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Albion thumped by Canaries

9:47pm Tuesday 24th November 2009


Albion suffered a second roasting in four days as they were thumped 4-1 by slick Norwich at Carrow Road tonight.

James Tunnicliffe's second-half goal offered brief cheer but they were 2-0 down by then and ended up suffering a defeat every bit as conclusive as the weekend reverse to Leeds.

They made an awful start by going behind to Grant Holt's third-minute lob-cum-cross after Andrew Whing struggled to cut out a long ball.

Liam Dickinson, in for the injured Nicky Forster, had a golden chance to level but shot wastefully wide after good approach work.

A lively Norwich side hardly needed any help in attack but they received it on 22 minutes when Dean Cox lost the ball on the edge of his own area and Wes Hoolahan fired home.

Holt then headed what he thought was a third only to be penalised for a push on Whing.

A late challenge by Cox sparked a 20-man brawl after which he, along with Andrew Crofts and Darel Russell were booked when it seemed someone must see red.

Norwich looked to wrap things up after the break but Graeme Smith saved in a one-on-one with Holt and Gary Dicker cleared a Gary Doherty header off the line.

Instead it was the visitors who struck on 61 minutes as Glenn Murray fired the ball across goal for Tunnicliffe to poke home.

Norwich, though, restored the two-goal cushion in fortunate style seven minutes later as a free-kick bounced in off the unwitting Tommy Elphick as he fell.

That ended the contest though there was further Albion misery on 83 minutes when Martin's volley from just outside the box beat Smith at his near post.

A second-half booking for Murray rules him out of Saturday's cup tie against Rushden.

Adam El-Abd also saw yellow before a boisterous crowd of 24,617.


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Your Say YourArgus

DHseagulls, shoreham says...
9:53pm Tue 24 Nov 09

Sign a keeper on loan and fast !!!

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Mrs Doyle, Hurst says...
10:06pm Tue 24 Nov 09

Oh dear, is Smith Henderson is disguise. Can we get Sullivan back?? Smith looks very young and my son says he is good but it's not working at the moment, perhaps he's not used to such a poor defence in front of him. Never mind, Gus will sort it out.

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Mrs Doyle, Hurst says...
10:06pm Tue 24 Nov 09

Mrs Doyle wrote:
Oh dear, is Smith Henderson is disguise. Can we get Sullivan back?? Smith looks very young and my son says he is good but it's not working at the moment, perhaps he's not used to such a poor defence in front of him. Never mind, Gus will sort it out.
Sorry, typo, should have read in disguise!

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king wombat, brighton says...
10:07pm Tue 24 Nov 09

Smith wasn't to blame for any but the last goal.

However, he hasn't exactly earned the nickname 'lucky'..

El Abd had a solid game, but overall not a game to be delighted with! Still these games were always going to be difficult and it will take a fair while to sort out. Need an experienced defender to marshall the defence - but that's probably not going to happen till january .

Virgo in on saturday - and never know maybe hawkins could get a run out...

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Edward_1, London says...
10:12pm Tue 24 Nov 09

Brighton need a goalscorer upfront to play alongside Murray when Forster is injured.If only we had a centre forward like Grant Holt instead of Dickinson and Craig Davies neither of whom are fit for purpose.Can anyone remember when Craig Davies last scored for Brighton?I cant

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Ringmer Rich, Ringmer says...
10:22pm Tue 24 Nov 09

At least Poyet and Taricco can see what they're dealing with after the last two games. They've got a big job on their hands.

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Kremlin Seagull, Moscow says...
10:25pm Tue 24 Nov 09

Mrs Doyle

You are sounding like Mark62 in that you always write about the same thing. OK we get the message again you don't rate smith & love Kuipers!

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DHseagulls, shoreham says...
10:37pm Tue 24 Nov 09

If TB wants championship football like we all do, then we will have look to sign players like holt, snodgrass etc . we have been out played and out classed.
Apart from a handful of players, we dont have the talent to compete at the right end of the table. hopefully we can survive and gus can get the players he requires during the summer.

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mark5, findon says...
11:25pm Tue 24 Nov 09

Same story, different day. Defence needs strenghthening asap. We are 1/2 defenders and a left sided midfielder away from being a strong mid table side this year. However for a promotion push next year we will need a clearout of half the existing side and some significant investment and shrewd transfer work! Gus will know all of this after the last two games and will be waving his Xmas wish list at Tony Bloom during December. Am not worried about our position as the investment will be made available and we now have a good manager with the right contacts! Mid table by March and then re-build in the summer-think we will need an extra season in League 1 at Falmer though!!

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The Phantom, Burgess Hill says...
11:42pm Tue 24 Nov 09

Smith was good in Scotland behind a strong defence (all McGhee's teams are based on one). Although hardly any goals have been down to him, he is averaging about 4 goals a game conceded when he plays. Just seen the goals on the tv and Norwich really did not have to work hard for them - first 2 goals in particular were shockers.

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mark5, findon says...
11:46pm Tue 24 Nov 09

Also agree with the post about Davies and Dickinson v's Grant Holt. Dickinson ok for League 1 but not strong enough to feature in a promotion challenge nor to survive in the championship. Feel sorry for Davies, but he frankly is not good enough, even for this division! Roll on the good times.............!

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Actually, Peckham says...
12:37am Wed 25 Nov 09

king wombat wrote:
Smith wasn't to blame for any but the last goal. However, he hasn't exactly earned the nickname 'lucky'.. El Abd had a solid game, but overall not a game to be delighted with! Still these games were always going to be difficult and it will take a fair while to sort out. Need an experienced defender to marshall the defence - but that's probably not going to happen till january . Virgo in on saturday - and never know maybe hawkins could get a run out...
Not at the game again wombat.My wife said it was 90mins of club PR to give Elphick & El-abd another contract again.You should go and watch the team for yourself wombat.You really are the BBC sussex man.The Norwich fans could not believe how bad the Albion looked.Tommy Elphick should have a good look at himself after that game.So much for all his big words in the Argus.Wake up real fans.That defence has had the club near the bottom of div3 for almost two seasons now.

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Actually, Peckham says...
12:49am Wed 25 Nov 09

Wake up real fans.You must be able to see these player could never play championship football.Their not even could div3 players.Yes they can turn over teams like Wycombe,because they will be in div4 next season.If Virgo comes back against a non-league team,and has an ok game against a poor non-league team.That does not make him a good player like wombat will say after.It will just show where him,and his mates should be playing their football.Not on the big championship money we pay them,as Nathan Jones pointed out some weeks back.

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Actually, Peckham says...
12:53am Wed 25 Nov 09

The Phantom wrote:
Smith was good in Scotland behind a strong defence (all McGhee's teams are based on one). Although hardly any goals have been down to him, he is averaging about 4 goals a game conceded when he plays. Just seen the goals on the tv and Norwich really did not have to work hard for them - first 2 goals in particular were shockers.
Top post,from a real fan with eyes,and a brain.Now lets get this wombat guy off here now.

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skaghead, brighton says...
6:35am Wed 25 Nov 09

i was at the game,it was a joke,we cant play attacking football with the defence we have,the defence is conference standard,il tell you something its nearly xmas and we could be in the relegation zone weekend,southampton will get out of it,not sure we will,gp im not sure he is the right man to turn it around,to all those people who said i was mad and didnt care abiut the club,well im proving correct,i told you so,doomed with gp

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Mark Dixon, Weston-super-Mare says...
7:49am Wed 25 Nov 09

Come off it some of you, saying were 'doomed' and GP has only been in the hot seat a couple of weeks is a bit much. He has inherited a team with little confidence especially at the back and l bet every team in this league would dread who we have been playing back to back recently.

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kumquat, London says...
8:56am Wed 25 Nov 09

We desperatley need a leader at the back. I think you're right wombat, we're gonna see Hawkins soon. As for Smith, he doesn't communicate properly with the defence. I think the sooner we accept we're just not good enough and that this is a work in progress, everyone can relax. The important thing is to stay up this year and build in the process for next. Hope we can get ourselves safe and like Wilkins in his first year in charge use the last seven or eight games to experiment.

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B-hove, says...
9:09am Wed 25 Nov 09

We dared to dream after Southampton but, in reality, we were never going to beat Leeds (without Kuipers) or Norwich away (without Fozzie).

"That which doesn't destroy us, makes us stronger", so perhaps this is all good learning in preparation for Charlton at home, next Tuesday.

Might we have Kuipers, Fozzie and McNulty back by then - and who knows, a defender on loan too?

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Gentleman Jim, North Brighton says...
9:11am Wed 25 Nov 09

Poyet has had no chance to organise the team before we met the best teams in the division,once we have played Charlton their will be the opportunity to see which players have got to be replaced and I thing Gus has the contacts to pick up the sort of men who will win promotion next season.

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kentseagull, folkestone says...
9:24am Wed 25 Nov 09

How many points were we really expecting to pick up against southampton away, leeds home, norwich away and charlton home?
If we come out of these 4 games with 4 points or more we have done well as these are on paper the four best teams in the league - all have played in the premiership in recent years! We then need to urgently work on the training ground with the players we have and spend time looking for the right additions to the team rather than panic buying and loaning - I am sure that by January GP will have pulled us away from the relegation zone and will know who needs to be replaced.

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graham w , lancing says...
9:34am Wed 25 Nov 09

well i agree with some comments above . but i blame smithy for 2 of the goals his positioning is so poor and his comunicating is non exisistant , coxy fanny around our box got caught blamed for one, and poor tommy elphick slipping for the other,i still thought at 2-1 we were in the game,we cant give 3 goals away like that, and expect to win ANY game of footie..... kuipers throwing a sicki didnt help, a good new keeper, Mcnulty back yes another winger,and mayby one other... norwich wernt that good until last 10 we just made two many individual mistakes... well i should thinkg GUS has seen all he needs to see, to make some improvement soon.. i hope..

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Wemman, Wem says...
9:37am Wed 25 Nov 09

Spot on Ringmer Rich

Gus & Mauricio have had 4 opportunities now to see how woeful our defence can be and that, in a perverse way, (nothing like a bit of perversion) is a good thing. At least they can now clearly identify where the weakest links are, without the help of the Argus reader's jury. Keep the faith with these two girls and boys.

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chusan, brighton says...
9:57am Wed 25 Nov 09

just how many of this team did Gus
Poyet sign anyway?Give the man a chance! He's trying to find the best of a poorish lot.

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graham w , lancing says...
10:08am Wed 25 Nov 09

yeah ok.......... what other avenue do we have, to say something.. !NOT TURN UP.. DID YOU GO.... we sat on m25 for an hourr and we looked ok for lots of the game .. .and yes we hope GUS sorts it out, soon

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Hawker101, The Hawk says...
11:55am Wed 25 Nov 09

Didn't go but my bruv did and said we were awful all over the pitch again, I didn't expect us to beat Leeds and Norwich but at least give them a game and the players prove to Gus they are capable of doing a job, but it is deffo time to change the whole defence around, McNulty is quality but we do need 3 other defenders to play alongside him, El_Abd tries hard and has a big gob, same as Tommy, but both are massive liabilities and Gus can see that now, maybe Tunni could be okay alongside a decent partner, it needs sorting asap else we will struggle to survive, the squad Gus has inherited just isn't good enough.

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king wombat, brighton says...
12:21pm Wed 25 Nov 09

We need an experienced Centre half to organise the defence. The defensive shambles is curable!! it just needs training, and a slight rejig in personnel.

As a unit they are comparitively
a) young
b) inexperienced.

what is really blatantly missing is someone to organise them during the games. We haven't had that since Butters retired.

Getting Mcnulty back is a big requirement as well.

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lancingseagull, lancing says...
1:25pm Wed 25 Nov 09

I shudder to think what the scores in the last two games would have been if the "Three Amigos" were still in charge. lol. Why didn't Hoyte start. I think he may be one of the first names on the team sheet for Saturday. Was Murray's yellow card "tactical" lol. Whether it was or not, well done. Saturday off and fresh for Charlton.

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lancingseagull, lancing says...
2:21pm Wed 25 Nov 09

I shudder to think what the scores in the last two league games would have been if the "Three Amigos" were still in charge. lol. Why didn't Hoyte start. I think he may be one of the first names on the team sheet for Saturday. Was Murray's yellow card "tactical" lol. Whether it was or not, well done. Saturday off and fresh for Charlton

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Mrs Doyle, Hurst says...
4:11pm Wed 25 Nov 09

I actually agree with Skaghead that we may be in the relegation zone again sometime soon, but have every confidence that once this run of difficult games is out of the way, Gus has had time to work with our players and come January bring in some new blood we will move onward and upward.

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Gaz the great, Brighton says...
4:12pm Wed 25 Nov 09

Lets all calm down-Give Gus a chance, but we do need an experienced center half plus a forward, in case Murray or Forster is sidelined. Sooner rather than later!

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Albion thumped by Canaries Albion thumped by Canaries

Albion thumped by Canaries

Albion thumped by Canaries





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