Post-match report for our last game: Bournemouth, Tuesday, 21st January 2020
PREMIER LEAGUE: Bournemouth v Brighton - 21/1/20, P24.
ALBION COLLAPSE AFTER MISSFIRING LIKE A FLASH IN THE PAN
VENUE: Vitality Stadium, Dean Court, Bournemouth - twelfth away match of twenty-four fixtures to date.
RESULT: 3-1 ~ Mooy . (h-t 2-0) . SHAPE: 4-3-3 .
REF: did what he had to do and maintained discipline during spells of tension.
PRE-KICKOFF: a midwinter evening journey close to Dorset shores took on an even bleaker nature in knowing defeat there would plunge our struggling Sussex by the sea side into depths of despair.
Club ambitions to be a regular top ten team currently appeared like a lower order placing on that proverbial elite bucket list.
GATE: 10,065 . WEATHER: cold & dry.
GRAHAM POTTER deflected criticism of his first six months at premier level with a philosophical message to keep on doing what previously had been set in motion. In reality he realised what stakes were offered for continual mediocrity.
TEAM . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. 46 Alzate, 15 Webster, 5 Dunk, 30 Bernardo
. . . . . 6 Stephens, 18 Mooy, 24 Propper
. . 16 Jahanbakhsh, 7 Maupay, 13 Gross
BENCH: 27 Button, 21 Schelotto, 4 Duffy, 20 March (60), 11 Trossard (60), 44 Connolly (60), 17 Murray.
GOALS: 36 - 1-0. Hosts mounted a series of forays which travellers failed to repel. Eventually the home eleven netted.
41 - 2-0. A calamitous own goal by GROSS at a melee handed a two goal advantage to Cherries like a free gift.
74 - 3-0. Locals broke against run of play and put the game to bed on another night of misery for Albion on the road.
81 - 3-1. MOOY scores a consolation.
INCIDENTS: the biggest impression taken from Seagulls first half was distinct lack of turning possession and offensive action directly into registering a larger number of on targets and therefore by default, goals.
YELLOWS: Bernardo caught his man.
SUBS: 60 - Trossard, Connolly and March took to the field at expense of Gross, Jahanbakhsh and Bernardo.
SYNOPSIS: visitors were on the front foot from word go, while locals appeared nervous on the ball. After half an hour had gone impetus switched toward hosts, having finally overcome their tepid opening with late solid threats. Approaching half time Albion were on the back foot and conceded fairly easily to pressure in going a goal behind.
Dropping two down prior to the break had exposed Seagulls match frailties one more and revealed their serious lack of game management when losing overall control of play and forward momentum.
Following a period of huffing & puffing on turnaround, Potter made a triple swap of attacking subs on the hour mark.
Bulking up the forward line produced a response as visitors laboured to get back into a contest that looked beyond saving during later stages.
The killer third goal sealed things beyond any unreasonable doubt.
MoM - Mooy, plugged away.
NUMBERS: poss 34%-66%, on target 3-8, off target 8-13, corners 5-8, fouls 9-12, yellows 1-1, subs 2-3.
CONSEQUENCES: a barrage of negative comments and opinion was immediate reaction from travelling support.
Albion flatter to deceive and these defeats cannot be excused as just not getting rub of the green. Truth about this method of play is expressed in results obtained thus far which quite frankly fall very short of minimum requirements for survival.
FS
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