Man of the Match v Brighton & Hove Albion: Adam Bogdan

Adam Bogdan earned several Lion of Vienna Suite MOTM awards last season. We knew this was a bad sign.

Once in a while, a club's goalkeeper will stand on his head and almost singlehandedly get a result. He'll appear to be nine feet tall, have sixteen arms, Jedi reflexes, and a giant moving goalpost to help him out in a pinch. And that is great for everyone involved. But if it happens week after week, as we saw at times last season, it means you are in trouble. It means your squad is not taking its chances or creating its own action. It also most likely means that your defending is not good and your keeper is under siege. This Tweet after the match yesterday basically sums up Bogdan's performance.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>On a different note. Fuck, Boltons goalkeeper. That was the best display down here this season. Kept them in the game singlehandedly. <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23BWFC">#BWFC</a></p>&mdash; BHAFCPatriot (@lawrenceVB) <a href="https://twitter.com/lawrenceVB/status/272392262460272640" data-datetime="2012-11-24T17:32:30+00:00">November 24, 2012</a></blockquote>

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So which was the case yesterday? Was the squad poor? Was Bogdan outstanding?

Both actually. Dougie Freedman used a somewhat experimental lineup. He was trying some new things, mostly in an attempt to shore up the defense I believe. It didn't work. In fact, it almost backfired horribly. Worse yet, none of the players seemed particularly comfortable in this new set up. That is part of the reason why Bogdan is really the only legitimate candidate for MOTM.

The defense wasn't really changed though. Tyrone Mears, Zat Knight, Matt Mills and Stephen Warnock have spent a good deal of time on the pitch together. They were still a back four, as they have always been.

So to summarize, Bogdan runs unopposed for MOTM, Freedman's experimental team did not work well on the attacking end, the defending was poor but that was more the players than the formation or squad, we got an undeserved point thanks to a very late David Ngog goal, and Dougie is still undefeated.