Post Match report for the Bournemouth game - Saturday, 13th April 2019

PREMIER LEAGUE; Brighton v Bournemouth

ALBION FIND HOME LIFE IS DEFINITELY NOT A BOWL OF CHERRIES


VENUE; the Amex, Falmer - sixteenth home match of 32 fixtures.
RESULT; 0-5 . (h-t 0-1) . SHAPE; 4-3-3 . REF; could not be blamed in a full blown negative domestic atmosphere.

PREAMBLE; this was the big one - before the next big one. Brighton fans would not forgive falling further into the danger zone due to lack of goal-scoring opportunities.
There had been merely two scored by Seagulls in the Prem here since New Year and that was ongoing cause for concern.
Effort, application and motivation were laudable but right now balls in the net were more essential.
GATE; 30,460 . WEATHER; cold, showers & sunny periods.

CHRIS HUGHTON had nearly a full squad from which to pick a team now capable of providing a rare home victory.
He elected to go with a regular 433, leaving domestic goalless Murray on the bench and preferring Andone isolated up front.

TEAM; . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. . 22 Montoya, 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 30 Bernardo
. . . . 8 Bissouma, 6 Stephens, 24 Propper
. . 11 Knockaert, 10 Andone, 9 Locadia

BENCH; 27 Button, 3 Bong, 33 Burn, 7 Kayal, 19 Izquierdo (63), 17 Murray (58), 16 Jahanbakhsh.


GOALS; 0-1 - 33. Visitors had already missed a chance but made no mistake playing around a static defence.
0-2 - 55. A classic counterattack when hosts lost the ball in midfield and were chasing back facing the home goal.
0-3 - 74. Another fast break caught locals cold with the old one-two right on into the area... easy as candy from a baby.
0-4 - 82. Spaces galore open up as if the art of defending has been forgotten during reverting to kick & rush open play.
0-5 - 92. A fifth name added to the score sheet and the home team are humiliated with schoolboy positioning.

INCIDENTS; 49 - at a set piece players surrounded Ref claiming Andone had or not been butted.
68 - Knockaert receives a straight red card for diving in cynically.

YELLOWS; 50 - Andone for the above fracas. 78 - Bisouma for pulling back his man.

SUBS; 58 -Murray was introduced to somehow work miracles in lieu of booked Andone. 63 - Izquierdo came on for Propper, hosts reshaping to 442. This became 441 moments later.


ANALYSIS; the opening forty-five minutes was a cat and mouse affair but the visiting rodent stole a march by wrong footing pedestrian protagonists when proving difficult to catch. Cause & effect triggered a series of events prior to the hour mark and immediately afterwards as Hughton responded to a two goal deficit.
The game was well and truly up a few moments later via the sending off and then quickly conceding a third score.
Thus that critical period put rescuing a point out of reach and stats-wise registered a fail to score, whilst the giveaway nap hand badly soiled an already stained clean sheet.
Concerns stated in the above preamble (written before kickoff) came to fruition and so freefall continues, seemingly without a credible fix to hold consequences to inside boundaries. Perhaps it was not the final score that provoked greatest worries but knowing we were just no further forward to solving the latest goalless run.


1ST FAN; +there is speculation that attitudes and opinions within the senior group are not conducive with best practice in the dressing room or on and off the field+

2ND FAN; +what a disgrace served up to loyal fans as professional football. And the club embargo on players interviews is equally disturbing+

3RD FAN; +in all my years of watching Albion this abject defeat has possibly been the worst to stomach. I say that with regard to a squad who should be our best compared to any from numerous past seasons but alas, seems to lack the bottle to prove it+

FS