Indeed we could have won it.
We also could have lost it.
We actually drew it.
Away from home the draw was an achievement and very acceptable.
I for one accept the point and now move on.

Just watched them, I thought Brighton created the better chances of the two teams.

Humphreys was painfully slow in the lead up to their first goal, you can't give possesion away like that so cheaply away from home.

McSweeney seemed to be quite lively. I'd like to see him given a chance on the right and Brownie put upfront with Boydy when he returns.

Goals were all taken well, Richie Jones in particular did fantastically well in the whole move for the 3rd.

Humphreys made an unbelievable goal line clearance late-ish in the game, so if he was partly culpable for one of the goals he certainly made up for it. Flinders should have really saved the first, his first real error for me that ball wasn't moving very quickly and he tried to palm it instead of just catching it, he may have been off balance from the first shot. He's still quality like, every keeper is allowed the occasional boob.

Yeah I forgot to mention the clearance. An excellent bit of work. Especially for a fat lad.

I'm sure the bitch tits increased the distance of clearance.

people were saying he wasnt playing anywhere near his best, which was true. Looks like a kick up the arse by turner worked.

Another thing that turner has done well. He better stop otherwise people might actually start liking him

I like Chris Turner and Mr Hodcroft likes Chris Turner and Mr ADG likes Chris Turner....we're the only three that matter.

Having just watched the highlights I dont find them encouraging whatsoever.

That is the worst I have seen us defend in years and it is obvious that we were fortunate not to concede 8.

Brighton got so much space around our back 4 and especially infront of them (sorry Ritchie lovers) that it was comical. It was schoolboy stuff. Fortunately it looks like Brightons defending was abysmal too so we got away with it.

It is completely obvious that our midfield is over-run. We struggled greatly to close them down. (Which is what the worry was with Ritchie moving into the midfield role he currently has)

And before MrB and the others accuse me of being on a witch hunt, Im not, but them highlights and previous games speak for themselves. As a stopgap we have no real alternatives but we cant afford to have Ritchie playing there all season, it will cost us a lot of points imo.

Our side could finish top half of the table if we can sort that position out. If we are just happy to hover just above the relegation places then fair enough, stick with him, but its a real shame as we could have so much more potential.

I will apolgise in advance for offending some with this post and wait for the usual replies

Interesting

Only because we got the points does not mean that he is the answer. We were clearly very fortunate on Saturday. Can you honestly watch the amount of space we are giving opposing teams and say that we look solid with him in there???

We can maybe get away with having Ritchie there in the home games but like I said in my post, we look completely over-run.

That is all

what if jones was dropped for something else other than one bad game? Maybe a suspect attitude or something?

Turner has given everyone a chance this season even when they play poorly they normally get a chance to prove it was a one off. I suspect there was more to jones being dropped than what we know.

Whatever the reason was, it seems to have worked.

My point was that we look over-run espacially away from home. The Brighton highlights show this clearly. Im not saying that we did not stop enough crosses going into the box - we clearly didnt!. I said that WE defended very poorly (not just Ritchie) BUT I think we all agree that Jones is playing well since his return. Looking at the ease at which Brighton and other sides recently have got space infront of our back 4 suggests that things are not quite right in there. Surely you must be concerned at how easy Brighton (who are a shite team in all honesty) frankly took the piss out of us infront of our back 4. I would not replace Jones as he is quite mobile unlike Ritchie. Our defenders have also been playing well (including the goalkeeper)

I think the position Ritchie is currently playing is our area of weakness. We will struggle badly over the Christmas spell against better teams with him in there.

I didnt say that at all.


But it WAS as bad as last seasons defending looking at the highlights! It was the worst I have seen us defend in ages. Try watching the highlights again!

Then why is our away record so much better than last season when we'd only accumulated the same amount of points at the end of February?? Won three, drawn three, lost two, twelve for, ten against??

Are we over-run??

Nurse!!! The screens....

because of the defence and goalkeeper playing VERY well. The central midfield area still lets us down.

We have some very tough games coming up and im pretty certain we will struggle in the middle of the park against them. Our defence and keeper will have a much easier time with an improved midfield.

In the absence of Poolpower, ADG has been voted chairman of the Humphreys love in committee.

and how many away games exactly have you seen us being over-run?

No comment

Its obvious from the footage on Pools player that we are struggling there. If we looked so poor in those 14 minutes, I dread to think how we played over the course of the 90.

the 3rd goal was nothing short of disgraceful defending mind

I'm sorry but you can't make such sweeping statements about the midfield on the basis of watching a few minutes of highlights.

I think 14 minutes of highlights gives a pretty good indication that we defended poorly and gave them way too much room. Unless of course the highlights chose to ignore the 'good bits'

You're making a doyle of yourself here Grave!!

Not at all. The highlights are quite conclusive. We were a shambles defensively.

I dont see how anyone can dispute that.

It was clearly a very open game were both team threw caution to the wind and went all out for the win. Our problem was we never held onto the lead for long enough to frustrate them.

Also the essence of a 'highlights' package is that they show all the interesting stuff like what happened (you know the chances). We got into some equally good positions like when Boydy was clean through late on and failed to control the ball. You can't really make such sweeping statements when you weren't at the game. Yes they seemed to have space and create some chances but maybe Brighton played well going forward, their are two teams on the pitch you know?

I'd understand the gum bashing if we'd just been dicked 3-0, but we weren't, far from it..... Plus it's the first time we've had a game like that all season our back four and keeper have been superb why not cut them some slack?

Brighton had four defenders out. They were always going to go like whippets because they couldn't defend. Look at our goals, they were all sitters, daft defensive errors. It was always going to be that sort of game. They were just hoping to wear us out. They didn't, the game was a freak.

No, Chip I wasn't there, my Eastbourne Ninja was, but no-one saw him.

I went to Eastbourne once.
Stunk of piss.



And Eastbourne did.

I too wouldn't trust the highlights. When I've watched the highlights of most games I've seen I always think 'what about the shot from X which went just wide?' or other incident which has been edited out. They don't tell the full story. If the full 90 minutes was available then you can draw some proper conclusions.

Because I don't get to many home games I never feel fully justified in offering an opinion on a particular player because they play differently in away games. There are a handful of people who make every home and virtually every away game (Fetish Bob and Mad John are two) whose opinions are more valid in my eyes than someone who goes to every home game but no aways.

I always think that - it they never showed our three or four gilt edged chances at Exeter - Behan's glancing header from a corner just wide, the mad scramble in their 6 yard box, Boyd's header against the bar, Larkin's one v one against the keeper - yet it showed some shi-t half arsed long range shot from Exeter.............

That was Easington, wasn't it??

In your incontinence phase..

yeah it coincided with a bout of dyslexia and an inability to tell which way I was going