Posh v Albion

[Bozza]

Shame to have the same argument over and over again - to say these games are meaningless flies in the face of any kind of common sense, they are indeed glorified training sessions but training sessions are not in themselves meaningless either, they are the best gauge we have of players' current progress. Progress that could spurt forward or stall, at any time from now - of course..

That's largely my view too. I completely agree that results do not matter, however performances do. Hyypia won't be sending players out in pre-seasons with the instruction to just run about a bit, not to get injured and play as if they possess limited technical ability.

Additionally players will be trying to impress the new manager, and attempting to put in performances that give them a chance of a starting eleven position on August 9th.

 

[perseus]

To all the doom and gloomers I thought there were some encouraging signs. For most of my life watching the Albion passing the ball and trapping it was a bit of lottery. This is what I look for in a friendly pre-season game, the basics. The defence went AWOL twice and I am glad this happend in a friendly and not against Sheffield Wednesday.

The football was easy on the eye and regaining possession was good.

After the Derby away match I really had concerns about our left hand side and we need to sign some left footers. Rohan Ince has a certain style in midfield which is very visual, but I do not know how effective this will be in a proper match. His passing has improved, all on the right foot, but this is OK because of his physcal presence. Attack is more varied without Ulloa, sometimes a bit quick and telegraphed. I have doubts whether this style will be quite so effective against the bruising sides I expect in the Championship next season.

It was more like Poyet than Oscar which I am pleased about. It took Rodgers quite a bit of time to get Liverpool playing his style, but I think it will be quicker with the Albion as Poyet established the foundations of a passing style. I am glad Upson is gone. After the boob passing to MacArthur in the Wigan game and the penalty given away against Derby, I wanted a change.

I think getting the right players is a rather difficult job and some of the signings in the last two years were done in a bit of a rush: Harley, Vincalot, Dobbie, Vokes etc. So better than we take our time, better we get no-one than a duff. (small case)

A small rider is sometime we played attractive football without hurting the opposition under Poyet and we need a bit more incisiveness. Kemy Agustien may come into his own when trying to break down two banks of four in deep defence at the Amex. Friendlies never indicate how we will get on in this respect. I don't want to see Macca falling over and keep and claiming for a foul.

 

[Mackenzie]

An improvement on Crawley. O'Grady a big plus. Plenty of business to be done in the next couple of weeks.

Exciting times!

 

[footychick]

Still find it very surreal to watch a match on screen with no commentary, and just the occasional bit of crowd noise as it's only a friendly

It was strange when you were actually there as you could hear the players and managers shouting to each other

 

[footychick]

Drinks break? It's not that bloody hot.

It bloody was! I was stuck to my seat haha.

 

[TSB]

There are many on here that need to get a grip on reality.

 

[algie]

There are many on here that need to get a grip on reality.

Can you explain what reality is? We have 21k season ticket holders to keep happy. We have just sold our best player and another one in Jan. We have released a good handful of senior pros and so far replaced them with 3 average players(on paper) Recent friendlies i've watched via stream have been nothing but shocking. I'm still trying to work out our style.
On the plus side our training ground is complete and we have cat 1 status. That is brilliant i must say. Also the emergence of Goodwin this season.
Ultimately though the buck stops what goes on the pitch. The team looks threadbare and more worryingly the coaching of our players. Only a couple of weeks away from our first game and we really don't look ready/prepared yet.

 

[Ralphingtonpuss]

The positives from yesterday for me were:-
Dunk....class
Fenelon...looking good going forward and tracking back
Crofts...midfield was stronger and more meaningful with him
The sun was out and living 200 miles from Brighton I got too see the Albion play [emoji41]

 

[algie]

The positives from yesterday for me were:-
Dunk....class
Fenelon...looking good going forward and tracking back
Crofts...midfield was stronger and more meaningful with him
The sun was out and living 200 miles from Brighton I got too see the Albion play [emoji41]

Forgot about Crofty. I'm delighted he is back after that type of injury. He is a very important player for us.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Can you explain what reality is? We have 21k season ticket holders to keep happy. We have just sold our best player and another one in Jan. We have released a good handful of senior pros and so far replaced them with 3 average players(on paper) Recent friendlies i've watched via stream have been nothing but shocking. I'm still trying to work out our style.
On the plus side our training ground is complete and we have cat 1 status. That is brilliant i must say. Also the emergence of Goodwin this season.
Ultimately though the buck stops what goes on the pitch. The team looks threadbare and more worryingly the coaching of our players. Only a couple of weeks away from our first game and we really don't look ready/prepared yet.

I see people saying the players need preseason, time to get ready, or prepare, and yet, Ulloa arrived in January with no time to gel/prepare and scored against Arsenal in his very first game.
Likewise, Reading bought Jason Roberts in January who fired them up to promotion, without any preparation time. If a player is good enough, then he'll fit into a team and bring that quality with him, no matter when he is signed.

 

[algie]

I see people saying the players need preseason, time to get ready, or prepare, and yet, Ulloa arrived in January with no time to gel/prepare and scored against Arsenal in his very first game.
Likewise, Reading bought Jason Roberts in January who fired them up to promotion, without any preparation time. If a player is good enough, then he'll fit into a team and bring that quality with him, no matter when he is signed.

You are talking about an individual player,bit different when you need half a new team.

 

[TSB]

Can you explain what reality is? We have 21k season ticket holders to keep happy. We have just sold our best player and another one in Jan. We have released a good handful of senior pros and so far replaced them with 3 average players(on paper) Recent friendlies i've watched via stream have been nothing but shocking. I'm still trying to work out our style.
On the plus side our training ground is complete and we have cat 1 status. That is brilliant i must say. Also the emergence of Goodwin this season.
Ultimately though the buck stops what goes on the pitch. The team looks threadbare and more worryingly the coaching of our players. Only a couple of weeks away from our first game and we really don't look ready/prepared yet.

Glad you've identified yourself as needing a reality check, sir.
It was a reasonable friendly performance yesterday and, had the defence not gone missing twice, we should have won the game.
The improvement in performance from Wednesday to Saturday was such that if similar improvement is made by Thursday, we'll beat Saints.
New management-some new players-new tactics. It will take time to look like a cohesive unit. That's the reality.

Yes, we need more quality in certain areas (notably at left back and in goal) and yes, we may start the season a little slow.
Some comments on here, however, entertain the notion that we'll be scrapping against relegation. Those are who need a firmer grip on reality.

Oh and the three signings we've made are not average. Not on paper or in person.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

You are talking about an individual player,bit different when you need half a new team.

Two examples of quality players, which says to me, that if you're good enough, it doesn't matter when you join the team.
Another example is Elliott Bennett, who joined us near the end of August.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

That's largely my view too. I completely agree that results do not matter, however performances do. Hyypia won't be sending players out in pre-seasons with the instruction to just run about a bit, not to get injured and play as if they possess limited technical ability.

Additionally players will be trying to impress the new manager, and attempting to put in performances that give them a chance of a starting eleven position on August 9th.

I agree. I'm sure both Kemy, Crofts and Hyypia see them as anything but pointless, all for different reasons of course.

 

[tigertim68]

Glad you've identified yourself as needing a reality check, sir.
It was a reasonable friendly performance yesterday and, had the defence not gone missing twice, we should have won the game.
The improvement in performance from Wednesday to Saturday was such that if similar improvement is made by Thursday, we'll beat Saints.
New management-some new players-new tactics. It will take time to look like a cohesive unit. That's the reality.

Yes, we need more quality in certain areas (notably at left back and in goal) and yes, we may start the season a little slow.
Some comments on here, however, entertain the notion that we'll be scrapping against relegation. Those are who need a firmer grip on reality.

Oh and the three signings we've made are not average. Not on paper or in person.

i think you need a reality check if you think we will beat saints , the team at the moment is playing awful , season starts week on saturday all i can see is a struggling team . we have sold or got rid of our best players and replaced them with lesser players , recipe for a relegation scrape .

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

i think you need a reality check if you think we will beat saints , the team at the moment is playing awful , season starts week on saturday all i can see is a struggling team . we have sold or got rid of our best players and replaced them with lesser players , recipe for a relegation scrape .

By the time we play Saints on Thursday they might have lost 6 or 7 players from last season's 1st team squad. Expect a game where both sides are "gelling together" newly assembled starting 11s and tactics.

 

[TSB]

i think you need a reality check if you think we will beat saints , the team at the moment is playing awful , season starts week on saturday all i can see is a struggling team . we have sold or got rid of our best players and replaced them with lesser players , recipe for a relegation scrape .

I'm frankly amazed by your response. You've been so positive about our transfer dealings this summer and the direction the club is heading in.
I can only assume that you're having an off day, Tim.

 

[Quinny]

By the time we play Saints on Thursday they might have lost 6 or 7 players from last season's 1st team squad. Expect a game where both sides are "gelling together" newly assembled starting 11s and tactics.

Thing is they will be shopping at Harrods, Brighton will be shopping at Poundland

 

[Ernest]

Failure to complete a takeover is apparently the problem there. Nigel's not optimistic, I hear. Shame.

They're not having much luck with completing take overs