Connolly really ?

Some fans can't wait to get their teeth into a player.

For me the team was poor first half and provided absolutely nothing for either Connelly or Sporar to work with. Connelly did put the effort in closing down and challenging where he could.

Second half I saw some decent movement from him, and again effort. Looked a little rusty at times with his touch, but still better than Sporar.

He had two decent chances and failed to trouble the keeper, once was deflected wide after decent movement, the other again good movement to overlap Crooks but he hit it too hard and it went over. That was the sign of someone lacking a little confidence through not playing or scoring for a while.

I think he's good enough to get 7-10 in the remaining games, purely on his movement and effort.

How Sporar gets away without critiscism is beyond me though. Sporar offered no goal threat, didn't win a header, and didn't put the miles in had one good bit of movement but then chopped back instead of shooting with his left and the chance was gone.

I'd consider dropping Sporar for Balogun next game.
 
He might not be always right, but I fear he might be over Connolly.
Too early to say
 
but Connolly's career goal ratio 1 in 6 so far indicates he's not one of them.
In all comps he has 13 goals in 35 starts:

League 5 in 26
EFL Cup 3 in 4
EFL Trophy 5 in 5

That suggests the prem beyond his ability right now, but, he has ability to score regularly at a lower level.
 
Last edited:
Some fans can't wait to get their teeth into a player.

For me the team was poor first half and provided absolutely nothing for either Connelly or Sporar to work with. Connelly did put the effort in closing down and challenging where he could.

Second half I saw some decent movement from him, and again effort. Looked a little rusty at times with his touch, but still better than Sporar.

He had two decent chances and failed to trouble the keeper, once was deflected wide after decent movement, the other again good movement to overlap Crooks but he hit it too hard and it went over. That was the sign of someone lacking a little confidence through not playing or scoring for a while.

I think he's good enough to get 7-10 in the remaining games, purely on his movement and effort.

How Sporar gets away without critiscism is beyond me though. Sporar offered no goal threat, didn't win a header, and didn't put the miles in had one good bit of movement but then chopped back instead of shooting with his left and the chance was gone.

I'd consider dropping Sporar for Balogun next game.
The team was indeed awful first half and both Connolly and Sporar were key elements of that, not just victims of it.
Connolly played very badly throughout.

Nobody "can't wait to get their teeth into a player". That is nonsense.

It is a message board for people to express views.
The biggest critic of our performance on monday night was the manager Chris Wilder. He was spot on.

He is not a man to chop and change it seems, so it may well be that both Sporar and Connolly retain their places.
Sporar has perhaps earned the shirt for now. Connolly has a long way to go to say the same IMHO.
 
He might not be always right, but I fear he might be over Connolly.
I think you will find most fans will be right about a player after watching for 90 minutes or so. Has he got a decent touch , vision to spot a pass etc. to me its that simple. I could name hundreds of boro players that people knew were either good or bad almost instantly. its a bit like a muscianship your ear pretty much tell you instantly whether someone can play or not, footballs no different. The 6 slices out of touch on a debut tells me phil whelan is no poula maldini.
 
The team was indeed awful first half and both Connolly and Sporar were key elements of that, not just victims of it.
Connolly played very badly throughout.

Nobody "can't wait to get their teeth into a player". That is nonsense.

It is a message board for people to express views.
The biggest critic of our performance on monday night was the manager Chris Wilder. He was spot on.

He is not a man to chop and change it seems, so it may well be that both Sporar and Connolly retain their places.
Sporar has perhaps earned the shirt for now. Connolly has a long way to go to say the same IMHO.
Of course they were both part of that, not saying Connelly played well, simply that being picked out individually seems unfair as he at least got into goal scoring positions unlike any of our other strikers.

I think Wilder was playing mind games partially. Yes we played poorly first half, second half we were totally on top and could/should have scored 5

I'm not sure what Sporar has done to deserve such acclaim as a guaranteed start, he's been very poor since having covid.
 
I think you will find most fans will be right about a player after watching for 90 minutes or so. Has he got a decent touch , vision to spot a pass etc. to me its that simple. I could name hundreds of boro players that people knew were either good or bad almost instantly. its a bit like a muscianship your ear pretty much tell you instantly whether someone can play or not, footballs no different. The 6 slices out of touch on a debut tells me phil whelan is no poula maldini.
I have watched Connolly for Brighton. He can play. I will judge him more on that the couple of games he’s played for us. I thought he played well in his first game, against Blackburn not so much. We shouldn’t be writing him off yet. Let’s see if a game on the bench and an impact from the bench from him helps his confidence.
 
In all comps he has 13 goals in 35 starts:

League 5 in 26
EFL Cup 3 in 4
EFL Trophy 5 in 5

That suggests the prem beyond his ability right now, but, he has ability to score regularly at a lower level.
i was looking a his overall figures of 13 in 61 games,13 in 35 starts sounds better but its not prolific particularly in league games.
Bolo Zenden used to be *****, but then he was alright.
Bolo zenden was always alright, mclarens tactics were not always alright..
 
i was looking a his overall figures of 13 in 61 games,13 in 35 starts sounds better but its not prolific particularly in league games.
agree, but then those minutes have been exclusively at prem level, and as a teenager for half those games as well. Any teenager that doesn't look like an idiot playing the prem has some qualities. There are very few teenager strikers that play and score regularly in the prem. I think when he gets the first one and a bit of confidence he'll be flying. Strikers are a funny bunch, they have egos, yet are fragile emotionally.

He's been backup to Maupay and Trossard largely, not that many minutes, after bursting onto the scene at 18 he probably feels a bit unloved and a spare part. He hasn't hit the net since September. They haven't even given him any U23 game time for confidence, he's just been sat getting splinters.

I can see a player in there, he's up for the physical fight, shows decent movement, just needs one to go in off his butt.
 
agree, but then those minutes have been exclusively at prem level, and as a teenager for half those games as well. Any teenager that doesn't look like an idiot playing the prem has some qualities. There are very few teenager strikers that play and score regularly in the prem. I think when he gets the first one and a bit of confidence he'll be flying. Strikers are a funny bunch, they have egos, yet are fragile emotionally.

He's been backup to Maupay and Trossard largely, not that many minutes, after bursting onto the scene at 18 he probably feels a bit unloved and a spare part. He hasn't hit the net since September. They haven't even given him any U23 game time for confidence, he's just been sat getting splinters.

I can see a player in there, he's up for the physical fight, shows decent movement, just needs one to go in off his butt.
Your not going to let this go are you. How many games are left 19? 20? If he scores more than 3 i will be amazed.
 
He has scored 8 goals for anyone in League, FA Cup or League Cup.
He has scored in just 6 matches and has played 56 times and 2,599 minutes.
He has played over 46 minutes per appearance and scored every 325 minutes.
Aaron has never been a regular goalscorer at Brighton.
At the same stage/age Bamford by age 22 had scored 43 times in League, FA or League Cup including 19 for us in the Play off season.

Brighton have hardly been free scoring, it is the Premier League by comparison, and scoring isn't absolutely everything, and it is very, very early days here.
I genuinely hope he is a player and a goalscorer for us and he is only young yet.

It's unfair and absolutely daft to write him off, but it is fair enough to say he was rusty against Reading and very poor at Blackburn.
 
At the same stage/age Bamford by age 22 had scored 43 times in League, FA or League Cup including 19 for us in the Play off season.
The problem Aaron faced was that he was too hot a prospect for them to loan out, they wanted him around the first team, while not quite being good enough to put pressure on Maupay. If he had gone out on loan he would obviously have more minutes and goals but at a lower level.

Bamford didn't score his first prem goal until he was nearly 24 year old, had played 26 games and 560 mins. He didn't equal Connolly's 5 prem goals until he was 27 year old. They've had completely different career paths.

Connolly should have pushed to loan out earlier instead of getting the odd minute here and there. His appearances in cups ( 8 goals in 829 mins), against some decent sides (Luton, Swansea, Leicester, Sheff W, Villa, Bristol R, Peterborough, MK Dons) show a good strike rate at that level.

It's unfair and absolutely daft to write him off, but it is fair enough to say he was rusty against Reading and very poor at Blackburn.
Agreed, I think it's worth noting he was at least getting into goal scoring positions against Blackburn, Sporar did absolutely nothing in that game and should be treated the same on that performance
 
The problem Aaron faced was that he was too hot a prospect for them to loan out, they wanted him around the first team, while not quite being good enough to put pressure on Maupay. If he had gone out on loan he would obviously have more minutes and goals but at a lower level.

Bamford didn't score his first prem goal until he was nearly 24 year old, had played 26 games and 560 mins. He didn't equal Connolly's 5 prem goals until he was 27 year old. They've had completely different career paths.

Connolly should have pushed to loan out earlier instead of getting the odd minute here and there. His appearances in cups ( 8 goals in 829 mins), against some decent sides (Luton, Swansea, Leicester, Sheff W, Villa, Bristol R, Peterborough, MK Dons) show a good strike rate at that level.


Agreed, I think it's worth noting he was at least getting into goal scoring positions against Blackburn, Sporar did absolutely nothing in that game and should be treated the same on that performance
Sporar has some credit at the moment based on prior performances.
 
Another issue for me is the number of loans we have for the same position, presumably sporar, connolly, balogun, must all get significant game time regardless of their form pushing watmore down the pecking order.
Watmore doesn’t deserve this treatment, he’s scored some brilliant goals for us and doesn’t deserve to be behind the one dimensional Connolly who couldn’t lace watmore’s boots!
don’t really know about balogun yet but watmore is a seasoned pro with pace and a directness and an eye for goal

I’m disappointed he’s been sidelined
 
don’t really know about balogun yet but watmore is a seasoned pro with pace and a directness and an eye for goal
seasoned pro? He's started 71 league games in his whole career. He's a good pro, and a valuable squad member but he will never score or create enough in a 2 man forward line, he'll always bust a gut, but he'll miss sitters and have games where he just isn't involved. It's a classic case of a player getting better the longer he is out of the team. I'm glad he is part of the squad and am happy enough when he does play, but let's not go over the top about a player who is limited. He has done well to be 1 in 3 for us, but that's the most you will get from him, Connolly hasn't even played 2 games yet, I don't get why fans are being this rough on him. Give the lad a chance
 
seasoned pro? He's started 71 league games in his whole career. He's a good pro, and a valuable squad member but he will never score or create enough in a 2 man forward line, he'll always bust a gut, but he'll miss sitters and have games where he just isn't involved. It's a classic case of a player getting better the longer he is out of the team. I'm glad he is part of the squad and am happy enough when he does play, but let's not go over the top about a player who is limited. He has done well to be 1 in 3 for us, but that's the most you will get from him, Connolly hasn't even played 2 games yet, I don't get why fans are being this rough on him. Give the lad a chance
The fact he is starting when hes is way off match fitness in front of watmore. The high press from the front two has been a key feature in our success under wilder. It didn't happen at all on Monday and i think it was a significant factor in our dreadful first half. Until he puts the effort in without the ball watmore should start in front of him.
 
Back
Top