Post Match report for the Cardiff game - Tuesday, 16th April 2019
PREMIER LEAGUE; Brighton v Cardiff
ALBION STILL TO PLAY CATCH UP IN ORDER TO STAY UP
VENUE; the Amex, Falmer - seventeenth home match of 33 fixtures.
RESULT; 0-2 . (h-t 0-1) . SHAPE; 4-3-3 . REF; let rough & tumble go and kept cards in pocket.
PREAMBLE; this WAS the big one - after the last big one. Brighton fans knew what it meant to their season and turned up in positive frame of mind, ready to voice support for previously under-performing players.
Anything but a win from this crucial game in hand would test their relationship further.
GATE; 30,226 . WEATHER; mild evening with mizzle.
CHRIS HUGHTON had Knockaert banned but plenty of names still in the frame from that shocking weekend fallout. His dilemma amounted to either fielding aforesaid undiluted miscreants, or tweaking personnel and formation with regard to immediately breaking an ongoing series of duck eggs.
In the event he made more than just a couple of changes.
TEAM; . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Ryan
. . 2 Bruno, 4 Duffy, 5 Dunk, 30 Bernardo
. . . . . 13 Gross, 6 Stephens, 24 Propper
. 16 Jahanbakhsh, 17 Murray, 20 March
BENCH; 27 Button, 3 Bong, 33 Burn, 7 Kayal, 19 Izquierdo (69), 9 Locadia, 10 Andone (54).
GOALS; 0-1 - 22. Seagulls lost the ball in the final third, got counter attacked at pace and Ryan was beat all ends up.
0-2 - 50. A needless f-k was conceded and when pumped to the far post an attacker rose to nod home with Ryan lost.
INCIDENTS; 93 - Murray hits a post with a header. Too little, too late.
YELLOWS; none. Visitors had one booked for an illegal tackle that Ref could not ignore.
SUBS; 54 - Andone replaced Gross and hosts reshaped. 69 - Izquierdo came on for Jahanbakhsh in like for like swap.
Neither changes had the positive impact desired.
ANALYSIS; the end justifies the means. It is a results driven business and a lower degree of display is acceptable as long as three points are obtained. The trouble is the reverse applies when beaten, as anything and everything is plainly open to question.
Albion dominated possession but came up short in turning forward motion into chances and goal-scoring opportunities. It was history repeating month by month at the Amex in 2019.
Unfortunately a poor run of results this year has exposed not only a lack of quality game to game but almost a dearth of talent required to meet the minimum standard of this division.
That in turn begs the question about recruitment and so on and so forth. Currently the 25 man squad appear much of a muchness.
1ST fan; +we folded after conceding. You could see the confidence drain away. The important pairings, on flanks and in the centre too looked as if they had never played with one another previously+
2ND fan; +Brighton is a soft side. Where was the desire to get men into the box beyond the striker? We have no pace and are sleepwalking into a dogfight to the death+
3RD fan; +God only knows what Hughton can do now. He tried to freshen up the eleven and found yet again this renewed combination cannot fashion a goal if survival depended on it+
FS
