Fran Hagarty
Well-known member
Downloaded Penguin said:
Yes, great turn-out but the atmosphere was dead, in spite of the numbers - the team never got going, likewise the crowd. Nothing to shout about!
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- Thread starter Lord Bracknell
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Yes, great turn-out but the atmosphere was dead, in spite of the numbers - the team never got going, likewise the crowd. Nothing to shout about!
Falmer Dream said:McGhee seems to have a blindspot in that area. But Charlie is good for morale and Jonah's jokes aren't bad either
It's the midfield that has let us down badly this season. Our complete lack of midfield creativity is a joke. Is Charlie really better than Reid? If so, why have we signed Reid for the rest of the season?
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Mendoza
NSC's Most Stalked
had a blinding weekend up there, loads of things to do, lots of beer to drink, YET AGAIN the football spoiled it.
it was a shite game, we we're pissed all over. wellens for them was well good, he had a blinding effort from half way line, which roberts made an amazing save from,
atmosphere was rubbish, think everyone was hung over. not much singing from either set of supporters.
my favourite moment of the game was copying the linesman, sorry referees assistant up and down the touch line in injury time. only thing i could do in my state of soberness
that would cheer me up
oh well, another disappointing journey back t othe south coast
it was a shite game, we we're pissed all over. wellens for them was well good, he had a blinding effort from half way line, which roberts made an amazing save from,
atmosphere was rubbish, think everyone was hung over. not much singing from either set of supporters.
my favourite moment of the game was copying the linesman, sorry referees assistant up and down the touch line in injury time. only thing i could do in my state of soberness
that would cheer me upoh well, another disappointing journey back t othe south coast
Charlies Shinpad
New member
Ive jusy got back and to be honest we look liked a bunch of Jocks on a day out to the seaside,the way we tried to play!!
Knight may as well just play in the Home games as he does nothing else but wave his arms every time someone puts a decent tackle in on him.when we are away from home.
Iwelumo was everywhere and couldnt do a lot more than he did as he was the man they were scared of as he won everything in the first half,but they snuffed out our supply to him after that,not that it mattered as he was upfront on his own.
Jones and El Abd were shite,Full stop!!
The rest were no better than average,and for me Virgo was the only one who showed he was up for it ,and got my MOM vote.
Knight may as well just play in the Home games as he does nothing else but wave his arms every time someone puts a decent tackle in on him.when we are away from home.
Iwelumo was everywhere and couldnt do a lot more than he did as he was the man they were scared of as he won everything in the first half,but they snuffed out our supply to him after that,not that it mattered as he was upfront on his own.
Jones and El Abd were shite,Full stop!!
The rest were no better than average,and for me Virgo was the only one who showed he was up for it ,and got my MOM vote.
Superphil
Dismember
twas really poor, lack of tactics it seemed to me.
Also, Blackpool, what a shithole, in theHartlepool program it said that Blackpool is the best UK seaside resort, f*** OFF, it is a run down dump, seedy doesn't even come into it, there are people there that would be allowed to stay in the UK if they tried to claim asylum.
I really do hope we neve play them again.
Also, Blackpool, what a shithole, in theHartlepool program it said that Blackpool is the best UK seaside resort, f*** OFF, it is a run down dump, seedy doesn't even come into it, there are people there that would be allowed to stay in the UK if they tried to claim asylum.
I really do hope we neve play them again.
Not long back and went straight to the pub now in for a few before resting for Rushedens challenge.
Good time in Blackpool,take it for what it is but you can have a good weekend as I did with a few others.The players didn't perform very well,but give credit to Blackpool,Wellens was by far the best player on the park.Why do we still think we have a devine right ot beat the opposition ? Why is it always our players playing shit rather then the other side playing well ?
Anyway I enjoyed myself apart from the score and look forward to tomorrow.
Good time in Blackpool,take it for what it is but you can have a good weekend as I did with a few others.The players didn't perform very well,but give credit to Blackpool,Wellens was by far the best player on the park.Why do we still think we have a devine right ot beat the opposition ? Why is it always our players playing shit rather then the other side playing well ?
Anyway I enjoyed myself apart from the score and look forward to tomorrow.
London Irish
Well-known member
Same from me, a great weekend away, my first time in Blackpool and I thought it was a cheerful enough place, particularly today when bathed in spring sunshine, glad I stayed on. The family London Irish had a great time devouring Northern high culture like the Pleasure Beach, chips with everything and the Dr Who exhibition.
The game?
Of course we underperformed, I thought particularly in 3 areas, the central defending which was reactive and leaden-footed, the left-side of the pitch, where Harding had a nightmare, and at the front, where Big Chris seemed incapable of latching on to any of our attempts to play our usual brand of high-tempo direct football. If I seem to have described our entire team, actually I thought there was some good performances by Albion players in adversity, particularly Piercy, El Abd and Leon, and no blame can be attached either to Ben or Charlie.
OAP Dodge is spot on - Blackpool did play well to take advantage of our frailties. Wellens has been mentioned but Mike Sheron had some wonderful classy touches that opened us up, the right winger Bullock was excellent and the Mullet-haired Donnelly seemed to be everywhere on the pitch.
The consolation we can look for is that we have been without our skipper for two-and-a-half games and this is the first time where he has been badly missed.
The defending was very poor and as defensive solidity really is the be-all and end-all of this particular Albion team, the game was thrown away here - we really don't play good enough football to chase games when we go behind.
We had a wake-up call early on when Bullock skinned Harding but Sheron missed from virtually point-blank range. He would make us pay for his embarassment though!
Blackpool poured down our left side at will and Harding was frequently pulled out of position by their passing and the superb runs of Bullock. Harding's game fell apart and he lost confidence to the extent that even making simple passes was beyond him.
The mitigation you can allow for his performance is that he got precious little help from his team-mates who should have been there for him. Usually Jonah is the Albion left-back's best friend but he seemed AWOL when Harding was in deepest trouble. It is not clear what help Harding got either from his central defenders, who seemed rooted to their zones rather than anticipating the problems down the left.
Although we should have conceded from this left-sided problem but for Sheron's comedy miss, it was dreadful defending from a free kick that eventually did for us.
Blackpool played a hit-and-hope ball into our box and it missed all their players by miles. But Big Chris and Adam Virgo got in each other's way and some lousy communication between the pair of them led to the ball spooning in the air. Virgo lost the resulting header too and Sheron wasn't going to miss from point-blank range a second time when the ball fell at his feet. You have to feel that had Danny Cullip been on the pitch, Big Chris would have been told to feck off out of the way and the ball would have been headed to the half-way line. I thought Virgo showed too much hesitancy in dealing with a bread-and-butter defensive situation.
Conceding a daft goal like this compounded our other major failing, an utter inablity to do anything useful with our possession. For the second game in a row, our route-one play to Big Chris got us nowhere. Chris for me didn't show the requisite ability to retain possession, take pressure off our midfield and bring other players into the game. There was no link whatever between him and Knight. McGhee's challenge to him this week to prove that he is a First Division player, the jury is still out on that one.
The injury early on to OGH at least gave Piercy his chance, and he had one fantastic run just before half-time where he breezed through a couple of bewitched Blackpool defenders and his shot from the edge of the area just missed.
So the wheels hadn't completely fallen off by half-time, 1-0 wasn't terrible and you'd have expected McGhee to try something to resolve the situation coming forward.
After the second half, I thought Piercy looked to be playing in a more advanced position on the right, 4-3-3, and this to me looks his best position in the team. Just as Bullock was causing us problems on this wing, suddenly Piercy looked capable of finding space on the wide right and we looked at last to have some shape going forward.
Then I thought McGhee panicked a bit and substituted Jones. Maybe Jonah deserved it given that his usual box-to-box workrate seemed to be missing, particularly when helping out Harding. But to me it removed Piercy from an area of the pitch he was causing Blackpool problems, putting the more inexperienced McPhee there, and saddling Piercy with defensive duties down that problem left side.
It was academic debate anyway because we conceded the second killer goal almost straight away. Again Bullock gave Harding the run-around and the ball was crossed in. Virgo lost another header and the ball fell at the feet for Senor Matias to score from point-blank range, Ben could do nothing for either goal.
Game over really. They added salt to the wound with a wonderful third goal, the best bit of football of the game. Sheron dropped off our centre pair and dragged Adam Virgo out of position. With Virgo in no-man's land, the ball was played through him by Sheron to the Blackpool forward who had a one-on-one with Ben, finishing very coolly.
Disappointing as all that was, the most disappointing sight for me of the day was seeing up to 100 Albion fans walk out 10 minutes from the end after the third goal went in. Perhaps they felt they were making a point - the look on their faces as they left seemed to be wanting to tell those of us left behind something. But they only made one point - that as fans, they are not in it for the long haul.
Cheerio then
So soon after they departed, it was poetic justice that we scored a goal from a fluent passing move, Leon the creator for the tireless Piercy to time his run from midfield perfectly and knock the ball past the keeper, yes, a lucky deflection from a shot going wide, but the fine linking play deserved some good luck. Bizzarely, this consolation goal seemed to silence the home support for some reason no one could work out - did they believe us when we said we were going to win 4-3?
The officials obviously did not cost us the game but annoyingly gave a lot of 50-50s to the home team. There was one ridiculous moment when we had a free kick on the edge of their area and their wall only went back about 7-8 yards, the ref doing nothing, naturally we hit their wall with the kick. Virtually the next play they get a free kick on the edge of ours and he marches us back the full 10! Bizzarely inconsistent. You've heard enough about the useless linesmen.
I was disappointed but not devastated by this result. I don't believe we will defend that badly again with Danny Cullip back on the pitch. Maybe Butters should have assumed more of a leadership role but too much responsibility fell on the shoulders of Adam Virgo and I think this game showed he is not ready for it. He must return to the more defined duties of right-back. Harding I don't think will play that badly again because I don't think with Cullip's leadership on the pitch he will be left that exposed again. McGhee perhaps should have brought Kerry on at half-time to save Harding from further punishment.
Chippy had a pretty poor game, barely able to complete one decent pass - that is a worry, but hopefully that's just a blip.
My major worry out of the game for the play-offs was the Chris-Leon partnership. I thought Chris showed real problems getting into the game against Hartlepool and here he was just a virtual passenger. I'm worried that he doesn't have Trevor Benjamin's ability to hold the ball up and play the quality pass. His headers and flicks are all a bit hit-and-hope, and Leon couldn't get near any of them on Saturday. It made us look a pretty desperate outfit as the ball just kept being given back to Blackpool to run back at us.
The positives for me was Leon Knight, who battled really well all game. Every time he got a pass it was with a number of defenders around him, but he was invariably able to win a free kick or wriggle free, hold the ball and play a decent pass off to a team-mate (who would then lose it). Adam El-Abd also battled for the entire game and was showing great appetite coming forward in the second half. Ben made two fine saves and couldn't be faulted for any of the goals and Charlie did put up a fight in midfield, even literally at the end. But our finest player was Piercy, who belongs in a better footballing team than our direct-football tactics allow. Some lovely touches and little cameos of skill when the ball came his way, and our one real hope for a revival if the defending hadn't blundered repeatedly.
If OGH is out for tomorrow, I hope Piercy gets a chance in a 4-3-3 on the right, he has to play in an advanced position, he is no Charlie Oatway when it comes to terrier tackling in his own half.
The game?
Of course we underperformed, I thought particularly in 3 areas, the central defending which was reactive and leaden-footed, the left-side of the pitch, where Harding had a nightmare, and at the front, where Big Chris seemed incapable of latching on to any of our attempts to play our usual brand of high-tempo direct football. If I seem to have described our entire team, actually I thought there was some good performances by Albion players in adversity, particularly Piercy, El Abd and Leon, and no blame can be attached either to Ben or Charlie.
OAP Dodge is spot on - Blackpool did play well to take advantage of our frailties. Wellens has been mentioned but Mike Sheron had some wonderful classy touches that opened us up, the right winger Bullock was excellent and the Mullet-haired Donnelly seemed to be everywhere on the pitch.
The consolation we can look for is that we have been without our skipper for two-and-a-half games and this is the first time where he has been badly missed.
The defending was very poor and as defensive solidity really is the be-all and end-all of this particular Albion team, the game was thrown away here - we really don't play good enough football to chase games when we go behind.
We had a wake-up call early on when Bullock skinned Harding but Sheron missed from virtually point-blank range. He would make us pay for his embarassment though!
Blackpool poured down our left side at will and Harding was frequently pulled out of position by their passing and the superb runs of Bullock. Harding's game fell apart and he lost confidence to the extent that even making simple passes was beyond him.
The mitigation you can allow for his performance is that he got precious little help from his team-mates who should have been there for him. Usually Jonah is the Albion left-back's best friend but he seemed AWOL when Harding was in deepest trouble. It is not clear what help Harding got either from his central defenders, who seemed rooted to their zones rather than anticipating the problems down the left.
Although we should have conceded from this left-sided problem but for Sheron's comedy miss, it was dreadful defending from a free kick that eventually did for us.
Blackpool played a hit-and-hope ball into our box and it missed all their players by miles. But Big Chris and Adam Virgo got in each other's way and some lousy communication between the pair of them led to the ball spooning in the air. Virgo lost the resulting header too and Sheron wasn't going to miss from point-blank range a second time when the ball fell at his feet. You have to feel that had Danny Cullip been on the pitch, Big Chris would have been told to feck off out of the way and the ball would have been headed to the half-way line. I thought Virgo showed too much hesitancy in dealing with a bread-and-butter defensive situation.
Conceding a daft goal like this compounded our other major failing, an utter inablity to do anything useful with our possession. For the second game in a row, our route-one play to Big Chris got us nowhere. Chris for me didn't show the requisite ability to retain possession, take pressure off our midfield and bring other players into the game. There was no link whatever between him and Knight. McGhee's challenge to him this week to prove that he is a First Division player, the jury is still out on that one.
The injury early on to OGH at least gave Piercy his chance, and he had one fantastic run just before half-time where he breezed through a couple of bewitched Blackpool defenders and his shot from the edge of the area just missed.
So the wheels hadn't completely fallen off by half-time, 1-0 wasn't terrible and you'd have expected McGhee to try something to resolve the situation coming forward.
After the second half, I thought Piercy looked to be playing in a more advanced position on the right, 4-3-3, and this to me looks his best position in the team. Just as Bullock was causing us problems on this wing, suddenly Piercy looked capable of finding space on the wide right and we looked at last to have some shape going forward.
Then I thought McGhee panicked a bit and substituted Jones. Maybe Jonah deserved it given that his usual box-to-box workrate seemed to be missing, particularly when helping out Harding. But to me it removed Piercy from an area of the pitch he was causing Blackpool problems, putting the more inexperienced McPhee there, and saddling Piercy with defensive duties down that problem left side.
It was academic debate anyway because we conceded the second killer goal almost straight away. Again Bullock gave Harding the run-around and the ball was crossed in. Virgo lost another header and the ball fell at the feet for Senor Matias to score from point-blank range, Ben could do nothing for either goal.
Game over really. They added salt to the wound with a wonderful third goal, the best bit of football of the game. Sheron dropped off our centre pair and dragged Adam Virgo out of position. With Virgo in no-man's land, the ball was played through him by Sheron to the Blackpool forward who had a one-on-one with Ben, finishing very coolly.
Disappointing as all that was, the most disappointing sight for me of the day was seeing up to 100 Albion fans walk out 10 minutes from the end after the third goal went in. Perhaps they felt they were making a point - the look on their faces as they left seemed to be wanting to tell those of us left behind something. But they only made one point - that as fans, they are not in it for the long haul.
Cheerio thenSo soon after they departed, it was poetic justice that we scored a goal from a fluent passing move, Leon the creator for the tireless Piercy to time his run from midfield perfectly and knock the ball past the keeper, yes, a lucky deflection from a shot going wide, but the fine linking play deserved some good luck. Bizzarely, this consolation goal seemed to silence the home support for some reason no one could work out - did they believe us when we said we were going to win 4-3?
The officials obviously did not cost us the game but annoyingly gave a lot of 50-50s to the home team. There was one ridiculous moment when we had a free kick on the edge of their area and their wall only went back about 7-8 yards, the ref doing nothing, naturally we hit their wall with the kick. Virtually the next play they get a free kick on the edge of ours and he marches us back the full 10! Bizzarely inconsistent. You've heard enough about the useless linesmen.
I was disappointed but not devastated by this result. I don't believe we will defend that badly again with Danny Cullip back on the pitch. Maybe Butters should have assumed more of a leadership role but too much responsibility fell on the shoulders of Adam Virgo and I think this game showed he is not ready for it. He must return to the more defined duties of right-back. Harding I don't think will play that badly again because I don't think with Cullip's leadership on the pitch he will be left that exposed again. McGhee perhaps should have brought Kerry on at half-time to save Harding from further punishment.
Chippy had a pretty poor game, barely able to complete one decent pass - that is a worry, but hopefully that's just a blip.
My major worry out of the game for the play-offs was the Chris-Leon partnership. I thought Chris showed real problems getting into the game against Hartlepool and here he was just a virtual passenger. I'm worried that he doesn't have Trevor Benjamin's ability to hold the ball up and play the quality pass. His headers and flicks are all a bit hit-and-hope, and Leon couldn't get near any of them on Saturday. It made us look a pretty desperate outfit as the ball just kept being given back to Blackpool to run back at us.
The positives for me was Leon Knight, who battled really well all game. Every time he got a pass it was with a number of defenders around him, but he was invariably able to win a free kick or wriggle free, hold the ball and play a decent pass off to a team-mate (who would then lose it). Adam El-Abd also battled for the entire game and was showing great appetite coming forward in the second half. Ben made two fine saves and couldn't be faulted for any of the goals and Charlie did put up a fight in midfield, even literally at the end. But our finest player was Piercy, who belongs in a better footballing team than our direct-football tactics allow. Some lovely touches and little cameos of skill when the ball came his way, and our one real hope for a revival if the defending hadn't blundered repeatedly.
If OGH is out for tomorrow, I hope Piercy gets a chance in a 4-3-3 on the right, he has to play in an advanced position, he is no Charlie Oatway when it comes to terrier tackling in his own half.
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Gerbil
Nsc's most loved
London Irish said:
Disappointing as all that was, the most disappointing sight for me of the day was seeing up to 100 Albion fans walk out 10 minutes from the end after the third goal went in. Perhaps they felt they were making a point - the look on their faces as they left seemed to be wanting to tell those of us left behind something. But they only made one point - that as fans, they are not in it for the long haul.
I'm sorry but that is complete bollox.
Not in it for the long haul?
I was one of those who walked out early with a few of my mates,out of sheer frustration,disgust call it what you want but I didn't see anyone there who was happy!!!!.
To say that me along with the others are not in it for the long haul is a bit of a generalisation.I'm not going to start spouting off about having been there in the dark old days when things weren't good,but everyone I was there with are passionate about this club.
I can only speak how I saw things but the way we played lacked any passion,I felt robbed of my £14 when I left.
Even though you got this bit wrong the description you gave of the game was spot on!
Safeway
M0DERAT0R
How anyone can call fans 'fair weather' just because they walk out a few minutes early after they've travelled over 300 miles to a game is beyond me. FFS, if the team are playing like ***** then why shouldn't you show your digust at them?
All this 'always clap the players whatever they've done' notion is a load of crap.
All this 'always clap the players whatever they've done' notion is a load of crap.
Fran Hagarty
Well-known member
Safeway said:
I've travelled to every away match this season and for many seasons before that. It costs me a lot of money, but I don't begrudge it, or the travelling, because I'm doing what I want to do and watching the team I suppport. I can honestly say I have never left a game before the end (except for the planned walk-out at the Goldstone) and would never do so, however poorly I think the team might have played.
It is clear that some people cannot control their anger or frustration if things don't go the way they would have wanted and fee the need to walk away from the situation, but that is their problem, it's not mine.
I agree with London Irish. He always seems to put a rational view rather than one fuelled by negative emotion.
Safeway
M0DERAT0R
Fran Hagarty said:
Fran, there is no doubt that you are probably the most dedicated Albion fan I have ever met!
All I'm saying is that we shouldn't be barracking other fans because they've had enough of a particular performance and to leave a game early. I know people will say "well the players don't walk off with ten minutes left". Bloody right they don't, because they're payed good money to be on there.
Like you I never leave a game early but, apart from the people that leave Withdean because they want to get home for Blind Date or whatever, I can understand why some people do. At Brentford this season we were 4-0 down, it had been a long day and some people has just had enough. No way does that make them disloyal. (The only reason I stayed to the end on that occasion was to abuse the team for their pathetic 'efforts'.)
I just think that, on here in particular, there seems to be a lot of 'I'm a better Brighton fan than you' going on, and that isn't right.
Fran Hagarty
Well-known member
Safeway said:
I see what you're saying and I don't profess to be a better Brighton fan than others, although maybe somewhat more tolerant! I don't believe in barracking players - personally I think it's counter-productive. I got really fed up today with some people around me who were moaning and picking on individual players as scapegoats for their sense of frustration. They are entitled to their opinions, but publicly slagging them off and walking out before the end as a sort of protest is, to me, the behaviour of those with inability to exercise self control. The same people probably criticised Leon Knight for kicking the drinks bottles in disgust at being taken off! Pot & the kettle?
Gerbil
Nsc's most loved
Fran Hagarty said:
I'm sorry i don't get that at all
You don't get any medals for sitting and watching a side who were clearly not competing and being embarrassed by a medocre mid table side.
That is the first time I have ever left early in nearly 30 years.
I don't post much on here but this has really pissed me off, and being barracked by your own fans didn't cheer me up much either.Saying that though they're all great for watching 90 minutes of utter shit instead of 80 aren't they??
I don't blame anybody for leaving early. The team were woeful. The 'stand' we were in was woeful, even the banter in the crowd was below par. Around us we had a bloke berating Jones everytime he got the ball, and a bunch of people slagging off the linesman in a totally non humerous way for the WHOLE game.
Very disappointing all round.
Very disappointing all round.