Post Match report for the Leicester game - Saturday, 24th November 2018

PREMIER LEAGUE; Brighton v Leicester

ALBION IN THE HUNT BUT ITS NOT A DRAG FOR CITY


VENUE; the Amex, Falmer - 6th home match of thirteen fixtures to date.
RESULT; 1-1 ~ Murray. (h-t 1-0) . SHAPE; 4-4-1-1 . REF; had important decisions occur and duly made them, for good, bad or indifferent.

PREAMBLE; it was nearly a full month since Brighton fans last gathered at the community stadium. However there were four domestic fixtures to look forward to next, during ultra busy December. So far we were where average supporters hoped to be in November.
GATE; 30,553 . WEATHER; cold & rain throughout.

CHRIS HUGHTON had Stephens suspended but Gross & Propper available for selection after recovery from injury. Bruno & Bernardo also got the nod. March & Bong joined anticipated substitutes.

TEAM; . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. . 2 Bruno, 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 30 Bernardo
. 11 Knockaert, 24 Propper, 7 Kayal, 19 Izquierdo
. . . . . 13 Gross, . . . . . . 17 Murray

BENCH; 23 Steele, 3 Bong, 14 Balogun, 8 Bissouma, 20 March (73), 10 Andone (82), 9 Locadia (89).


GOALS; 15 - 1-0. MURRAY reached the near post at a Knockaert corner, jumped & headed in toward the back upright.
79 - 1-1. Albion were at sixes & sevens against 10 men. Kayal dove in through a crowded box. Ryan went the wrong way.

INCIDENTS; 28 - Foxes linkman had been booked two minutes previously. He went to ground in Seagulls area. Ref issued a second yellow, showed the red and off he went to compound a consequential error of judgement.

YELLOWS; 60 - Duffy unpatriotically took out a fellow international. 66 - Bruno stretched with studs showing. 72 - Izquierdo said something in Spanish when silently flagged.

SUBS; 73 - March replaced Knockaert. 82 - Andone came on for Gross. 89 - Locadia got a cameo in lieu of Murray.
Hughton did not respond to his fellow managers influential changes until it seemed quite obvious that his own teams endeavours were going more from front to back than vice versa.
In fact as Murray ploughed on with a strapped thigh, the technical area dithered. Tactically, coaching staff appeared compromised by hopeful rather than purposeful alterations.


ANALYSIS; colloquially a proverbial match of two halves. Emphasis was on hosts to double the lead but crucially this failed to materialise. In truth ten-man visitors upped the ante, introduced effective subs, successfully chased the game, forced the issue and carried more of a threat.
At end of the day locals were only slightly better on numbers measuring basic stats than those registered by plucky travellers. City turned the result around from offensive action, including wingbacks pushing up.
Albion defenders were fully employed to keep opposition at arms length. That a midfielder incurred the penalty deep inside the area speaks volumes.
Central midfield was overrun for lack of numbers when giving possession away. Wing play and links to front men mostly had no end product, being especially wasteful on the break via off-sides or misplaced passes.
MoM; Bernardo - caught the eye with an energetic but rare ninety minutes.

THEREFORE; status quo continues, with a disappointing second-half performance meaning the ongoing one point per game minimum index is comfortably maintained after four months campaigning.


1ST FAN; +it was a niggly, edgy affair on cusp of boiling over at times - a clash of sides each with a completely different ethos. Ours to hang fire and keep a clean sheet, theirs to attack and score goals+

2ND FAN; +have to hand it to away support, who got behind their lot and were a meaningful eleventh man for an hour, if you see what I mean+

3RD FAN; +the North Stand, with their shortened view from end to end, did not make very much noise in open play because it was usually in front of the South Stand for each half+

Fatmanslims