The College Dropout

It’s funny. A few of us remarked he looked a bit slow when he joined and it became a joke because he was so good and aggressive etc. but like now…. He’s actually slow. But I blame the system and tactics more than anything for his and the entire midfields performances in the main. They’ve all looked off or done silly things but it’s the system in the main that isn’t working.

Agree with this but it’s all over the park. Pope is dodgy with his feet and will come far out the box too. Test him, he’ll get one wrong and lose a bit of confidence. His whole game might fall apart (crosses and saves). Trippier wants to attack. Target the space he leaves in behind. Trips ends up sitting deep all game. Almiron has no right foot and is poor 1v1. Keep Trippier defensive and guide Almiron to his right foot. Watch out for their combination play too. Massive spaces in thr half spaces between defence and 3 midfielders. Number 10s/ second strikers have a field day. only Bruno G can progress the ball from midfield. Stay tight on him. He’ll try and dribble his way out of trouble. Keep at it, you’ll be able to knick it dangerously at least once. We need different tricks now.

Really bad for that first goal. The Miskick was bad but understandable but the block? It was pathetic. No closing down. Turns his back. I like the lad. But he needs to play with conviction and commitment.

Agreed. Isak gets the ball. No player within 20 yards of him. Get him close to Wilson. The system has been the biggest culprit in the defeats in terms of performance level.

Also if I’m opposition. I’d be baiting him out. Put the bal in behind where he’s 60 / 40 favourite. He’ll come out and shank it at least once if you do it 3 times. The whole defence will lose a bit of confidence and nerve.

Think it has knocked his confidence. He’s always been a keeper that likes to come off his line. But Burnley played deep so while it happened it happened less. Now he’s dropped a clanger and is a bit unsure. Im still a big fan of the lad. No way should he be dropped. Aye even from crosses he’s been flappy. Needs his confidence back.

Sit infront of the defence - less responsibility to get forward. Create a solid box in defence with limited space. The 3 we have - massive gaps between themselves and the defence. Nobody responsible for sitting

I was thinking RDZ style. Wilson doesn’t really have the short game for it but certainly how do we get our most talented players in the first XI that works.

It would be nice to see something like Tonali Bruno Gordon Isak Barnes Wilson Or Almiron in there and move Gordon elsewhere.

Brighton have had 3 or 4 years to really build this squad and reinvest player sales. They’ve really fine tuned their approach. Only JP and the Gk are new signings that started for them today. Everyone else has come through their system. One thing I really like about RDZ system is that it prioritises ballers. Gross and Gilmore aren’t the most physical players but they can pass it through the lines well with good technique. They play with a 10 and the striker needs to drop deep and link it up nicely. The GK and defenders need to be comfortable on the ball. It’s nice to watch as a football fan. Our game is more hard running and aggression. Also fun to watch but has less guile.

Brighton have an excellent manager and an excellent setup. But aye they are not world beaters. But neither are we. We’ve spent lots of money but I don’t think our squad is significantly superior. They seem to have one of the best young managers in football and I think we do too.

Our low block is shit as well. Giveaway a lot of space - easy to play through into half spaces. If we sort that out we’ll be much better for it.

Too early to say definitively he’s tactically one dimensional. But I agree with the sentiment. We’ve gone all in on Howe ball in the transfer market. No 10s, hard runners everywhere. We need to give him the full season and must not knee jerk at any point.

Mistake.

Opinions change shocker. Since he’s put a good run together and I’ve seen what he’s capable of - I’ve supported him.

I think also tried and failed to adopt more rest defence less press and it hasn’t worked. But we weren’t keeping clean sheets backend of last season either. It’s just that Wilson was on fire and others like Isak chipped in

Great post. I think the 2 are linked. We’re getting overloaded in midfield and therefore can’t press effectively. And teams are drawing us out into positions we don’t want to be in. Teams man mark Bruno and say ‘find another way to play through us’ and we have no answers.

Someone asked if he had said we were good yet and I said yes.

He said we were good.

We can change defensive shape. Villa caused us issues in the half spaces too. That’s where they got a lot of joy. I said this after the game. Howe has not successfully addressed it at all.

Also… he likes to do the same thing. So when it works and team is confident we string wins together. When it’s not working the limitations of the approach are exposed.

Of course he has.

Quoted to so new pages can see.

With Howe I’ve always thought he really only has a Plan A and his plan B is doing Plan A better. I think he’s been done tactically 3 games in a row and he hasn’t responded in the match or in the following matches. If he’s going to take us to the top he’s going to need to be able to switch things up. I like him. I want us to give him lots of time. But I think I can see the limitations of his current ability.

My point is you don’t need defensive midfielders. You just need to be organised to reduce space. We are not organised to reduce space between the lines.