To all intents and purposes is the season now over on 20th October ?.

[Uncle Spielberg]

Poyet seems to have changed to very much talking down the team and our chances. The latest quote in the Argus today about the possibility of beating West Ham is " if we beat West Ham, its a bonus. Lets not get unrealistic again ".

I am dissapointed at this. It smacks of the Micky Adams " we were playing Leeds " comments a couple of year back when Leeds had already lost 10 games that season, as a reason why we lost.

I am also surprised as this is not the Poyet we recognise. A couple of weeks back the comments went from " I want to keep a gap between us and the play offs going " , when we were 4 points clear, to " it is a 5 year plan to go up ".

It is very clear there is no intention of going up this season or even getting a play off place and as such there is no point in strengthening the side, we may as well just stick with what we have got as this squad is not be good enough to go up this season. Whats the point in strengthening the squad ?.

Mid table is fine and I am sure Poyet is happy we have 19 points already as we could be looking at being in a worrying position without the good start we had.

It seems the expectations are very low now, certainly this season with the odd win to keep the punters happy and the goal is to stay up.

Is everyone happy with this ?.

 

[Rookie]

trying to lower expectations is all he is doing. To the players I would expect a different message is being put across.

 

[Frutos]

Yes thank you.

Unrealistic expectations do no good whatsoever, and Gus is sensible enough to know that. We are a newly promoted team and should be looking to consolidate in this division this season, with anything achieved beyond that seen as a bonus. Going up (unlikely as it is) would be awful for the club at this stage, we'd simply get battered up and down the country for 38 games and come straight back down.

It's far better, as Gus obviously understands, that we spend a few seasons at this level strengthening and developing our squad to the point where we can make a realistic push for the Prem knowing that we'd have a decent chance of staying there if we got there. Basically, he's looking for sustained success over a flash in the pan, and I fully support him on that one, as should any Albion fan who doesn't have blancmange between their ears.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

One would hope so. The " its West Ham " has worrying memories of Micky Adams second spell.

 

[PHCgull]

I am happy with this.

Anyone who says "the season's over" becuase we have fallen out of the playoffs is being a nob - we have not been mid-table in the championship for many a long year, and i for one am happy to stay there.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Yes thank you.

Unrealistic expectations do no good whatsoever, and Gus is sensible enough to know that. We are a newly promoted team and should be looking to consolidate in this division this season, with anything achieved beyond that seen as a bonus. Going up (unlikely as it is) would be awful for the club at this stage, we'd simply get battered up and down the country for 38 games and come straight back down.

It's far better, as Gus obviously understands, that we spend a few seasons at this level strengthening and developing our squad to the point where we can make a realistic push for the Prem knowing that we'd have a decent chance of staying there if we got there. Basically, he's looking for sustained success over a flash in the pan, and I fully support him on that one, as should any Albion fan who doesn't have blancmange between their ears.

Why would a £ 60 000 000 lump sum be awful ?.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Think you're over analysing too much here Unc. Yes he's realised some players aren't up for it that he perhaps thought might have been. But there is no way he is giving up on a play off chase just yet

 

[Brovion]

How can the season by over when the FA Cup hasn't even STARTED yet?

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

I am happy with this.

Anyone who says "the season's over" becuase we have fallen out of the playoffs is being a nob - we have not been mid-table in the championship for many a long year, and i for one am happy to stay there.

well that is my point, mid table is" season over " at least unless you consider just to stay up as the goal.

 

[Acker79]

I think Gus has always had the same expectations as the fans. At the start of the season he saw that we were taking a step up and can't expect the same success we had last year, then saw us have that good start and go top, having shown we have the right attitude for the fight by coming from behind to beat Doncaster in the high pressure home debut, shown we have the talent to make the step up with a great win v Cardiff. Looking at that altered his goals.

You don't look at a team in the top five spots with a chance to give themselves a cushion from the teams below and say anything other than 'let's try to increase that gap'.

But, things have changed, so his expectations have. Our team has stopped playing as well as they can, and whereas before we could look at games and think 'we should win them' we now can't. We don't have the form to say that with any confidence.

Besides, if he came out and said "when we beat west ham" there'd be accusations of arrogance, poor choice of words because all Alladyce has to do is post those comments in their dressing room an it inspires them to prove gus wrong.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

How can the season by over when the FA Cup hasn't even STARTED yet?

Because Poyet does not take the cups seriously.

 

[BLOCK F]

I get the point you are making,but no, the season is not over.I never expected us to go up this season and largely go along with the 'work in progress' mantra.
Great to have the new stadium and financial stability and a number of players who are good enough for this league............but that is where we are.Gus will be learning what players are good enough and those that aren't.
However,for me it is Gus himself who faces the greatest challenges of all.How will he deal with a bad run that could get worse in the next week or so;can he adapt tactics so that we don't give away winning positions.Can he sign the players that we need to really challenge for promotion in the next year or so?He is still learning and has some way to go,but the real calibre of the man will be shown by how he deals with the situation if and when we struggle!I hope he comes through and see no reason why he shouldn't.

 

[Simster]

It really is time you stopped with this nonsense: "?." Oh, and the spaces between quotation marks. " like this "?.
Annoyingly poor punctuation.

Onto your point, and IMO the West Ham comment is nothing like MA's Leeds quote. For a start, West Ham are second and were Premiership last season. Leeds at the time were mid table. Secondly, Adams was using their reputation as a big club (as opposed to their league position) as an excuse for a crap performance that had already been given. On the other hand, Poyet is simply asking that we don't assume we will beat the team in second place.

Downplaying our expectations is probably sensible. However, I for one remain optimistic that we will compete for a play-off spot this season.

 

[RexCathedra]

This is interesting from a linguistics perspective, using 'season' and 'over' in senses different from their use in English heretofore.

 

[Commander]

Yes, I am happy with this. Mid table would be fine, I've said that all along. Lets get ourselves established in this division before we attempt to go up, as if we went up this season we'd only come straight back down next anyway, probably with about 8 points.

 

[mcshane in the 79th]

Because Poyet does not take the cups seriously.

Yes, our carling cup run was terrible wasn't it

 

[Acker79]

Going up (unlikely as it is) would be awful for the club at this stage, we'd simply get battered up and down the country for 38 games and come straight back down.

It's far better, as Gus obviously understands, that we spend a few seasons at this level strengthening and developing our squad to the point where we can make a realistic push for the Prem knowing that we'd have a decent chance of staying there if we got there. Basically, he's looking for sustained success over a flash in the pan, and I fully support him on that one, as should any Albion fan who doesn't have blancmange between their ears.

I don't believe that is true.

Players and managers want to ply their trade at the highest level possible, for as long as possible. There is no guarantee that we will be strong enough next year, or the year after. No guarantee that the teams that come down won't be stronger than us however long we spend consolidating.

Then there's no guarantee that having those extra years in the championship will improve our chances in the premier league. If we can go up this year, we should go up. Worst case scenario we get relegated and get an extra £60m to strengthen the team and work to get back up there.

If we can go up this year, gus will want us to try to. Bloom will want us to try to, because you have to take the opportunities when you have them and not plan on them being there next season or the season after.


This reinds me of the discussion people were having before last season with some people arguing it would be better to be winning in league one in our first year at amex than to be in the championship losing, drawing and winning.

 

[Commander]

How can the season by over when the FA Cup hasn't even STARTED yet?

And we're going up to win the cup...

 

[Albion Dan]

One would hope so. The " its West Ham " has worrying memories of Micky Adams second spell.

He is talking the truth though. If we beat West Ham and their multi million pound team of players of £50k a week it has got to be considered a bonus. Every punter in the world would make them clear favourites. I read his comments as saying its unrealistic to exepct to beat them. That is nothing ike Micky Adams comments.

The thing that is worrying me is our supporters and their unrealistic expectations and expressions of dissapointement with where we are right now. We should be bloody delighted.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Yes, our carling cup run was terrible wasn't it

3rd round.