by handbags_harris »
02 Nov 2015 13:01
Not reading all of this, but it seems nobody is mentioning the huge element of luck their goal had. Unfortunately the highlights online don't show it, but the ball infield from Bruno was misplaced quite poorly, with Kayal I think the recipient. Bruno is clearly attempting to play the ball to feet, and Taylor (I think) reacts to this in order to get close, but because the pass is misplaced Kayal sticks his leg out and just gets a toe-end knick on the ball which takes the ball away from Taylor and straight to another Brighton player. Taylor is then out of position, the ball is one-two'd into the path of Kayal who, let's be fair, takes full advantage of the good fortune offered him and puts a quite superb ball across for the otherwise totally ineffective (in an attacking sense) Jamie Murphy.
Apart from that, Brighton offered little going forward, had one chance from a set piece that was going just wide but close enough for al-Habsi to have to react) and that was it. Nick Blackman impressed once again, seemed to be a man on a mission. Even with two men on him and a packed defence showing him onto his right foot he managed to get at least 4 shots away and was unlucky not to score. Bit disappointed with Vydra who should have shot when clean through, quite why he decided to pass it is beyond me (and Blackman should have laid it right instead of left), McShane was somewhat unlucky not to score right at the death.
Clear to see why Brighton are where they are, they're an incredibly well organised unit and don't give much away but they don't have any outstanding qualities in attack. Teams that last the course of a season at the top have that outstanding quality (and I look at us in 2012 as exceptions rather than rules because we were mid-table until the end of January!). When all is said and done I'm a little frustrated having not won because again it's a game we should really have won based on the chances created. We've not had too many of those this season, Birmingham we should have gained something from and we deserved a point against Derby, but looking at things in the cold light of day it's not inconceivable for them to have walked away from Saturday with a defeat, and a heavy one at that. I think had we scored a second nobody can have walked away saying we didn't deserve it, but up until now Brighton have been getting away with drawing or late winners. All of their matches have been tight so far, and I'm interested to see how they carry this on because that kind of form or style of play doesn't tend to last a season.
As far as I'm concerned, a further two points dropped, which makes it seven in three games.
