Utter garbage and I'm reluctantly coming round to the view that Les is not the man to get us out of this. The starting point should have been to avoid a repeat of the Yeovil fiasco by setting up in a 442 from the off, passing the ball on the ground and putting pressure on Brizzle. Maybe it wouldn't have worked, we could have lost to a freak goal, but at least I wouldn't have felt as p*ssed off after such a gutless and clueless performance.
Thoughts on players.
Warner. One of the few without blame, made a couple of good saves to keep the score respectable.
Cresswell. Much more error-prone than normal and a decent free-kick aside contributed little up front. Btw what was the point of the stupid tactic of keeping everyone out of the box at corners?
Goodison. Didn't seem his usual imperious self.
McChrystal. Abysmal. Aimless hoofs, back-passing when he had time and space to carry the ball forward. Play Ash, Max, even Nick Wood ahead of Mark if he's going to carry on like this.
Weir. Had a tendency to hit the ball against an opponent and put us into danger. An error just after they'd scored aside, I didn't think he was that bad, but others I overhead on the train coming back disagreed. At least he kept battling away, but think Kay or Max a better bet at right-back.
Welsh. Anonymous, went missing for long periods, no leadership.
Ash Taylor. Doesn't seem the same player since coming back from injury
Labadie. Little impact in this match.
Zoum. Thought he did ok, one or two nice touches.
Robinson. Would have been better deployed as a striker, was too far away from Enoch, but probably our most dangerous player; though that's not saying much.
Showumni. Looked in need of a rest. While I'm not a fan of the high-ball, did feel that he could have made more effort to use his height.
McGurk. Early introduction, looked quite bright in the first half, harshly adjudged to have handled in a good position, then a penalty shout, but faded after the break.
Elford-Alliyu. Limited impact when he came on. I'd have preferred Welsh to have been subbed rather than Joss to keep some height in the middle, given the Pirates were big lads.
Akins. No impact, pointless substitution.
While I could see us getting something at Brighton, that would only be with wholesale changes in personnel and attitude.