My Positives From Last Night

[Blue and White Tiger]

• Craig Mackail-Smith
• Craig Noone - Terrific first half, beat his man every time, with good delivery as well.
• We are a good team - We are still a very good side, we proved that for the first 45 minutes last night, we bossed the game. We just don't know how to kill a game off. Gus will teach the players that and we will be fine. Top 10 finish.
• It's gone now, we've lost at home, the players won't have that worry hanging over them now and we can go on a good run.
• I learnt a lot about the "fans" that i sit around in the North Stand. Particularly the (unt who sits in front of me who turned round to punch his chair, missed and punched me in the leg when we went 2-1 down. No apology, just stormed out. At the final whistle there were very few fans left in my block, which was very very dissapointing and proves that what everybody is saying is true. We have 10,000+ plastic fans.

 

[TheMajor]

Got served quickly in Dicks Bar - end of.

 

[Eggmundo]

My positive from last night was that nothing could have been worse. The unthinkable has happened so onwards and upwards.

 

[Shammo]

This could be a short thread!!

 

[fleet]

My positive from last night was that nothing could have been worse. The unthinkable has happened so onwards and upwards.

This

 

[Albion Robster]

Bozza re-couped a shed load of (v) cash last night!
There were some big big losers in the betting stakes...including myself!

 

[Uwinsc]

I thought that we saw a few small glimpses of the Lua-Lua of last season and maybe he is getting back to his best.

 

[Napper]

Still above Pompey and Palace. Still in top 6

 

[DT Withdean]

Bridcutt, Greer, Taricco, CMS, Noone, Vincelot.

Gus's interview on Rad.Sx was telling. His voice masked a veiled anger, and the last week has revealed much to him.
Hopefully to replace Painter, Calderon (who was dropped) & Dicker,
with pace and power.
And to adopt 4-5-1, like everyone else, otherwise poor Bridcutt out fought against 3 pacey rivals.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Positives from the game last night:

We now realise where our weaknesses lie within the current squad
The Messiah does make mistakes now and again
We'll be the ones laughing when Palace go down at the end of the season

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Bozza re-couped a shed load of (v) cash last night!
There were some big big losers in the betting stakes...including myself!

There could only have been a handful of winning bets , how many of us are now potless ?

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

My positive from last night was that nothing could have been worse. The unthinkable has happened so onwards and upwards.

My positive is that I'm glad I chose to have my chemotherapy yesterday instead of going to the game, and if anyone who did is feeling better than me today then I can't see that you understand the historical significance of last night's fixture and the unacceptable shift that the footballing side of BHA (not just the players) put in.
Impossible to claim to be in anyway objective about a game you weren't at but some of the individual and tactical weaknesses that seem to have been readily exposed by Palace last night have been there and unresolved for some time. For example; we've been on the TV twice in the previous week and in both games we only competed for 45 mins - this is not a new phenomenum the season. Lenny Lawrence is certainly no fool and neither, it seems, is Freedman.

 

[trueblue]

The other results of the teams around us. We didn't lose too much ground on those that have played this week, which just underlined the unpredictable nature of this division.

 

[Kumquat]

My positive is that I'm glad I chose to have my chemotherapy yesterday instead of going to the game, and if anyone who did is feeling better than me today then I can't see that you understand the historical significance of last night's fixture and the unacceptable shift that the footballing side of BHA (not just the players) put in.
Impossible to claim to be in anyway objective about a game you weren't at but some of the individual and tactical weaknesses that seem to have been readily exposed by Palace last night have been there and unresolved for some time. For example; we've been on the TV twice in the previous week and in both games we only competed for 45 mins - this is not a new phenomenum the season. Lenny Lawrence is certainly no fool and neither, it seems, is Freedman.

Very good post. My own opinion having watched nearly all the games this season is that we are missing a real leader in the middle of the park. Someone to get hold of the ball and organise around him. When we start to lose the ball no one seems to be able to get hold of it and get the pattern going again. I think we’ve looked better when Navarro has played with Bridcutt because I think he can do what Kishishev did last season and what Dicker and Harley can’t. Get the ball back. That's why we either dominate the play or look clueless and as you say I think a few managers have worked this out.

 

[trueblue]

Kishishev cropped up in our chats post-match last night too. That was exactly the sort of scenario last season where he would have come on and steadied the ship with his experience. Not easy to replace that but Navarro would be the most likely to do a job.

 

[Icy Gull]

. That's why we either dominate the play or look clueless and as you say I think a few managers have worked this out.

Worryingly MOST managers seem to be working it out now. IMO we were lucky to beat Peterborough and we haven't really turned in a 90 minute performance at home all season, so we have been out of sorts for quite a while now with our ability to score goals masking a somewhat lightweight and dodgy defence and midfield.

Positives? Well not playing at Withdean is a massive one for me.

 

[terryberry1]

Liam Bridcutt, only player who actually gave a shit. And superb tackle for the yellow card

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

Very good post. My own opinion having watched nearly all the games this season is that we are missing a real leader in the middle of the park. Someone to get hold of the ball and organise around him. When we start to lose the ball no one seems to be able to get hold of it and get the pattern going again. I think we’ve looked better when Navarro has played with Bridcutt because I think he can do what Kishishev did last season and what Dicker and Harley can’t. Get the ball back. That's why we either dominate the play or look clueless and as you say I think a few managers have worked this out.

Just some observations from my viewings this season:
Our game is about retaining possession and thereby minimising the opposition's opportunities. If our back four is pressurised then at some point Greer is going to go for a high risk 70m diagonal ball where we're likely to lose possession - sometimes he does this when we're not under pressure, Ankergran will probably decide or may have to hoof it to a forward line that is geered to the ball generally being played on the ground - normal result is as per Greer. Painter is likely to play the ball short to one of Dunk/Greer/Ankergran a couple of times per game which normally leads to either defensive anxt, possible goalkeeper intervention (shop stopping) or lost possession as the ball is hoofed out. Only Dunk or Calderon are likely to take the ball out of defence at their feet and then play it on the ground but Calde is likely to end up way in the opposition's half - great offensively but sometimes the cover isn't too brilliant if the move goes tits-up. He's not the greatest defensive right back either but it's on the other side where we often struggle as Painter is being got at regularly by anyone with a bit of speed. It doesn't help that he often doesn't have any LH midfield cover in front of him to slow the opposition down but that's how Gus wants to play so it's his call. What Painter needs are more co-operative opposition managers (like at Bristol City) who'll take their right winger off if he gets troublesome.

 

[el_ciddy]

Only positive is that Palarse didn't beat us when we were playing any where near our best.

 

[xenophon]

Team P W D L F A W D L F A GD PTS
1 Southampton 8 4 0 0 11 4 2 1 1 9 6 10 19
2 Derby 9 3 1 1 10 4 3 0 1 4 3 7 19
3 Middlesbrough 8 1 3 0 6 4 4 0 0 7 1 8 18
4 West Ham 9 2 1 2 7 7 3 1 0 9 1 8 17
5 Brighton 9 2 2 1 10 9 3 0 1 5 2 4 17
6 Hull 9 2 0 2 2 2 2 2 1 5 6 -1 14
7 Peterborough 9 3 0 1 11 4 1 1 3 6 9 4 13
8 Cardiff 8 2 1 1 6 4 1 3 0 4 3 3 13
9 Crystal Palace 9 2 1 1 5 3 2 0 3 7 7 2 13
10 Blackpool 9 2 1 1 5 3 1 3 1 6 6 2 13
11 Ipswich 9 2 0 2 7 7 2 1 2 5 9 -4 13
12 Leicester 8 2 0 2 5 6 1 3 0 4 3 0 12
13 Leeds 8 3 0 1 9 5 0 2 2 7 10 1 11
14 Reading 9 1 1 2 5 6 2 1 2 6 5 0 11
15 Watford 9 1 1 3 4 9 1 3 0 5 3 -3 10
16 Burnley 8 1 3 1 9 7 1 0 2 3 5 0 9
17 Portsmouth 9 2 1 2 5 5 0 2 2 5 7 -2 9
18 Barnsley 9 0 2 2 3 6 1 4 0 4 3 -2 9
19 Birmingham 7 2 1 0 5 1 0 1 3 5 11 -2 8
20 Nott'm Forest 9 0 2 2 4 8 2 0 3 5 10 -9 8
21 Coventry 9 1 3 1 5 4 0 1 3 2 7 -4 7
22 Millwall 9 1 3 0 4 2 0 1 4 3 11 -6 7
23 Bristol City 9 0 2 3 3 8 1 1 2 5 7 -7 6
24 Doncaster 9 1 2 2 3 4 0 0 4 1 9 -9 5