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

[jackanada]

Ronald has a huge South American following, including some English Albion fans based in Argentina.

He was at the World Cup.

Love his stuff. Can't understand a word mind.

Open in YouTube, go to settings and you can turn on auto generated English subtitles. Surprisingly coherent with a few hilarious missteps - it will always be Wilson Park to be now.

 

[The Fits]

I thought last night an interesting contest in terms of what the opposition tried to do. Lampard has always struck me as a fairly decent organising coach and motivator, but yesterday suggested that either he's not a tactician, or he let hope get the better of him. He knew, as most would, that the only way to get something out of City was to defend and keep space tight. The draw suggested that he has the players that can do this. He then changed to a 4-3-3 against us, a team built in the image of Guardiola, and hoped that his players could take us on in a more expansive game.

In hindsight, its an obviously disastrous decision. A tiny bit of research would have shown that, if you try to press De Zerbi's Brighton, they will thank you for doing half of their job for them. Three against Southampton, two (should have been three) away at Arsenal, four against Chelsea: Our team will score in an open game. The likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and City have the players to take us on in this type of game, most other teams in the division don't.

It seems that, if you don't have the talents of the the top sides, you get something against us by sitting deep, keeping spaces tight and breaking quickly. Villa and Spurs did it and won, Charlton, Newcastle, Forest all did it and got a draw. This is obvious to unqualified fans, so its hard to believe that nobody in Everton's coaching team was aware of this. Therefore, you have to wonder why Lampard changed from five at the back and tried to be more expansive.

Perhaps he underestimated us, thinking that his players could rattle us with an early blitz like Arsenal did. However, his decision could also be a result of the pressure of managing a 'name' team at home. Was he thinking that the Goodison crowd would turn on his players if they watched them play a catenaccio type system against a 'team like Brighton'? Was he thinking that you don't get out of relegation trouble with draws against mid table sides? Did he think that his players were better, or our players were not as good as the result proved to be the case? Whatever the reason, it cost him the game and may cost him his job.

The psychology is, to me, really interesting. Potter used to mention often that the opposition will also have their plan. I wonder whether Lampard's playing history of mostly rolling over the opposition's plan has left him slightly ill equipped to give it proper consideration. If you have always been used to imposing your will on a contest, is it easy to adapt when you are without the tools that allowed you to do it? Does years of success create a confirmation bias that promotes unrealistic overconfidence? Could this be a contributing factor as to why relatively few of the great / most decorated players end up being great managers? I'm definitely reading too much into this, but it just got me thinking down a route that I found interesting.

Absolutely superb analysis. Particularly the bit about Lampard's playing career. Totally agree. He'll need to learn, and fast, that most players don't have his ability, nor are most teams peak-Roman Chelsea. He also needs to watch a bit more of the teams he's playing. Something that I felt Jones appeared to be guilty of the week before and something both Potter and his team and the new regime seem to excel at. You don't just use brute force.

 

[SeagullsoverLondon]

Well that is last season yes...

1 goal from set pieces this season, worst in the league (though just one goal behind four other teams), but only 4 conceded which isn't too bad an slightly better than average.

53 shots/headers (which is also quite low) from set pieces / 1 goal... some improvement to be done in that area. Not too surprised though, not a lot of aerial ability in this Brighton team and even less so when Webster isn't there to head the ball somewhere well outside the goal.

Was the set piece goal, Mac's direct free kick v Leicester?
Even when Webster has played I can't recall too many times when I thought we should have scored from a corner or Free Kick crossed in from the touchline.

Dunk and Webster have both headed over or wide on a number of occasions but usually under a challenge. I never think we are likely to score in these situations at the moment.
However, I really worry when we concede a corner or free kick in a dangerous crossing position, unless we play Everton when I expect Gross to sprint down the pitch and chip their keeper 8 seconds after they take their free kick.

Set pieces are definitely an area which RdZ should look to improve

 

[Mackenzie]

Although Goodison was a bit dilapidated it was nice not to be patted down like a bloody criminal when I approached the turnstiles and my daughters bottle of pop that she bought at half time came with a screw lid. Small things I know but really appreciated.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Although Goodison was a bit dilapidated it was nice not to be patted down like a bloody criminal when I approached the turnstiles and my daughters bottle of pop that she bought at half time came with a screw lid. Small things I know but really appreciated.

You were lucky. I was quite aggressively patted down. Felt a bit weird actually. There were no women stewards standing there so my wife was all ready to refuse but they just waved her and our daughter through without a search anyway. Weird and disorganized would be my summary.

 

[Coldeanseagull]

You were lucky. I was quite aggressively patted down. Felt a bit weird actually. There were no women stewards standing there so my wife was all ready to refuse but they just waved her and our daughter through without a search anyway. Weird and disorganized would be my summary.

They know where you live!

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

They know where you live!

 

[peterward]

 

[Weststander]

Laughed at this, when the Everton free-kick broke down before the Gross fourth, they had 9 players in and around our box, with the final outfield player just out of shot 75 yards from their goal.

Madness. Yes I know they were chasing.

In watching countless Albion games over the years, at set pieces, opponents always seem to leave a couple of players near the centre circle when they have an attacking set piece.