[Albion] Olympique de Marseille vs Brighton & Hove Albion *** Official Match Thread ***

[BN41Albion]

Great stuff - glad we've got something out of this run of six games; now a last effort at the weekend before the break.

Going to be tough but at least Liverpool are also playing tonight - they often start very sluggishly after European games according to my scouse mate (who is a scouse)

 

[The Wookiee]

Dahoud ?- sorry just hasn’t impressed me at all so far - he looks slow and out of his depth - doesn’t seem to have read the memo yet.

I don’t recall MacAllister having the best of starts when he came into the first team ??

I truly believe Dahoud and Baleba will be our MacAllister and Caicedo this season- get the dodgy bedding in performances in early doors and watch them shine when it matters in the business end of things

 

[Silverhatch]

Yeah Dunk I'm afraid. Didn't look good.

Didn’t Dunk get hit by something from the crowd? Looked concussed.

 

[Seagull58]

Dahoud doesn't do enough with or without the ball. He must work harder to show for the ball when we are playing out. We were much better when Billy G came on and was asking for the ball all the time.

 

[Zeberdi]

But Dahoud should not be a starter at the minute. Need more steel in the middle, or at least Billy who was prepared to show for the ball all the time

Not just that, but the way I see it is that our DM is the transition area to the attacking sequences when receiving the ball from passes out out at the back - therefore our DMs require not just good defensive intelligence but be naturally very attack-minded and have excellent spatial and positional awareness this Billy G has in buckets -

- however that alone is not enough, it also requires a thorough understanding of where every other player is, where they will be running into and what their role is - Gilmour finally has that after a patchy last season - without those skills, the double pivot doesn’t work as well and our de Zerbi- specific attacking sequences reach a MF block of opposition forwards who dispossess us ( if not directly on 1:2:1, then in picking up the second ball) - Which happened repeatedly in the first half - OM then counter attacked very high allowing them to take advantage of the De Zerbi ball vulnerability in defence.

Practice practice practice …we’ll get there with most of the newer players but it’s a learning curve and unfortunately rotation into the lineup is the only way they will get there.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Dahoud doesn't do enough with or without the ball. He must work harder to show for the ball when we are playing out. We were much better when Billy G came on and was asking for the ball all the time.

He was very weak and slow when closing down in the phase of play before their first goal.

Lots of work to be done with him but he was a ‘free’. I think he’ll come good next year but for now, Groß and Gilmour are a level or two above him.

 

[Guinness Boy]

First half was terrible if you're honest. They set up narrow and and we didn't seem to have an answer to it. Mitoma looked like he couldn't care less, bottled one 50/50 completely and ducked a header. Dahood was awful. And both their goals were shocking defensively from us - the first as a team, the second individual errors.

Second was way, way, better. We believed in ourselves, ignored the crowd, showed some big, big balls and the confidence came back. Best of all RDZ worked out how Marseille had worked us out.

Draw away is a triffic result and the group is wide open. I do have real concerns about HOW we're playing at the moment. Fewer changes but making sure we don't play players carrying knocks though. Not easy and I'm glad it's RDZ's problem.

 

[Gazwag]

Didn’t Dunk get hit by something from the crowd? Looked concussed.

I'm not sure, one of their players got booked the same time so I wondered if he was clattered by him after the goal

 

[Triggaaar]

I’m not in agreement with those who are complaining about us “not turning up” in the first half.

We put out what we thought was the right formation and tactics, as did the opposition. We can make minor changes mid-match, but to make significant alterations requires everyone together in the dressing room.

If, as a group, we have the opportunity to spend more time together, we’ll start getting our starting tactics right more often than not, but we have lost our central midfield, and we’re currently fashioning a new one, which in turn creates uncertainty for all our players.

We were better in the second half, but we were still there and fighting in the first. We have to give the team time to adjust. So proud of our players tonight. I hope everyone who’s got out there to support them has a fantastic night too.

I agree. Marseille played well in the first half, everything worked for them going forward, and were in not for a Dunk brain fart and Welbs fuckup we could have (slightly undeservedly) gone in 1-1. They did deserve a lead, but maybe a 1 goal lead would have been more reflective of the game.

We then did brilliantly to come back from 2 down in our first ever European tour match, against a decent side. I feel pretty good (although I am in absolute shock that some people here still have no idea what the offside rule is).

 

[tigertim68]

Great turn around, if only we'd nicked one before half time I think we'd have gone on to win it.

We clearly are struggling in midfield at the minute, I wonder if it's worth trying to play 3 centre mids in a 3-5-2. Need some more presence.

Shout outs to Veltman and Lamptey, the two MOTM for me.

This is what I said after the Villa match , make us more solid at the back and in midfield

 

[BN41Albion]

Very much looking forward to Ronald's vlog of this one - should be a cracker!

 

[birthofanorange]

When will we be able to watch this?

We didn't win, sadly.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Argh. So disappointing again. We appear to have absolutely no ability to defend. Such simple goals we give away time after time. We are non existent as soon as we lose the ball, just acres of space and time for the opposition. We're physically weak and don't play with any intensity.

It's making things very difficult for us - we have to be at our absolute best on the ball if we are to have any chance to overcome our uselessness without the ball.

We're really missing Caicedo and Ally Mac.

They’ve moved on. You should too.

 

[Weststander]

Difficult without MacA/Caicedo, but imho we need to get back to being decent defensively. Too many errors, telegraphed passes.

But great that we're still a creative force.

Praying that no more injuries.

 

[Justice]

Dahood just before he was subbed completely bottled a 50/50 which they could have benefited from. I was happy to give him time although that was upsetting.

 

[essbee1]

Very much looking forward to Ronald's vlog of this one - should be a cracker!

ooh la, la!!!

 

[Guinness Boy]

They’ve moved on.

Without being adequately replaced. Dahood isn't up to it and Baleba isn't being played. And we haven't really replaced Mwepu either and we got nothing for him, poor lad.

Potter had Bissouma, Caicedo, Mwepu and MacAllister available to him and played all four in his big winning streak that everyone suddenly thought made him a genius, RDZ is trying to wring out domestic and European football with worse.

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

Dahood just before he was subbed completely bottled a 50/50 which they could have benefited from. I was happy to give him time although that was upsetting.

Just after Dunks great block

 

[The Fits]

Without being adequately replaced. Dahood isn't up to it and Baleba isn't being played. And we haven't really replaced Mwepu either and we got nothing for him, poor lad.

Potter had Bissouma, Caicedo, Mwepu and MacAllister available to him and played all four in his big winning streak that everyone suddenly thought made him a genius, RDZ is trying to wring out domestic and European football with worse.

Looking increasingly like a once in a lifetime midfield.

 

[heathgate]

They’ve moved on. You should too.

But the effin team hasn't....