[Albion] Luton Town vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[hughfromalice]

Credit where its due I thought Luton were excellent.

Lots of teams have tried to press us and got massacred but they worked their socks off, worked as a unit and more importantly did something useful and purposeful with the ball. Reminded me a lot of the Everton game last season.

We did look miles off it and we do have these games every now and then. I wonder if it's mind as well as body. The way we play takes immense concentration and if we have 50% + of players not concentrating/ completely on it we tend to collapse. Almost always precipitated by an early goal which we never look remotely like recovering from.

I agree with you that Luton were excellent. Tactics spot on. Unrelenting 'do or die' commitment and no let up for the whole 90.

They pushed physicality to the limit, but were disciplined enough to just about always stay with the legal limit.

They made us look busy, dainty and ineffective. Tickatack passing to little effect. In mid-field, a swarm of Luton shirts around the ball and yet we seldom passed accurately to where the gaps were. On the other hand, when they won the ball they were often effective with fast break throughs that left us exposed.

Every tactical system trades advantages against weaknesses. It always has to keep evolving as other sides develop counter measures. It's about a learning journey, sometimes painful. What have we learned from last night and how will we apply it to adapt better to the factors that resulted in us losing? How will we improve our advantage/ weakness effectiveness?

Personally, I love De Zerbi's style, high risk as it can be. The proof of its effectiveness is best measured over seasons, where the extremes get put into their proper statistical perspective. Even so, on an emotional level, it felt like a punch in the guts last night!!!

 

[barbus_max bhafc]

A total shit-show Move on.

 

[Weststander]

I don’t attribute the loss to the pitch or return of the Luton hero.

They’re on form (not necessarily just results), with no European fatigue they’re fighting for their lives with 20 ‘cup finals’ and a proper centre midfield. Our CM is so poor compared to last season, Milner/Gross/Lallana edge towards to the state pension, Gilmour is a technician who cannot protect the back 4, Dahoud sadly didn’t cut it, Baleba a young work in progress. Every true winger is out. [Gross is still a class act, but playing him and the others means we patently lack pace]. A Luton win was always on the cards, they’re a decent, inspired team, whilst we’re fatigued with key absences and a CM that’s lacking.

 

[Wardy's twin]

Yep and we sometimes batter someone with a lot more.

I'm

Just got home, f***ing hell that was crap.

I had a crap yesterday before going to Luton and that felt good.....

 

[Poyningsgull]

We don't lose many games, but when we do, we don't f*** around.

 

[AlbionBro]

Bullshit. Steele has not been to blame. It’s our defenders. I knew some twat with an agenda would pop up. Do f*** off.

A bit strong old chap, but your bang on.

 

[Pete Skinner]

I've reflected on last night and it felt like a bit of a perfect storm...

Wrong selection and shape, perhaps... but so many of our players are half fit, out of form and position... I don't think Roberto had much choice but to try and pack the midfield and it back fired... I do think we lack a plan b however and I can't support the endless changing of GK... and relying on players who lack pace to stop through ball counters that aim to play in fast forwards in the channels.

The narrow pitch congested the game and meant we were all at sea when trying to construct our tactical disposition Roberto goes on about.

Two early goals and certain players allowed heads to drop, and shoulders to slope.

Possibly a bit of turnaround fatigue, Saturday was far from perfect but we got the job done... this smacked of simply not being anywhere near as ready and/or up for it as the opposition. To elaborate on this, I not sure certain mindsets were right or fancied a cold night at Luton in an antiquated stadium in front of passionate support... just a hunch.

They're playing well, we're inconsistent over 20 min period's, never mind 90... That is in part down to personnel or lack thereof.

The thing that worries me is that I doubt we'll actively learn from this, and if we were playing at Luton next time out we'd go again... Roberto's DNA thing, and we'd probably see a similar result... that is worrying... At home this weekend we will improve, but mostly because the Amex pitch affords us more space and (yes) we can't be as lacklustre as we were last night.

I am finding myself at odds with some of Roberto's selections and calling out players, whether that be asking Pedro to improve after scoring a hattrick or freezing Mo out after such a short period, and conversely constantly claiming some of our players can be world beaters... Facundo for example, yes he's improving but for me he's very similar in levels to a young Solly March... I'm yet to be convinced he has the potential to be the second coming of Messi...

However, when you look at it, on balance we've got a decent upper mid-table squad and that looks like where we might end up this year.

Roberto hmmmmmmmmm he's got some special qualities and some interesting ways of working... but if I step back a little, I question if he's as good as the hype... ? he's a good coach, a bit maverick... but is he any better (albeit tactically different) to a Marco Silva for example? Are we kidding ourselves, along with the media, that we've struck absolute gold ? I really don't know, but taking our results/performances in isolation we're doing no better than Fulham, and although we're special to us... in the cold light of day we're doing okay and nothing more. I realise we've had a car crash with injuries, but I'm not convinced Fati et al would prevent shipping too many goals...

Hey ho, bring on Palace.

Good points , I’d have Silva or Moyes ahead of him

 

[Seagull58]

Good points , I’d have Silva or Moyes ahead of him

You've got Roy. You can try and get Silva or Moyes in the summer.

 

[AstroSloth]

I'm not overly impressed with Bart either. Why we've created this clusterfuck when we had such a talented young keeper already I don't know.

What a great young keeper that after making his big move to Chelsea this is how he's being rated on their forum...