[Albion] “The fight has gone out of Brighton”

[DavidinSouthampton]

It seems to me we are just incapable of beating the press. When teams let us have the ball we have time to progress up the field and retain possession. When we are heavily pressed we either rush passes that don’t find the recipient or we get bullied out of possession as we are too lightweight.

We have seen this so clearly in the last 3 fixtures especially as the high press is part of the style of both Liverpool and Huddersfield. We are either not technically gifted enough to move the ball quicker to beat the press or we need more time on the training ground to practice these situations

Beating the Press? I don't think we can blame this on the Daily Mail.

 

[raymondo]

I know you didn't mean that, and agree that some need rotating, especially the CM three -- Stephens, Propper and Gross -- who at least earlier in the season were all in the top ten of distance covered in the whole of the PL. We rotate forwards and wingers within games, and CH has rotated Bong and Suttner between games.
The goalkeeper and CBs are, however, a step too far, which is why I said what I did. They've been very good this season, all three of them. Duffy really had a poor game yesterday (he was by no means alone in that), and when pressed consistently by the opposition, his shortcomings as a footballer -- rather than bricks through walls defender -- are exposed. It's that, far more than fitness or rotation, that yesterday indicated.

I take your point, and I agree that Dunk, Duffy and Ryan have played really well overall. There are just a couple of things that worry me [, yep, I know there are many things... but keeping on this topic]. A number of posters observe that Ryan doesn't really command his box: it's perhaps his only weakness, as he's a great shot-stopper. It's probably not a massive problem when D and D are 100% on their game, but they can't be expected to be every game, and they will almost certainly get injured or suspended at some point. So, although I agree with you that, ideally, the defensive unit stays the same, at some point we'll most likely be forced into a change so maybe its better to give D or D the occasional rest before then, and get the bench up to speed a bit. And, maybe, Krul will command his box more and perhaps take some pressure off D and D [or whoever]. Yes, it could all backfire. [It's a constant frustration that we seem to let in many goals from set pieces, even though we have great height in the team, D, D, B, P, S, M ... but I guess that's another topic].

 

[Weststander]

Would that be the same Burnley team that played in the Premier League last season, narrowly staying in the division (mainly thanks to the incompetence of the relegated teams) despite looking a bit 'leggy', and now feel themselves up to speed?


Would that be the same Man City who have only had to chase about 3 or 4 games all season whereas in others have cantered home by 4, 5, 6, and even 7 goals?

This.

The same Man C who have opponents on the run a round and can select from 22 world or CL class players.

 

[Bold Seagull]

And incidentally, Burnley players don't get rotated and don't get tired. If your lot are tired, your fitness staff need looking at.

There is tiredness of the mind as well as the body. Burnley had similar runs last season when you lost 5 out of 6 November to December, then only picked up 3 points from 7 games February to January. You also only got 4 draws from 16 away games until your trip to Palace. Your team are probably not fitter, or stronger than last season, personnel hasn't changed that much, but your belief has sky rocketed.

I doubt our players are suffering physically to be honest, but confidence, team spirit, positive mindset, self belief all impact hugely on performance. I think that is the tiredness some of ours are suffering from.

 

[fleet]

Late in the day I have just seen the goals from Huddersfield. Seriously if you defend like that then there is no point turning up.

 

[dsr-burnley]

There is tiredness of the mind as well as the body. Burnley had similar runs last season when you lost 5 out of 6 November to December, then only picked up 3 points from 7 games February to January. You also only got 4 draws from 16 away games until your trip to Palace. Your team are probably not fitter, or stronger than last season, personnel hasn't changed that much, but your belief has sky rocketed.

I doubt our players are suffering physically to be honest, but confidence, team spirit, positive mindset, self belief all impact hugely on performance. I think that is the tiredness some of ours are suffering from.

I would agree. But if people tell the players they are tired, especially if it's their own manager who tells them, then they're usually willing to believe it - and that makes them poorer players. Dyche has made it an article of faith that Burnley players can play every league game at least, even if he did make about 7 changes for every cup tie.

I don't know if your manager is telling players they can't play midweek games as well as weekends, but even if it's not, other people telling them that can be damaging. I reckon a player who thinks he's tired is less use than a player who actually is tired but refuses to accept it.

 

[rippleman]

Once/if we do get a striker with pace in January, then I would move Gross into midfield alongside Stephens. Proper seems to only ever show glimpses of class but doesn't ever seem to have much influence on the game. Yesterdays midfield performance was shocking. The best pass of the game for us was Dunk's cross field driven ball in the last 10 mins. If Gross was playing midfield, I do believe we would have a more potent midfield with Stephens playing the holding midfield role.

I wonder whether the issue with Propper is the position he is playing in.

When I have seen him play for his country he seems to play further up the field, and he scores goals. Maybe he is under instruction to just sit?

When we do break / counter attack with the pacy wingers, we don't seem to have anybody breaking from midfield to get into the box. Murray, bless 'im, just can't keep up and I hope Kayal is back to full fitness as the breaking from midfield into the box is something he does well. From what I have seen of him, our Davy does seem to be a class act but I'm not convinced we are using him in a way to bring out the best in him.

If we are going the way of playing without the speedy wingers as we did on Saturday, then moving Propper into a more attacking role might not be a bad option.

 

[JCL666]

So how come teams like Huddersfield can run around like Duracell bunnies for 96 minutes every game they play?

Here's a really simple comparison

https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/166/Show/England-Huddersfield

https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/211/Show/England-Brighton

Ignoring the GK and one defender, if you order by minutes played, within the top 10 Brighton players have played at least an hour more of football.

We aren't rotating players like other teams such as Huddersfield are. We have 6 players who have started EVERY league game this season.

 

[Weststander]

Here's a really simple comparison

https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/166/Show/England-Huddersfield

https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/211/Show/England-Brighton

Ignoring the GK and one defender, if you order by minutes played, within the top 10 Brighton players have played at least an hour more of football.

We aren't rotating players like other teams such as Huddersfield are. We have 6 players who have started EVERY league game this season.

The consequence of Albion's iffy transfer window, leaving a squad lacking numbers in terms of quality. Hudd went on a spending spree and were laughed at on nsc, as were signings such as Mounie and Ince.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I would agree. But if people tell the players they are tired, especially if it's their own manager who tells them, then they're usually willing to believe it - and that makes them poorer players. Dyche has made it an article of faith that Burnley players can play every league game at least, even if he did make about 7 changes for every cup tie.

I don't know if your manager is telling players they can't play midweek games as well as weekends, but even if it's not, other people telling them that can be damaging. I reckon a player who thinks he's tired is less use than a player who actually is tired but refuses to accept it.

I think we're down there with you on the least number of changes made this season.

 

[Questions]

Do you drink now? Would you be 1% better at your job if you didn’t?

After 15 hrs in a cramped car over the weekend and two nights out which included a humongous curry and 20 or so pints of ale and a few burgers and kebabs I’d like to think I was work fit this morning.

I’d like to think that.

Truth is as player/manager so to speak I’m off early to do some paperwork ..... ‘cough’

 

[rippleman]

Here's a really simple comparison

https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/166/Show/England-Huddersfield

https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/211/Show/England-Brighton

Ignoring the GK and one defender, if you order by minutes played, within the top 10 Brighton players have played at least an hour more of football.

We aren't rotating players like other teams such as Huddersfield are. We have 6 players who have started EVERY league game this season.

That will be because we did not recruit sufficient quality in depth in the summer despite us having a few weeks more than Huddersfield to do our recruitment. Now maybe that is because the money wasn't there to build a squad of quality. That's fair enough. But if the money was there to spend, then the manager and recruitment team appear not to have covered themselves in glory by failing to identify and recruit the quality.

January will tell us plenty. Are we a club determined to hold onto our crown jewels and not sell, whilst splashing the cash not only on a striker with pace and can score goals, but to invest in the squad generally. Sell Dunk and/or Duffy in January and I think we know which direction we are heading.

 

[dazzer6666]

That will be because we did not recruit sufficient quality in depth in the summer despite us having a few weeks more than Huddersfield to do our recruitment. Now maybe that is because the money wasn't there to build a squad of quality. That's fair enough. But if the money was there to spend, then the manager and recruitment team appear not to have covered themselves in glory by failing to identify and recruit the quality.

January will tell us plenty. Are we a club determined to hold onto our crown jewels and not sell, whilst splashing the cash not only on a striker with pace and can score goals, but to invest in the squad generally. Sell Dunk and/or Duffy in January and I think we know which direction we are heading.

True. Desperately need some competition/cover for DS/DP too.

Sent from my E5823 using Tapatalk

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Stephens is continually failing to complete simple 5 yard passes to a team mate (yet still gets MoM!). Knocky seems to have retreated into some kind of shell whereby he no longer turns defenders inside out three different ways. Oh, and he no longer contributes a shedload of goals - which covered much of the failure to land a second plausible striker last season . Plus we have a couple of super-duper South Americans (including our record signing) that nobody ever heard of before Wikipedia. Oh, and Izzy Brown aka this season's James Wilson minus the on-pitch vomiting. Oh,and, lest we forget, a horribly lumpen one-man attack 'threat', whether that consists of Murray or Hemed.

I know we've stepped up a level but... does seem like the team is somewhat imploding. Even Dunk and Duffy are wandering all over the place at corners now. Which should be their bread and butter.

Do well to avoid going down now.

 

[Nixonator]

That will be because we did not recruit sufficient quality in depth in the summer despite us having a few weeks more than Huddersfield to do our recruitment. Now maybe that is because the money wasn't there to build a squad of quality. That's fair enough. But if the money was there to spend, then the manager and recruitment team appear not to have covered themselves in glory by failing to identify and recruit the quality.

January will tell us plenty. Are we a club determined to hold onto our crown jewels and not sell, whilst splashing the cash not only on a striker with pace and can score goals, but to invest in the squad generally. Sell Dunk and/or Duffy in January and I think we know which direction we are heading.

Duffy seems incapable of heading the ball this past couple of games and Dunk hasn't covered himself in glory either.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Stephens is continually failing to complete simple 5 yard passes to a team mate (yet still gets MoM!). Knocky seems to have retreated into some kind of shell whereby he no longer turns defenders inside out three different ways. Oh, and he no longer contributes a shedload of goals - which covered much of the failure to land a second plausible striker last season . Plus we have a couple of super-duper South Americans (including our record signing) that nobody ever heard of before Wikipedia. Oh, and Izzy Brown aka this season's James Wilson minus the on-pitch vomiting. Oh,and, lest we forget, a horribly lumpen one-man attack 'threat', whether that consists of Murray or Hemed.

I know we've stepped up a level but... does seem like the team is somewhat imploding. Even Dunk and Duffy are wandering all over the place at corners now. Which should be their bread and butter.

Do well to avoid going down now.

I always know to turn on NSC whenever I'm in need of a laugh. Thanks for that

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I always know to turn on NSC whenever I'm in need of a laugh. Thanks for that

It's only funny (or, more importantly, unfunny) cos it's all true

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

I would agree. But if people tell the players they are tired, especially if it's their own manager who tells them, then they're usually willing to believe it - and that makes them poorer players. Dyche has made it an article of faith that Burnley players can play every league game at least, even if he did make about 7 changes for every cup tie.

I don't know if your manager is telling players they can't play midweek games as well as weekends, but even if it's not, other people telling them that can be damaging. I reckon a player who thinks he's tired is less use than a player who actually is tired but refuses to accept it.

Hi Mr Burnley fan, might as well reply to you because most of the Brighton fans on this thread seem too miserable to make me want to converse with them instead..

Can i point out that nowhere, anywhere, has it been said that Brighton's players are too tired, or unfit, except for the usual bunch of moaners who started off this thread. If anything, I would expect that our core of players are super-fit, as evidenced by the fact that CH is not rotating them yet and does have them playing every game, Saturday and midweek.

ta

 

[Gazwag]

Here's a really simple comparison

https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/166/Show/England-Huddersfield

https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/211/Show/England-Brighton

Ignoring the GK and one defender, if you order by minutes played, within the top 10 Brighton players have played at least an hour more of football.

We aren't rotating players like other teams such as Huddersfield are. We have 6 players who have started EVERY league game this season.

Wow 60 minutes extra out of 1,440 minutes that's 4% less, FFS this time last year we had played 5 games more. These are athletes who run around for 90 minutes, they have played 16 matches in FIVE MONTHS if they think they are tired its time to get a sports psychologist in to sort their minds out.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

It's only funny (or, more importantly, unfunny) cos it's all true

We're thirteenth in the premier league. You know full well our highest ever finish in a league season. We've had one bad game all season. Your hyperbole is hilarious, but really have a look at yourself.