday. Was it is bad as WBA, no it wasn’t, Everton whilst trash away are good at home and they got into us from the off. Everton were the better side all game, no complaints about he result. Whilst I think we are now acclimatising to the Premier League at home, we have still yet to figure out how to play away, that will come with time. We should get another shot at it next season. As for Knockaert he should have been hooked for a poor performance long before the red mist descended, I doubt he’ll start another game this season, he needs to get himself together.

All in all I’ve had worse days, 10 years ago I was nursing a humongous hangover in Carlisle watching us lose 2-0 in truly terrible game. On to the next one.

If the players were anywhere near as over-confident as some people on here after a couple of very good home results, then I’m not surprised we were under-par. Away trips to poor teams like Stoke and Stains are one thing, a team with Everton’s home record quite another. Reality check, move on, keep working hard.

 

[JC Footy Genius]

The reason he turned it down was for family reasons. His brother had died & his father started being ill. His home in France is right on the Belgian border. He thought his father was getting better when a few months later he came to us.

'I loved it there but I didn't deserve to be treated how I was last season in terms of playing games,' Knockaert said. 'I thought I deserved better. That is why I wanted to leave.

'I had a very good relationship with the manager but it was hard last season. I think I was better than what I had. What I showed in Championship the year before should have meant more games to me last year.

'I thought I had the quality to play. But he (Pearson) didn't give me three games or four games (in a row) to show what I can show. Sometimes 15 minutes in a game, sometimes 10 minutes. But this is football.'

Knockaert was offered a four-year contract to stay last summer but instead opted to join Standard Liege on a Bosman free transfer.

He added: 'At my age it is important to be playing. To be honest, I thought it would still be him (Pearson) this season and I thought he wouldn't give me my chance again.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-left-not-jealous-Premier-League-success.html

 

[OzMike]

Kick off time here is 11pm and last night we had a power cut, problem with living in whoop whoop, at 1 min to 11 pm.
Power came back on here 3 hours ago.
I have watched the replay and read this thread.
I can't understand the need to change the tactics for every game, very frustrating and I think that we may benefit from Knocky having an enforced holiday, saves Chris from having to make the decision to drop him.
Stevens is a pivitol player and boy did we miss him today.
I think that the players are starting to believe the hype, I would ban them from reading any articles in the papers and tell them to just get on with the job.
It was an enforced early night for me last night and just as well.
We can play better than we did yesterday and have proved it, so why put constrictions in place for these games, looked like we didn't want to win, frustrating.

 

[ewe2]

So Solly get another chance........But if not him who ? Maybe Skalak returns.

 

[OzMike]

I view the points against Arsenal as bonus points as they did not field their strongest team, what with Europa in mind.
Not safe just yet.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Two things I take from the game are: 1. Ryans save could be crucial if GD comes into play, and 2. Knocky's brain fart has made it abundantly clear he has to grow up a bit. Just a bit, that little bit that stops one of our most gifted players becoming a liability. He must see it now, from the perspective of leaving us with no chance of getting back into that game and also from the bigger perspective of our run-in and the players we need to be available. Serious one to one with CH may be enough. I hope.

Were you one of the ones slagging off Dunk for getting a red card at Selhurst, when we lost there? Lots of fans were saying he should never play again, then.
He had a ball kicked into his face, & as he walked off a minute or two later, you can see the blood on it. Yes it was retaliation but understandable. I've seen dreadful tackles with no provocation like Knocky received at Watford earlier.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

'I loved it there but I didn't deserve to be treated how I was last season in terms of playing games,' Knockaert said. 'I thought I deserved better. That is why I wanted to leave.

'I had a very good relationship with the manager but it was hard last season. I think I was better than what I had. What I showed in Championship the year before should have meant more games to me last year.

'I thought I had the quality to play. But he (Pearson) didn't give me three games or four games (in a row) to show what I can show. Sometimes 15 minutes in a game, sometimes 10 minutes. But this is football.'

Knockaert was offered a four-year contract to stay last summer but instead opted to join Standard Liege on a Bosman free transfer.

He added: 'At my age it is important to be playing. To be honest, I thought it would still be him (Pearson) this season and I thought he wouldn't give me my chance again.'

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-left-not-jealous-Premier-League-success.html

The well balanced article from the Daily Mail.

 

[JC Footy Genius]

The well balanced article from the Daily Mail.

Yes, it was a good read. What made you think he turned down the new contract at Leicester for family reasons?

 

[seagulls4ever]

Two things I take from the game are: 1. Ryans save could be crucial if GD comes into play, and 2. Knocky's brain fart has made it abundantly clear he has to grow up a bit. Just a bit, that little bit that stops one of our most gifted players becoming a liability. He must see it now, from the perspective of leaving us with no chance of getting back into that game and also from the bigger perspective of our run-in and the players we need to be available. Serious one to one with CH may be enough. I hope.

Were you one of the ones slagging off Dunk for getting a red card at Selhurst, when we lost there? Lots of fans were saying he should never play again, then.
He had a ball kicked into his face, & as he walked off a minute or two later, you can see the blood on it. Yes it was retaliation but understandable. I've seen dreadful tackles with no provocation like Knocky received at Watford earlier.

He's not slagging off AK here, so what relevance does his reaction to Dunk getting sent off, either way, have to do with anything? He never said AK should never play for the club again, quite the opposite. His post is perfectly reasonable, and vastly different from some of the reactionary bollocks posted by a loud minority on here. It's been clear that AK has been frustrated for a lot of the season, and his frustration boiled over here.

There is nothing understandable about AK's red card yesterday. It doesn't matter what happened prior to it occurring. He wasn't provoked by anyone, it was an accidental ball to the face. Instead of just getting on with the game, as Bob says, he had a brain fart and decided to go in with a two footed lunge with clear intent, and that is always going to get you sent off. Thankfully, it was a pretty bad attempt at hurting Baines. It was basically an indication that he had given up on the game, and his red card meant that, however unlikely it was, there was no chance of us getting anything from the game. He let his own team down, and he let the fans down. Now he will be missing from two very important and winnable home games against Leicester and Huddersfield. Many fans are rightly pissed off about his actions yesterday. Does that mean he should never play for us again? No, of course not, and there's only a few plumbs who are saying that.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Yes, it was a good read. What made you think he turned down the new contract at Leicester for family reasons?

Another interview in the press & his own words. I'm on my phone so I can't find a link atm.

 

[JC Footy Genius]

Another interview in the press & his own words. I'm on my phone so I can't find a link atm.

No rush, look forward to reading it.

 

[Wardy's twin]

My thoughts on the game.
I said a couple of days ago, Everton have a good home record, Allardyce knows how to play us, and beat us.

We weren't as bad as all the moaners said we were, although individuals did make mistakes, but they're human. We desperately missed Stephens today. He breaks up play, which wasn't happening today.

The problem is that a lot of fans got carried away with our good February & beating Arsenal, so their expectations were raised. This is the Premier League and we were never going to win three games in a row.

I also apologise because we've lost every away game I've been to this season, so I will ban myself for the rest of the away games.

Maybe I will still go to the Etihad because we'll lose there anyway.

Thanks for this. I do read into other comments that part of the problem is that we reverted to a defensive set up. Moi by

 

[sydney]

I view the points against Arsenal as bonus points as they did not field their strongest team, what with Europa in mind.
Not safe just yet.

i was at that game ....we won it fair and square ...i think you'll find that was the best team available to wenger with ramsey carrying an injury
we came out of the blocks and ran them ragged and easily matched them for most of the game which is what makes performances like goodison all the more annoying .

 

[OzMike]

i was at that game ....we won it fair and square ...i think you'll find that was the best team available to wenger with ramsey carrying an injury
we came out of the blocks and ran them ragged and easily matched them for most of the game which is what makes performances like goodison all the more annoying .

I thought that you were over here.

 

[Justice]

So Solly get another chance........But if not him who ? Maybe Skalak returns.

Jurgen played on the wing for PSV could be an option.

 

[sydney]

I thought that you were over here.

i am but i was back for that one ..!