Oscar - We played well

[Brighton Breezy]

That's fair comment but I wouldn't expect Oscar's style (whatever that may prove to be) to be stamped all over his team after just ten matches, especially with so many key players out injured.

Completely fair response. I am disappointed with how things are going but not going to call for Oscar's head based on ten matches with key players missing.

However, I am concerned that our squad is perhaps not able to play the higher tempo, less touches on the ball style Oscar SEEMS to be trying to put in place. The slower build up under Poyet may have suited some better.

Will have to wait and see.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Four shots on target isn't great.

On the bright(er) side, it was four more than we had at Ipswich....

EDIT: Just seen that Walt made the same point. Apologies.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

On the bright(er) side, it was four more than we had at Ipswich....

EDIT: Just seen that Walt made the same point. Apologies.

Great minds...

We also only managed two against Bolton despite scoring three goals (the own goal not counting as a shot on target from us).

So in the Bolton, Ipswich and Wednesday games we managed a total of SIX shots on goal.

 

[pigbite]

I was frustrated last night. I am concerned that another performance like that on Saturday will be punished far more severely by Forest. I look at the next few weeks with the absence of Ulloa, Bridcutt, CMS etc. as a period with much less opportunity to regain lost ground. You can look at the performances of players like Spanish as well below expectations.

Having said all that, I am not that pessimistic about the season in general however.

We have a new manger and new players. We have injuries to key players. We lost Bridge who was a key part of the reason we got to where we did last season. The events of the summer have had their consequences. It would be a miracle for the team to just maintain the momentum of last season let alone power on to set the pace this season.

We might have slipped back beyond some the expectations of some but we are not that bad. The reality is that if we can avoid completely imploding then we have to look at this season as time for rebuilding. Can we really expect that with events of the past few months we are likely to be in a position where we are pushing for promotion from day one?

Things may not start improving now until December, especially with Ulloa injured, but if we don't drop down too far then a decent run would see the position change considerably. Don't forget as well that only a few days ago we saw arguably the best 5 minutes of football ever seen at the Amex.

Simply put we all need to keep our peckers up. Things could be a hell of a lot worse. We could be in the PL getting stuffed week in week out just like Palace.

 

[Diego Napier]

On the website this was his take on the game. I am sorry, if that was playing well I hate to think what we will be like if we play badly. I could accept it if he came out and said we played badly and will work hard to get it right, but not one player came out of the game with any credit and we looked like a team that hadn't played together before. Professional footballers should be able to pass the ball four yards we couldn't even get that right. I hope he plays Ince on Saturday and moves Andrews into a more attacking role, but I doubt it he seems to want to shoehorn Bruno in somewhere. Don't be surprised if he is in goal on Saturday.

"Oscar Garcia admitted he would be more concerned if his side were not creating opportunities following the 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

Albion were staring at a second straight defeat until Keith Andrews struck in the 89th minute, but the Spaniard reiterated that his players must be more clinical in their finishing.

Oscar told seagulls.co.uk, “I would be more worried if we didn’t have these chances to score but that is not the case in the games that we have had so far.

“All season we have had many chances to score and we have to improve that. It is not easy to improve as it cannot happen overnight but for sure it is something that we must do.

“When you have seven or eight very clear chances to score you cannot be happy with saving a point.

“They only needed one half-chance to score while it took us seven or eight to get our goal.

“I don’t know why we are not clinical but it is not down to confidence. The most important thing is that we play well and continue to create these chances.”

In your disappointment about the result you've misquoted (or more accurately, lied) about what he said to suite your own agenda. There were period in the first half where we made Wednesday look very poor; if our saviour Ulloa and sadly off the boil Spanish Dave had had more composure we'd've been 2 goals up in the first half hour.

To state that not one player deserved any credit demonstrates that you variously suffer from extreme myopia, do not have a clue about football and are quite plainly a simpleton of the lowest order.
​

 

[Goldstone1976]

Great minds...

We also only managed two against Bolton despite scoring three goals (the own goal not counting as a shot on target from us).

So in the Bolton, Ipswich and Wednesday games we managed a total of SIX shots on goal.

And scored 3/6, which is a pretty good strike rate. So, if we need to be "clinical" in front of goal, do we think that Oscar means that the last ball needs to be better (KLL crosses for example) or that the player making the shot needs to get more on target?

 

[Brighton Breezy]

And scored 3/6, which is a pretty good strike rate. So, if we need to be "clinical" in front of goal, do we think that Oscar means that the last ball needs to be better (KLL crosses for example) or that the player making the shot needs to get more on target?

A mix of the two I think. Those stats are only for shots ON GOAL. Not total shots. I don't know those but imagine we are having a lot more than we are hitting the target with but equally struggling to make too many clear cut chances considering the possession we are enjoying (almost 65 per cent last night).

 

[Goldstone1976]

A mix of the two I think. Those stats are only for shots ON GOAL. Not total shots. I don't know those but imagine we are having a lot more than we are hitting the target with but equally struggling to make too many clear cut chances considering the possession we are enjoying (almost 65 per cent last night).

Yep. Some of the off target shots have been woeful: 2 last night, Crofts at Ipswich for example. Statistically, had those three been on target (which they all should have been), we'd have scored one or two goals and, crucially, taken the lead in both the Ipswich and Wed games.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

This four shots on target is **** IMO. In the first half we missed three SITTERS. Ulloa clean through, Dave was clean through and somehow couldn't control the ball, and Crofts should have buried his chance that was blocked. Barnes also missed a sitter in the second half from Lua Lua's cutback, and we had numerous other half chances. We should have been three up at half-time, and winning that game by three or four would have been a fair result.

Unfortunately the problems of last season remain - we're just not clinical

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Sheffield Wednesday should have been 2 nil down after 20 minutes. Statistics don't always tell a true story in the last few matches , LuaLua hits the crossbar which is counted as a shot off target , McGoldrick hits the crossbar which is counted as a shot on target. LuaLua and Lopez have had attempts which grazed the posts but these are recorded as off target too.

 

[Bold Seagull]

This four shots on target is **** IMO. In the first half we missed three SITTERS. Ulloa clean through, Dave was clean through and somehow couldn't control the ball, and Crofts should have buried his chance that was blocked. Barnes also missed a sitter in the second half from Lua Lua's cutback, and we had numerous other half chances. We should have been three up at half-time, and winning that game by three or four would have been a fair result.

Unfortunately the problems of last season remain - we're just not clinical

Andrews volley second half as well. I do agree with you, it wasn't a great display, but even so, we created enough to win the game comfortably in my opinion. Such as the margins in football that they score from about their only meaningful attack after the ball has gone out, but we couldn't take our chances, and suddenly everyone is rubbish, we're poor, tactically inept and a long ball team. Long ball teams don't have 63% possession in a game of football...

 

[Tooting Gull]

Indeed. He may well be a good coach ( as a manager the jury's has to be still out) but so far he must be one of the dullest Albion managers. He's like a robot on skunk. He never says anything remotely interesting and when there are genuinely serious questions about the team and style of play which need addressing, not to even try and engage is just not good enough.

Agree with this. In life it should be all about what you do, not what you say. Sadly, as we all know, it's not that simple. Oscar should be judged as a coach, and on results (and though early days that isn't going brilliantly either). But his press conferences are his opportunity to communicate to Brighton fans and the wider football world, and he just isn't doing that bit of the job, secondary as it is. His English is fine. But Paul Camillin or someone needs to have a word and tell him to give a bit more because it is part of the job. He doesn't have to be like Gus, or some Tim Vine-stylee gag-smith. Just answer proper, relevant questions with more than one-word answers.

 

[drew]

If we had taken our chance in the first half we could and should easily have been 3 or 4 nil up at half time, so I can see where he is coming from.

Have to agree with this. Wednesday rode their luck which included Upson not seeing the ball out and Wednesday scoring as a result. Also, losing Ulloa just 5 minutes after Buckley coming on was again bad luck on us. How many times did Poyet make changes at half time that wasn't like for like? As for the line up, the only real disappointment was that Ince wasn't starting. Not sure what he has done after the Bolton game to warrant being dropped. The only reason I can see is to accommodate Bruno. Personally, would rather have seen Ince playing and, if we aren't going to start with Buckley, playing Lopez a bit wider on the right.

 

[Badger]

This four shots on target is **** IMO. In the first half we missed three SITTERS. Ulloa clean through, Dave was clean through and somehow couldn't control the ball, and Crofts should have buried his chance that was blocked. Barnes also missed a sitter in the second half from Lua Lua's cutback, and we had numerous other half chances. We should have been three up at half-time, and winning that game by three or four would have been a fair result.

Unfortunately the problems of last season remain - we're just not clinical

This is exactly what I was thinking, we were beating their offside trap for fun in the first half and if we'd put only a couple (maybe even just one) of those chances away this board would have a completely different feeling this morning. We still have finishing issues and haven't signed a player to solve them over the summer.

 

[Brighton Breezy]

Scoring chances is a big part of playing well.

 

[Billy the Fish]

What do people expect him to say?

Poyet got slagged off for being too honest and sharing his opinions with the press too much. Oscar is getting slagged off for doing the opposite, they really can't win can they.

Nobody thinks he really believes we played well do they? Mabye his style of man management is not to say "yeah we couldn't string two passes together and spanish dave, bruno and Kemy all looked like they had their left and right feet surgically removed and swapped round before the game" in the post match interview.

Yes the generic answers are dull as anything, but if that's his way then we have to accept it.

 

[Hamilton]

"Oscar Garcia admitted he would be more concerned if his side were not creating opportunities following the 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday.

Albion were staring at a second straight defeat until Keith Andrews struck in the 89th minute, but the Spaniard reiterated that his players must be more clinical in their finishing.

Oscar told seagulls.co.uk, “I would be more worried if we didn’t have these chances to score but that is not the case in the games that we have had so far.

“All season we have had many chances to score and we have to improve that. It is not easy to improve as it cannot happen overnight but for sure it is something that we must do.

“When you have seven or eight very clear chances to score you cannot be happy with saving a point.

“They only needed one half-chance to score while it took us seven or eight to get our goal.

“I don’t know why we are not clinical but it is not down to confidence. The most important thing is that we play well and continue to create these chances.”

In your disappointment about the result you've misquoted (or more accurately, lied) about what he said to suite your own agenda. There were period in the first half where we made Wednesday look very poor; if our saviour Ulloa and sadly off the boil Spanish Dave had had more composure we'd've been 2 goals up in the first half hour.

To state that not one player deserved any credit demonstrates that you variously suffer from extreme myopia, do not have a clue about football and are quite plainly a simpleton of the lowest order.
​

Cheers Diego. I don't have time to go checking all the news stories, so it's great to see a post like this that states the real things that were said.

 

[Mellotron]

Completely fair response. I am disappointed with how things are going but not going to call for Oscar's head based on ten matches with key players missing.

However, I am concerned that our squad is perhaps not able to play the higher tempo, less touches on the ball style Oscar SEEMS to be trying to put in place. The slower build up under Poyet may have suited some better.

Will have to wait and see.

If you want to play Gus's style but FASTER, you need BETTER players. It's not rocket science. If Gus had had the players to play the same style but faster, I believe he would've done so.

 

[Hamilton]

We didn't play well last night - I think everyone is agreed on that.

There's no point in worrying. We are 10 games in and we are resetting. This is not going to be a promotion year and nobody is really expecting that (in my view).

Oscar is obviously trying to marry the passing game with a more direct approach as well. We're not there yet. The players aren't there yet. We will be.

 

[Goldstone1976]

If you want to play Gus's style but FASTER, you need BETTER players. It's not rocket science.

Excellent point.

It's worse than that though. Oscar wants to play faster AND in a more attack-minded way. Better players squared required. Aside from the younger players (say <25), is it remotely possible to coach them to get that much better?