It was a dissapointing start but the alarm shouldn't be sounded. Far from it. We weren't actually that bad if i'm being honest. Our passing wasn't fantastic in the early stages. If we had got the ball down more we'd have looked threatening and we did when it happened. For me we were too guilty of letting Brighton play early on. They passed it really well in the first 20 minutes and it was a great move and finish for their goal.
The game plan for them was to play 4-5-1 and stay organised and make it hard for us to break them down. They did exactly that and they did it really well. We failed to create anything of note until the last 20 minutes. Charlie in truth could have had 2 or 3 in the end and it was far from his best game in a Town shirt.
I'm not sure where it went wrong yesterday for us. For a start Ball is not a left winger. He's right footed and can't use his left so always has to cut in. For me he is too lightweight to play in that position. Rose looked good but why doesn't he just bloody cross it? Looks solid in defence and bombed forward quite well. Impressed with him. Sadly though on the left hand side there was no understanding between him and Ball and also AOB when he came on which was a shame. We didn't use the flanks well enough. In fact we barely used them at all. It had a big impact on the game as it played into Brighton's hands in terms of playing narrow and staying organised. I'd have liked to have seen Caddis come on to provide more width.
So the players and how they did. Dossevi I was impressed with. He gets about that's for sure. Only critism I have is that he dropped too deep at times and was all over the place in areas he didn't always have to be in. I put that down to maybe eagerness and perhaps trying a bit too hard at times. His touch and awareness are superb. He's clearly not match fit yet so when he gets to that level he's going to be a very good player for us I think. Prutton looked good when he got forward. I'd like to see him play the attacking midfielder role with JD playing the holding role. I don't think they quite executed that yesterday. Defence was good. The 2nd goal we got caught napping. Ferry should have just crossed it instead of fannying around with it too much thus causing us to lose it in the first place. LJF MOM he was immense yesterday. Reminds me of Jerel. He can have his moment and his distribution is poor at times. He won everything he could yesterday at the back.
And finally......the ref. Oh my days. I haven't seen such a bad one for quite a while. He blew for every petty foul possible. He was certainly a Brighton or Oxford fan because he was totally bias as well IMO. How on earth did Charlie get booked? He was running with the ball I mean what was all that about? Every single nudge was given and it ruined the flow of the game. Their keeper should have been sent off there's no question about that. He's taken Charlie out after he's gone round him. Red card I think the rule book states. Shocking decisions and totally inconsistent. Ruined the game for me.
I would agree with some of what you say Rich. We struggled for the first 30 minutes in midfield until Wilson changed it and put Dossevi on the right and JP just behind Charlie, then we took control of the game and lack of finishing punished us. Brighton came with a game plan to frustrate and hit us on the break, which they did twice so their game plan worked, probably a perfect away game performance from them so on the whole they deserved the 3 points.
However, they are a far dirtier side than I remember Brighton being in the past, and with a ref that was on their side all afternoon they were always going to come out on top in that game. There were 4 or 5 nasty tackles put in, especially on Ball and Austin which may have been part of their plan, but they are going to suffer a lot of suspensions if they carry on playing like that as an unbiased ref will punish them for it. One tackle on Pericard in the second half was thigh high, a potential leg breaker and could easily have seen red, along with the goalkeeper taking Charlie out, they could easily have finished with 9 with a different ref.
If it was a fair display by the ref I could understand the booking on Austin, he went over the ball to put his body in the way of an opponent, didn't make contact, but by the letter of the law it was dangerous play, but after seeing some of the other tackles from Brighton getting away with a talking to or a yellow card it made a mockery of the refs performance full stop. Brighton will be hoping to get him for more of their games this season.
I saw enough today to be optimistic, with other players due to get a run out, and fitter. Rose looked good, Dossevi looked decent (though not as big as I thought) and will score goals at this level. There is also a lot of fitness to be gained by the midfield and forwards. JPM was poor today, though the most energetic of our midfield. Needs to change his boots too, him and rose look too bloody similar.
Brighton will be pushing for the play off's though nothing more IMO unless they improve on the few quality players that they have, Bennet looked like a pub player!
LJF or Cuthbert MOTM, hardly put a foot wrong, chuffed to bits for LJF, but consistency is the key for him now, if he gets that then no need to bring anyone in, although I heard yesterday that we have put a bid in for Taylor at Exeter, and Sean Morrison said that he had spoken to Ward and he is keen to come back to us after not being given a squad number at Bolton.
We are still better off now than we were this time last year as we were all doom and gloom then, I for one am happy to be under the radar again.
Old man Nicho next to me gets the nod for header of the day! Even got a "sign him up" chant from the town end!
