BazMac Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 Just watching Brighton 1 up against Ajax at half time. I'm sure it's been mentioned before but I noticed that not a single pass from any player goes around the midfield without Billy Gilmour pointing where an option is to his teammate. He's the only one doing this and seems to be orchestrating the entire movement of Brighton. Anyone who watches Brighton more than I do... is this typical? When he's not in the side, does another player perform the same function, or is this Billy's own abilities that makes him do this? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2426255 Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 20 minutes ago, BazMac said: Just watching Brighton 1 up against Ajax at half time. I'm sure it's been mentioned before but I noticed that not a single pass from any player goes around the midfield without Billy Gilmour pointing where an option is to his teammate. He's the only one doing this and seems to be orchestrating the entire movement of Brighton. Anyone who watches Brighton more than I do... is this typical? When he's not in the side, does another player perform the same function, or is this Billy's own abilities that makes him do this? He's been practicing his pointing technique since he was a young boy at Rangers. It's a key aspect of his game and a big part of why Brighton stumped up the 9 million quid for his services. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeartsOfficialMoaner Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 7 minutes ago, 2426255 said: He's been practicing his pointing technique since he was a young boy at Rangers. It's a key aspect of his game and a big part of why Brighton stumped up the 9 million quid for his services. I thought he copied it from Jorginho. He does the same. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bairnardo Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 39 minutes ago, BazMac said: Just watching Brighton 1 up against Ajax at half time. I'm sure it's been mentioned before but I noticed that not a single pass from any player goes around the midfield without Billy Gilmour pointing where an option is to his teammate. He's the only one doing this and seems to be orchestrating the entire movement of Brighton. Anyone who watches Brighton more than I do... is this typical? When he's not in the side, does another player perform the same function, or is this Billy's own abilities that makes him do this? Gilmour does that all the time. He always has since ever I've seen him. It's not a Brighton thing 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArabFC Posted October 26, 2023 Share Posted October 26, 2023 Its a Brighton thing in as much as the other midfielder - Gross in this case - usually vacates the midfield leaving just the one option in there. So he's either demanding the ball or pointing to where it should go instead. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewanandmoreagain Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 MOTM per BBC ratings 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barry Ferguson's Hat Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 2 hours ago, Ewanandmoreagain said: MOTM per BBC ratings TA gonks. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eez-eh Posted October 27, 2023 Share Posted October 27, 2023 I am once again asking people to stop paying attention to the BBC ratings. 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkoRaj Posted October 28, 2023 Share Posted October 28, 2023 He was class though 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ArabFC Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 And dropped for the weekend. De Zerbi has that annoying trait of constant rotation. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
effeffsee_the2nd Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 15 minutes ago, ArabFC said: And dropped for the weekend. De Zerbi has that annoying trait of constant rotation. manager with large multi million pound squad rotates players after midweek game in shock move it's not 1980 anymore 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkoRaj Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 Think someone said previously that he's been dropped for the big games but I'm not sure there is that pattern to it He played against Ajax and didn't play v Fulham, not sure you can argue the Fulham game was treated with more importance. They didn't win without him anyway, so I guess that's not a bad thing? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2426255 Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 (edited) There are a number of factors as to why a manager rotates their players. Medical, Tactical, Performance, Discipline or some other that haven't popped into my head. Steve Clarke 'dropped' Billy Gilmour for Ryan Christie against Spain, not as a slight to Gilmour - but because he viewed Christie as better suited at doing what we needed in the game, i.e running, pressing, ball carrying and quick counter attacking. The same will be case with Gilmour at Brighton. De Zerbi is selecting him or not depending on different variables. It's not just cause he doesn't fancy him anymore or doesn't trust him in big games etc etc. Edited October 30, 2023 by 2426255 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virtual Insanity Posted October 30, 2023 Share Posted October 30, 2023 I think he definitely has a tendency to drop Gilmour for games where he thinks they'll have less of the ball/territory, and consequently potentially more setpieces to defend, which is understandable. I think he now starts the vast majority of 'big' games where de Zerbi expects Brighton to dominate possession. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2426255 Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 (edited) That's just a general overview. On a superficial level there is nothing that really stands out, no obvious pattern. Sometimes he starts games where Brighton go on to have the majority of possession and others he doesn't. Sometimes Gilmour starts games against the bigger teams in the league and others he doesn't. Even though Scotland didn't really dominate the ball against England or France, we tried to improve our possession play and so that's context for Gilmour starting in those Scotland games and the reverse for the Spain game where we didn't show any intention of playing a possession game. A Brighton fan who doesn't have the context just explained would struggle to interpret Gilmour's game time for Scotland. I don't know enough about Brighton or De Zerbi, so it's just speculation. I'm guessing it'll be similar with respect to circumstantial factors influencing decision making. You'd have to really follow Brighton and De Zerbi to know what's going on with that. He is obviously valued as part of the squad because so far this season his minutes have been decent. It would maybe be more interesting to compare the number of minutes Gilmour gets to the rest of the Brighton squad members to see how he is doing in comparison to his peers in a De Zerbi team. Edited October 31, 2023 by 2426255 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accies1874 Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 He didn't start the Man United or Chelsea games and did start the Bournemouth one, so imo that does show a pattern of him not starting against the "big" teams. De Zerbi will base his selections on more than a team's history, though, so it might not be a pattern worth looking into. E.g. Newcastle were at that point better than Man United and Chelsea, they press intensely and are more physical, yet Gilmour started that game and did very well. You could say the same for Villa. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2426255 Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 (edited) 31 minutes ago, accies1874 said: He didn't start the Man United or Chelsea games and did start the Bournemouth one, so imo that does show a pattern of him not starting against the "big" teams. Oops, my mistake. Well pointed out - I've edited the pic. Anyway I think it's basically just a lazy way of looking at things to just say he isn't trusted in the "big games" against the "big teams". That's my overall point. Edited October 31, 2023 by 2426255 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Twelve Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 39 minutes ago, 2426255 said: Oops, my mistake. Well pointed out - I've edited the pic. Anyway I think it's basically just a lazy way of looking at things to just say he isn't trusted in the "big games" against the "big teams". That's my overall point. I'm not an expert on Brighton, but your chart would suggest that he's simply being rested/rotated out of the starting 11 occasionally, except perhaps against Liverpool and Man City where it could be a tactical decision to drop him for the reasons suggested upthread; he's less of an asset when the team don't have the ball so much, basically. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2426255 Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Alan Twelve said: I'm not an expert on Brighton, but your chart would suggest that he's simply being rested/rotated out of the starting 11 occasionally, except perhaps against Liverpool and Man City where it could be a tactical decision to drop him for the reasons suggested upthread; he's less of an asset when the team don't have the ball so much, basically. I think every game is taken on its own merits. BG has a specialist role and I wouldn't describe him as an all round midfielder. I think it's a toolbox. He gets used for some jobs and not for others. Games that suit him Our other midfielders are like Multi-tools. McGregor, McGinn, McTominay, Ferguson and even Christie now have played in different midfield roles over the years and I think you probably need that flexibility to always play and that's before taking into account the player availability/injuries or minutes played or whatever else. Edited October 31, 2023 by 2426255 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeeMan Posted October 31, 2023 Share Posted October 31, 2023 (edited) Gilmour has very similar characteristics to Pascal Gross who seems to be a favourite of the manager. They do play together in the double pivot but more often than not if he is rotating in another player Gross keeps his place. From what I've seen Gilmour has done well and I expect him to get a decent amount of game time, especially if they have to move Gross further forward or to full back due to injuries. I also expect him to keep improving over the course of the season. Edited October 31, 2023 by TeeMan 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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