[Albion] Has anyone blamed the Players yet?

[kevo]

Illegitimate son - did you also mean ( if we are going there) - Gross, Stephens, also! Not sure what Bong did wrong for the last few matches although hey let's keep banging on - boring.

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Agree - Bong has been one of our better players recently. Wish people would just get off his back.

 

[GT49er]

Has anyone blamed the Players yet?

Apart from Bong, Locadia, Stephens, Gross, Bong, Montoya (rated at '3' on Saturday), March (not a PL player) ........ oh, and Bong again you mean? No, I don't think so, not yet................................

 

[GT49er]

In 2017/18 we ranked overall 8th out of 20 teams for distance covered. We ran, we made space, we won games - and we comfortably stayed up.... As it stands so far in the 2018/19 we currently rank a shocking 18th out of 20 teams.

If accurate, that certainly is cause for concern. Can, and should, be addressed immediately.

 

[GT49er]

I was amazed when Knockaert had space ahead of him to run into, then made a pass the whole width of the pitch (at the half way line) to Bong... who did nothing with it, again?

"I was amazed when Knockaert had space ahead of him to run into, then made a pass the whole width of the pitch."

That sentence alone could sum up our season! There seems to be that one position, widish right, about 30 yards out from which other teams ping across a fast, low trajectory ball towards the far edge of the six yard box, just out of the range of the GK (watch James Tavernier at Rangers do it - I know it's only SPL, but he's a master at that particular art). Brighton players on the other hand seem to get to that same spot, stop, turn round, and pass it back or sideways (or, as you say, right across to the opposite side (as if to say, 'You ping in a cross, mate - I don't want to').

 

[eastterracemike]

In 2017/18 we ranked overall 8th out of 20 teams for distance covered. We ran, we made space, we won games - and we comfortably stayed up.... As it stands so far in the 2018/19 we currently rank a shocking 18th out of 20 teams.

If accurate, that certainly is cause for concern. Can, and should, be addressed immediately.

Nothing that a warm weather break in the sun won't fix then !!!! Worrying indeed and probably says it all/ answers all the questions.
The 'hole' in midfield that appeared on Saturday was also a concern - we have forgotten to build it from the back and the 'lump it up to Murray' tactic will be a bit dodgy if he gets injured!

 

[Knocky's Nose]

In 2017/18 we ranked overall 8th out of 20 teams for distance covered. We ran, we made space, we won games - and we comfortably stayed up.... As it stands so far in the 2018/19 we currently rank a shocking 18th out of 20 teams.

If accurate, that certainly is cause for concern.

As quoted by Sky Sports themselves, so yes I trust them.

Also, we currently rank 17th out of the 20 teams on sprints made this season. In the 2017/18 season we were again... 8th.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I hadn't seen the stats on ground covered before this thread, but I certainly remember thinking on Saturday that Burnley were doing that a lot better than us. They looked fitter and faster.

 

[Tubby-McFat-Fuc]

Agree - Bong has been one of our better players recently. Wish people would just get off his back.

I take it you never went to Fulham then.

 

[NooBHA]

I've noticed over the past few weeks, the players body language is all wrong. It's as if they have given up.

Do I blame the players, no.

Because I would not pick Bong over Barnado
I would not pick a slow and out of form Gross over Bissouma
I would not play a striker on the wing, when we have two wingers on the bench.
I would not play Dale Stephens over anyone.
I would not play a formation that kills any chance of any flair players

Its a stagnant formation, that clearly doesn't work. Fair enough keepers have done well in the last few games, but yesterday Heaton made one world class save (from Gross' flick) and others you would expect a top goalkeeper to make.

I was about to dismiss your post out of hand due to the comment above on Stephens but it has some credence because Dale has not been at his best this season but when he does play to his potential then we win. That's why he plays

I don't think the last two league performances have been so bad. Some outlandish refereeing decisions and great goalkeeping have limited the points yield and because that blighted an until then excellent home record, some fans have gone into freefall.

Burnley are actually no better than they were several weeks ago. Teames battered them all last year and Nick Pope kept them in games and they all too often came up with a late goal from corners of free kicks. Their problems this year was that Jo Hart could never do for them what Pope and Heaton all to readily do which is ''save their bacon''

I digress but since we are talking about players and Brighton players at that. How many on here think they have seen what would potentially be the first choice starting line up play 2 or 3 games in a row ? - I know I haven't.

YES the squad had better depth and that is why we have kept ourselves away from the bottom 3 but eventually that can start to catch up with a team like Brighton. The players are all good player but they have to be at their best to yield points and they are not always at their best but that said, I think they have achieved what you would expect. OK they haven't exceeded it but they haven't done badly.

Maybe in a couple of weeks time, everyone will be fit and the first choice starting 11 might eventually get a few games together but even if they don't, the stand in will have enough to stay up. Despite what everyone might think. The points yield to date is what I would have expected at this stage and the home form is still good, even if the points yield in the last two Amex gamed hasn't been what we would have hoped

 

[Gritt23]

Illegitimate son - did you also mean ( if we are going there) - Gross, Stephens, also! Not sure what Bong did wrong for the last few matches although hey let's keep banging on - boring.

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I was watching Bong quite closely because the lame brain next to me was going "oh no, not Bong" every time he went near the ball, or was about to receive a pass. This didn't relent all game despite the fact that he was constantly being made to look rather foolish by a performance from Bong that barely had a foot wrong all day. I can only recall one moment when he miscontrolled a fairly loose pass and it went out for a throw-in in Burnley's half (hardly a catastrophe) when the lad next to me was able to holla "ah-ha there you go."

So all-in-all, anyone criticising Bong on Saturday is doing it out of habit and not as a result of his performance on the day. There was one further cross that - following a Cruyff turn no less - swung out of play, but m'laddo wasn't watching, he was busy shuffling his feet away from the drink he'd spilt as a result of not having a lid on it. Ah, the Premier league, is this really the promised land?

 

[Albion Robster]

In 2017/18 we ranked overall 8th out of 20 teams for distance covered. We ran, we made space, we won games - and we comfortably stayed up.... As it stands so far in the 2018/19 we currently rank a shocking 18th out of 20 teams.

If accurate, that certainly is cause for concern. Can, and should, be addressed immediately.

Worrying statistic that!
Maybe because some of those players are always on the pi$$ every week?!?! Win or lose on the booze it seems...

 

[SpongebobSquarepants]

For me Hughton is way too loyal to players out of form.

Dunk/Duffy will never get dropped despite decent back-ups. Stephens/Gross been dreadful later so play Kayal/Bissouma.

Too many players guaranteed a start. I'm actually looking forward to Saturday as many of our 'B' team are playing better than the regulars.

 

[Weststander]

But what right would he have to comment on squad limitations, when he starts Bong over Bernardo? When he starts a striker on the wing and has a £16m winger on the bench? When Stephens and Gross have all the pace of a snail totally out of form, and Bissouma one of the most exciting players we have ever owned, warms the bench? I cannot see the club giving Hughton multipile millions again to spend, if he doesn't use the players he buys!

I think CH will be trusted this summer, as part of the recruitment quartet.

 

[maltaseagull]

Combination of the two hughton picks same old side and they fail to deliver
March locadia bong Stephens not good enough


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March was having a good game until injured!

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I hadn't seen the stats on ground covered before this thread, but I certainly remember thinking on Saturday that Burnley were doing that a lot better than us. They looked fitter and faster.

Fitter, faster and frankly MORE up for it.

 

[Weststander]

March was having a good game until injured!

This.

Some people seemingly have it in for March. He's playing well, I love it that he's a key part of our first 11 and club.

 

[rippleman]

We have a lack of pace in the team CH keeps picking.

Stephens slows our play down at every opportunity; Kayal and Bissouma are quicker and always looking to drive us forwards so I would start them ahead of Gross and Stephens. Propper is quality and can play the AM role as he has done many times for the Dutch.

I like Bong and he has done very well for us but tbh Bernardo is in a different class and, if fit, should be automatic first choice.

The over-reliance on Glenn is now coming back to haunt us. Who decided we didn't need another centre forward; look at Burnley's attacking options and then look at ours.

And I've been saving the best (or worst) until last. Locadia wasn't getting a sniff until he went whinging to the foreign press saying he was unhappy and wanted to move boohoo and all that. Instead of being fined two weeks wages, given a kick up the arse and told to go train with the young kids, he gets put straight in the team and has been there ever since. Perhaps CH thought that giving in to his whining and giving him a chance would get Locadia going. He was wrong. Locadia doesn't even come close to having what it takes to be a PL starter.

 

[GJN1]

For me Hughton is way too loyal to players out of form.

Dunk/Duffy will never get dropped despite decent back-ups. Stephens/Gross been dreadful later so play Kayal/Bissouma.

Too many players guaranteed a start. I'm actually looking forward to Saturday as many of our 'B' team are playing better than the regulars.

I think we often seem to have more attacking intent when Kayal and Bissouma play. We just seem a tad more sprightly...

 

[Stat Brother]

I was watching Bong quite closely because the lame brain next to me was going "oh no, not Bong" every time he went near the ball, or was about to receive a pass. This didn't relent all game despite the fact that he was constantly being made to look rather foolish by a performance from Bong that barely had a foot wrong all day. I can only recall one moment when he miscontrolled a fairly loose pass and it went out for a throw-in in Burnley's half (hardly a catastrophe) when the lad next to me was able to holla "ah-ha there you go."

So all-in-all, anyone criticising Bong on Saturday is doing it out of habit and not as a result of his performance on the day. There was one further cross that - following a Cruyff turn no less - swung out of play, but m'laddo wasn't watching, he was busy shuffling his feet away from the drink he'd spilt as a result of not having a lid on it. Ah, the Premier league, is this really the promised land?

I've said it a few times now and really do think people should concentrate their viewing on one player.

Both Stephens and Bong were particularly eye opening and now I won't hear a word against them.

Just how many times, in one game, does a drongo have to say "oh at last Stephens plays a ball forward" before he realises DS playing the ball forward isn't an aberration.

 

[Milano]

It is no coincidence that our best 90 minutes in 2019 so far was against Watford when our midfield was Propper, Bissouma and Gross. It doesn’t take a scientist to work it out.