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[Albion] Anyone still in denial?



zefarelly

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
22,499
Sussex, by the sea
The absence of March and Webster has massively affected us.
I really didn't think it would have such a big effect, but it clearly has.

Yes it has, what's even more bemusing is earlier in the season there was the suggestion of Tinkering . . .and now we have a settled satarting line up who can't buy a result but GP won't drop players who are failing badly.
 






Springal

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2005
24,620
GOSBTS
Yes it has, what's even more bemusing is earlier in the season there was the suggestion of Tinkering . . .and now we have a settled satarting line up who can't buy a result but GP won't drop players who are failing badly.

This is what annoyed me most on Saturday. Earlier in the season Potter was making substitutions that were not needed and changed the balance / shape of the game. On Saturday we were on a downward spiral in the second half and what changes he did make were baffling
 




blue-shifted

Banned
Feb 20, 2004
7,645
a galaxy far far away
Not wanting to get into another big GP, is he any good debate.

But I have observed the substitutions very rarely have an impact on the game. I'm actually struggling to think of one who has changed a game this season. Feel free to help me out.

I generally think he gets the starting XI right most weeks.

Maybe it's the ability to think on his feet that's the issue. We clearly have a strong bench
 






Badger Boy

Mr Badger
Jan 28, 2016
3,658
For all the talk about how good the manager is, he needs to get results. Fulham are the team in decent form, rarely losing games at the moment. We're getting easily beaten by the odd goal because we're so toothless going forward. Any suggestion we haven't spent enough money is just plain wrong. The investment isn't the problem and the players are good enough to be doing much better than we are right now. The team is underperforming based on its potential and that is the manager's fault. It's not his fault that players miss penalties and randomly stand offside the one time they're actually able to take a chance - but ultimately it's up to the manager to get more out of these players.

There's no value in making a change now, just like with Hughton in that second PL season. Potter will see out the season but if things don't dramatically improve I suspect he won't see a third season.
 


Springal

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2005
24,620
GOSBTS
For all the talk about how good the manager is, he needs to get results. Fulham are the team in decent form, rarely losing games at the moment. We're getting easily beaten by the odd goal because we're so toothless going forward. Any suggestion we haven't spent enough money is just plain wrong. The investment isn't the problem and the players are good enough to be doing much better than we are right now. The team is underperforming based on its potential and that is the manager's fault. It's not his fault that players miss penalties and randomly stand offside the one time they're actually able to take a chance - but ultimately it's up to the manager to get more out of these players.

There's no value in making a change now, just like with Hughton in that second PL season. Potter will see out the season but if things don't dramatically improve I suspect he won't see a third season.

Do you honestly think the investment in strikers that Potter has had since he has joined is good enough? It'd be interesting to know since the start of last season how every other PL club has spent on strikers.

Maupay (we've got our moneys worth)
Zequiri (future)
Welbeck (panic signing for numbers)
Connolly (unproven youth player with very little pro experience)
....
 






andy1980

Well-known member
Feb 23, 2009
1,722
Do you honestly think the investment in strikers that Potter has had since he has joined is good enough? It'd be interesting to know since the start of last season how every other PL club has spent on strikers.

Maupay (we've got our moneys worth)
Zequiri (future)
Welbeck (panic signing for numbers)
Connolly (unproven youth player with very little pro experience)
....

Graham Potter said he was happy with the squad and said his job was to make them better. So he must be satisfied with the strikers.
 


Springal

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2005
24,620
GOSBTS
Graham Potter said he was happy with the squad and said his job was to make them better. So he must be satisfied with the strikers.

He said that to the press, yes.

He's not going to publicly say 'I wish Tony had invested another £30M in a next level striker for me' is he ?
 




Badger Boy

Mr Badger
Jan 28, 2016
3,658
Do you honestly think the investment in strikers that Potter has had since he has joined is good enough? It'd be interesting to know since the start of last season how every other PL club has spent on strikers.

Maupay (we've got our moneys worth)
Zequiri (future)
Welbeck (panic signing for numbers)
Connolly (unproven youth player with very little pro experience)
....

Yes. He chose to marginalise and then release Glenn Murray, who would not be missing the chances Maupay and Connolly have missed all season. Zeqiri (no U in there) is raw and for the future. Welbeck was a free transfer but probably quite expensive wages. That was Potter's decision to sign him unless we're explicitly told otherwise, and he has scored a couple of goals for us. Maupay was the big investment but he's just CMS in a less enjoyable package.

Ultimately, I think you have to look at the midfielders too. Where there are almost no goals being scored from at all. Trossard is well off the pace at the moment, but is a guaranteed starter. Jahanbakhsh gets a few minutes here and there, rather than a proper run of games. Mac Allister doesn't seem to know what his role in this team is. Gross is usually reliable with his penalties but even there he's faltered lately.

Personally, I don't really like the set up of the team at the moment. I don't really like Gross alongside Bissouma, although it did work against Spurs and Liverpool in rare victories. I feel sorry for players like Alzate who did nothing wrong but finds himself marginalised and coming on to play left wing back, if he's lucky. But he'd best be brilliant because otherwise we won't see him again. Davy Propper can't get a look in and Percy Tau's reward for being positive and direct in his few appearances is to disappear entirely.

My opinion is that Potter has the tools, but he isn't using them very well. It's easy to say he needs better players but the reality is that he has these. A good manager can get something out of any group of players, and a supposedly top manager really ought to be doing much better than Potter is doing here.
 




DH12

New member
Jan 7, 2016
29
Southsea
Anyone still in denial that we are not going down this season?

It's been on the cards for months and Fulhams results today has sealed it. They are on the march and we are in freefall. Hard to see where our next point is coming from.

I've been pointing it out for months that this clueless ****wit is taking us down, yet everybody else seemed in denial. I think most people have come round to realising now that our Premier league days are coming to an end.

Potter will have to be replaced next season as he's clearly lost the dressing room. He's the most uninspiring manager we've ever had bar Hyppia. Churns out the same twaddle every week in his pressers, sucking through his teeth and telling us we are learning...which is clearly bullshit.

Turning some decent players into absolute donkeys, coaching out the ability to score goals, random substitutions, playing Dan Burn every week which should be a criminal offence.

Can't think of anyone who has damaged this club more since Belotti and Archer.

Where to start with this. Fulham will likely lose vs City next week, by which point we'll have 2 games in hand, still be above them and be playing an average Southamapton team without their best player the next day. We're not in freefall, we've had 3 poor defeats with decisions and fortune against us (minus the usual poor finishing). Before that we were on our best ever unbeaten run in the top flight, including wins at Anfield against the defending champions and Mourinho's Spurs. Dan Burn also had an excellent game vs 2nd place Leicester, FYI. Did you even watch the game?

It's truly incredible how pessimistic and short sighted our fans can be. I think we'll stay up, and even if we don't, Potter should stay and continue his measured and balanced work with the team.
 




andy1980

Well-known member
Feb 23, 2009
1,722
He said that to the press, yes.

He's not going to publicly say 'I wish Tony had invested another £30M in a next level striker for me' is he ?

Why not? If he said that maybe the strikers we do have would want to prove him wrong.

If he wasnt happy with the strikers then saying he is in public looks bad on him.
 






Springal

Well-known member
Feb 12, 2005
24,620
GOSBTS
Yes. He chose to marginalise and then release Glenn Murray, who would not be missing the chances Maupay and Connolly have missed all season. .

Which of Murrays goals (in a lower division) this season have been your favourite?
 




twickers

Well-known member
Jul 17, 2003
1,673
If we go down then NSC folks get to reconcile... compare and contrast...style without enough substance taking us down, or no style under CH keeping us up.

If we stay up, and finish no higher than before, we also have to ackowledge whether it was worth it and I suspect most realists will say yes because whilst it was closer to the drop than we'd all like, at least we stayed up showing signs that the team can play more exciting and interesting football than we have before and that (though not in everyones eyes) is progress. So we should remember and acknowledge that if we survive.
 


zefarelly

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Jul 7, 2003
22,499
Sussex, by the sea
My opinion is that Potter has the tools, but he isn't using them very well. It's easy to say he needs better players but the reality is that he has these. A good manager can get something out of any group of players, and a supposedly top manager really ought to be doing much better than Potter is doing here.

Spot on.

we are the bottom 6 of the whole football league for win percentage this season. poor management.
 


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