[Albion] Mr Potter has got to sort out his blind spot or else...

[vagabond]

Name me another team that would accept that stat. Sure we are just about surviving. Winning is important. It makes people feel good, you can survive on drawing every game in a season but do you think people would be happy with that season if it happened?

Crikey, you were Potter in the other week. Now you’re out. In-out. You flitter from result to result, up and down more than a tarts knickers. Guess you’ll be Potter in if we beat Leeds.

Even if I disagree with them, at least some of the anti Potter guys have a consistent long term view.

One things for sure though. Tony will not think like you do, and the club will not be knee jerk and make rash judgements over any big decisions, it’ll be a considered process with an eye to the long term and unless the wheels massively come off, I predict we’ll stay up and proceed with GP into the next season, hopefully with some additional fire power recruited by the club.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Eloquent and well thought out post

By blip, I meant in the context of most of this season. I’ve said before somewhere on here that we seemed arrogant from kick off, which we have no right to be given our position and the meaning this game had. My only recurring criticism of GP is our lack of bite and inability to play “get into them, feck up up” against poor sides. We keep making the same errors against lower quality teams and after two years GP should be setting us up better. We should not accept losing most 50/50s from kick off.

I have loved large chunks of this season but I have absolutely hated most games against the bottom sides. Still very much GP in but he needs to start upping his tactics in games like last night

I am no football manager but I would have had Maupay and Gross off at half time and brought on Ali J and The Argie Scot both of whom have the ability and fight missing from those two last night

Yes, indeed.

I'm teetering between 'stick with Maups - he's due some goals' and 'drop him for next game and play (??)'.....As always, I know nothing

All the best

 

[Uncle C]

Of the 6 sides at the bottom of the table, I would say the Brighton players are displaying the least fight, passion and determination. That's unacceptable.

 

[Not Andy Naylor]

Bearing in mind how often we fall victim to a sucker-punch breakaway goal while pouring forward against defensive teams, is there a case for adopting completely different tactics against these sides next season (eg Palace - Sheff Utd and WBA may not be a problem)?

The team seem to feel, or are told, that we have to play good football, go forward and play our risky short-passing game from the first whistle. This can work well, and has done, against sides that are willing to come out and play, such as Leeds, Newcastle, Stains and West Ham. I have reasonably high hopes that we'll do okay against Leeds, Wolves and Arsenal in the remaining games, maybe even West Ham.

But we all knew what was coming against the low blocks, as shown by some of the comments in the score prediction thread for yesterday's debacle. Is there a case for keeping things very tight and making the clean sheet the absolute priority against the others? Given that Maupay and company will miss even the best chances that our all-out attacking creates, might it not be better just to leave them on their own up front to forage for themselves by pressing the opposition? It seems to work for our opponents.

Okay, it sounds like surrendering to negative tactics, but unless something changes in summer, any team will know that if they stick ten behind the ball against us, they have a decent chance. And one point is better than none and all that.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

At least 2 teams coming up will be expecting to live in our perpetual bottom 6 home.

Are we going to get squeezed up or down?

Norwich, largely the same squad but with more experience and the manager more savvy? A concern.
Watford. Absolute berserker of a club, could easily stay up.
As for the 4 in the play offs, who knows, but Bournemouth would invest heavily I’d imagine.
Could be very dicey.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Bearing in mind how often we fall victim to a sucker-punch breakaway goal while pouring forward against defensive teams, is there a case for adopting completely different tactics against these sides next season (eg Palace - Sheff Utd and WBA may not be a problem)?

The team seem to feel, or are told, that we have to play good football, go forward and play our risky short-passing game from the first whistle. This can work well, and has done, against sides that are willing to come out and play, such as Leeds, Newcastle, Stains and West Ham. I have reasonably high hopes that we'll do okay against Leeds, Wolves and Arsenal in the remaining games, maybe even West Ham.

But we all knew what was coming against the low blocks, as shown by some of the comments in the score prediction thread for yesterday's debacle. Is there a case for keeping things very tight and making the clean sheet the absolute priority against the others? Given that Maupay and company will miss even the best chances that our all-out attacking creates, might it not be better just to leave them on their own up front to forage for themselves by pressing the opposition? It seems to work for our opponents.

Okay, it sounds like surrendering to negative tactics, but unless something changes in summer, any team will know that if they stick ten behind the ball against us, they have a decent chance. And one point is better than none and all that.

I think your opening paragraph is exactly why there is so much frustration, we don’t adapt and walk into the same booby trap every single time we come up against stubborn opposition. We know what’s going to happen yet there’s no evidence to suggest that we’ve figured out an affective way to combat it. If we’d have parked the bus against the snide teams we’d probably be 3 or 4 points better off and guaranteed safety.
Having said that, if we had a semi competent striker who could play centrally (Maupay’s job) then we conceivably could have taken an additional 9-12 points would be an absolutely fabulous season. It’s a fine line.

 

[andy1980]

Crikey, you were Potter in the other week. Now you’re out. In-out. You flitter from result to result, up and down more than a tarts knickers. Guess you’ll be Potter in if we beat Leeds.

Even if I disagree with them, at least some of the anti Potter guys have a consistent long term view.

One things for sure though. Tony will not think like you do, and the club will not be knee jerk and make rash judgements over any big decisions, it’ll be a considered process with an eye to the long term and unless the wheels massively come off, I predict we’ll stay up and proceed with GP into the next season, hopefully with some additional fire power recruited by the club.

Where have I said Potter out? If you read what I Said then you would know I haven't changed my opinion at all. I Said this game confirmed to me I don't think he is the manager to take us into the top 10. If Paul and Tony are happy staying in the bottom 6 for the next couple of seasons then Potter is our man. My opinion hasn't changed. So instead of putting your own spin on things try reading what I write.

 

[vagabond]

Where have I said Potter out? If you read what I Said then you would know I haven't changed my opinion at all. I Said this game confirmed to me I don't think he is the manager to take us into the top 10. If Paul and Tony are happy staying in the bottom 6 for the next couple of seasons then Potter is our man. My opinion hasn't changed. So instead of putting your own spin on things try reading what I write.

You’re entitled to not rate him or want him out of course. It just seems short term on the back of one result.

For along time I have thought he isn't the person to take us to the top 10. Today was the day he could have made me doubt that. A potential banana skin that if he guided us through meant we could be safe. Instead I feel more strongly than ever that I'm right. Many times I have heard the saying a squad will take you so far but a good manager will get you a few extra places up the table. I don't think Potter gets us any further up the table than our squad deserves to be. Pretty football though and apparently thats what matters.

 

[Seasidesage]

I just wonder where the players are in all this? We miss a succession of chances, start slowly make a series of errors on their goal and its Potter out. Too many players including some of the senior ones abdicate their responsibility, one more pass, one unnecessary flick, another one two . Defensively we are solid, we play well on the counter, passing is nice and mostly progressive right up until the final 3rd. New and better options are of course needed but those who play now need to step up as well. This is on Potter too make no mistake but there have been numerous chances to shoot created against the teams in the bottom three half of which have been passed up the other half taken with little or no conviction this has to lie with the players themselves.

Will we go down? No probably not but we will be talking about the same issues this time next season if we don't take some positive action.

 

[Wardy's twin]

I don't see that 2020/21s Welbeck, Maupay, Connolly, Trossard are any better than 2017/18s Murray, Hemed, Baldock and Knockaert.

I agree , arguably we are weaker in those positions if you look one for 1:1 as you could argue Murray delivered more than Welbeck, Maupay is better than Hemed, Baldock and Connolly not much in it and we are missing the passion that AK brought to the game and whilst people complained about him trying to beat same player twice (thrice) he could also be very direct and a better finisher than all of them but Murray.

However this is only one part of the problem. We are too slow in the build up, and that issue lies mainly with Gross and Trossard and until we can get the ball moved quickly (so defenders are less in number and less organised) we will struggle to score who ever we sign going forward.

 

[Wardy's twin]

This was the main issue IMO. I know it worked against Newcastle, but why on Earth were Moder and Groß playing as wing backs against a team that have struggled to score and keep clean sheets this season? Surely Karbo would have been a better option on one side with Zeqiri or, dare I say it, BDB the other. Potter got his tactics woefully wrong yesterday and, once again, we come away from a team at the bottom of the table with nil points.

I’m baffled as to why we haven’t seen Karbo bar the cup game against Leicester (where he did alright) considering the injuries we have to March and Lamptey. If he’s not up to it, why recall him from his loan? Bizarre.

This was probably a good game to play BDB in my opinion as he has good work rate, physical and probably less likely to be challenged defensively than in most games...

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

... he'll never move beyond bottom 6.

He can be as creative as he wants but all the time his team is required to be an attractive ball playing side but is also completely ineffective against a well organized low blocking team, he's going nowhere.


Cry all you want about 'just needing a striker' but far too many times, in his tenure here, any one of us could have played in goal for the opposition and still not conceded.

Tonight it took less than 10 minutes for all but 3 of us to know EXACTLY how the game was going to pan out.
That just isn't good enough.

Yep, of course.

What are you advocating though? That we abandon the creative attractive ball-playing side or we get better at being a creative attractive ball playing side.

I do so hope its the latter.

 

[Stat Brother]

Yep, of course.

What are you advocating though? That we abandon the creative attractive ball-playing side or we get better at being a creative attractive ball playing side.

I do so hope its the latter.

As I've already said on this thread.

What I'm advocating is Mr Potter has a plan up his sleeve to counteract a lowly team going 1-0 up and then pulling up the drawbridge.


The scoreline has happened to many times to be a 'one off'.
The net result, subsequently losing, has also happened too many times.

Therefore I want/expect GPott to have an answer for these games.


Failure to do so, will really have me questioning whether Mr Potter is quite the manager we were sold.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

WHAAAT. I'm not talking about success now. I'm talking about the importance of winning. I'm saying that after a game that you won that feeling you get is just as important as the way its won. We play good football but we don't get to enjoy that feeling as much as what we should. In my opinion people who say that isn't important is lieing to themselves.

yes, I want to win and enjoy it however it has been done. But in the longer run, the way you play in games matters because it speaks to progression. We won three 1-0 games in a row early in Hughton's second PL season, and those three largely undeserved wins became a perpetual stick to beat him with at the end of the season. The feeling of winning was rapidly lost and they way we did it meant it became a net negative for Hughton by his end.

I suppose I want to experience that feeling of a winning a lot more than 2 or 3 extra times a season. That means building to something doesn't it, or you're a perpetual Burnley or Palace at best. You can have a season like Sheffield's last season, but if you aren't building something tangible you follow that up with a season like Sheffield's this year. Their feeling of winning last night ain't worth much.

Its been very experimental this season and last, if you look at the players introduced to the squad, the different formations and tactics being used at different times - so its not surprising that the results aren't consistently good. I remain extremely excited about what we can be - are Palace fans excited at what they might become under Hodgson? They've won three more games than us this season, so they must be feeling a lot happier, right? Or are they perhaps already at their pinnacle?

 

[andy1980]

You’re entitled to not rate him or want him out of course. It just seems short term on the back of one result.

You are not listening. I don't rate him as highly as most based on 10 wins in 16 months. That is not 1 game and it doesn't mean I don't think he can keep us in the prem.

 

[vagabond]

You are not listening. I don't rate him as highly as most based on 10 wins in 16 months. That is not 1 game and it doesn't mean I don't think he can keep us in the prem.

So what you’re saying is, you’re on the fence now?

 

[andy1980]

So what you’re saying is, you’re on the fence now?

What im saying is im sure he will keep us up but not a lot more which is what I thought before this game. I thought because sheff united had already been relegated this was a potential banana skin and if he could guide us through this match perhaps he would be showing me he had a bit more than I thought but we lost misserably.

 

[andy1980]

yes, I want to win and enjoy it however it has been done. But in the longer run, the way you play in games matters because it speaks to progression. We won three 1-0 games in a row early in Hughton's second PL season, and those three largely undeserved wins became a perpetual stick to beat him with at the end of the season. The feeling of winning was rapidly lost and they way we did it meant it became a net negative for Hughton by his end.

I suppose I want to experience that feeling of a winning a lot more than 2 or 3 extra times a season. That means building to something doesn't it, or you're a perpetual Burnley or Palace at best. You can have a season like Sheffield's last season, but if you aren't building something tangible you follow that up with a season like Sheffield's this year. Their feeling of winning last night ain't worth much.

Its been very experimental this season and last, if you look at the players introduced to the squad, the different formations and tactics being used at different times - so its not surprising that the results aren't consistently good. I remain extremely excited about what we can be - are Palace fans excited at what they might become under Hodgson? They've won three more games than us this season, so they must be feeling a lot happier, right? Or are they perhaps already at their pinnacle?

I am happy with the Way we play but I don't think Potter is the only person to get us to play like this I'm sure theres someone who can get us to play like this and win.

 

[NooBHA]

So what you’re saying is, you’re on the fence now?

Do you work for the Club ?

Or are you related to Graham Potter ?

Your interaction with [MENTION=13266]andy1980[/MENTION] is quite humorous. You aren't taking on board what he is trying to say and then trying to twist what he is saying and railroad his text to mean something else.

Don't get me wrong I don't disagree what you are saying but you are trying to lead that poster into contradicting himself.

There is no way that Potter will be sacked.

He is following the brief laid down to him . He's not deviating from it. His status in the Football world is such that he can be dictated to.

On top of that. He is on a ridiculously low salary for a PL Manager and he has been tied into that low salary for 6 years. The guy's job is safe as far as I can see unless Brighton get relegated and they won't this year.

I think he has done a very good job considering his lack of experience at this level. He comes across as a very decent guy so as long as he keeps Brighton in the PL each year then I think he will see out that contract.

 

[Living with the enemy]

Potter's in charge

Ultimately the manager owns performance, and I'd suggest that GP has enough say to influence things

With hindsight, the watershed moment was the January transfer market - the club took the decision not to spend on a new striker on the basis that the existing players would come good. Clearly this hasn't happened.

Although GP was dealt that hand, he oversees training, team selection, substitutions, all of which have contributed to the current position.

I keep wondering how the strikers are coached - I'd be the first to complain about Maupay, but there must be a reason he's regressed from last season (think Newcastle away or Arsenal home).

Frankly if I were in charge I'd have the strikers (and attacking midfielders) in early and home late and using every psychologist I could find rather than constantly blaming "quality"

Even if we scrape another season, player receruitment becomes challenging as we start yet another season as relegation favourites