Thoughts on tonights game ... the football, not the pies.

[Chinman3000]

Stockdale aside, no one impressed. Sami was noticeable by his absence from the touchline, could have been Oscar.

How did Stockdale impress? By letting in 3 goals without 1 dive and dropping the ball under pressure and nearly giving away a 4th?

 

[keaton]

Leo has pretty much a 1 goal every 2 game record in the Championship. O'Grady isn't in that class.

He scored two less goals last season in far weaker team. He may not turn out to be as good but it's a bit early to judge

 

[sparkie]

He scored two less goals last season in far weaker team. He may not turn out to be as good but it's a bit early to judge

Please look up Leo and O'Grady's championship goals per game ratios.

You can even be kind to O'Grady and ignore everything before last season.

15 in 40 (last year only) is nowhere near as good as 23 in 50.

 

[Quinney]

I've read on NSC that we are pushing both fullbacks up a lot more than last season...is this why we are playing our 'wide' men narrower?

Full backs pushing on and Greer spent a lot of 1st half in right back position, his passing was shocking and we lacked attacking pace down the wings, maybe because we we're up against superior opposition.

 

[glasfryn]

what has happened to Stephens is he still injured or have we secretly sold or had him shot nobody even mentions him

 

[Miximate]

Of the new boys: .
Revelation for me was Agustien in the second half. Like O'Grady, he looked like he could do with losing a few pounds

I was sitting quite near the front in the ESL as I have to say that both COG & Kemy looked in good shape. There isnt much spare timber on either of them and (in particular) COG, his leg muscles are similar to those of Sir Chris Hoy!

 

[b.w.2.]

Overall a poor display with very few bright spots. I know it's only a friendly and I know they're a premier league team, but we were not at the races.

The principal difference was the speed of their game, running, passing and thinking. We looked truly pedestrian.

The bad news first:
- we desperately need a LB. Chicksen looked like a kid thrown into a man's game. Nowhere near good enough.
- Calderon was poor, just like against Crawley.
- Greer's distribution hasn't improved
- Jake has not upped his game one iota from last season. Without a massive improvement he is nowhere near what we need in central midfield.
- Fenelon may have potential, but based on tonight's performance he is nowhere near first team standard.
- CMS was utter rubbish. Not sure what has happened to him, but whatever it is is not good.

The good news:
- another great goal from KLL (as a result of a defensive error). He also had our only other shot (I believe). At least he looked like he could make things happen.
- Rohan Ince had a good game apart from giving the ball away for their 3rd goal.
- Hughes looked OK.

Apart from that:
- O'Grady: a few flashes of good football, but not impressed
- Toko not given much time and seemed to do more fouling than the rest of the team combined.
-Crofts worked hard, but things were not happening for him.
- Agustein looked pretty good
- Dunk had a decent half
- one or two lovely pieces of football from Solly, but was not involved enough
- Buckley looked quite lively, but not given long.
- Bruno looked a lot better than Calderon

Can only get better .... I hope!

Agreed. So obvious we are poorly prepared for new season. I blame DB for not getting squad together quickly enough and Sami's tactics obviously not understood by players yet.

 

[Mannie]

"Impotent attacking display" just about hits the nail well and truly on the head. OK, so S'oton are Premier League, but it was the same against League 1 Crawley.

Reflecting again on the game yesterday evening, I have to say I can't recall ever being less impressed with Albion pre-season performances.

I have to agree that it was a hugely disappointing evening. We are very static with a lack of movement throughout the team leading to a lack of passing options. OK Southampton are a Premiership team etc etc - but last night we were given a lesson in the basics of Prem football, fitness, speed and individual skill - there is some serious work to do before we could hold our own in any of these departments.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Agreed. So obvious we are poorly prepared for new season. I blame DB for not getting squad together quickly enough

To be fair though, hard to get a squad together quickly enough when the club's focus has to be redirected towards getting in a new manager every close season. That must disrupt the squad-building process immensely.

 

[dolphins]

what has happened to Stephens is he still injured or have we secretly sold or had him shot nobody even mentions him

Was sat a few seats away from Dale Stephens last night. Someone asked him when he'd be back and he said it should be three weeks time.

 

[Richy_Seagull]

I wasn't at yesterdays game so can't comment on JFCs performance last night but I have been saying since halfway through last season the kid is just not up to Championship football at the moment. I understand he's got potential etc but last season he was basically a passenger in midfield. His performance at home to Derby in semi final has to go down as one of the worst ever at the Amex.

I don't want to write him off, maybe he will develop, but at the moment I honestly don't think he should be getting near the first team.

 

[Hugh'sDad]

I think we're looking at a relegation battle. Based on Crawley (out-fought in what was a Sussex derby), and absolutely played off the field, and out-fought again against real traditional South Coast rivals, I sadly believe this will be the case without a massive injection of quality.

Ho Hum - I'll still come and watch though.

 

[sparkie]

I think we're looking at a relegation battle. Based on Crawley (out-fought in what was a Sussex derby), and absolutely played off the field, and out-fought again against real traditional South Coast rivals, I sadly believe this will be the case without a massive injection of quality.

Ho Hum - I'll still come and watch though.

I reckon you are right unless we get a decent striker in.

 

[spanish flair]

To be fair though, hard to get a squad together quickly enough when the club's focus has to be redirected towards getting in a new manager every close season. That must disrupt the squad-building process immensely.

Not according to Tony Bloom in his interview, he stated that David Burke was going ahead with lining up player recruitment. When the manager came in all he had to do was select which players he wanted from the Burke list. So fans should not be concerned.

 

[Rod Marsh]

You see, I'd say Crofts didn't look 100% fit (which presumably, after his injury, he isn't).

Calderon was far worse than Chicksen. Not one of JFC's better games either, unfortunately.

But hey. It has no bearing whatsoever on the Wednesday game. So we move on.

I agree with all this. Crofts just can't be fit and was poor I thought. I cant remember anything positive at all he contributed to the game going forwards. He spent most of his game time covering either Calderon or Bruno when they were attacking.

 

[spring hall convert]

A few thoughts

Dunk is our no.1 CB, the question should be about who plays with him
Why do we persist in playing JFC in a withdrawn role - he needs to be playing behind the striker
Agustein is one of the biggest wastes of skin I've seen in an Albion shirt
Nathan Jones was doing most of the work on the touchline
Calderon was completely outclassed, Bruno wasn't a great deal better. I think we need a right back
I thought we could do without getting a left back in for the Wednesday game. I was totally wrong
COG looked promising - he's not just a big man.

Very, very impressed with Saints all things considered. James Ward Prowse is going to play over 100 times for England.

 

[goldstone]

Full backs pushing on and Greer spent a lot of 1st half in right back position, his passing was shocking and we lacked attacking pace down the wings, maybe because we we're up against superior opposition.

Agree. It appears from both the Soton and Crawley games that Sami's style is to have the fullbacks pushing up. My concerns are that the CBs are often therefore in the FB defensive positions and need to pass accurately to get the ball moving upfield. I believe Dunk can do that effectively. Greer can't. Hughes ... we'll see. As another poster mentioned, if the full backs push up, then the wingers play narrower which definitely doesn't have Lua Lua in his most effective position. And we need FBs who can play this role ... based on the two friendlies I have seen this season that rules out Chicksen and, I'm afraid, Calderon. I'm surprised and concerned about Calderon. Last season he was often at his best when pushing forward along the wing. This season so far he seems unable to defend or attack. Has age caught up with him? Have his legs gone? Hopefully a temporary thing.

 

[brightonrock]

I wasn't there last night but have watched the other games on stream. I've noticed that just like under Oscar, we do seem to be pressing quite well, whereas under Gus we sat deep. We seem to be trying to move the ball quicker too. However, my concern is that the tempo grinds to a halt in the last 3rd. The full backs push on but don't seem to want to get crosses in or to attack their opposite number and go for the byline, so I'm not sure of their purpose as wide options. Tucking in the wingers means it's incredibly congested in the middle, and our full backs are doubled up on by the oppo wide players and full backs whether attacking or defending. Calde & Chicksen seem to be coming in for some criticism which may well be because they had poor games, but could also be to do with a lack of protection ahead of them? I'm torn tbh because on the one hand it IS still a friendly. Whether we won it or lost it would be irrelevant come May. But wins build momentum and more importantly, good form (even without results) builds confidence. I'm not really sure what the plan is at the moment and whilst I by no means fear relegation or anything like that, and have faith we'll still strengthen in the coming days, I don't see how we're going to properly compete at the top 6 level without either a transfer coup or a big change in game plan.

 

[glasfryn]

Was sat a few seats away from Dale Stephens last night. Someone asked him when he'd be back and he said it should be three weeks time.

thats good news
thanks
we will need him no doubt

 

[Bognor Bystander]

I thought pushing both full backs up was always an ill conceived idea and none of our players last night looked comfortable doing it. The saints wide men played 1-2's into their midfielders and got the return in the spaces behind Chicksen and Calde who then always had to turn - not ideal for a defender.