Some supporters might argue that Ryan Harley is the last piece of the jigsaw of Gus Poyet’s emerging team. It is definitely true that Poyet has been after this elegant player for sometime: “It’s no secret that we have been interested in Ryan for some time now. We were close in January, but he went to Swansea City because they were in the Championship – and that was understandable, any player wants to play at the highest level they possibly can. However, their promotion to the Premiership meant that he may have had to wait longer for his opportunity, and it is clear Ryan wants to play.”
After signing Harley, Brendan Rodgers sent him back to Exeter City on loan where he scored four goals in fourteen games. Surprisingly, Rodgers never selected Harley for Swansea and last Monday, Poyet got him for an undisclosed fee. The following day he made his debut against Sunderland. Poyet pointed out: We know what he is about, he is a player who likes to get on the ball and make things happen. He has a great range of passing – and he will complement the players already here.” Harley did not look match fit against Sunderland and would have been unlikely to have started against Peterborough if it had not been for Romain Vincelot dislocating his elbow.
Harley made his presence felt in the second minute when he fed Calderon whose cross was hit over the bar by Barnes. Five minutes later Harley found Noone with a clever pass on the left wing and this time Barnes fired the cross wide.
However, Brighton did not have to wait long for the opening goal. Peterborough’s goalkeeper, Paul Jones, cleared the ball straight to Noone, standing on the left-wing. He ran across the pitch and when no one attempted to close him down, he decided to shoot from 20 yards. At first it seemed he had not hit it hard enough but Jones was slow getting down and it crept in just inside the post.
Harley was at the centre of all Brighton’s best moments in the opening stages of the game. When he moves forward with the ball at his feet his upright stance with his head held high, Harley reminds me of Trevor Brooking, or even a young Gus Poyet. There was one moment in the first-half when Harley was moving forward towards the Peterborough goal with the ball at his feet. Painter had made an overlapping run on the left-wing and was screaming for the ball. However, he coolly waited until the defender advanced to a position where he was unable to cut-out the finely weighted pass to enable Painter to cross the ball into the goalmouth. The chance was not taken but you could not fail to be impressed by the way he timed this excellent pass. He is also someone who refuses to be hurried into making a mistake.
Despite the early goal Brighton did not dominate Peterborough. Grant McCann and George Boyd tended to run the midfield and Gabriel Zakuani and Ryan Bennett kept Barnes and Mackail-Smith quiet for long periods of the game. Mark Little, an athletic right-back, made several dangerous runs that seemed to unsettle Painter. However, Peterborough failed to open up Brighton with any quality balls into the box and they were restricted to having long shots from outside the area. The best of these was McCann’s beautifully struck shot in the 36th minute that Casper Ankergren managed to push round the post.
Boyd went off injured soon afterwards but the 18-year-old Ryan Tunnicliffe, on loan from Manchester United (not a bad idea to employ a manager who is the son of Sir Alex Ferguson), was an able deputy, and Peterborough continued to have their fair share of possession. The fact that this was not turned into good chances was largely due to the good defensive work of Liam Bridcutt, Gordon Greer and the highly impressive Lewis Dunk.
In the 64th minute Tommy Rowe fouled Ashley Barnes, 30 yards from goal. If Paul Jones had done his homework he would have realised that Harley had scored several goals from this range for Exeter City. Even if he had done this, it is unlikely that he would have stopped Harley’s magnificent curling free-kick into the top corner.
Harley, who had already been showing signs of tiring, was replaced by Matt Sparrow in the 72nd minute. Brighton’s best attacker, Noone, was also sacrificed in order to get a more defensively minded Alan Navarro on the pitch. This made it more difficult for Peterborough in midfield and they were only able to carve out one real opening but Rowe failed to get a good connection and the ball trickled wide of the post.
Brighton’s 2-0 victory enabled them to top the league. After obtaining 13 from a possible 15 points, it probably seems churlish to criticise the team. However, there are a few worrying points about the performances so far this season. The most worrying aspect is the fact that the opposition usually has more of the ball that Brighton. Against Peterborough it was 46%-54%. It was the same with the other two home games against Blackpool and Doncaster Rovers. It is questionable whether we can cope against the better teams in the division without including a ball-winner in midfield. I am also not convinced that Marcos Painter and Casper Ankergren are good enough at this level. We will know if Poyet shares this view by the signings he makes before the deadline on Wednesday.
Monday, 29 August 2011
Sunday, 21 August 2011
Brighton v Blackpool (20th August 2011)
Gus Poyet is still young enough to have played against Kevin Phillips. After the game he recalled: “I remember playing against him for Chelsea against Sunderland when he scored a couple of goals”. When Poyet became aware that Phillips was leaving Birmingham in the summer, he tried to sign him despite the fact he reached his 38th birthday on 25th July. Phillips was also being courted by Ian Holloway, who could no longer afford to pay the wages demanded by his leading scorers last season after being relegated from the Premiership. Phillips admitted that the main reason for his decision concerned his family home in the Midlands. “I had a good chat with Gus Poyet but signing for Blackpool meant I didn't have to relocate”.
Poyet warned his players about the danger Phillips would pose but they were unable to stop him scoring two second-half goals that stopped Brighton from winning their first four games. It would have been the first time that they had done this since 1953. Poyet commented: “It feels strange to have not won. We did practically everything right. But you can’t give Kevin Phillips opportunities like that. He is one player you do not need to show videos of to your own players. He is top class.”
Poyet is being overly generous to his team when he says they “did practically everything right”. Despite the fact that according to Phillips the team had “a nightmare eight-and-a-half-hour trip on the coach”, Blackpool started the brighter. They kept the ball better and several times during the opening minutes, Brighton’s defenders slipped on the over-watered turf and only narrowly escaped letting Blackpool’s forwards from having a clear run-in on goal. Despite their greater possession, Blackpool failed to create any clear-cut chances.
Brighton did have their bright moments. Most of these came from Craig Noone, who was given his first league start of the season. Throughout the early stages of the game he drifted from side to side just in front of Blackpool’s backline. Several times he got the ball quickly under control and took on the Blackpool defenders. In the 9th minute he was brought down and after picking himself up he delivered a free kick that Inigo Calderon headed over when he should have worked the goalkeeper.
Twenty minutes later, Noone on the left wing, collected a long high ball out of defence. After exchanging passes with Dicker, Noone, provided a lovely cross they just went over Gilk’s outstretched hand and the ever busy Mackail-Smith headed into the open net.
The goal gave Brighton the confidence they needed and for the rest of the half they looked for the first time the better team. Brighton also started the second-half well and in the 50th minute Greer cleverly flicked on Noone’s in-swinging corner and Ashley Barnes was able to score from close-range. Barnes, scorer of 20 goals in Brighton’s promotion season, has shown that he is capable of scoring goals against better quality defenders.
As one wag had said after the game against Cardiff that Brighton “have taken to the higher level like Seagulls to mackerel” and most fans probably thought that Brighton would now go on to win the game fairly comfortable. However, it has to be remembered that last season Blackpool were in the Premiership and are one of the favorites to get promotion. Ian Holloway is also a shrewd manager and he had clearly spotted a weakness in the Brighton defence. During the second-half the Blackpool side made numerous high crosses to the far post that were intended to take advantage of Ankergren’s reluctance to come for the ball.
In the 58th minute Holloway made all his three substitutions together. The most important of these was Eardley, who is a great provider of crosses. Two minutes later a long ball by Eardley caused confusion in the Brighton defence. Ankergren began to come off his line but then changed his mind. Dunk, who assumed his keeper would take the ball, desperately tried to reach it but it went over his head and Phillips had little difficulty in nodding it home.
Blackpool were now in the ascendency and were dominating possession. Like Doncaster in the previous game at the Amex, Blackpool began to hold a high backline that congested the midfield. Against Doncaster Poyet had counteracted this strategy by bringing on two wingers that made full use of the width of the pitch. In the 62nd minute Poyet did bring on LuaLua but took off Noone, who had been a best attacker. After the game Poyet said he had done this to save Noone for games coming up. Whatever the reason, it worked to the Seagulls disadvantage. Whereas Noone had moved all over the field, LuaLua stationed himself on the left-wing and it was fairly easy to mark him out of the game. LuaLua did have one good run and cross in the 72th minute but Mackail-Smith’s short-range shot was blocked by Gilks.
Brighton was only to have one more chance to extend their lead. In the 77th minute Ashley Barnes was blatantly tripped in the area when he tried to reach a cross from the left. Although the referee probably had his eyes on the ball, I cannot understand how the linesman missed it.
Whereas Brighton continued to play their short passing game, Blackpool more and more relied on long diagonal balls to the wings. It was one of these balls that forced a corner. With only seconds of normal time remaining, Stephen Crainey took it and Phillips volleyed in from 12 yards for the equaliser.
Blackpool had 54% of the possession and fully deserved the draw. However, it was hard to take after being two goals up. I am sure the players, and more importantly, Poyet will learn a great deal from thisexperience. One thing we will have to sort out is how we react when the opposition set out to make it difficult for us to play our short-passing game.
John Simkin (grandfather)
Referee Philip Gibbs was having a good game until he was hit on the head by the ball in the 56th minute. Maybe he lost a few brain cells. Brighton could have had a 100% record if it was not for Gibbs. In the 77th minute Barnes was tripped in the box, but the referee gave no penalty! At the time Brighton were 2-1 up and if the referee had given the foul and we had scored we would have won because they scored again. We were the best team in the first-half but Blackpool came back in the second-half.
Alex Davies (grandson)
Ankergren (5), Calderon (6), Painter (6), Dunk (6), Greer (6), Dicker (6), Vincelot (7), Bridcutt (6), Noone (8), Mackail-Smith (8), Barnes (6): Subs: LuaLua (6) and Navarro (5)
Poyet warned his players about the danger Phillips would pose but they were unable to stop him scoring two second-half goals that stopped Brighton from winning their first four games. It would have been the first time that they had done this since 1953. Poyet commented: “It feels strange to have not won. We did practically everything right. But you can’t give Kevin Phillips opportunities like that. He is one player you do not need to show videos of to your own players. He is top class.”
Poyet is being overly generous to his team when he says they “did practically everything right”. Despite the fact that according to Phillips the team had “a nightmare eight-and-a-half-hour trip on the coach”, Blackpool started the brighter. They kept the ball better and several times during the opening minutes, Brighton’s defenders slipped on the over-watered turf and only narrowly escaped letting Blackpool’s forwards from having a clear run-in on goal. Despite their greater possession, Blackpool failed to create any clear-cut chances.
Brighton did have their bright moments. Most of these came from Craig Noone, who was given his first league start of the season. Throughout the early stages of the game he drifted from side to side just in front of Blackpool’s backline. Several times he got the ball quickly under control and took on the Blackpool defenders. In the 9th minute he was brought down and after picking himself up he delivered a free kick that Inigo Calderon headed over when he should have worked the goalkeeper.
Twenty minutes later, Noone on the left wing, collected a long high ball out of defence. After exchanging passes with Dicker, Noone, provided a lovely cross they just went over Gilk’s outstretched hand and the ever busy Mackail-Smith headed into the open net.
The goal gave Brighton the confidence they needed and for the rest of the half they looked for the first time the better team. Brighton also started the second-half well and in the 50th minute Greer cleverly flicked on Noone’s in-swinging corner and Ashley Barnes was able to score from close-range. Barnes, scorer of 20 goals in Brighton’s promotion season, has shown that he is capable of scoring goals against better quality defenders.
As one wag had said after the game against Cardiff that Brighton “have taken to the higher level like Seagulls to mackerel” and most fans probably thought that Brighton would now go on to win the game fairly comfortable. However, it has to be remembered that last season Blackpool were in the Premiership and are one of the favorites to get promotion. Ian Holloway is also a shrewd manager and he had clearly spotted a weakness in the Brighton defence. During the second-half the Blackpool side made numerous high crosses to the far post that were intended to take advantage of Ankergren’s reluctance to come for the ball.
In the 58th minute Holloway made all his three substitutions together. The most important of these was Eardley, who is a great provider of crosses. Two minutes later a long ball by Eardley caused confusion in the Brighton defence. Ankergren began to come off his line but then changed his mind. Dunk, who assumed his keeper would take the ball, desperately tried to reach it but it went over his head and Phillips had little difficulty in nodding it home.
Blackpool were now in the ascendency and were dominating possession. Like Doncaster in the previous game at the Amex, Blackpool began to hold a high backline that congested the midfield. Against Doncaster Poyet had counteracted this strategy by bringing on two wingers that made full use of the width of the pitch. In the 62nd minute Poyet did bring on LuaLua but took off Noone, who had been a best attacker. After the game Poyet said he had done this to save Noone for games coming up. Whatever the reason, it worked to the Seagulls disadvantage. Whereas Noone had moved all over the field, LuaLua stationed himself on the left-wing and it was fairly easy to mark him out of the game. LuaLua did have one good run and cross in the 72th minute but Mackail-Smith’s short-range shot was blocked by Gilks.
Brighton was only to have one more chance to extend their lead. In the 77th minute Ashley Barnes was blatantly tripped in the area when he tried to reach a cross from the left. Although the referee probably had his eyes on the ball, I cannot understand how the linesman missed it.
Whereas Brighton continued to play their short passing game, Blackpool more and more relied on long diagonal balls to the wings. It was one of these balls that forced a corner. With only seconds of normal time remaining, Stephen Crainey took it and Phillips volleyed in from 12 yards for the equaliser.
Blackpool had 54% of the possession and fully deserved the draw. However, it was hard to take after being two goals up. I am sure the players, and more importantly, Poyet will learn a great deal from thisexperience. One thing we will have to sort out is how we react when the opposition set out to make it difficult for us to play our short-passing game.
John Simkin (grandfather)
Referee Philip Gibbs was having a good game until he was hit on the head by the ball in the 56th minute. Maybe he lost a few brain cells. Brighton could have had a 100% record if it was not for Gibbs. In the 77th minute Barnes was tripped in the box, but the referee gave no penalty! At the time Brighton were 2-1 up and if the referee had given the foul and we had scored we would have won because they scored again. We were the best team in the first-half but Blackpool came back in the second-half.
Alex Davies (grandson)
Ankergren (5), Calderon (6), Painter (6), Dunk (6), Greer (6), Dicker (6), Vincelot (7), Bridcutt (6), Noone (8), Mackail-Smith (8), Barnes (6): Subs: LuaLua (6) and Navarro (5)
Monday, 8 August 2011
Brighton v Doncaster (6th August, 2011)
In a television interview earlier on this year, Gus Poyet admitted that when he first arrived at Brighton it took him sometime to convince his squad to play his way. This was a particular problem for the defenders in his team. They had been brought up to get the ball into the opposing half as quickly as possible. Poyet said it took him several months to persuade them that they had the level of skill necessary to pass the ball around at the back. In the words of John Maynard Keynes once: "The difficulty lies not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones." Poyet pointed out in the interview that success only comes when the players have confidence in the manager’s philosophy of how to play the game.
There is no doubt that last season the Brighton team had been won over by Poyet belief in playing the passing game. As one player recently commented: "The philosophy is to play the ball on the floor and keep it local." Brighton had showed they could do it at that level, but would the system work in the championship.
From the beginning of the opening game at the American Express Community Stadium, Brighton attempted to carry on where they left off last season. Doncaster, aware of what they would be facing, worked incredibly hard at closing down the Brighton players when they were on the ball. In the 39th minute, Dicker exchanged passes with LuaLua in the middle of the park. There was a pass available to Barnes in space on the wing, but he hesitated while he looked quickly for a more productive opening. Last season he might have been given the time needed to make the killer pass. Instead he was closed down by two Doncaster players. Dicker managed to keep if from the first tackler, but Ryan Mason, coming in on his blind side, was able to take the ball from him. The Tottenham youngster, currently on loan to Doncaster, quickly headed for goal and he was able to get off a shot before a Brighton defender could get in a tackle. Greer managed to get a block on the ball but the spinning ball found its way to Billy Sharp, whose mishit shot hit Ankergren before trickling in off the post.
For much of the game it seemed that this one mistake was going to be costly for Brighton. Craig Mackail-Smith said before the game that the main reason he chose Brighton over Norwich and QPR was because of the way they played football: “We (Peterborough) played Brighton twice last season and they were fantastic on both occasions. The team play expansive football, create lots of chances and as a striker that’s all you can ask for.”
His colleagues did not let him down and he was provided with a series of chances during the game. Unfortunately most of them came in the air and were in truth only half-chances. Mackail-Smith was not the worst offender. Just before Doncaster scored, Ashley Barnes found himself with only the goalkeeper to beat. His scuffed shot hit Gary Wood and as it bounced towards the net, George Friend was able to run behind his goalkeeper to clear off the line. Barnes also missed another good chance in the second-half. The worst miss of the game was in the 59th minute when a lovely cushioned back-header from Barnes found Craig Noone in space behind the Doncaster defenders. He casually brought the ball under control before surprisingly putting it wide of the post.
Despite this lack of quality in front of goal, Noone was having a growing influence on the game since replacing LuaLua at half-time. He was getting through an amazing amount of work as he attacked Doncaster on both flanks. His job was made easier with the introduction of new signing Will Buckley in the 75th minute. Poyet had surprisingly left Buckley out of the starting line-up. He told the player: “Go on and show me I’ve made a mistake”.
With two wide players, Brighton could now take full advantage of the playing surface at the Amex. At 115 yards by 75, the pitch has exactly the same dimensions as the one at the national stadium and suits the kind of passing game that Poyet advocates. Within four minutes of coming on, Buckley made a strong run on the wing and was able cut the ball back to Mackail-Smith, whose shot was blocked by the keeper.
The relentless pressure finally brought its reward. A long ball into the Doncaster area was only half-cleared to the feet of Buckley. His finely struck low drive went through the legs of two defenders before curving just inside the post. It was finishing of the highest quality.
The game was well into added time when Noone began a mazy run just inside the Doncaster half. He ended his run with a beautiful through-ball with the outside of his left foot. It was the kind of ball that Mackail-Smith had been asking for all game. However, it was the fast-running Buckley who got to it first and he coolly slotted it past the fully exposed Wood. After the game Buckley pointed out: "Noone's absolutely brilliant. He's put the ball on a plate for me and I've had time to set myself, then I've opened my body and put it in the corner”.
Gus Poyet admitted that he feared the pre-match party atmosphere could deflect his players' attentions from the task at hand. "There were too many celebrations, too many happy people, too many flags." It could be argued that the Brighton players had tried too hard during the first-half to take the passion out of the occasion by their slow build-up play. Doncaster, much faster into the tackle, appeared to be the home team.
Brighton also did not get very much help from the referee, Eddie Ilderton. His decision to book LuaLua for a dive in the 39th minute was appalling. A penalty would have been a harsh decision but James Hayter’s did unintentionally bring him down. It was not only LuaLua who was incensed by the unwarranted yellow-card. Poyet’s remonstrations resulted in him being sent to the stands.
Despite the fact that Poyet responded in such an emotional way to this bad decision, his team remained patient, and refused to change the agreed strategy. However, it was only after Poyet’s decision to make full use of this vast pitch by playing two wide men up front that the goals finally came and Brighton was off to a winning start.
John Simkin
There is no doubt that last season the Brighton team had been won over by Poyet belief in playing the passing game. As one player recently commented: "The philosophy is to play the ball on the floor and keep it local." Brighton had showed they could do it at that level, but would the system work in the championship.
From the beginning of the opening game at the American Express Community Stadium, Brighton attempted to carry on where they left off last season. Doncaster, aware of what they would be facing, worked incredibly hard at closing down the Brighton players when they were on the ball. In the 39th minute, Dicker exchanged passes with LuaLua in the middle of the park. There was a pass available to Barnes in space on the wing, but he hesitated while he looked quickly for a more productive opening. Last season he might have been given the time needed to make the killer pass. Instead he was closed down by two Doncaster players. Dicker managed to keep if from the first tackler, but Ryan Mason, coming in on his blind side, was able to take the ball from him. The Tottenham youngster, currently on loan to Doncaster, quickly headed for goal and he was able to get off a shot before a Brighton defender could get in a tackle. Greer managed to get a block on the ball but the spinning ball found its way to Billy Sharp, whose mishit shot hit Ankergren before trickling in off the post.
For much of the game it seemed that this one mistake was going to be costly for Brighton. Craig Mackail-Smith said before the game that the main reason he chose Brighton over Norwich and QPR was because of the way they played football: “We (Peterborough) played Brighton twice last season and they were fantastic on both occasions. The team play expansive football, create lots of chances and as a striker that’s all you can ask for.”
His colleagues did not let him down and he was provided with a series of chances during the game. Unfortunately most of them came in the air and were in truth only half-chances. Mackail-Smith was not the worst offender. Just before Doncaster scored, Ashley Barnes found himself with only the goalkeeper to beat. His scuffed shot hit Gary Wood and as it bounced towards the net, George Friend was able to run behind his goalkeeper to clear off the line. Barnes also missed another good chance in the second-half. The worst miss of the game was in the 59th minute when a lovely cushioned back-header from Barnes found Craig Noone in space behind the Doncaster defenders. He casually brought the ball under control before surprisingly putting it wide of the post.
Despite this lack of quality in front of goal, Noone was having a growing influence on the game since replacing LuaLua at half-time. He was getting through an amazing amount of work as he attacked Doncaster on both flanks. His job was made easier with the introduction of new signing Will Buckley in the 75th minute. Poyet had surprisingly left Buckley out of the starting line-up. He told the player: “Go on and show me I’ve made a mistake”.
With two wide players, Brighton could now take full advantage of the playing surface at the Amex. At 115 yards by 75, the pitch has exactly the same dimensions as the one at the national stadium and suits the kind of passing game that Poyet advocates. Within four minutes of coming on, Buckley made a strong run on the wing and was able cut the ball back to Mackail-Smith, whose shot was blocked by the keeper.
The relentless pressure finally brought its reward. A long ball into the Doncaster area was only half-cleared to the feet of Buckley. His finely struck low drive went through the legs of two defenders before curving just inside the post. It was finishing of the highest quality.
The game was well into added time when Noone began a mazy run just inside the Doncaster half. He ended his run with a beautiful through-ball with the outside of his left foot. It was the kind of ball that Mackail-Smith had been asking for all game. However, it was the fast-running Buckley who got to it first and he coolly slotted it past the fully exposed Wood. After the game Buckley pointed out: "Noone's absolutely brilliant. He's put the ball on a plate for me and I've had time to set myself, then I've opened my body and put it in the corner”.
Gus Poyet admitted that he feared the pre-match party atmosphere could deflect his players' attentions from the task at hand. "There were too many celebrations, too many happy people, too many flags." It could be argued that the Brighton players had tried too hard during the first-half to take the passion out of the occasion by their slow build-up play. Doncaster, much faster into the tackle, appeared to be the home team.
Brighton also did not get very much help from the referee, Eddie Ilderton. His decision to book LuaLua for a dive in the 39th minute was appalling. A penalty would have been a harsh decision but James Hayter’s did unintentionally bring him down. It was not only LuaLua who was incensed by the unwarranted yellow-card. Poyet’s remonstrations resulted in him being sent to the stands.
Despite the fact that Poyet responded in such an emotional way to this bad decision, his team remained patient, and refused to change the agreed strategy. However, it was only after Poyet’s decision to make full use of this vast pitch by playing two wide men up front that the goals finally came and Brighton was off to a winning start.
John Simkin
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