Brighton (Home) Friday 20th 8pm (match thread)
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Comments
Ie “ he thinks his better then he is”
I really like Bilic but he has limited tactical understanding.
Which is weird because in his first season everything he said in interviews felt spot on. He must know what he’s on about but there is little evidence of it at the moment and it has been like this since losing 2-1 to Stoke in May 2016.
We certainly haven’t made it difficult for the opposition too many times at home
Worried about a name change
Something like
Raffa-plays-with-his-chins
But it’s okay, the stadium is perfect ;whistle
Joke by the way.......
We’ve won games here and there but it’s pretty much always a struggle. Add that to defeats of this kind and there’s nothing to like about watching us at the moment. Even when we beat Swansea and Huddersfield I didn’t enjoy the games.
We were better going forward and defensively under Allardyce. We have better players now which is balancing it, but a better manager will get so much more out of these guys, IMO.
In Slavs first season we always came back and you always felt we would at some point. Now we just fold like a pack of cards
While one player doesn’t make a team the effect Payet had on this side was clearly huge and possibly papered over the cracks
Anyone know how big the training pitches are? If these is still the same size as the old pitch it could be a big part of the problem.
Never been convinced by Antonio anyway. I often see him as lazy and quite greedy. A supreme athlete but his actual football brain and ability is not PL level IMO.
Maybe should spend more time on basic footballing abilities like control and passing than his goal-scoring celebrations.
We didn't notice if the store was open on the way out.
The main problem that struck me in the match was Lanzini playing so deep. He was often going back level with the deepest defender to pick up the ball and start a move. Given the complete lack of ideas of his teammates, this was perhaps understandable. But Bilic shouldn't have allowed it to continue. It meant that Chicharito was rather isolated. Lanzini needed to be in the hole behind him much more of the time. In fact, like another poster here, this pattern led me to want Noble to come on for Kouyate (who hardly touched the ball in the first half, it seemed to me) or Obiang (who, as has been commented, only contributed one good pass). This remains the kind of player we need to buy - to free up Lanzini for further up the pitch.
Next on my list of gripes were Arnautovic and Masuaku, who seemed to put in the most miserably pathetic of performances. It's very sad that Masuaku, after such good cameos as a sub, should dip in form so dramatically after having been given the starting berth. That doesn't help Bilic at all. Unfortunately Arnie hasn't shown much in any of his performances, perhaps bar Bolton, which hardly counts given the level of their resistance.
I agree with many who have slated Antonio's delivery. But he did at least beat his man quite regularly and get into a position to make that final pass. He found Chicharito once, though with a pass that was hard to control. If he didn't get back as quickly as he should have, was he still not fully fit or was he just feeling exasperated at his performance levels?
I think the criticism of Hart is a bit undue. He made two great saves. After the first of these, unfortunately Brighton regained possession quite soon after the save and came back to score their second goal. Whether he should have saved that one, I'm not sure. Just because he touched it doens't mean he should have saved it. I think it moved a bit in the air after he had dived and he couldn't reach it well enough to save it. I'd be more upset with the penalty - hate to see keepers beaten down the middle. But that's just luck really. So I think he didn't do too badly apart from one awful misplaced pass towards the end.
The third player whom I think has been unfairly slated is Ayew. I thought he was our best player for the time he was on the pitch, and looked the most likely to make something happen.
So, in summary, most of my criticism goes to Bilic. He picked a very strong team and seemed to give them no plan A, let alone a plan B. Our midfield of Obiang, Kouyate and Lanzini was woeful and these are top players who I am sure would have done much better if better organised and drilled. After Bilic, I'm most disappointed in Arnie and Masuaku. Kouyate and Obiang also had particularly bad off days. Zabaleta showed passion, but gave away another clumsy penalty.
I'm no longer angry about Bilic's performances. I've graduated to depression.