[Albion] Solly March back in an Albion matchday squad?

[brighton_tom]

Great to see him back! Love Solly!

 

[Hamilton]

Delighted to see him back. Fantastic. But I’m not expecting to see him tear down the wing again. Think we’ll see a different Solly.

 

[LamieRobertson]

From the bbc website

The headlines could have forgotten about the Pedro incident, if the returning Solly March, on for the last few minutes after being out of action for 14 months following a serious knee injury, had converted a late opportunity when given time to shoot from the edge of the box.
In October 2023, he suffered a serious knee injury late on during Brighton's 2-1 loss away at Manchester City and was named among the substitutes for the first time this season.
He received a standing ovation as he came on but his effort in the 94th minute went well over the bar.
"I had a bit too much time and a bit too much thinking," March told Amazon Prime. "I just changed my mind a few times too many. I should have just gone with first instinct across goal."
Talking about his return to action, he added: "It has been a long time coming. It has been a tough 14 months or so, a long road and there's still a way to go to get my match fitness where it needs to be.
"It's different in training, one or two runs and I was blowing. The more minutes I get, the better I will get and hopefully I'll get back to where I was.
"It has been tough. It's my third serious injury now. Every time you do it then it will take longer but I've had great support behind me. I want to be playing every week and scoring goals."

 

[Justice]

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[Uh_huh_him]

It was emotional.
Hopefully he will get another 15 minutes against Villa and 45-60 against Norwich.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Was no-one else concerned about Solly being so slow in running that it seemed to mè he must have re-injured himself seconds after entering the pitch...??

Obviously he was fine and just gave a fascinating insight to the pace of a Premier League game and normal athleticism of players when up-to-speed...

 

[WATFORD zero]

What a moment that so nearly was

 

[pb21]

Hürzeler et al must be very confident in March's form/fitness to bring him on yesterday in that scenario; bodes very well.

 

[Han Solo]

Was no-one else concerned about Solly being so slow in running that it seemed to mè he must have re-injured himself seconds after entering the pitch...??

Obviously he was fine and just gave a fascinating insight to the pace of a Premier League game and normal athleticism of players when up-to-speed...

Nopes, no desire from me to make things up to get worried or sad.
He looked his usual self Only needed a few touches on the ball to show that he is still better than a lot of our players.

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Nopes, no desire from me to make things up to get worried or sad.
He looked his usual self Only needed a few touches on the ball to show that he is still better than a lot of our players.

Agreed, it was lovely to see Solly's unique touch and treatment of the ball at his feet. If he had scored in front of me in the North Stand at the end it would have been a dream and straight in Top 10 Albion Moments across 47 years attending matches.

He was, however, obviously, extremely off the pace of the game and one of his early attempts to run 20 metres as fast as he could was terrifyingly slow. I honestly thought he must have been at best nursing his previous injury rather than just experiencing a normal lack of match fitness issue.

I'm very glad I was completely wrong.

 

[Triggaaar]

Was no-one else concerned about Solly being so slow in running that it seemed to mè he must have re-injured himself seconds after entering the pitch...??

Yes. He was 'chasing' back and I think I could have outrun him.

Obviously he was fine and just gave a fascinating insight to the pace of a Premier League game and normal athleticism of players when up-to-speed...

Oh. I understand needing to be match fit to last a game, keep running, changing direction, running etc, but he should be able to run at speed for the short time he was on. Athletes manage to run world record times simply by training before an event, so I'm not sure why a footballer can't be able to run quickly after enough training. He looked like he couldn't run at all.

 

[Zeberdi]

Nopes, no desire from me to make things up to get worried or sad.
He looked his usual self Only needed a few touches on the ball to show that he is still better than a lot of our players.

He looked exhausted after the final whistle.

So good to see him back and he immediately made an impact showing no limitations in his movements or speed but no way is his condition near 90 minutes competition level yet. That could take the rest of the season to build up.

Norwich maybe for longer.

 

[A mex eyecan]

It was absolutely brilliant to see our Solly back. Good on you fella.

 

[Triggaaar]

So good to see him back and he immediately made an impact showing no limitations in his movements or speed

Have you got a clip of him running quickly? I only saw him run slowly.

 

[Han Solo]

Have you got a clip of him running quickly? I only saw him run slowly.

Ah come on man have a f***ing word with yourself.

Guy has been back for quite literally five minutes and people are IMMEDIATELY on his back.

ffs.

 

[A mex eyecan]

Have you got a clip of him running quickly? I only saw him run slowly.

not surprised really. Whilst it was great to see him back I did question the wisdom of bringing him on having sat on a cold bench for 85 minutes or so, muscles tighter than they would be if warmer, in a defensive role needing pace to catch opponents and having had such nasty injury/ies. Was quite worried something would go twang or snap and poor sod be back where he was for the last 14 months.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

That was a really good chance, the Brentford defenders were knackered and gave him loads of time. He’ll be disappointed with that effort.

Just brilliant to see him back on the pitch though.

According to Warren Aspinall, on Radio Sussex, on the way home, it took a deflection to lift it over the bar.

 

[Han Solo]

not surprised really. Whilst it was great to see him back I did question the wisdom of bringing him on having sat on a cold bench for 85 minutes or so, muscles tighter than they would be if warmer, in a defensive role needing pace to catch opponents and having had such nasty injury/ies. Was quite worried something would go twang or snap and poor sod be back where he was for the last 14 months.

Yup.

Super super scary to go full intensity in a real game situation when you've been gone 14 months with ACL injury. Sprinting and turning feels very scary and a max sprint feels almost psychologically and physically impossible.

Guy needs more than five minutes before we start moaning about how slow he is etc.

 

[Zeberdi]

Have you got a clip of him running quickly? I only saw him run slowly.

Guess you had to be there if you didn’t see him on camera.

But yes, he put in several short intense runs at the speed I remembered him but obviously not over great distance - the speed is there but not the endurance yet. Clearly it took a lot out of him which is why FH put him in as RB and not as a winger - when he passed after the whistle where I was sitting at the front it looked like he’d done 90 mins not 10 but that’s understandable ffs.

Ah come on man have a f***ing word with yourself.

Guy has been back for quite literally five minutes and people are IMMEDIATELY on his back.

ffs.

This

 

[Justice]

If we had been 3-0 up and cruising sure bring him on, if Brentford had broke and scored because of his fitness levels then it would have been one of the stupidest subs made. FH got lucky dumb decision though with the game at 0-0.