We gave a very good account of ourselves...

[amexer]

I went to game and having not been there before really enjoyed going to the stadium and the fact we were playing Arsenal. As far as game was concerned didnt think we gave a good account. I thought Arsenals football apart from missing hatfull of chances was outstanding. Apart from some good ones out wide passing was poor.We let ourselves down by when we did have ball were not able to retain possession. Whether this was poor passing or players not making themselves available I dont know. We were far better then West Brom yet they gave Arsenal a far harder game and could have been 2 up

 

[Finchley Seagull]

I went to game and having not been there before really enjoyed going to the stadium and the fact we were playing Arsenal. As far as game was concerned didnt think we gave a good account. I thought Arsenals football apart from missing hatfull of chances was outstanding. Apart from some good ones out wide passing was poor.We let ourselves down by when we did have ball were not able to retain possession. Whether this was poor passing or players not making themselves available I dont know. We were far better then West Brom yet they gave Arsenal a far harder game and could have been 2 up

It is all a game of opinions, but I think you are being really harsh. West Brom have been in the Premier League for a long time. We have just been promoted. I know we beat them but there is no comparison. Not sure exactly what people expect us to do away to Arsenal

 

[BensGrandad]

It is all a game of opinions, but I think you are being really harsh. West Brom have been in the Premier League for a long time. We have just been promoted. I know we beat them but there is no comparison. Not sure exactly what people expect us to do away to Arsenal

At least try to go forward not sit so deep inviting them to take us on which was obviously going to fail.

 

[Perry Milkins]

thread title is a cliché for one of those 'Football Hoolie' stories.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

At least try to go forward not sit so deep inviting them to take us on which was obviously going to fail.

I genuinely don't get this. We did try to go forward, especially in the second part of the first half. In doing so, we hit the post and had other crosses into the box but also left ourselves exposed at the back. Huddersfield 'went for it' at home to Tottenham on Saturday and were three down in 20 minutes. We were in the game for most of the match and if Murray had scored that header late on, we might have had a really interesting end to the game.

 

[Durlston]

BBC South Today gave a more balanced view of the match. Solly's shot nearly cracked the right hand post. Not downhearted at all, the lack of an away goal is not a concern yet. It'll come. A respectable result and that tough game is out of the way.

 

[NooBHA]

My worst fears came to fruition.

The Albion had no intention to score from open play, and for all their good play came away with nothing.
The bore-offs who cream themselves over 'Hughton is too defensive', will be like a dog with too dicks.

Sure getting the team attacking without compromising it's defensive duties is a tough balancing act, but they have to do it better than that.

Rolling over for City and now Arsenal, means we can expect the same for Chelsea, Liverpool, Utd and Spurs.
All of whom can humiliate the Albion, but so far the team has clearly been told to show to much respect for 2 teams that weren't entitled to their comfortable wins.

Who the **** wants 2 dicks ? Dick No 1 hardly sees the light of day these days, so a 2nd is just surplus to requirements.

To the rest o your post. All correct but we sort of know it would be. I am happy. No injuries and no sending offs with players suspended.. Didn't get absolutely battered and in sporadic moments showed there will be the odd chance created even against the top teams if you can stop then scoring. So all in all, not too disappointed

 

[Albion_Dave]

BBC South Today gave a more balanced view of the match. Solly's shot nearly cracked the right hand post. Not downhearted at all, the lack of an away goal is not a concern yet. It'll come. A respectable result and that tough game is out of the way.

Bournemouth?

 

[Durlston]

Bournemouth?

D'oh! I'd forgotten about that. I was thinking of the League Cup game!

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Whilst seven points is a reasonable return from our first seven games, and 10 from 8 would look even better if we can overcome Everton, we really should have more points on the board at this stage.

To only take 1 point from Watford and Bournemouth combined feels very wasteful. Sitting on 9 or even 10 points now would feel like a very decent start to Premier League life and give us a nice little cushion between us and that dreaded dotted line.

Hughton does keep talking about most of our points coming at home, which I don't doubt, but a little bit more adventure away from home, in the right circumstances, could be very beneficial.

Compared to Burnley, who have now played Chelsea, Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool away and taken 8 points, our return is extremely underwhelming. I doubt we would have taken more than 1 point from these 4 games, with our defensive mindset. Unlike us at Watford, Burnley seized on the early loss of Cahill and went for the jugular at Stamford Bridge.
Maybe it comes with the confidence of surviving at this level, as Burnley are in their 3rd season out of 4 in the top flight. There are sterner tests than Leicester, Watford and Bmuff away and one goal and one point from these suggests that away points are going to be few and far between.

 

[Wilko]

Of course and i hear lots of calls in this thread and for the team to "go for it" , "be allowed to play"
but i'm still not sure what "a little bit more adventure" actually means though ? And do we have fit players, confidence or experience to execute that.
What changes to formation, subs, players are you recommending for that to happen?
I guess the assumption that more adventure wouldn't result in more goals conceded ? (eg: at West Brom and Newcastle and Watford)

I think what people are getting at is a few times we could look to play the ball forward rather than back. We have been guilty of turning around and going backwards or fannying at the back when we actually seem to play ourselves into more danger. The rest I totally agree with you though, I do not think we should change our set up, structure or basic game plan at all, just be a little more brave with forward passing, when Dunk does try one of his super-pings out to the wing it more than often pays off.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Compared to Burnley, who have now played Chelsea, Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool away and taken 8 points, our return is extremely underwhelming. I doubt we would have taken more than 1 point from these 4 games, with our defensive mindset. Unlike us at Watford, Burnley seized on the early loss of Cahill and went for the jugular at Stamford Bridge.
Maybe it comes with the confidence of surviving at this level, as Burnley are in their 3rd season out of 4 in the top flight. There are sterner tests than Leicester, Watford and Bmuff away and one goal and one point from these suggests that away points are going to be few and far between.

Burnley are a bit of a freak though in the turn around away from home. And they are a few seasons ahead of us. They've had two relegations from the top flight before surviving for the first time last season and didn't win away until late April last season when they did survive.

 

[BensGrandad]

Unlike the OP I do not think that we gave a good account of ourselves and as such I was disappointed, as we lost without any fight or intention of trying to get forward. From the kick off we played as if a defeat was inevitable and it was just a question of keeping the goals against down.

I think that we look totally overawed by our presence in this league and play as if the players believe we have no right to be there.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Unlike the OP I do not think that we gave a good account of ourselves and as such I was disappointed, as we lost without any fight or intention of trying to get forward. From the kick off we played as if a defeat was inevitable and it was just a question of keeping the goals against down.

As I said earlier in this thread, you watched a different game to me. We sat back a bit early on but from the moment they scored, we gave Arsenal a real game for the rest of the half (leaving ourselves exposed at the back as a result). The second half again we started defensively, partly because Arsenal are just a lot better than us, but finished the half strongly again. We showed a lot more intention to go forward than we did against Man City and it was a really encouraging display.

Maybe you would prefer to play like Huddersfield did and be three down after 20 minutes.

 

[BensGrandad]

As I said earlier in this thread, you watched a different game to me. We sat back a bit early on but from the moment they scored, we gave Arsenal a real game for the rest of the half (leaving ourselves exposed at the back as a result). The second half again we started defensively, partly because Arsenal are just a lot better than us, but finished the half strongly again. We showed a lot more intention to go forward than we did against Man City and it was a really encouraging display.

Maybe you would prefer to play like Huddersfield did and be three down after 20 minutes.

Granted we looked better when Murray came on and gave us an option but for 75 mins we sat back 10 yds too deep and allowed Arsenal to dictate the play. The likes of Sanchez and Lacazette are no threat in the centre circle so try to keep them there and based on yesterdays play and tactics we are going to have a hard time at any of the away games. I am disappointed whenever we lose but more so when we do not even try to do otherwise and just accept it from the outset.

 

[swd40]

Newcastle didn't show any respect to a top six side yesterday and had a go from the off.
No reason why we shouldn't too.

 

[Wrong-Direction]

As I said earlier in this thread, you watched a different game to me. We sat back a bit early on but from the moment they scored, we gave Arsenal a real game for the rest of the half (leaving ourselves exposed at the back as a result). The second half again we started defensively, partly because Arsenal are just a lot better than us, but finished the half strongly again. We showed a lot more intention to go forward than we did against Man City and it was a really encouraging display.

Maybe you would prefer to play like Huddersfield did and be three down after 20 minutes.

This happened

Sent from my SM-A310F using Tapatalk

 

[Finchley Seagull]

Granted we looked better when Murray came on and gave us an option but for 75 mins we sat back 10 yds too deep and allowed Arsenal to dictate the play. The likes of Sanchez and Lacazette are no threat in the centre circle so try to keep them there and based on yesterdays play and tactics we are going to have a hard time at any of the away games. I am disappointed whenever we lose but more so when we do not even try to do otherwise and just accept it from the outset.

I really don't know where you are coming from. For the last 25 minutes of the first half we pushed forward really well and got caught up on the break a few times as a result, including when Ryan made his best save at the end of the half. We'll have to agree to disagree as I really don't get what you are saying based on what I saw yesterday

 

[BensGrandad]

I was very disappointed with our overall game yesterday and thought that we offered nothing other than the last 10 mins and the shot by March which hit the post and we had no intention of trying to get forward, just stay in our half and keep the score down. We offered much more against Man City than we did yesterday, I think. As you say we must agree to disagree and look forward to beating Everton.

 

[Finchley Seagull]

I was very disappointed with our overall game yesterday and thought that we offered nothing other than the last 10 mins and the shot by March which hit the post and we had no intention of trying to get forward, just stay in our half and keep the score down. We offered much more against Man City than we did yesterday, I think. As you say we must agree to disagree and look forward to beating Everton.

It is really funny, as I think we offered nothing against Man City. We only briefly threatened from a couple of corners in the second half and never looked like scoring. Unlike you with yesterday, that didn't disappoint me as I don't expect to push forward against the big teams. City showed with their first goal what the top teams can do when you leave yourselves exposed.

As for yesterday, we offered a lot more, had more possession, more shots, corners etc than Man City game and were in the game for much longer periods.

As you say, either way let's hope we can beat Everton!