Brighton vs Crystal Palace match thread

We have to distinguish between the things we've seen today that Sage isn't responsible for, and the things he is.

He didn't put the squad together. He didn't take a strong group and weaken it time and again over the course of a year. That's on Hobbs as far as I can tell, although I hesitate to criticise as I don't know what restrictions he is working under.

Sage didn't dive in and give away the free kick, or head the ball into his own goal under minimal pressure. He could do nothing about the second goal, a one-off bit of brilliance. It wasn't Sage who got nowhere near winning a straight long ball in the air for the third goal, or the second ball. The first and third goal are just total s*** from the defenders individually.

The way the team played after that is, however a reflection of Sage. Piss poor defensive set up, wide open, so easy to play through.

Moreover, Sage chose to stick with the 343 system again, despite us looking awful defensively for most of the season, and despite that making it necessary to put Richards in the centre (where he really struggles) and have two kids either side of him. How can an XI with Canvot, Honest, Khalili, Pino and Larsen in it, but with Sarr on the bench, be our strongest? He's picking weaker players to populate his system. Again. That's on Sage. Forest should have murdered us, and that was hardly a first. The warnings were there.

Overall, Sage is not responsible for the difficult wider circumstances, but he is responsible for how he responds to them. I wouldn't sack him because of today. I wouldn't sack him at all. He needs to do things differently pretty soon, though.
 
Den1923 said:
The easy answer is to blame Sage but at the end of the day he can't make a silk purse out of the players he has to choose from and the blame for the that is at the top of the tree ''Parish'' and the signs are there relegation is awaiting unless someone can find a miracle to save us at this rate!
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I'm not sure people are really blaming Sage too much.
The recruitment hasn't served him too well, but the job just looks too big for him.
If a change is to be made, the sooner the better.
 
DenTyler said:
I would rather Dyche that Howe. But I can’t believe there is no other option and really think Sage has been dealt a shitty hand but you have to work with what you got and somebody pragmatic would fix things with the same players.

I still don’t think Parish will make a change yet. It will be maths that does it not performance.
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Why would you want Dyche after his last season here?
 
Den1923 said:
The easy answer is to blame Sage but at the end of the day he can't make a silk purse out of the players he has to choose from and the blame for the that is at the top of the tree ''Parish'' and the signs are there relegation is awaiting unless someone can find a miracle to save us at this rate!
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Recruitment hasn’t been great but Sage is the one who makes the calls and sets the team up. We are the worst defence in the division. We can all see where the tactics are wrong (passing out from the back, high wing backs, midfield too high, too many players ahead of the ball, players in the wrong positions). All of that is on Sage.

Where he is absolutely in the firing line is we know it can be changed. Leeds is the example where different tactics got a different result. Unbelievably Sage then ignored that and went back to what hasn’t worked. I don’t know it that is stubbornness, arrogance or he just can’t communicate with the players. Either way it shows he isn’t working as a manager at present
 
Not surprised, we’ve looked defensively poor this season, last week we should have been pumped by Forest but thanks to divine intervention we didn’t.

Think too many fans have been blinded by winning two trophies and failed to see how poorly the club has been run the past few years. Poor transfer business , the Guehi saga, letting Eze go when the season had started instead did of doing business early and letting things gel. The absolute obsession over a new stand for how knows how long.

Funny how quick people are to jump on the sage out wagon, he ain’t blameless but f*** me it’s a tall order asking him to do a job with our current squad and the tin pot signings me make
 
Nicholas91 said:
What an awful footballer that Khalili is.

We’re an atrocity and I really think Sage must be sacked now and some sort of apology issued to fans.
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I feel kind of bad for piling in on a young player but sod it, Khalali is one of the worst players I’ve seen play for us since we got back into the Premier League. He looks so far out of his depth he needs a submarine to rescue him. To think he cost what we got for Munoz. Unbelievable
 
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