Brighton & Hove Albion (A) - Sun 31st Aug, 14:00 | Pre-Match Thread

[Damanino]

this is a must win game with rags+first CL game+Arsenal run of games after the break.

whole week for Pep to prepare vs Hurzeler. it didnt help vs Frank, but now we need a reaction.

just rewatch this 100 times as they can kill us same way, one lesson when you have chances to go 2-0, do it.

 

[Columbia]

We will be overrun in midfield and lose. Pep will say how good Brighton are in transition.

 

[HertsPlastic]

Get Isak in to convert our chances, we will be fine

 

[chesterbells]

We will be overrun in midfield and lose. Pep will say how good Brighton are in transition.

Being overrun again is the big worry. That, and the players not falling over.

 

[simon23]

Donnarumma

Akanji stones dias ake

Reijnders rodri

Foden Silva Marmoush

...Haaland

No messing. Best team. Anything other than a win and we can genuinely forget winning the title

On yesterdays performance Reijnders cant play that role....he isnt defensively aware enough or disciplined enough for it at present which then puts everything on Rodri after being out for nearly a year.

 

[simon23]

View attachment 167144

Fuwk it, play 4 CBs again!

Cherki, Marmoush, Doku and Nunes will only come on after the 55th if we're chasing the score.

Sad to say it, but it feels like we've reached a point where the main focus is just not conceding. Really hope that’s not the case, but... unfortunately, it kinda is."

For me Khusonov has to start. Hoping GVardiol is fit and we can drop Dias and play OReailly or Ake at fullback

Rodri isnt ready to start that much is clear

 

[simon23]

Can we acquire a defensive coach ASAP as who ever is doing it now is utter bobbins.

Kolo Toure isnt it?

 

[simon23]

Ederson

Khusanov
Stones
Gvardiol
Ait-Nouri

Rodri
Reijnders
Foden

Cherki
Marmoush
Haaland

Please no more Rico Lewis and Ruben Dias as two of your back four.

My only concern with that line is up Reijnders discipline and lack of defensive responsibility/awareness and Cherki's lack of work rate defensively as well - both yesterday left our midfield horribly exposed and Foden tries but he isnt great at it.

 

[Tevez City]

_____________________Trafford_________________

Nunes________Dias____________Gvardiol_____O'Reilly

______________Rodri________Gonzalez___________

Bobb______________Marmoush____________Doku

___________________Haaland_______________

 

[SWPISHOME]

My only concern with that line is up Reijnders discipline and lack of defensive responsibility/awareness and Cherki's lack of work rate defensively as well - both yesterday left our midfield horribly exposed and Foden tries but he isnt great at it.

I actually agree even though it's the line up I'd like to see, Just after yesterday's shit show there's players that shouldn't be anywhere near the team.

It's a shame Kovacic is missing, Himself and Rodri in a pivot with Reijnders in an advanced area would be ideal.

I'd love if we gave Nico O'Reilly a game in midfield but we all know that's not going to happen.

 

[simon23]

I actually agree even though it's the line up I'd like to see, Just after yesterday's shit show there's players that shouldn't be anywhere near the team.

It's a shame Kovacic is missing, Himself and Rodri in a pivot with Reijnders in an advanced area would be ideal.

I'd love if we gave Nico O'Reilly a game in midfield but we all know that's not going to happen.

If we continue with Rico Lewis at right back and without Rodri our midfield gets horribly over run....Brightons midfield will run straight through it without an issue. Rodri will need half a season to get bak up to speed.
Dias is also a huge issue

 

[Columbia]

Being overrun again is the big worry. That, and the players not falling over.

Yeah I noticed that why was it only city players were falling over? Like we had banana skin on our boots.

 

[SWPISHOME]

If we continue with Rico Lewis at right back and without Rodri our midfield gets horribly over run....Brightons midfield will run straight through it without an issue. Rodri will need half a season to get bak up to speed.
Dias is also a huge issue

I think with or without Rodri in the team, Rico Lewis is a problem for us, he's not good enough for the level required, for a club that wants the win titles and European cups he's simply not good enough.

Ruben Dias has been absolutely horrendous for years, he gets rewarded with a new contract and also wore the captains armband yesterday, it's an absolute farce.

We've Khusanov sitting on the bench who is a far getter option than Dias, but Pep won't drop Dias it's never going to happen.

We hace very little athleticism is this side and its clear as day that opposition are finding it incredibly easy bullying us and being quicker than us all over the pitch.

Truth be told, we have alot of fannies in the team also, we lost every challenge yesterday along with every second ball. It was gutless.

Fed up reading on here yesterday "It's only the second game bla bla bla" it may well be the second game but these types of performances have been going on well over a year now.

 

[Buckshaw Blue]

If we continue with Rico Lewis at right back and without Rodri our midfield gets horribly over run....Brightons midfield will run straight through it without an issue. Rodri will need half a season to get bak up to speed.
Dias is also a huge issue

Lewis is simply not a right back. Don’t get why Pep keeps playing him there.

 

[clarion]

I order to obtain the control and make good run we need to play defensive football at first.

I would integrate Rodri and Tijjani in that 4-man line behind Erling. Behind them I would put Nico O. This would boost our build up but more important this would make our us much stronger and competitive in the midfield.

Nunes-John-Ruben-Joško
Nico
Cherki-Rodri-Tijjani-Doku
Erling

 

[Ric]

Going to be another difficult game, but one we can't really afford to lose after yesterday's result (and with United and Arsenal up next). I'd sacrifice a forward for an extra midfield player, just to make us a bit more compact and less vulnerable to the counter.

Ederson (or Donnarumma)

Nunes
Stones
Dias
Gvardiol

Gonzalez
Rodri
Rjeinders

Foden
Cherki
Haaland

 

[simon23]

Lewis is simply not a right back. Don’t get why Pep keeps playing him there.

No other option at present - its either him or Nunes and neither are ultimately anywhere near good enough.

The midfield balance in front of them was all wrong as well so its not all on the fullback situation but it is a glaring problem that we have not solved this summer

 

[simon23]

I order to obtain the control and make good run we need to play defensive football at first.

I would integrate Rodri and Tijjani in that 4-man line behind Erling. Behind them I would put Nico O. This would boost our build up but more important this would make our us much stronger and competitive in the midfield.

Nunes-John-Ruben-Joško
Nico
Cherki-Rodri-Tijjani-Doku
Erling

Id drop Dias after a lot of his recent performances....Khusonov has a killer instinct defensively ...Dias has gone soft

 

[simon23]

I think with or without Rodri in the team, Rico Lewis is a problem for us, he's not good enough for the level required, for a club that wants the win titles and European cups he's simply not good enough.

Ruben Dias has been absolutely horrendous for years, he gets rewarded with a new contract and also wore the captains armband yesterday, it's an absolute farce.

We've Khusanov sitting on the bench who is a far getter option than Dias, but Pep won't drop Dias it's never going to happen.

We hace very little athleticism is this side and its clear as day that opposition are finding it incredibly easy bullying us and being quicker than us all over the pitch.

Truth be told, we have alot of fannies in the team also, we lost every challenge yesterday along with every second ball. It was gutless.

Fed up reading on here yesterday "It's only the second game bla bla bla" it may well be the second game but these types of performances have been going on well over a year now.

Fully agree

Those saying its only the second game have completely forgotten the vast majority of performances last season and just looked at the results in the second half of the season where even though the results were a lot better (and Rico Lewis was dropped) there were still huge issues and we clung onto games by a thread at times. Kovacic really stepped up last year BUT he isnt a long term or even medium term solution. Our midfield is piss weak without Rodri and looking at him yesterday its going to take a while for him to get anywhere near fit...he looked like he struggled on at least two occasions in his brief appearance and the save that Trafford made at the end was a direct result of Rodri giving the ball away with a poor header...not a criticism of Rodri..just a point about him needing way more time to consider him anywhere near fully recovered.....he was extremely and understandibly rusty and niggling injuries are always a risk when coming back from such an serious injury so he is going to be in and out of the team for a while

 

[Millwallawayveteran1988]

Going to be another difficult game, but one we can't really afford to lose after yesterday's result (and with United and Arsenal up next). I'd sacrifice a forward for an extra midfield player, just to make us a bit more compact and less vulnerable to the counter.

Ederson (or Donnarumma)

Nunes
Stones
Dias
Gvardiol

Gonzalez
Rodri
Rjeinders

Foden
Cherki
Haaland

I agree with the sacrificing a forward.

Seems mad that 2 games on the run, our captain wouldn’t play though.