Although I predicted a 2-1 loss, I did say I favoured a 1-1 draw. No excuses though, I called it wrong.
And after the frankly abysmal first half performance, I actually think that was a pretty decent outcome for us and I’m reasonably happy with the point.
It’s all a bit moot though, as we really shouldn’t be in a position where we’re happy to take a point against a fellow struggling side who we’ve beaten twice already this season.
That’s where we’re at though and it just seems to confirm that our confidence is low.
Was it a five at the back?
I really don’t know, as it was hard to tell on the telly.
All I know is we looked like we had no shape in defence and seemed to panic all of the time.
Hassle our defenders and we just rush things or hoof it out to no-one in particular. No wonder Dean Smith asked the lads to press high, as we always look dodgy.
Going back to that first half, our passing was horrendous, yet again.
You just can’t expect to keep possession if you’re constantly giving the ball away.
My take on this is that we’re simply not good enough and it’s down to a lack of experience.
That might seem harsh, but it’s the reality of things to my mind.
On a more positive note, I thought we were better in the second half and Smith’s substitutions worked for the good, as much as I didn’t agree with Trezeguet coming off.
Luiz’s cross for the goal was an absolute peach and it was of course finished superbly by Grealish’s left foot.
And the young lad Vassilev also did very well, I thought.
I think it was within the first minute of him coming on, where I noticed he made a run and pulled one defender totally out of position. I didn’t notice and haven’t seen the replays, but I believe he also did exactly the same to give Grealish space to get the goal.
Whatever, he impressed me and it was very noticable.
Why I’ve never noticed that about Wesley, I don’t know, but it gives me food for thought.
It seems we pretty much have the Samatta deal wrapped up, but I have my doubts about him.
When you consider we paid £11 mill plus for Hogan, £13 mill for McCormack and £22 mill for Wesley, you have to wonder if Samatta at a rumoured £8.5-10 mill will be able to cut it at Premiership level.
Still, at least my expectations won’t be too high and if he can at least look like a striker should, he’ll hopefully improve things.
Just step back to that paragraph for a second though.
My god, we’ve wasted some money, haven’t we?
So while I thought we were better in the second half, it still wasn’t great.
It seemed to me that Brighton eased off, which was strange, because I thought they had the beating of us.
I’d like to say we massively stepped up our game, but that wasn’t the case.
We improved, yes, but not much.
As much as it seems Brighton had 10 shots, with only 2 on target, while we had 8 shots with 3 on target, it didn’t feel like that to me and Brighton really should have put us to bed in that first half.
It’s just a good job their overall play isn’t backed up by any incisiveness in the box.
The “will we, won’t we” survive thing rumbles on.
