Author Topic: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool  (Read 7040 times)

Offline Hinesy

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Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« on: September 21, 2011, 11:32:37 pm »
Reminiscent of the Sunderland game, we bossed the first half and sat back in the 2nd. Spearing was at fault for the penalty but I'm wondering if our players' mentality wasn't totally razor sharp, taking on the "Lower League we don't have to play as well" attitude.

Both teams could've had a few goals, the woodwork dented on all accounts.

Good to see Gerrard back.

Anything else?


PS the "American Express Community Stadium" oxymoron if e're there was one.
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Offline Veinticinco de Mayo

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2011, 11:37:41 pm »
PS the "American Express Community Stadium" oxymoron if e're there was one.

They serve proper beer in the bars though apparently...

The second half was the game I was expecting from the off really, they are flying at the moment and Poyet has got them playing some lovely football, so this was always going to be a difficult fixture.  One good thing that came out of the backs to the wall performance in the second period was that the young defence stood up to the task and we should have held on comfortably if Spearing hadn't had that aberration at the end.

The main gripe?  Given the dominance, and the lovely football we played for 40 minutes we should have put the game to bed well before half-time.  Luis Suarez, for all this brilliance, is not clinical, so I guess that missed chances is something that we may need  to get used to.
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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #2 on: September 22, 2011, 01:12:30 am »
I would suggest the main discussion points are:-

Coates:- How good was his debut?
Bellamy & Suarez:- Our best attacking partnership?
Spearing:- Not good enough or made just 1 mistake all game?
Reina:- What's up with his handling. Vaseline on the gloves?
Fitness:- Are we fading too often in the second half? Or is it just complacency?

« Last Edit: September 22, 2011, 07:17:05 pm by hinesy »
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Offline StevenLFC

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #3 on: September 22, 2011, 06:59:49 am »
First of all, credit to Brighton. They didn't follow the typical "lower league team v Premier League team" where it's all hoofs and set pieces, a very physical game. They passed the ball very well, and were unlucky not to score before they did.

Having said that, I thought we played pretty well. I was very impressed by Bellamy. He works his socks off, ala Dirk Kuyt, but he has a little bit more craft, skill and creativity than the Dutchman. Him and Suarez looked good at times, although it appears that Luis left his shooting boots at home.

I was glad to see Martin Kelly fit again, he is a massive upgrade on Skrtel at right back (then again, I reckon my budgie would be a better right back than Skrtel, and I don't even have a budgie).

It was great to see Steven Gerrard back on the pitch too. You remember that lyric "you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone", well that's what Liverpool fans should be thinking now. Before he got injured I heard a lot of criticism around Gerrard, I guess people just took him for granted. The man is a world class footballer, I'd say one of the top 5 to have played for Liverpool, and there could well be an argument to say he's the best Liverpool player there's ever been. I can't wait to see Steven back to full fitness, he will make a huge difference to us.

Finally, I'm glad that we seem to be taking the Carling Cup seriously. With no European football this season, we can afford to play more of our first team players and have a real go at winning it, and it looks like Kenny is thinking the same way.
« Last Edit: September 22, 2011, 07:01:52 am by StevenLFC »

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #4 on: September 22, 2011, 01:05:43 pm »
It was a good game I thought. The stadium was pretty nice actually - tight-ish on to the pitch and a good focussing of the noise. The first half could have been a rout and Bellamy's free kick was a peach. Bellamy was fun to watch.

Kelly was goose stepping all the way through every time the ball went out of play and you wondered if his hamstrings were up to it. Other than that the only real talking points for me were Gerrard and Vicente. Gerrard was harshly punished for staying on his feet while the lad trying to prevent his progress crumpled like a house of cards, otherwise he'd have been in to put a cherry on top of the icing. Vicente was fun to watch. Yes they had some momentum, but I dunno - I never really felt we were gonna concede the advantage we had.

They're a good side though and when we invited them on, they didn't hesitate did they?

Offline sideshowme

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #5 on: September 22, 2011, 07:30:16 pm »
it was certainly an entertaining first half.  for much of last season i thought that our best attacking line up involved suarez, maxi and kuyt interchanging, so it was nice to see that again.  dirk seems to turn into a flick-on master in that line up.  the addition of bellamy is exciting, as it takes some of the pressure off suarez to be the movement in that attack.  andy carroll was, and remains, the ponytailed elephant in the room.

suarez is starting to annoy me a little, brilliant talent though he is.  he should be up there with rooney and aguero in terms of goals this season, and what frustrates me is his misses all seem to stem from a sort of half-assed casualness.  let's hope he's saving his accuracy up for the mancs and everton.

brilliant to see kelly back, still an impressive player even when not quite back at full pace.  coates had a nervy game at times, and made some odd decisions, but was generally solid.

in summary, it wasn't a particularly good performance, but it was a sufficient performance, and after recent weeks i'd take one of those every game till may.

and did gerrard mean the clearance out to bellamy for the second goal? 
« Last Edit: September 22, 2011, 07:32:15 pm by sideshowme »
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Offline Zeb

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2011, 09:47:27 pm »
Don't think we can get away with those holes between defence and midfield against better teams. Obviously we were trying to sit back a bit in the second half but, even so, they still found lots of room just in front of the central defence. Didn't detract too much from first half performance for me though. Liked what I saw there a lot.

Was a good match, glad to get a result as I really want to see some silverware this season so I'll take that. Know Gareth predicted a few goals against us this season as we moved towards what Kenny wants from the team, but think we could be tighter overall as a unit - shorter pieces of string required. More time I keep reminding myself. New midfield, disrupted back four, need a bit longer to get this absolutely spot on.

Brighton are a decent team. Few people pre-match said they'd not look out of place in the Premiership already and think that was proven to be a fair point. Good luck to them, because they had a long hard road to get back to this kind of level, and looks like they're going to play some good football with Poyet in charge.
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Offline Redwhiteandnotblue

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #7 on: September 23, 2011, 02:04:09 am »
Suárez apparently scored goals for fun when at Ajax: 81 goals in 110 appearances or 111 goals in 159 appearances depending on whether you consider league or all matches. His scoring record for us hasn't been quite that prolific, but it hasn't been shabby either. What I wonder is, not being a connoisseur of the Eredivise, was he missing as many chances for Ajax as he is for us? Or is the reduction in goals caused by other factors like the step up in standard to the Premier League and the decrease in amount of time on the ball that is the result of the faster pace of the Premier League? I think it's easy to forget that he's still in the settling in period for English football. That there might well be another level to his game once he settles properly is a mouthwatering prospect, and remember - he's barely been on the pitch at the same time as Gerrard, the Man Utd game in March being the last time it happened; if that partnership flourishes the way Suárez-Kuyt appears to have, (and the Suárez-Bellamy partnership looked promising against Brighton too) we will be even more formidable in attack. What is, of course, frustrating is that Suárez-Caroll hasn't looked anything like as natural or potent.
Suárez often scored his goals in twos and threes for Ajax, in fact he had 6 in one cup game against a lower league side. Hopefully we can look forward to more of these multi-goal feasts.

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #8 on: September 23, 2011, 09:33:06 am »
Let's not go down the route of demonising Suarez's style lads eh? The kid's as natural and as inexplicable a talent as we've seen on these shores. Just enjoy!

Offline Timbo's Goals

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #9 on: September 23, 2011, 09:59:21 am »
Bit taken aback by the seemingly low key acknowledgement on here of what was shown in the first half down at Brighton. Clinical in its final execution [bar the Suarez/Bellamy opener] it may not have been. However, I thought the approach football played in that first half particularly the fluidity and precision of the interplay and the inter changing of positions between the midfield/front six was never less than heartwarming and at times mesmerising.   

We had to move on as quickly as possible from sunday's horror show and some of the wonderful football we served up in that first half must surely have helped in soothing the spirits of the team and us supporters. It certainly did mine. I actually assumed it would also have had every Red purring with delight. Reading some of the posts in the thread it's clear the second half may have tended to dampen the optimism of many. I guess that's to be expected and to a degree it did mine at the time. However, I prefer to dwell on the positives and there were many to be taken from some of that magical first half passing and movement. And from Kenny's after match comments it looks as if he savoured that first half display as much as I did.

If I had to pinpoint a downside to the first half it was Luis's squandering of possession on a number of occasions which probably accounted for a major chunk of what we all felt was our failure to be clinical. I'm not so much referring to his near misses as to the slightly sloppy way he lost possession in a number of attacks when a bit more of the Luis we've come to expect may have seen the move bearing fruit. But imagine when he's really on blob in such a formation.

 :)

Let's hope then that the exquisite high pressing pass and move style of last night really does provide Kenny with the blueprint for the next few months so we can consolidate that style til it becomes our default setting. Maybe introduce Andy Carroll in small cameo doses if [when] the scoreline permits so he will finally become gradually accustomed to it and make use of it with his own strengths to complement it - as distinct from what his inclusion has been tending to do which is to be apart from it and thereby hinder it. If, in time, Carroll can manage to become integrated as the wrecking ball we all believed he would be to complement the rapier incision of Bellamy, Suarez, Kuyt, Gerrard and Downing then we might just have a consistent winning formula on our hands.  Not to mention some wonderful stuff to warm the cockles in the autumn/winter months to come. 
« Last Edit: September 23, 2011, 10:02:19 am by Timbo's Goals »

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #10 on: September 23, 2011, 12:27:39 pm »
Bellamy.

I think that's all that needs to be said. He was immense. Pace, powerful shots, decent touch, great movement, held the ball up well. Just what we needed. All done with the ball played to feet too.

Coates, I think he did okay, sometimes I thought his positioning was off, and he didnt have the non-nonsense, get in the way attitude you'd expect. But he's learning.

Good to see Gerrard back, his out ball to Bellamy pretty much won us the game.
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Offline itsgunnabebarnes!

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #11 on: September 23, 2011, 12:31:11 pm »
Brighton first half, Sundeland first half, stoke majority of the game and bolton has been some of the best attacking football i have seen in the last 15 + years. There are great signs. People forget we are blending in large amounts of new players.

I personally would like to see the same team on sat.
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Offline Grobbelrevell

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #12 on: September 23, 2011, 12:55:09 pm »
Before he got injured I heard a lot of criticism around Gerrard, I guess people just took him for granted. The man is a world class footballer, I'd say one of the top 5 to have played for Liverpool, and there could well be an argument to say he's the best Liverpool player there's ever been.

One of the very, very few utterings of note that Mark Lawrensen has graced us with was concerning Gerrard, when he described him as 'Souness with pace'.

Some statement, that. The very fact that you can actually argue a case for it says it all though.

As for the game itself, well, like the OP has said, there was more than an air of Sunderland about it wasn't there? Very fast, intense start, straight at Brighton with a high pressing game and quick, incisive, pass and move football. It was great to watch and quite honestly, Brighton struggled to live with it.

Bellamy looked fantastic at times, linking up well with Suarez and Kuyt in particular. On this evidence, signing him up for free looks to be one of the bargains of the summer. It also gives Kenny a (welcome) selection headache for the weekend because for my money, Bellamy surely must have played himself into contention with that showing. The same can be said of Dirk and despite the error at the death, Jay Spearing as well. Another question and one that seems to be becoming a recurring theme as the games pass, is where does Carroll fit? Again we looked a slick, incisive, pacy attacking force without Andy in the side. Do we stick with the personell that appear to be working most effectively as a collective, or does Andy come back in in the hope that it will begin to click? It's a question for debate.

We could, and really should, have been out of sight by the time the half-time whistle was blown. Suarez, in particular, missed a couple of gilt-edged chances, although in his defence he simply couldn't get any closer without actually scoring (on both occasions the 'keeper was beaten). These were the finest of fine margins and sooner or later they will turn in Suarez' favour and these near misses will instead see the net bulging and our 'goals for' tally increasing. A player of his undoubted class won't continue to miss them, that's for sure.

Frustratingly, we failed to match the intensity and tempo of the first forty-five once the second half got under way, allowing Brighton to force us back in much the same way as we had done to them. Whether it was a case of us taking our foot off the gas or Brighton simply responding and proving what a good side they are is debatable, but the very fact that this kind of Jekyl and Hyde performance is not an isolated occurrance this season is a concern.

Too often in the second half Brighton found themselves running directly at our back four, with Spearing and Lucas forced into desperate lunges in an attempt to thwart the danger that was mounting. Some of these challenges were successful, others less so. What these kinds of challenges do though, is increase the risk of conceding free-kicks in dangerous areas and I found myself looking through my fingers on a couple of occasions, awaiting the sound of the referee's whistle.

That said, overall I thought that what was an inexperienced defensive unit actually stood pretty firm for the most part and had it not been for a single poor decision from Jay Spearing at the death then they would have walked away with the clean sheet that they probably deserved. Making his full debut, Coates looked reasonably composed and seemed to be reading the game well at times, although his distribution could have been better, with one terrible floated pass across the back four almost leading to an equaliser for Brighton. This side of his game will certainly improve with time though, as he becomes more comfortable within the team and the system and in turn, more confident.

We did enough to go through in the end, against a dangerous side, and I suppose that's all that we can ask.

It's good to see that we're taking the competition seriously and Stevie's comments since seem to back this up. So, it's on to the next round and hopefully a long awaited return to 'Anfield South' in February.
« Last Edit: September 23, 2011, 03:15:12 pm by Grobbelrevell »
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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #13 on: September 23, 2011, 02:58:37 pm »
Gerrard said they expected Brighton to have a go in the second half. You begin to wonder if it's the half-time talk, and instead of frustrating it we sit back and let it become a self-fulfilling prophesy. Apart from that, the first half was sweet and it was great to see Gerrard back in the second. Why the hell he was penalised for the collapse of his panicking marker I know not.

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #14 on: September 23, 2011, 06:11:08 pm »
I really enjoyed that. Sure, it had been even better if we carried on in the second half as we did in the first, but even with Brighton attacking it was an open match and good to watch. Bellamy was incredible, the understanding in attack, the pace on the pitch, th eagerness to get forward. We scored from a counter, I can't remember when I last saw that.

Was thinking a bit about the Lucas-Spearing partnership. There is a post in the 'quality posts' thread about brazilian football and Lucas' position. The original is in the middle of the Lucas thread, and there many seemed to think that Spearing would be the best fit for Lucas as a midfield partner, if we'd play a brazilian style. They have something going for it, we looked more solid defensively, which in turn allowed the attackers to get forward. It'd be nice to play a proper AM with them too, but hopefully Gerrard might just be that player - seeing him back on the pitch really brought a smile to my face.
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Offline BabuYagu

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Re: Round Table Brighton & Hove Albion 1 - 2 Liverpool
« Reply #15 on: September 23, 2011, 08:21:09 pm »
Regarding the Spearing v Adam for partnering Lucas debate... as I see, if our defence drops off then whoever in midfield will struggle as there will just be too much space between defence and attack for the midfield to cover.

Adam looked fine in there when we had Flanagan and Kelly at Right Back. Even at Bolton where we pretty much controlled the game and held a reasonably high line again despite Skrtel at right back. However, against Spurs we dropped off to try and kill the Bale threat and as a result Lucas and Adam struggled. If you had swapped Spearing for Adam that game, he would have struggled also (although maybe he is a little quicker and agile than Adam so he would have faired a little better).

So for me the who partners Lucas debate is irrelevant if we are going to continue to defend deep. That means no more center halfs at full back. Longer term when everybody is fit, it may also mean Carragher being rotated to see how Skrtel or Coates fare when partnered with Agger.
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