My Latest Blog For Sky Sports - My Take on The Winless Streak...

[Mendoza]

As always, please have a read and let me know what you think

I know about the type in the first two words. Not my fault. Blame the editor

Style over substance | FanZone | Blogs | Championship | Brighton | Brett

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

what about the typo in the word type in that post? did you know about that?

 

[South Coast Eagle]

"I compared it to a lap dance - some great moves on show, but ultimately there was no penetration or any action in the box"

Ha!

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

Joking aside, it was a good read! I loved that ^^^^ comment too

 

[Mendoza]

what about the typo in the word type in that post? did you know about that?

Joking aside, it was a good read! I loved that ^^^^ comment too

Ooops, Oh well, Glad I could raise a smile in amungst all that anyway

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Cant DISAGREE with a SINGLE word of this


Style over substance
Brighton learning some harsh lessons in Championship
Posted: 27th October 2011 11:52

Email Brett

..
Gus Poyet: Does the Brighton manager have the quality in his side to perform his footballing vision?

Also see
Brighton highlights
Brighton FanZone blog
Brighton stats
Brighton archive
..Style over I guess the best cliché to use at the moment is "close, but no cigar" when it comes to watching Brighton play. Most games we find ourselves in a winning position, then some kind of curse hits us and we self-destruct.

Whether it's throwing away leads or gifting the opposition goals, it happens on all too regular occurrence and we need to stop it happening very soon. Last night's game on Sky against West Ham summed us up perfectly. In the heat of battle I compared it to a lap dance - some great moves on show, but ultimately there was no penetration or any action in the box.

My friend texted me to say we had 71% possession at half time but we barely registered a shot at goal. On the other hand, West Ham didn't have much of the ball, yet found themselves 1-0 up because we made yet another mistake and gave the ball away.

Sometimes we do look like a League One team making the step up and sadly the learning curve seems to be a bit too much for some. At least Gus has started to realise this and is making some changes with new signings; in come two players who have played in the Champions League, and a Chilean international.

It's a step in the right direction that hopefully will see us steady the ship. In our last six games, we have been in the lead in four of them (3 of them in the 80th minute), yet we haven't managed to win any of them, only picking up three points.

Ridiculously it has led to some fans questioning Gus Poyet's footballing philosophy. I am not one of them, I love it, but admittedly at present it isn't working. It worked well in League One last year, but now we are coming up against bigger, stronger and fitter opponents. The philosophy is great, but do we have the players to put it into practice?

I know I am only watching from the stands, and I don't like to criticise the players, but sometimes it feels like the players take too long to spot a pass, dally on the ball and they get caught out. It happens in dangerous areas and we normally get punished and concede a goal. I think we need more players that can move the ball on a little quicker.

I believe we can do it, and it will revolve around us keeping Vicente and keeping him fit. Jara Reyes also looks like he is a step ahead of the rest of our team, but that is based on one encouraging debut performance. I can't help thinking that his creativity is wasted at right back, and he needs to be in the centre of midfield. Maybe if we build our team around these two, we will have a better chance.

The main issue I see with our style of play is that there is a lack of urgency to get forward or even to shoot. There have been too many occasions in the last few games where we have got to the edge of the opposition box and not even thought about shooting and looked for another pass. If you look at The Championship 'shots on goal' table, sadly you will see Brighton at the bottom of it.

That seems a strange notion when you consider the quality of attacking players and the creativity we have at our disposal. Sooner or later it is going to click and we will give someone a thrashing. I don't see it being our next game against Birmingham, but after that we face Watford and Barnsley. That is the time to get the feel good factor back amongst the fans.

Six points there and a few goals would see us move back up the table, helping prove that Poyet's passing philosophy is right way to go. It will also show the club have done the right thing giving Gus and Tanno five years to put it into place, right through from the academies, to the youth team, to the development squad and the first team. It will almost be a brand that we can all be proud of.

At the end of the day, however frustrating it feels right now, it was only two years ago we were 21st in League One as Gus rightly pointed out. Look at who we used to lose to when he first joined us and look at where we are now. Lots of amazing progress has been made but we are still being taught some very harsh lessons along the way.

.

 

[Hotchilidog]

Another good read Brett, and a fair summation of where we are at the moment.

 

[Hove Seagull]

Good, Brett. Exactly to the point.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Excellent use of my dilly dallying comment as well, albeit in he shortened dally form x

 

[Mendoza]

Excellent use of my dilly dallying comment as well, albeit in he shortened dally form x

I didnt realise you had said that, all I heard was F** **** W***** x

 

[dannyboy]

sums up our problems perfectly in my opinion. def need to start releasing balls quicker

 

[Albumen]

Good stuff.