BFTS - Brighton (A)

[AthleticoSpizz]

Apart from our sustainable current league position?

0 points from 6 expected
0 points recieved

Chill down

[bobby1413]

Even if that was all he did he has won us 5 Pts in the last month or so then

Was no lack of effort - just didn't get much of the ball. Was our best player vs Brentford only 2 games ago, and prob our most dangerous against Cardiff

Sorry, but playing well in 2 out of 12 matches just isn't good enough.

Kebe used to get slaughtered for having a similar strike rate.

Yep we got it, you don't like Mccleary....

he's a racialist

[bobby1413]

Okay, I've bitten. And no, I'm not an oxford newbie, though sure somebody will say I am. I don't live close, get to see about 3 home games and 3 away per year, but don't feel 'regular' enough to hold an opinion amongst the experts on here. But watched tonight on Sky and have just bristled at some of the oxford being written.

Most of what we did was spot-on, and promises much for next year and beyond. My biggest concern? Keeping Jaap, as plenty of people who know what they're talking about will look at what he's achieved and stand in admiration. This was a relegation season, according to most on here about 8 months ago. Yet we play a strong style of football, with (in some areas on the pitch) some average players. Give it 6 months (assuming we're still in the Championship - and I think we will be - and I don't care) and we will take teams apart. This was a loss to a team who look likely to win the league - but will get slaughtered next year (though hopefully for them, they will enjoy it rather than sacking Hughton by Christmas and panic buying in January. I'm married to a Blackpool fan who loved their season in the sunshine - but look what happened to them).

Get real. Some of that was quite classy. Just beaten by a team that, at the moment, are better in terms of resilience and results. I'd rather watch some decent possession football with flashes of brilliance, than League 2 hoofball that some of you crave, and which might get results to ensure mid-table mediocrity but nothing more. I've watched more 6th tier football live this year than I have 2nd tier. Go and watch that, and you'll realise that lump-ball is sooooo last year, and it's no surprise that Conference teams eat League 1/2 for fun.

Jaap - I love you. Keep going - entertain us, and results will follow. And yes, I did stand on the terraces at EP in Div 4, and it's too easy to forget how oxford that was.

Some of those marks for tonight's performances are just insulting.

Good post - In regards to the marks being bad...

In my drunken state, I've come to the following conclusion:

I'm annoyed as we didn't show a lot of fight. Maybe we did but I missed it. Losing is not a surprise, and losing 3-0 isn't a huge shock, but the way we did lose is poor. Did we have just one shot on target which was a lame header straight to keeper?

[genome]

Apart from our sustainable current league position?

0 points from 6 expected
0 points recieved

Chill down

Yeah, funny how the same blokes who predicted us to lose both games are the first to have a meltdown when we lose both games

[royal_rumble]

Why are people talking about the playing style and 7 month in etc? Isn't this a review of the game? Went today and we were terrible, worst game I've seen in a while... we got taken apart by a decent, but not great team. Of course it's not the end of the world but it's really not encouraging that Stam isn't setting up his team better than this, and the players really should have a look at themselves. Every one of them were poor. Oh and travelling to and from the Amex is a pain in the ar*e.

[Ian Royal]

Jaap - I love you. Keep going - entertain us, and results will follow. And yes, I did stand on the terraces at EP in Div 4, and it's too easy to forget how oxford that was.

Forget Division 4, apparently it's too easy to forget how shit last year was.

Spot on. I'd rather walk out of the door at 2:35, park for free, spend £12 entry, get entertained, and be home by 5:05 than spend nearly £100 for two of us to watch average football. Hate losing, but some of what I watched tonight was actually quite exciting. Bring on 17/18.

That's it - my once in 5 years visit is over. Night!!

Don't think anyone's suggesting we're having a bad season or Stam's doing a bad job. OK, anyone with three braincells to rub together. Clearly we're having a great season and Stam is doing a fabulous job. That doesn't mean we can't have disappointing matches and Stam can't make mistakes.

That's all this is, frustration at a poor performance and self-inflicted issues. Yes Brighton are a very good team. But we should have put in a better showing. We aren't there yet, and it's frustrating to see the same issues cropping up. No real complaints after Huddersfield, which was a pretty decent effort by most accounts. This certainly wasn't and Stam and the players do need to learn or the promise won't deliver next season. I have every reason to think they will though.

Actually, for me the most frustrating thing is that Stam seems to have hit on almost completing a couple of different winning formulas and then tweaked them back out of shape again. I genuinely don't understand why he seems to avoid playing Evans and Kelly in the same midfield at all costs and moving Gunter, McCleary and Williams in and out of their position. Hopefully with everyone getting fit we can start to see a settled side of people in their natural positions that works together.

[CountryRoyal]

Apart from our sustainable current league position?

0 points from 6 expected
0 points recieved

Chill down

Yeah, funny how the same blokes who predicted us to lose both games are the first to have a meltdown when we lose both games

I don't quite understand how you can't differentiate between people being pissed off because we lost against the best team in the league, and people being pissed off because that performance wasn't worthy of getting off the bus.

It has nothing to do with the fact that we lost, nor who it was against. People are justifiably outraged with what they saw today because at no point was anything demonstrated even in the slightest resembling of a team currently occupying one of the playoff positions. Dishearteningly we were never at the races and played far worse than our abilities. No one is talking about how this result could affect our season, you tried to be all clever and say that I didn't think we're even a championship team and we will do well to finish in the playoffs...

Ffs m8 try and ignore your blinded weird little self-important trip for a bit and look at the context. I specifically said IF WE PLAY LIKE THAT, because opposition aside IF we replicated that performance in our remainding games then imo we will struggle to pick up any points. Now I'm not saying that we are going to or that's going to happen it was purely to attempt highlight to highlight how incompetent that performance was. Never mind about Brighton, most of the league would have beaten us today.

Look at the Huddersfield game BFTG, we lost, was I pissed off? Absolutely not because what I saw encouraging result aside, today was not. We will now probably play shit against wolves and get a result, and then play amazingly against Newcastle but lose.

[Basingstoke Royal]

We didn't play well but it just wasn't going to be our night when williams header was cleared off the line.

Had that have gone in I think we would have gone on to win it.

[Lower West]

Come a long way since last season under the new management team. No threat of relegation. Stick with the style Jaap. As teams such as BHA aren't going to pose much of a threat in the Premiership.

[leon]

Apart from our sustainable current league position?

0 points from 6 expected
0 points recieved

Chill down

Sorry that's utter bollocks.

0 points from teams we're competing with is expected?

Fcuk off. That's loser talk.

It's been an appalling few days. Stam needs to earn his money. This team needs some bollocks. It doesn't have any.

[Royal_jimmy]

We are well overdue a 4 or 5 nil thrashing of someone. Let's hope we inflict it on those scumbags on the black country next week (which really should be its own country).

I can pray though. I can see us being held v Wolves in a Scunny 09/10 like game then dicking a team I care sod all about in Preston 3-1 as revenge for them beating us twice last year. So grim

[Dick Habbin's hairdo]

Full marks to Houghton who knew exactly what to do. Just sit and hold the middle of the park - not really needing to press high - and wait for our patience to run out through an over-ambitious pass and then hit fast on the break.... or a long hoof for the first goal. Three smart finishes.

McShane and Macca both way off the pace. Williams again showing lots of industry and yet no end product, touch or head-up for a pass.

I'm not usually a Gunter critic but he was woeful, not least when he knew he'd let the runner go in the centre circle and had to haul him back 50 yards away from the ball.

Everyone else just very, very average - and Brighton, too, except for the last ten mins when they started to take the piss.

Can't really pick a MotM - maybe Beerens, just, for a little bit of inventiveness.

We're still in a good position for the play-offs which would be a massive achievement this season - and our last four games are by far the easiest of the top 8 which may well prove crucial.

[Hound]

I actually thought Williams was pretty good. Barely wasted a pass, a few good tackles and probably our likeliest scorer. His shooting was pretty poor though

In truth he has been our best midfielder by a distance this last month

[brighton_royal]

Still drunk, and can't be arsed to wade through 4 pages of misery but can confirm we weren't great yesterday. Apparently it was on the telly though, so you probably already know this.

You're welcome.

[Stranded]

So 1st half thought it was a very even game. We were retaining possession very well and created a couple of decent positions at 0-0. Brighton hadn't looked overly dangerous and then a long straight ball did us, which is incredibly disappointing. Draw at half time would have been fair.

2nd half, we were our own worst enemy again. If Williams' header had been a little better placed the. Would have been a different game. Break from our own corner for our second, where we loaded the box and went short. Meant when it went wrong, as short corners normally do, we were immediately out numbered on a fast break

Collective loss of heads for a few minutes, and then the 3rd is almost a replay of the 2nd except from open play.

They were better than us. This week was never a make or break for the play offs. This team has shown it can best most teams in this division, a win next week is needed and I am confident it will come.

[WAZZOCK]

Good post Stranded.

It's been a week of reasonably fine margins, and unfortunately they haven't gone our way.

Tuesday night we contribute to a good game with a very good side, and if we're given (and score) the penalty at 0-0 it completely flips the dynamic of the game on its head. Generally, our style of play lends itself nicely to defending a lead, and I'd have been confident of a win or at least a draw if we'd taken the lead in the second half of that one.

To yesterday, we looked really quite comfortable up until their first goal in the 35th minute and contributed really well to a pulsating opening to the game. Whilst Brighton had a few chances we had some glorious ones ourselves, and if they're taken the direction of the match changes. McCleary's miscontrol with no defender near him on the edge of the box, Williams' header, Beerens' tame effort with just the keeper to beat and Yann's header - it could have been so different. We're undone by a moment of absolute quality from Baldock and harshly find ourselves behind at the break. We have a fantastic chance to equalise after some heroic defending from them, and shortly after find ourselves 2 down - it's a cruel game sometimes.

What was disappointing from therein was the lack of fight from the team, and another break away goal was difficult to swallow. We need to start getting ourselves into play-offs mode, just in case we make it. If we find ourselves 2 down after an hour of the first leg, we need to have enough self belief to realise that cutting the deficit in half could be all important going into the second leg. Watching Reading away this year has been a bit frustrating, I think a lot of this is down to our home form being so good.

[Delboy]

Every time we take a large away following we play badly , Fulham, Brentford, Brighton, Arsenal, Man Utd. What prospect the playoffs!

[paultheroyal]

As an aside, Hughton is fantastic against Reading - can't recall many times we have beaten one of his teams no matter where he has been.

[ILoveMoonPig]

Seriously, get a grip. Our target for the session was to stay out of the lower reaches of the table.

Job done.

Our league position has flattered our performances for some time now. Let it go, that can be next season's job.

I mean you can't say that at times it's not as boring as all hell, but the tactic makes sense, if the opposition doesn't have the ball, they should be less likely to score. We just make silly mistakes and concede one-offs.

[Ian Royal]

Apart from our sustainable current league position?

0 points from 6 expected
0 points recieved

Chill down

Sorry that's utter bollocks.

0 points from teams we're competing with is expected?

Fcuk off. That's loser talk.

It's been an appalling few days. Stam needs to earn his money. This team needs some bollocks. It doesn't have any.

Someone's got some issues they need to work through. Jeez