Brighton 1 Hammers 1
A family commitment meant I missed the first half but I’m told we were pretty dire with a Brighton goal ruled out VAR but and the south coast side very much on top.
We weren’t too bad at all in the second and with Lanzini now hitting top form and fitness we looked a much better proposition.
He set up the first for Chicharito and could have provided a second for Snoddy with a fabulous 60 yard run whilst with more luck Antonio may have converted a header near the end.
For me the highlight was Lanzini who is back to his ball carrying best, beating players, tricks to spares and showing a big end product.
Snoddy too is an important player – constantly on the move and of course capable of wicked set pieces.
But it remains a big disappointment that having taken the lead we once again surrendered within minutes via a great effort from Leandro Trossard who had seen his other effort fall victim to VAR.
Lewis Dunk and Davy Propper also went close for the home side but in the end we held on for a point we were probably luck to get.
The single point pushed us up to 15th place with Chelsea – second off bottom – playing Leicester City tomorrow.
Given how I’m told we performed in the first half I think I’ll happily settle for a point away to a club who look a real handful this season based on the second half.
Very poor, again. Manager talks about playing with pace, but we were so slow. Too much sideways passing. Our goal was almost the first time we got forward with speed.
Point was OK for me in this game. What worries me is that we seem to have one poor and one competitive half, Saw much of the same last season
And for years prior. I think the reason players sign for us is because we only ask for 45 minutes work per week.
We were poor again. IMO and should of lost if Brighton could finish there chances, and Antonio’s miss at the end shows why he is not a centre forward..nice to see lanzini doing well ,but anyone who says we have improved since last season is kidding themselves we still look shaky at the back maasuaku can not defend but we know that and decided not to strengthen and you would think with all the attacking players we would create aloof more chances… I will stick by what I’ve said before that we will end up exactly the same position as last season…we should be winning these games against these sort of teams ,shouldn’t we ???
Its difficult to see any improvement so far this season.The problem areas still remain the same and were not addressed in the Summer.Once Nobes is back and Haller returns the ship should steady but I honestly feel 10th would be a good finishing spot again this season.We just don’t have the squad depth to qualify for and then play in Europe next season.
Haven’t seen the VAR but if they would have awarded it, then it’s a point gained we would have lost last season 😀
Would’ve counted without VAR;)
I remember last season a constant theme from the Pellegrini fans was that he shouldn’t be judged by the disastrous start- give him time. In the autumn we had a brief recovery, before another dismal second half of the season, papered over only by three wins at the end in meaningless games. Now the story was that we would be better this year, when the players had had a full season to learn the lessons that Mr P was trying to teach them. What I don’t understand is how Potter comes in at Brighton & gets his side firing from day one after just one pre season & without exactly breaking the bank. We have some decent players but we still don’t look any more like a team than we did this time last year.
That’s bang on 64 and a good point about there manager….it’s not looking good to me if I’m honest ..we talk about competing with the top 6 and we were lucky to get a point against Brighton ..and I don’t thInk we have beaten them since they came up a few years ago ,,(I may be wrong but we haven’t done well against them) that’s not a squad that’s improving is it
What surprises me is that anyone is surprised with our form so far … same players, same results. No bite in midfield without Noble, fraility on the flanks … Still, mustn’t grumble – at least we have VAR ..
For once I am going to be positive, I believe we can finish better than last season if we go to a 3-5-2 system.
I watched the match on Supersport DSTV in South Africa – and we were poor. We played some pretty stuff in midfield in the first 20 minutes, but in the first half didn’t have a meaningful attempt. Wiltshire was anonymous and Fornals looked a bit lightweight. While Brighton have started well under Potter we should remember that they finished 17th last season. Before we get carried away about whether or not we will make the Europa League, we should first make sure that we start getting a few wins so that we dont have to worry about relegation. MAybe Wiltshire and Fornals looked good in pre-season as those games dont have the same intensity of pressing and tackling.
Hugh I think that you were right in an earlier post – what we really needed was a tough tackling high energy defensive midfielder. Our defence is exposed because of the lack of such a player alongside Declan