[Albion] Anyone still in denial?

[hart's shirt]

"It's actually pretty easy to be contrarian.

It's hard to be contrarian and right."

 

[Icy Gull]

I think the thread question has been turned on it’s head.

Is anyone still in denial that Potter is slowly getting things right?

 

[GT49er]

I think the thread question has been turned on it’s head.

Is anyone still in denial that Potter is slowly getting things right?

Naming no names (cough, OP) I suspect the answer is yes!!

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

"It's actually pretty easy to be contrarian.

It's hard to be contrarian and right."

It's easy, if you subscribe to aftertiming ("I was being ironic!").

I haven't put anyone on ignore for weeks. Getting an itchy finger, now.....

 

[super-seagulls]

Resigned to relegation now.

I don't think it matters who is the manager so might as well stick with Potter.

Are you still feeling this negative?

 

[super-seagulls]

I think the thread question has been turned on it’s head.

Is anyone still in denial that Potter is slowly getting things right?

I turned it on it’s head in post #10 & #78 and stand by my earlier positivity.

 

[Sheebo]

We are all humans and judge on our moods and the aftermath. But my god football supporters are so fickle at times - we’ll some. And they literally have to have someone to blame when we hit bumps in the road. Really silly imo.

 

[vagabond]

Be careful bouncing threads.

 

[sydney]

It's easy, if you subscribe to aftertiming ("I was being ironic!").

I haven't put anyone on ignore for weeks. Getting an itchy finger, now.....

promises promises ..tsk ,

 

[brighton_tom]

The players still need to maintain focus & effort for the remaining games. We're not there yet. Things might look rosy now but can quickly change. If we lose our next 3 (which is very possible) and Fulham pick up say 4 points from Villa & Wolves (which is very possible) then its back to squeaky bum time.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Are you still feeling this negative?

No - much more positive. Relegation is very unlikely now in my view.

I think we'll beat Sheffield Utd and Leeds, and pick up a sprinkling of other points as well.

 

[Icy Gull]

I refuse to believe that we are out of the woods yet, but the denial was about Potter being a clueless gimp, so yes I am still in denial

The comparison with Hyppia is just laughable, we were ripped apart by decent teams, how many times has that happened this season?

 

[Greg Bobkin]

He is just passing through, like all the managers who have gone before and all those still to come. The record books will not tell you how they played, only what results they achieved. In time, he will be judged with all the others. If he keeps us in the PL, for the length of his tenure, his legacy will be very good. If we get relegated and bounce back, his legacy will still be good. Anything else..i.e relegated and not returning...will not be deemed successful.
He is relatively young and inexperienced. He is cutting his teeth with us in the PL and still learning. The board took a gamble. By buying into a new ethos, they knew that some of the old guard would have to be phased out and new, different players, brought in. This was not an easy transition and I thought we may need to be relegated to return stronger and different. We weren't and thus expectation rose for this season.
Some expected too much. After all, the hierarchy did say the target was top ten. Unrealistic, I'm afraid. If we want to remain members of this elite league, we have to realise our place. We are members of a gaggle of clubs, who would all like to do better but are hamstrung by budget. We can all shop in the middle price range...£15m - £25m but no higher. That is what hinders progress. Quality costs money at this level. Therefore, shrewd buying and skillful management makes the difference.
Potter is like his team, a long way from the finished article. We defend from open play really well but are weak at defending set pieces. We carry the ball well through midfield but lack a bit of physical presence. We do create chances but miss a lot, through lack of quality. Our offensive set pieces need real work on. The balance between being too lightweight and more physical needs addressing.
As for the manager. His gameplan needs more flexibilty. He needs to accept that we are better at counter-attacking than forcing the pace. He needs to ensure our tempo of play is not too slow. He and his staff need to work their socks off on fitness and concentration levels. They have to balance our team better. He has to work on being more pro-active in games. He is too passive for too long at the moment, letting teams make changes and gain an advantage, whilst sitting back and expecting his gameplan to cope with it.
If he addresses most or all of this, then he may be in demand but he has a lot of work to do yet to reach that level.

To be fair, no-one from within the club said that the aim was top 10 this season. It was part of a longer-term strategy. There's an interview from (I think) Football Focus where Barber talks about it. Possibly as part of another five-year plan?

Outside of that, I agree with the majority of your post. People need a bit of patience and allow Potter to learn on the job, which it looks like he is doing (as well as the players now finding the back of the net!)

 

[blue-shifted]

To be fair, no-one from within the club said that the aim was top 10 this season. It was part of a longer-term strategy. There's an interview from (I think) Football Focus where Barber talks about it. Possibly as part of another five-year plan?

Outside of that, I agree with the majority of your post. People need a bit of patience and allow Potter to learn on the job, which it looks like he is doing (as well as the players now finding the back of the net!)

No timescale was put on it.

The club blatantly didn't say it would be this season and anyone inferring that is being disingenuous

 

[vagabond]

No timescale was put on it.

The club blatantly didn't say it would be this season and anyone inferring that is being disingenuous

Shocking how so many don’t grasp what a long term goal is.

 

[Napper]

ask me again in 3 games time

 

[portslade seagull]

No timescale was put on it.

The club blatantly didn't say it would be this season and anyone inferring that is being disingenuous

Definitely wasn't top10 this season. It was over a number of yrs

 

[blue-shifted]

Shocking how so many don’t grasp what a long term goal is.

Or they do grasp it, but they deliberately misquote it to further some sort of argument that they want to put forward

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

No timescale was put on it.

The club blatantly didn't say it would be this season and anyone inferring that is being disingenuous

It was also said before coronavirus smashed football finances so I think we can all cut them a little slack on timescales.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I think after the Sami Hyypia experience some people looked at Potter's CV and thought history might repeat itself.

It is very rare that a Premier League board can make an obscure call like this and get it right. So many managers have come and gone in the Premier League without making a dent that, statistically, the chances were against it working. The successful Prem managers have usually been Scottish or from abroad so Potter looks and sounds like a lower league manager.

However, last season's 41 point haul was higher than Hughton had achieved and so Potter immediately deserved credit, yet I believe even then he didn't get it from a sizeable minority of fans. This has lingered into the covid era, where poor home form has been an issue for a number of clubs (i.e. Liverpool) and where the goal output of not just our strikers but many is incredibly poor (the much-maligned Maupay has 8 which is more than the following: Jesus 7, Mane 7, Abraham 6, Firmino 6, Richarlison 6, Werner 5, Martial 4, Mitrovic 2, Joelinton 1, Carroll 1, Greenwood 1, McBurnie 1)