Time to announce the truth about Dale Stephens.

[phazza]

Why?

Apart from satisfying your curiosity, name one thing that would be achieved by doing so.
Will it resolve anything? No.
Will it make one outcome more likely than another? No.
Is there anything to be gained? No.

Come next Saturday, he'll either be our player (at least until the New Year) or he won't. That's all there is to it.

completely agree. but why have have on the bench if we aren't going to play him. i thought at half time he was the one player we have that could have made a real difference.

 

[Triggaaar]

Simply because our strength last season was our midfield of Kayal and Stephens and our midfield has been our weakness so far this season.

We may have been weak in a game (possibly two), but that doesn't mean we are in a weak position. Our strength last season would also include Knockaert, and he wasn't here 12 months ago.

We've replaced Greer with Duffy, we've added Knockaert, Sidwell and Norwood, we've replaced Zamora with Murray.

We're have a much stronger squad than 12 months ago.

 

[legend vulture]

Why is bens granddad allowed to spoil every thread!!! Reminds me of a poster from years ago called nf9 who the mods had to limit his postings as be was trolling every thread. Mods can't you limit his postings?

 

[Boy Blue]

As it currently stands, we're really not.

Yes we are. Our midfield is all over the place. Don't know who's playing from one week to the other and persist on playing Sidwell who is shit.

 

[bhanutz]

Yes we are. Our midfield is all over the place. Don't know who's playing from one week to the other and persist on playing Sidwell who is shit.

You are Palace aren't you?

 

[NooBHA]

You can no more attest to him not costing points, than my saying his absence has done.Just because you think the goals they scored wouldn't have been relevant to Stephens (though wasn't it Sidwell giving away both free kicks?), doesn't mean anything. We could very well have bossed the middle and been 1 up in 10 mins, we'll never know.

As an aside, I think it would have been more likely we'd have won against Reading with Stephens in the side rather than getting any points yesterday, Though I felt we massively lacked him in there.

I think some people are ''blinkered'' when it comes to David Stockdale............................. Much as he looks brilliant sometimes. On other occasions the reverse is true. I often try to overlook it but I was staring at the gap he left when lining that wall up and it was like having a ten foot wide bulls eye on a dart board. He just gave too much to aim at. And as for the first goal. The header was about 12 or more yards out

 

[BensGrandad]

The lack of Stephens was not what cost points against Newcastle. They scored from 2 free kicks and the goalkeeper's starting position for both of them are what cost the goals. Apart from that Newcastle looked pretty passing the ball around but had no real cutting edge. We actually got in behind them a lot more than they did behind us

I agree about the goalkeeper who could and should have done better but disagree about Stephens as Shelvey assisted by Hayden and Gutteron completely dominated the game so much so that we were unable to get decent balls into our front men to have a go at the goal I think that we should have brought Stephens on after about 20 mins when it so obvious what was happen, ing and told him to get hold of the midfield and Shelvey and with Kayal we could have pushed into their box more. Kayal has looked lost without Stephens to help him out like a boat with no rudder.

 

[BensGrandad]

Why is bens granddad allowed to spoil every thread!!! Reminds me of a poster from years ago called nf9 who the mods had to limit his postings as be was trolling every thread. Mods can't you limit his postings?

Please give me an example as I try to contribute my views to those of others which may or may not be the same and if disagreeing or raising an argument is spoiling it I am sorry..

 

[swindonseagull]

Why is bens granddad allowed to spoil every thread!!! Reminds me of a poster from years ago called nf9 who the mods had to limit his postings as be was trolling every thread. Mods can't you limit his postings?

you can always block him if you dont like his postings..

 

[NooBHA]

I agree about the goalkeeper who could and should have done better but disagree about Stephens as Shelvey assisted by Hayden and Gutteron completely dominated the game so much so that we were unable to get decent balls into our front men to have a go at the goal I think that we should have brought Stephens on after about 20 mins when it so obvious what was happen, ing and told him to get hold of the midfield and Shelvey and with Kayal we could have pushed into their box more. Kayal has looked lost without Stephens to help him out like a boat with no rudder.

Central midfield was not a major issue for me. Yes they knocked it about pretty in midfield but not in the final third of the pitch because Sidwell and Kayal stuck to their roles rigidly and let them play their pretty stuff where it didn't matter as much.
We were playing round the outside of them BG and on the Knockeart side fairly successfully. The problem was on the other side where Skalak lost the ball every time and put us on the back foot.

Skalack is the problem in my eyes, and I know he gives us a threat at free kicks and his stats always look good because he runs around a lot but he just can't keep hold of the ball for any length of time. I don't think Bong trusts him enough either to push forward when he is in the side because he doesn't want to get caught up field. Bong looked so much better when Skalak went off

 

[Icy Gull]

I think some people are ''blinkered'' when it comes to David Stockdale............................. Much as he looks brilliant sometimes. On other occasions the reverse is true. I often try to overlook it but I was staring at the gap he left when lining that wall up and it was like having a ten foot wide bulls eye on a dart board. He just gave too much to aim at. And as for the first goal. The header was about 12 or more yards out

His current form is more like his form when he first arrived rather than the form of last season IMO.

 

[Couldn't Be Hyypia]

Is the key point for me. How can there be any way back for a player who by all accounts has cost us points whichever way you look at it? He may not have refused to play, but he has let himself be distracted enough that CH feels pressured to bed-in other options.

But you're delighted we landed Duffy I assume? Exactly the same issue.

 

[Brighton Mod]

We may have been weak in a game (possibly two), but that doesn't mean we are in a weak position. Our strength last season would also include Knockaert, and he wasn't here 12 months ago.

We've replaced Greer with Duffy, we've added Knockaert, Sidwell and Norwood, we've replaced Zamora with Murray.

We're have a much stronger squad than 12 months ago.

The squad is relatively the same and as with last year, we are one striker short of promotion which was our position last year. We will not succeed this year with the lack of depth in our forward line as we will suffer injury and suspension as an inevitability. I can't really disagree with Bens Grandad on this one.

 

[LamieRobertson]

You are Palace aren't you?

I know one thing he's not

 

[BensGrandad]

Central midfield was not a major issue for me. Yes they knocked it about pretty in midfield but not in the final third of the pitch because Sidwell and Kayal stuck to their roles rigidly and let them play their pretty stuff where it didn't matter as much.
We were playing round the outside of them BG and on the Knockeart side fairly successfully. The problem was on the other side where Skalak lost the ball every time and put us on the back foot.

Skalack is the problem in my eyes, and I know he gives us a threat at free kicks and his stats always look good because he runs around a lot but he just can't keep hold of the ball for any length of time. I don't think Bong trusts him enough either to push forward when he is in the side because he doesn't want to get caught up field. Bong looked so much better when Skalak went off

I cannot disagree about Skalak he flatters to deceive but offers nothing defensively' I know you rate Murphy very highly but I think that he is slightly better defending than Skalak and more influential on the ball attacking the full back. but I wonder if either are good enough for a team trying for automatic. Given the choice and not knowing his price or any financial details I would go for Lookman of Charlton.

 

[ewe2]

Total speculation ,but perhaps a bid for Lua Lua from say Ipswich,could result in us getting Lookman in......

 

[Triggaaar]

The squad is relatively the same and as with last year

What? Let's stick with the facts shall we? As I said, we've replaced Greer with Duffy, we've added Knockaert, Sidwell and Norwood, we've replaced Zamora with Murray. How is that not stronger? Come on.

 

[Caveman]

Stephens is most definitely gone. Only an idiot would have left him out today, and CH is no idiot.

I think we all believe he is off, but there is this glimmer of hope that this will turn out like the Dunk scenario which I never imagined would happen, as I'm sure most of us thought the same.

We need to keep him, the last two recent league games showed what we have been missing imo.

Can't wait until Thursday morning when all this bollocks is over, why the window couldnt shut before the seasons started.

 

[BensGrandad]

Total speculation ,but perhaps a bid for Lua Lua from say Ipswich,could result in us getting Lookman in......

Why not offer him in part ex he would do well for them in Div 1 and I would think Slade knows his strengths.plus they get a man to replace Lookman in the same position.

 

[NooBHA]

I cannot disagree about Skalak he flatters to deceive but offers nothing defensively' I know you rate Murphy very highly but I think that he is slightly better defending than Skalak and more influential on the ball attacking the full back. but I wonder if either are good enough for a team trying for automatic. Given the choice and not knowing his price or any financial details I would go for Lookman of Charlton.

Jamie Murphy rarely gives the ball away or gets disposessed. That allows Bong to have confidence to push forward in support without fear of getting caught out of position.

The problem with Jamie is his ''stats'' and how stats are calculated. He has not had enough goal assists in his stats for the amount of times he has played. Also, as I said he rarely loses the ball and he does that by cutting inside if he gets into trouble That allows him to lay the ball off to another Brighton player' It is not then always in a more advanced or goal scoring position, hence his ''goal assists'' are low in the stats.

On top of that when stats are calculated as to how many touches he has in a game. Carrying the ball at your feet when calculating the stats is only deemed ''one touch'' so the amount of touches often comes out low on the stats.

So even though he is giving you a lot of protection by not losing the ball, his stats don't often reflect that when they are analysed by the Manager and the coaching staff. That's what often puts Skalak ahead of him.

I am biased when it comes to Jamie I know but for me he is streets ahead of Skalak as a player but end product doesn't always reflect that