Ratings & Reactions: Brighton v Villa

[Leeroy]

1 minute ago, useless said:

I don't understand how there wasn't more added time, Brighton blatantly time wasted about half the nine minutes given, there should have been at least a few more minutes. Not that we looked scoring

We wouldn't have got anything anyway mate, we could have played 180 minutes today and we wouldn't have scored due to our totally inept performance.

[mottaloo]

Says it all that after 6 pages of comments,  Olsen still has 100% of the votes. Everywhere else on the pitch we were pants

[nick76]

Says everything that Olsen has 100% MOTM ratings above after 119 votes

[OutByEaster?]

4 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

I'm sorry but I'm fuming and so should everyone be. Today of all days we put in our worst performance of the season, it's a disgrace and very much a bottle job even if people like to say it's injuries or fatigue.

It's injuries and fatigue. 

 

[calcifer]

1 minute ago, mottaloo said:

Says it all that after 6 pages of comments,  Olsen still has 100% of the votes. Everywhere else on the pitch we were pants

Olsen deserves it today, if anyone else votes for an outfield player I suggest they get themselves off to specsavers. 

[nick76]

1 minute ago, mottaloo said:

Says it all that after 6 pages of comments,  Olsen still has 100% of the votes. Everywhere else on the pitch we were pants

[OutByEaster?]

4 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Makes Thurs a difficult selection decision. Do we throw in towel for ECL and save the team for Monday?

Not for me - if Liverpool win then there's absolutely no need.

It's a shame the way the order of the games has come for Spurs, if they had City earlier then we might already be confident. 

Thursday is our chance to do something more this season and I think we prioritise it and hope we've done enough in the league - and if we haven't, it's the Palace game we really need to focus on.

[Ponky]

Olsen and Cash the only positives in that performance. It was a very soft penalty but Konsa absolutely shit the bed and gave the ref a decision to make. 

Unai really needs to throw some kids into the mix to give us a bit of energy. We're absolutely punch drunk at the moment.

Edited May 5 by Ponky

[Galway Lion]

Absolutely shocking from the first minute. Passive,poor passing resulting in McGinn knocking ball out of his play leading to the goal. 
Lowest Xg ever.Walking pace in the biggest game of the season the body language was awful. 
Relying on Spurs collapse is our only hope 

[M_Afro]

8 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I'm sorry. Unai is not immune to criticism. 

He's got to understand that this squad of first team players is mentally and physically exhausted.  Injuries have ravaged us. He HAS to start playing some kids, even if they're less experienced and not of the same quality, you can't keep playing these first steamers relentlessly. 

And he's got to make subs earlier when we're clearly struggling. 

Hopefully we've still done enough to get the job done but we're playing with fire right now.

Who should he play? Did you see our bench today? Centre midfield is our problem. We only have Tim who has looked out of his depth every time he’s played. We don’t have any other option. 
We limp through with what we’ve got. I would be tempted to send a reserve squad to Greece now. It’s unlikely that this team can get it done on current form. Give them a rest and focus on our last two premier league matches. Hopefully we’ll get Youri and Emi back to beef things up a bit.

[CVByrne]

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

Not for me - if Liverpool win then there's absolutely no need.

It's a shame the way the order of the games has come for Spurs, if they had City earlier then we might already be confident. 

Thursday is our chance to do something more this season and I think we prioritise it and hope we've done enough in the league - and if we haven't, it's the Palace game we really need to focus on.

We need Liverpool to produce the goods. We're still in driving seat for 4th 

[Steero113]

7 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

• Who have sh*t loads of injuries, more than us
•  

Not at the moment mate, it's not possible.

[Digavilla]

I agreed with a earlier post that a midfield 2 of just Luis & Mcggin is not gonna work. Would have prefer Tim, or even Moreno to play in front of Digne..

Our midfield was so weak and create nothing.. 

[HanoiVillan]

9 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I think it’s pretty obvious we’re not going to win another game this season.

Im not even angry. Its been a great effort but we have 11 fit players capable of playing at this level and they’re playing 90 mins every 3/4 days.

We just need to hope Spurs don’t shock us by beating Liverpool or City. 

This is how I see it too. If we can cling on to a point against Palace and don't get too badly beaten against Liverpool then Spurs need two draws or one win against Liverpool and City, it's not a terrible situation for us. 

[avfc1982am]

Absolutely horrendous all round, from the team selection to the player performances. Unai should've cottoned on after the Chelsea game that we needed the 3 in the midfield and has persisted with ignoring this so as much as I'd love to blame it all on the players he really has to shoulder some of the blame imo. Turgid performance from everyone other than Olsen, never though I'd be saying that today. 

[KMitch]

 

Olsen with 130 MoM votes and 100% of the results...  Anyone else worried that this a sign of the apocalypse?

[Leeroy]

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

It's injuries and fatigue. 

 

Everyone keeps saying this, it's annoying! Every team is tired at the end of the season, every team. Brighton didn't exactly look full of energy today either, both teams were playing at snails pace.

 

Tiredness doesn't explain complete lack of imagination, constantly taking the wrong decisions when we got into the final third, hollywood passes when the easy ball was on, no desire to go and win the game, and basically playing for a point to preserve energy probably for Thursday where we will likely go out anyway.

[Xela]

I'd have taken a shit 0-0 to keep the points ticking over, but thats a terrible result.

Worst 72 hours of the season. 

[tommytenjobs]

For the first time all season....I'm frustrated and angry at a performance. Still light in middle, can't play out because we're are short of energy and numbers.....what does Emery do after 20 mins or so when it's obvious...nothing. if Tim and Omari are not ready and Chambers is not good enough, then let's at least tell Morgan to play somewhere in the midfield. Outnumbered at all times. Not surprising playing four upfront. 

Two games in a row where being a but more pragmatic, earning the right to play and taking a draw would have been preferably to going for broke and playing everyone up front. 

Liverpool better stick a performance on spurs. 

[maqroll]

Sabotaged by the ref, but we still deserved to lose.

Brighton looked like they were the ones chasing 4th.

We had no urgency, no propulsion. 

Lazy sticking-out-the-leg flicks that missed their marks, telegraphed passes, slowness in closing down, not enough movement off the ball, lacked composure under pressure.

All the elements of an exhausted team cracking under intense pressure to achieve their objectives at the end of a long campaign. 

The Conference League has affected us in the way we feared it would. 

Players are falling like flies to injury, and others are running on fumes and out of form.

Our best goal scorers aren't getting enough service. Our midfield is barely a cohesive entity.

A Spurs win or even draw will heap even more pressure on these players who haven't experienced anything like this before for the most part. 

Emery has a huge task now that we've dropped the 3 points that were arguably the least difficult to attain.

A trip across Europe to the cauldron of Piraeus and the possibility of another extra time marathon. And the Liverpool who look really good today. He's going to have to play basically the same 11 as today for both matches. 

Our players are going to have to suffer to get this over the line. 

I don't know if my hypertension can handle a Selhurst Park finale with 4th place on the line.

I have faith we can still win the cup and get 4th place. 

But today has shaken my confidence. 

 

Edited May 5 by maqroll