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[Football] Why’s it not quite working at the moment?







Weststander

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2011
69,243
Withdean area
I thought that most came from Tarkowski and Mee and those 3 just picked up the knock back and loose balls from Barnes and Wood.

Before the match I thought Burnley were still hoofers. I was therefore gutted and envious to see the triumverate of Westwood, McNeil and Hendrick bloody playing in Wood and Barnes. We made them look like a high quality footballing team.

Allied to their traditional cheating and time management. The only answer to that is for us to score first. Alas, we failed at that too thanks to a Bambi moment.
 


J2 DOG

Active member
Feb 28, 2009
607
Hove
We had nobody to control our midfield. Same method over and over. Down to the wing with a few passes between full back and wing. Poor cross easily defended. No plan b

Sent from my SM-J330F using Tapatalk

Hughton needs to be much more dynamic during games! got to question his staff also. we played far too many high balls from start to finish straight into Murray He was outnumbered 2-1 by physical CBs both good in the air, Naive tactics and needed changing!
 


Lindfield by the Pond

Well-known member
Jan 10, 2009
1,929
Lindfield (near the pond)
I think our formation doesn't work. Don't think it's a coincidence we've only won one game since we changed to 4-3-3. Our best football has come when we've played 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2.

Locadia doesn't track back leaving us exposed on our left. Montoya doesn't have the relationship with March which leaves us exposed on the right. Gross isn't where he needs to be. Stephens isn't good enough. Combined, it makes us completely lacking in substance across the middle of the park. Murray, Dunk & Duffy can only do so much with little support.

Agree with you on Locadia leaving Bong continually exposed, and Gross seems off the pace. Think Stephens has improved though. He is looking for the forward pass now, and had a few that he hit low and hard forward today, where in 1st part of season, he would pass out wide, for Left Back or Right Back to pass forward. He is trying to take a more direct route.

It's missed opportunities that are continuing to cost us. Should have been 1 up in the first 3 minutes. Counted at least 5 clear cut goal scoring opportunities in the first half. They scored with their first, created by a slip. Got to be more clinical.
 






Deadly Danson

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Oct 22, 2003
4,597
Brighton
We have a squad of decent players, but not enough special ones. These players all put a shift in and we should never get on their backs because it certainly isn't lack of effort that is the problem. I've always admired Stephens, Kayal, Gross, etc so it's hard to admit that we need players of a higher calibre if we are to succeed at this level. Locadia is hit and miss, maybe Jahanbakhsh needs more time but he hasn't shown enough yet. The jury's still out on Montoya for me. What success is at this level for a club of our stature is another question. If this is as good as it gets, then I am thankful for what we have, but if we want to step up a level then we have tough decisions to make in the summer and need a couple of real quality players rather than quantity. We've waited a long time to face this challenge, let's not forget to enjoy the ride.

Agree with a lot of this. At this level just one or two special players can make all the difference. In the championship promotion season Knockaert was that player, with a little bit of magic just getting us over the line in marginal matches. When firing on all cylinders Izqueirdo could be that player but we really don't have anyone else. What we have is a good bunch of players who should just about be enough to keep us up but to get to that next level we may need to push the boat out to sign a matchwinner or two. We are rarely outplayed and certainly weren't today but just one piece of magic can make all the difference.
 


Don Tmatter

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
5,035
dont matter
I think Mitrovic’s performance against D & D the other week has shown the PL that they’re not that as strong and commanding as they like to think they are
 






Seagull1989

Well-known member
Oct 31, 2011
1,204
Our approach play is too slow, all the players first instinct seems to be to cut back.

We haven’t got enough pace at the moment and badly need Izqueirdo back. CH seems to prefer Solly on the right and to be honest he has been playing well there but this keeps Knocky out the team, who has that spark to make something happen.
 


Weststander

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2011
69,243
Withdean area
Our approach play is too slow, all the players first instinct seems to be to cut back.

We haven’t got enough pace at the moment and badly need Izqueirdo back. CH seems to prefer Solly on the right and to be honest he has been playing well there but this keeps Knocky out the team, who has that spark to make something happen.

AK has been a disappointment in so many PL matches.
 


Megazone

On his last warning
Jan 28, 2015
8,679
Northern Hemisphere.
Our approach play is too slow, all the players first instinct seems to be to cut back.

We haven’t got enough pace at the moment and badly need Izqueirdo back. CH seems to prefer Solly on the right and to be honest he has been playing well there but this keeps Knocky out the team, who has that spark to make something happen.

What frustrates me is that we need our wingers to cross from the byline if we're going to use Murray's ariel ability to full affect. March playing on the right is proving how much more dangerous he is not having to cut inside to cross. Knocky's left footed so why not use him on the left and get him running at the byline more putting in crosses which get behind the defenders. Low or heighted crosses are the most dangerous when played first time from the byline as it causes defenders all sorts of problems and even own goals. We have a good left footed winger Hughton, play him on the left wing and let's make the team more fluid with first time crosses for Murray to feed off. Stuff all this no risk crap and lets play with threat. CH, if you've revd this, I do apologise for using the word crap, I was under the assumption you don't read NSC.
 






dingodan

New member
Feb 16, 2011
10,080
If you think about it, there is one thing we lack all over the park.

Hardened Premier League experience. We have basically none. I love our penchant for exotic purchases from overseas, but Murray and Duffy are our only player with Premier League experience, and it shows.
 


Djmiles

Barndoor Holroyd
Dec 1, 2005
12,064
Kitchener, Canada
If you think about it, there is one thing we lack all over the park.

Hardened Premier League experience. We have basically none. I love our penchant for exotic purchases from overseas, but Murray and Duffy are our only player with Premier League experience, and it shows.

Given the vast majority of our squad now have 50+ games under their belt, that shouldn’t be an excuse.
 




BN41Albion

Well-known member
Oct 1, 2017
6,824
Players aren't good enough as a group.

This. Nothing to do with individual errors, the pitch being wet, the ref not giving us the rub of the green... We've been poor in the vast majority of our games this season. The squad hasn't gelled, tactics haven't worked, and perhaps the newbies we've brought in haven't quite been up to standard / had enough game time to get up to standard. It's certainly been a frustrating season after a promising start, that's for sure.
 


Perkino

Well-known member
Dec 11, 2009
6,051
I think Mitrovic’s performance against D & D the other week has shown the PL that they’re not that as strong and commanding as they like to think they are

The reason they looked so effective last season is because we made the opposition play the ball wide and put crosses in to the box for their attacks playing to Dunk & Duffys strengths in the air. We made this happen by reducing the space between our midfield and defence which is achieved by having 2 solid lines of 4 keeping things tight.

4-3-3 just isn't working and leaves us horrendously exposed in defence
 


Weststander

Well-known member
Aug 25, 2011
69,243
Withdean area
The reason they looked so effective last season is because we made the opposition play the ball wide and put crosses in to the box for their attacks playing to Dunk & Duffys strengths in the air. We made this happen by reducing the space between our midfield and defence which is achieved by having 2 solid lines of 4 keeping things tight.

4-3-3 just isn't working and leaves us horrendously exposed in defence

They suit the deep Alamo defence.

In open play, they made Barnes and Wood look like Aguero.

Dunk’s display would not have impressed Southgate.
 


Sarisbury Seagull

Solly March Fan Club
NSC Patron
Nov 22, 2007
15,000
Sarisbury Green, Southampton
I think we’re playing the wrong players, the wrong formation and I don’t know what CH says before the game but we’re also going out to each game with a negative mindset. Today was a classic example of what we’ve seen for months, we started so sluggishly at home to a struggling side.

I have found it totally bizarre for weeks that in Andone and Bissouma we have two players who are far, far superior to the players who are starting ahead of them and yet they’ve had to start nearly every game on the bench. Bissouma must watch Stephens play and think Hughton is taking the piss.

And I know Murray has scored some crucial goals this season but overall, Andone adds so much more to us as a team. Wednesday might was the perfect scenario for me, start Andone to stretch the opposition, give us some pace and space and then Glenn can come on at the end to add a bit of know how and to take chances that come up against tiring defences.

Add in the bizarre treatment of Knockaert this season and I’m not sure what Chris is up to. The strange decline of Pascal Gross is also something that has been painful to see and may not be entirely CH’s fault but has also coincided with a change of position so questions also have to be asked of that.

Not the major problem but I’m also really confused by our record signing. He looks totally lost in this league and has added absolutely nothing to us this season at all. We can’t afford to sign duds for that sort of money. I know Locadia has his critics but at least he’s contributed to the cause, AJ has done absolutely nothing.
 








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