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

[Hugo Rune]

I agree Maupay looks sharper when someone is playing next to him and thats not really how it should be. I.e. 4-4-2 ****s up your triangles, which is why few teams use it these days. Optimally, Maupay should be able to play as the only striker, linking up with wingers and penetrating midfielders.

Our problem is that none of the wingers (yet) seem clever enough to find open spaces and the hard-shooting, pacy AMC with the ability to dribble a guy or play in small spaces really doesnt exist in the squad, even if Alzate got the potential. There's no Ghoddos like in Östersund or Celina like in Swansea and we often look very.. wonky in the final third, something that becomes extra obvious when Mooy is injured.

That said I doubt we'll sign anyone. If you think its difficult finding a capable striker, then imagining trying to find a player for the almost extinct 10 role. Theres not a lot of David Silvas or Eden Hazards around and I think the focus will be developing players like Alzate, Trossard and Connolly to compensate for the lack of a real "10" and then, if needed, try to find one in the summer.

The performance of the season (for me) came against Bournemouth when Mooy played ACM.

Yesterday’s 3-4-3 just didn’t have room for a central attacking midfielder.

I’m looking forward to Villa with (hopefully) a 4-2-3-1 with Pröpper & Alzate in the 2nd and Mooy in the centre of the ‘3’. You’re going to find that we have enough options at number 10 (& Mac Allister will be the icing on the cake) and the Mushroom haired Grealish & Co. will come to the realisation that it’s Championship football for them next season.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Good post, bit harsh on Knockaert as personally I feel he brings more to the table than just dribbling past players on multiple occasions.

He probably wouldn’t start games in preference to others, but we seem light in the winger department (literally), and when Solly starts he has disappointed this year.


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Actually you've put me straight on Knocky - that was a touch harsh but he was frustrating and that was mainly down to his decision making. What we are forgetting is Izquierdo. An out and out winger with pace who can cut inside but also play one touch passes (see Stoke away). He will give us genuine options IF he is fully recovered. I can't help but worry he may not come back half the player though.

 

[Swansman]

Appreciate you're new to this but Potter got rid of Knockaert who can dribble past people and play in tight spaces - but is also far too selfish and a bit of a head case. He'd dribble past three and shoot from an impossible angle, or try to take it back past the first player again, instead of laying it off for a simple goal. A player that can dribble ideally better than Knocky AND know when to lay it off will probably be 50 million plus in the Premier League. With respect it's not Sweden or the Championship prices. Bloom won't pay that.

Trossard should be a natural 10. That's what he looked like when he started. But he flattered to deceive. He looks better coming on off the bench, something I called out way back in a poll where 90% of NSC said he should be starting every game.

Yeah when Brighton were chasing Potter and I looked at your squad (which I at the time thought was pretty sad tbh) I immediatly thought Knockaert would be one of his key players since I remembered the potential he showed in Leicester when he first came to England. Considering how quickly Potter got rid of Knockaert though its obvious they either didnt click together personally (sort of like with Jordan Ayew at Swansea) or Potter just noticed he was in a downward spiral.

Trossard and Celina are fairly similar players and I think long term Trossard may primarly become a 10. While Celina already had a season in the Championship and had played for Man Citys academy for several years, Trossard is completely new in English football. I thought Trossards very obvious raw skill would possibly make him a sensation this year, but its pretty obvious its gonna take time.

Lets just hope time is on our side... if we just survive this season I dont think theres any limit how far we can go and same goes for Trossard really.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Yeah when Brighton were chasing Potter and I looked at your squad (which I at the time thought was pretty sad tbh) I immediatly thought Knockaert would be one of his key players since I remembered the potential he showed in Leicester when he first came to England. Considering how quickly Potter got rid of Knockaert though its obvious they either didnt click together personally (sort of like with Jordan Ayew at Swansea) or Potter just noticed he was in a downward spiral.

Trossard and Celina are fairly similar players and I think long term Trossard may primarly become a 10. While Celina already had a season in the Championship and had played for Man Citys academy for several years, Trossard is completely new in English football. I thought Trossards very obvious raw skill would possibly make him a sensation this year, but its pretty obvious its gonna take time.

Lets just hope time is on our side... if we just survive this season I dont think theres any limit how far we can go and same goes for Trossard really.

Good post

Can't argue with any of that.

 

[Justice]

All the millions we have spent and without loanee Mooy we looked toothless in the final third.

 

[essbee1]

Yeah when Brighton were chasing Potter and I looked at your squad (which I at the time thought was pretty sad tbh) I immediatly thought Knockaert would be one of his key players since I remembered the potential he showed in Leicester when he first came to England. Considering how quickly Potter got rid of Knockaert though its obvious they either didnt click together personally (sort of like with Jordan Ayew at Swansea) or Potter just noticed he was in a downward spiral.

Trossard and Celina are fairly similar players and I think long term Trossard may primarly become a 10. While Celina already had a season in the Championship and had played for Man Citys academy for several years, Trossard is completely new in English football. I thought Trossards very obvious raw skill would possibly make him a sensation this year, but its pretty obvious its gonna take time.

Lets just hope time is on our side... if we just survive this season I dont think theres any limit how far we can go and same goes for Trossard really.

Slightly confused here Swansman. Your posts suggest you are Albion, but then you say you were looking at "your" squad, suggesting that
you're not and you are commenting as Swansea. Then at the end you say "if we survive", meaning Albion. Sorry - just so that I can get where you're
coming from. No offence intended buddy.

 

[Swansman]

All the millions we have spent and without loanee Mooy we looked toothless in the final third.

While I dont really disagree we looked toothless, I think yesterday a lot of the attacking players need to be excused by the fact that we rarely even came to the final third. The quality of our chances tells me we actually knew how to hurt Everton - we knew where the spaces were. Gross almost getting that through ball, Trossards horrendous miss (it was offside but it was obvious he didnt know) and Murrays one on one... we knew their weaknesses and if the rest of the team did what they were supposed to do, our attacking players - toothless or not - likely would have scored a goal or two.

But when you have three central defenders with ~75% pass completion, Stephens with 67%, Montoya with 60% and Bernardo also not above 70%... it becomes very difficult to win football matches.

 

[Swansman]

Slightly confused here Swansman. Your posts suggest you are Albion, but then you say you were looking at "your" squad, suggesting that
you're not and you are commenting as Swansea. Then at the end you say "if we survive", meaning Albion. Sorry - just so that I can get where you're
coming from. No offence intended buddy.

Really need to change this user name at some point...

Yeah at the time I was supporting Swansea, because of Potter but thinking I would remain a fan of them even after he left. Then weeks and months go by, and I follow Potter and this excellent board and invest a lot of time and emotion... and suddenly I find myself reading about the shadyness of the move from Goldstone and watching Bobby Zamora compilations in the middle of the night and... well.

We were only supposed to be roommates but ended up in bed.

 

[BN41Albion]

Yeah when Brighton were chasing Potter and I looked at your squad (which I at the time thought was pretty sad tbh) I immediatly thought Knockaert would be one of his key players since I remembered the potential he showed in Leicester when he first came to England. Considering how quickly Potter got rid of Knockaert though its obvious they either didnt click together personally (sort of like with Jordan Ayew at Swansea) or Potter just noticed he was in a downward spiral.

Trossard and Celina are fairly similar players and I think long term Trossard may primarly become a 10. While Celina already had a season in the Championship and had played for Man Citys academy for several years, Trossard is completely new in English football. I thought Trossards very obvious raw skill would possibly make him a sensation this year, but its pretty obvious its gonna take time.

Lets just hope time is on our side... if we just survive this season I dont think theres any limit how far we can go and same goes for Trossard really.

I'm confused...

Agree with your points, though

Edit: ignore, just saw post above !

 

[essbee1]

Really need to change this user name at some point...

Yeah at the time I was supporting Swansea, because of Potter but thinking I would remain a fan of them even after he left. Then weeks and months go by, and I follow Potter and this excellent board and invest a lot of time and emotion... and suddenly I find myself reading about the shadyness of the move from Goldstone and watching Bobby Zamora compilations in the middle of the night and... well.

We were only supposed to be roommates but ended up in bed.

Still time to get out Swansman (while you can). Or you'll end up like most of us on here.

Bitter and twisted (and quite sad).

 

[Weststander]

Really need to change this user name at some point...

Yeah at the time I was supporting Swansea, because of Potter but thinking I would remain a fan of them even after he left. Then weeks and months go by, and I follow Potter and this excellent board and invest a lot of time and emotion... and suddenly I find myself reading about the shadyness of the move from Goldstone and watching Bobby Zamora compilations in the middle of the night and... well.

We were only supposed to be roommates but ended up in bed.

Keep posting please, your views are interesting.

NSC has always had a smattering of supporters of other clubs.

 

[Mackenzie]

Really need to change this user name at some point...

Yeah at the time I was supporting Swansea, because of Potter but thinking I would remain a fan of them even after he left. Then weeks and months go by, and I follow Potter and this excellent board and invest a lot of time and emotion... and suddenly I find myself reading about the shadyness of the move from Goldstone and watching Bobby Zamora compilations in the middle of the night and... well.

We were only supposed to be roommates but ended up in bed.

Try and find a book called “build a bonfire” as a bit of background reading of our struggles. Some of the main protagonists in that book post on this site. It’d be an education.

 

[Swansman]

Still time to get out Swansman (while you can). Or you'll end up like most of us on here.

Bitter and twisted (and quite sad).

I seriously doubt sticking with Swansea would have made me much happier. : )

Planning to go to Brighton this spring, after that I'm probably at the point of no return... when I go places, I generally dont leave.

Keep posting please, your views are interesting.

NSC has always had a smattering of supporters of other clubs.

Thank you. Yeah, I might be a bit annoying or controversial at times... but "interesting" is a route I generally go for so good to hear that.

I can imagine a lot of supporters from other teams coming here... a lot of team specific boards are either very toxic, incestuous or you read for two minutes and realize you want to treat all of their supporters as if they were Leeds fans. Over here its high and low, a bit of pie throwing, a bit of deep reasoning... good stuff. Sort of a relic from early internet days.

Try and find a book called “build a bonfire” as a bit of background reading of our struggles. Some of the main protagonists in that book post on this site. It’d be an education.

I'll definitely look it up.

 

[dazzer6666]

Really need to change this user name at some point...

Yeah at the time I was supporting Swansea, because of Potter but thinking I would remain a fan of them even after he left. Then weeks and months go by, and I follow Potter and this excellent board and invest a lot of time and emotion... and suddenly I find myself reading about the shadyness of the move from Goldstone and watching Bobby Zamora compilations in the middle of the night and... well.

We were only supposed to be roommates but ended up in bed.

Swangull ?

 

[dazzer6666]

Biggest positive for me is that Dunk wasn't sent off, which was a finely balanced decision I would say. Now available for two vital games. Hopefully Mooy will also be back.

Only seen the highlights.......at the game, only thing I saw was the tug on Walcott (should have been a penalty for sure, we’d have been livid if it was the other way). What was the possible sending off offence ?

 

[Bodian]

I seriously doubt sticking with Swansea would have made me much happier. : )

Planning to go to Brighton this spring, after that I'm probably at the point of no return... when I go places, I generally dont leave.



Thank you. Yeah, I might be a bit annoying or controversial at times... but "interesting" is a route I generally go for so good to hear that.

I can imagine a lot of supporters from other teams coming here... a lot of team specific boards are either very toxic, incestuous or you read for two minutes and realize you want to treat all of their supporters as if they were Leeds fans. Over here its high and low, a bit of pie throwing, a bit of deep reasoning... good stuff. Sort of a relic from early internet days.



I'll definitely look it up.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_....l1313&_nkw=build+a+bonfire+brighton&_sacat=0 Quite a few on ebay - well worth reading.

 

[Bodian]

Only seen the highlights.......at the game, only thing I saw was the tug on Walcott (should have been a penalty for sure, we’d have been livid if it was the other way). What was the possible sending off offence ?

Yes - deliberate foul and a clear scoring opportunity. We escaped one there, to have had Dunk sent off that early wouldn't have been great to say the least.

 

[Weststander]

I seriously doubt sticking with Swansea would have made me much happier. : )

Planning to go to Brighton this spring, after that I'm probably at the point of no return... when I go places, I generally dont leave.



Thank you. Yeah, I might be a bit annoying or controversial at times... but "interesting" is a route I generally go for so good to hear that.

I can imagine a lot of supporters from other teams coming here... a lot of team specific boards are either very toxic, incestuous or you read for two minutes and realize you want to treat all of their supporters as if they were Leeds fans. Over here its high and low, a bit of pie throwing, a bit of deep reasoning... good stuff. Sort of a relic from early internet days.



I'll definitely look it up.

Very true about other fora ... the 2 Palarse fora, comeonboro, readytogo, etc are full of thick as shite haters, often intolerant about others in society too beyond football. Like taking a step back into an Alf Garnett U.K. I had a look at bluemoon yesterday, it was full of unbridled hate towards other clubs, cities, peoples. I would’ve thought that they’d be the happiest and most chilled ‘supporters’ in world football, with Mansour’s financial doping rapidly filling their trophy cabinet. Not so.

Redcafe and Arsenal-Mania are surprisingly open-minded and interesting. with many supporters of arch rivals (other than Spuds on the latter) tolerated and engaged in polite chat.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Yeah when Brighton were chasing Potter and I looked at your squad (which I at the time thought was pretty sad tbh) I immediatly thought Knockaert would be one of his key players since I remembered the potential he showed in Leicester when he first came to England. Considering how quickly Potter got rid of Knockaert though its obvious they either didnt click together personally (sort of like with Jordan Ayew at Swansea) or Potter just noticed he was in a downward spiral.

Trossard and Celina are fairly similar players and I think long term Trossard may primarly become a 10. While Celina already had a season in the Championship and had played for Man Citys academy for several years, Trossard is completely new in English football. I thought Trossards very obvious raw skill would possibly make him a sensation this year, but its pretty obvious its gonna take time.

Lets just hope time is on our side... if we just survive this season I dont think theres any limit how far we can go and same goes for Trossard really.

[tweet]1216340290551926785[/tweet]

 

[Swansman]

[tweet]1216340290551926785[/tweet]

Love that man... do think he is going to party his career away though.