Our best player today by a mile , not just quality but hard working, couldn't fault effort all around today but quality was non existant all across the pitch

Certainly an improvement and there’s more to come. Not an 8 though. Solid 7.

He was steady away. Free kick was dreaful. But his touch and movement gives us a totally different dimension.

Was very good. Worked his socks off. Was worried when JBG went off, but after he went off Brady kept up the pace and almost everything we created went through him, his work going forward and back was excellent.

I thought he was really good today, looked a lot more confident than he has and showed a fantastic first touch a few times. Good in the lad.

Jumped out of a couple of tackles in the 2nd half, one could have been costly.

No he wasn’t.

He was ok, maybe an 8/10, but he wasn’t our best player by a mile.

Ben was good. Tarks was good. Bardsley was good. Johann was good.

Good team performance by most, plenty of fight and guts on display, marred only by the negativity displayed by the substitution in there last ten minutes.

dougcollins wrote:Jumped out of a couple of tackles in the 2nd half, one could have been costly.

Exactly this. One very near the end to win a massive 3 points and he pulled out. He is a coward, carrying an injury or not.

Funny old game- he frustrated me, not offering for the ball or giving option on a few occasions.

I must have got it wrong, will try to watch the reply.

SandyLaneClaret wrote:Exactly this. One very near the end to win a massive 3 points and he pulled out. He is a coward, carrying an injury or not.

You try being out for around a year with a real serious injury and it not affecting you in the slightest.

bobinho wrote:No he wasn’t.

He was ok, maybe an 8/10, but he wasn’t our best player by a mile.

Ben was good. Tarks was good. Bardsley was good. Johann was good.

Good team performance by most, plenty of fight and guts on display, marred only by the negativity displayed by the substitution in there last ten minutes.

The Hendrick sub was exactly what we needed. Brighton were dominating the midfield. TBH this change probably should have happened on Wednesday at 1-0.

Nowhere near the best player on the pitch for me today.

As said he pulled out of a few tackles and o few of his passses were also lazy.

As for the free kick, I said he would hit the wall with it and wasn’t proved wrong

They were dominating the midfield due to us sitting back and inviting them on to us. They continued to dominate the midfield after Jeff came on - even more so seeing as we'd lost the outlet that Barnes provided.

Three hard earned points tho, so I think maybe my criticism is a little harsh.

Coming along nicely but he needs to improve his final option. He looks to be lacking a bit of confidence, he needs to take a shot on goal instead of passing on his responsibility

Amazin whar he can do when he can be arsed

dougcollins wrote:Jumped out of a couple of tackles in the 2nd half, one could have been costly.

Perhaps if you'd had the injury he's had you might jump out of a few tackles as well

cricketfieldclarets wrote:The Hendrick sub was exactly what we needed. Brighton were dominating the midfield. TBH this change probably should have happened on Wednesday at 1-0.

Spot on mate, they started to take control of midfield and our strikers weren't dropping as much to help and were tiring.
Needed it 10 min earlier imo

Personally thought he was awful in the first half. He did a great impression of Ross Wallace by hiding for 45 minutes. He left Taylor exposed time and again.

He was much improved in the second half and clearly offers us another dimension when he gets on the ball. I gave him a 5 overall. Wasn't anywhere near his performance vs Liverpool for me.

Under pressure on the 91st minute. He bottles a challenge that could of put us under pressure, was awful that, absolute wimp. Hendrick showed him how to do it in the next passage of play.
The lad wants to get some balls.

He was asking to come off on 60 minutes.

Would be better being deployed more centrally imo. Can go past people, slip people in and can shoot.

Very noticeable that he's getting better the more he plays. Put in another shift today.

Worked hard with our backs to the wall, but first half when we had more of the ball I thought his (and JBG's) movement into space to receive the ball from Westwood, Cork and the back line wasn't good enough, and a big reason why it was as frustrating as it was

Painful to watch him occupying the 'space' inside the full-back, clearly under instruction, when the real space is out wide and there to be attacked.

Wow. It's hard to please some on here tonight.

Absolute perfectionists some of you.

He was good but didn't stand out, 6-7/10. We don't attack well - 8/10 is a great game for one of our forward-thinking players.

He was limping quite badly, and was rubbing his knee a number of times, from about the hour mark, was amazed that the bench did not take him off, thought Lennon was coming on for him until JBG picked up his injury.

lucs86 wrote:Worked hard with our backs to the wall, but first half when we had more of the ball I thought his (and JBG's) movement into space to receive the ball from Westwood, Cork and the back line wasn't good enough, and a big reason why it was as frustrating as it was

nail on the head, our lack of willingness to create triangles of play lets us down time and time again

I thought he played much better today and also looked more like it against Liverpool. Probably getting match fit.

OP - disagree

Looked exactly like a player coming back from a long term injury, flashes of what we know he can do but inconsistent. I'll revisit after another 3 games as we will have a much better idea by then but so far it is promising.

Played very well on wednesday but through no fault of his own tired around the 60 min mark , same again today will take a few games to get up to full fitness .. should be brought back gradually ..

Thought he had a good game today.

wilks_bfc wrote:Nowhere near the best player on the pitch for me today.

As said he pulled out of a few tackles and o few of his passses were also lazy.

As for the free kick, I said he would hit the wall with it and wasn’t proved wrong

I went for hitting the wall but deflecting past the keeper who would have moved the opposite way.

I was proved wrong.

wilks_bfc wrote:Nowhere near the best player on the pitch for me today.

As said he pulled out of a few tackles and o few of his passses were also lazy.

As for the free kick, I said he would hit the wall with it and wasn’t proved wrong

Yes!

Promising but I just thing we need to stop him getting injured...

Some good points made: hiding/poor movement in first half; bailing out of challenges; and improving levels of fitness and performance.

He is different to what we've got though - he is a risk taker on the ball and helps get us up the pitch. He was awful against Newcastle but a solid and improving 7 today. He will have a big say in whether we stay up.

UTC!

Something went on between him and Ben Mee.

Plenty of gobbing off, gesticulating and I'm sure Ben waved at the bench at one stage as if to indicate 'Get him off before he costs us'. It came after Brighton walked through him and Ben put in a tackle or clearamce in the box.

Brady was rubbing his knee at every opportunity in the last 15 minutes but I thought his contribution was good apart from the crap free kick.

He set an all time low against Newcastle and hopefully is getting a bit of confidence and fitness back now.

dougcollins wrote:Jumped out of a couple of tackles in the 2nd half, one could have been costly.

Indeed,he could have broke his leg...

I think Robbie is getting back to where he was before the injury at times .
He is a player that can make things happen .

Still a bit on the fence where Brady is concerned: scored a terrific free kick on his debut, but often he's a bit of a hit and miss.
If he can add more stability to his game like JBG and avoid losing possession of the ball too often, I'm convinced he can still evolve in a major asset for our team. Only just back from a long term injury, so he must be given time. On Wednesday he looked miles off the pace, yesterday was already a visible improvement.

Time for Hendrick to start in Midfield in place of those
2 duck eggs, Westwood and Cork

The pair of them are bloody useless and should be know where near a Premier squad never mind a starting 11

The lack of investment in this area from the club is a disgrace and lacks total bad management and lack of ambition.
Defour another who is never fit and well passed his best at this level

Brady did OK - a bit in and out, but that is often the way with him. He worked hard and put in a good shift, despite being obviously hampered with a knock in the last 20 minutes. He took the wrong option a couple of times in the first half, was unlucky not to score with a tidy effort in the first half (those saying Hart had no chance with Liverpool's opener on Wednesday might want to look at it again - very similar shot, from a very similar position, again right into the corner, and Ryan made a good save) and very unlucky not to put one on a plate for Barnes early in the second half when Dunk appeared to grow 3 inches to intercept a superbly stood-up cross after he'd made the chance himself.

He is inconsistent, and he doesn't always do the basics right. But he's one we need to stick with - the run of home games over the next couple of months are the sort that we'll need him in.

We need another like him on the right wing, good player, just needs games to get match fit and on form again

Top Claret wrote:Time for Hendrick to start in Midfield in place of those
2 duck eggs, Westwood and Cork

The pair of them are bloody useless and should be know where near a Premier squad never mind a starting 11

The lack of investment in this area from the club is a disgrace and lacks total bad management and lack of ambition.
Defour another who is never fit and well passed his best at this level

Cork played ok yesterday put himself about a bit more beat his man several times but I'm sure he's colour blind because he just passes the ball to the opposition , it's not misplaced it's a pass

Top Claret wrote:Time for Hendrick to start in Midfield in place of those
2 duck eggs, Westwood and Cork

The pair of them are bloody useless and should be know where near a Premier squad never mind a starting 11

The lack of investment in this area from the club is a disgrace and lacks total bad management and lack of ambition.
Defour another who is never fit and well passed his best at this level

Cork was arguably our best midfielder last season, picked up an England cap and helped us to a 7th place finish. This year he "should be know where near a Premier squad".

You might aswell have just wrote ignore me I spout rubbish.

He was one of our best players last season and played out of his skin. He has now gone back to the championship player who played for us on loan years ago..
Not bloody good enough at this level bar one season, that is the reason Southampton and Swansea moved him on

Top Claret wrote:Time for Hendrick to start in Midfield in place of those
2 duck eggs, Westwood and Cork

The pair of them are bloody useless and should be know where near a Premier squad never mind a starting 11

The lack of investment in this area from the club is a disgrace and lacks total bad management and lack of ambition.
Defour another who is never fit and well passed his best at this level

You're right about lack of investment in midfield. Totally baffling given we had two serious injuries and two left.

I think.we might have seen the last of Defour. He's a superb player but he's never fit and when he is he rarely làsts 99 minutes. Has to be replaced and we need one more as well

Top Claret wrote:He was one of our best players last season and played out of his skin. He has now gone back to the championship player who played for us on loan years ago..
Not bloody good enough at this level bar one season, that is the reason Southampton and Swansea moved him on

If you watch us play just look at how many options we have when someone is on the ball. The midfield is part of the problem but it is certainly not it. Cork has been frustrating this year, but he's suffered from having no support around him or infront of him, the midfield unit as a whole has been pulled further and further back and at times Cork looks like he doesn't know wether he's coming or going. I agree with your sentiment that we needed to invest in the middle, but we did not need to replace Cork who is, in my opinion, a decent premier league player. We should have supplemented the midfield by bringing in the sort we didn't have, a strong ball winner. If that's what you think Corks game is then no doubt you think he's been poor because he isn't that player. He's certainly good enough for us, if used in a system that is working.

I don't see any evidence to suggest otherwise. He's played most of his career in the Prem, had an England cap and finished 7th with us. He would have been quite a few peoples picks for player of the year last year. What evidence supports your claim he's no where near a premier league standard?

He has had one good season has a Premier league player with Burnley. He has only one England cap and that was with us. Jack has never been anything but bang average at either Southampton or Swansea and that is the reason they moved him on.

I agree Cork is not our main problem. Our managers negative tactics are at home. We don't use our full backs as wing backs and we use our wingers as defenders.

We have two poor central midfielders in Cork and Westwood they don't close down quick enough, slow in the tackle and have no drive

Top Claret wrote:He has had one good season has a Premier league player with Burnley. He has only one England cap and that was with us. Jack has never been anything but bang average at either Southampton or Swansea and that is the reason they moved him on.

I agree Cork is not our main problem. Our managers negative tactics are at home. We don't use our full backs as wing backs and we use our wingers as defenders.

We have two poor central midfielders in Cork and Westwood they don't close down quick enough, slow in the tackle and have no drive

Absolutely laughable calling Cork and Westwood "poor". You don't play that many games at the top level by being poor.