[Albion] We are no better than last season

[vagabond]

How many times have we played badly this season. I’d suggest:

Everton (A) - had our moments but outclassed
Poor second half West Brom (H)
Burnley (H) - no cutting edge
The first half of West Brom (A)
Leicester (A)
The first half last night.

Compare any of that to the Bournemouth and Cardiff games under Hughton or Man City at home last season and we’re on another level. Even the very best sides play poorly occasionally.

And as infuriating as last night was, we were poor, but we still didn’t deserve to lose.

 

[Weststander]

How many times have we played badly this season. I’d suggest:

Everton (A) - had our moments but outclassed
Poor second half West Brom (H)
Burnley (H) - no cutting edge
The first half of West Brom (A)
Leicester (A)
The first half last night.

Compare any of that to the Bournemouth and Cardiff games under Hughton or Man City at home last season and we’re on another level. Even the very best sides play poorly occasionally.

Leicester H second half
WBA H after our 40th minute opener
Stains H second half
Burnley A second half - outclassed

All significant, because we lost goals and load of points from promising positions.

 

[Skaville]

Leicester H second half
WBA H after our 40th minute opener
Stains H second half
Burnley A second half - outclassed

All significant, because we lost goals and load of points from promising positions.

- Outclassed against a brilliant Leicester side (like we were at Old Trafford)
- already mentioned WBA
- Southampton - yes agree, but they were top six at the time and we only conceded due to a ridiculous decision
- Burnley again, agree, but at the back end of three gruelling away games in a week. We were knackered.

 

[Skaville]

And as infuriating as last night was, we were poor, but we still didn’t deserve to lose.

Exactly. We compete week in week out. I’d far rather watch this team than that pile of shite up the road who stink the place out for three games, then fluke a lucky win in the fourth.

 

[Weststander]

- Outclassed against a brilliant Leicester side (like we were at Old Trafford)
- already mentioned WBA
- Southampton - yes agree, but they were top six at the time and we only conceded due to a ridiculous decision
- Burnley again, agree, but at the back end of three gruelling away games in a week. We were knackered.

The Stains penalty decision was a disgrace. A draw the fair result.

But god it was painful to watch, we allowed then to take total control of the game.

 

[albionalex]

How many times have we played badly this season. I’d suggest:

Everton (A) - had our moments but outclassed
Poor second half West Brom (H)
Burnley (H) - no cutting edge
The first half of West Brom (A)
Leicester (A)
The first half last night.

Compare any of that to the Bournemouth and Cardiff games under Hughton or Man City at home last season and we’re on another level. Even the very best sides play poorly occasionally.

Wolves (H)
Arsenal (H)
Blackpool (H)

 

[albionalex]

It does include missed penalties, but I don't blame you for not watching that far, its a painful watch!

One question I always have about xG - is it a stat that will track closely to real goals over time? Because if it is, then we can hope for 60+ goals next season.

Or is a team consistently falling underneath it one with excellent chance-creators and poor chance-finishers? The latter seems most likely. I suppose our 'moneyball' approach has led to us finding lots of chance-creators under market value, which puts the focus squarely on the strikers to finish them. I believe Maupay is having his tricky second season and will become a top striker, but he'll have to prove it before most will listen. W need to do that big splurge on a finisher.

Danny Ings. Its not impossible. Lets do it.

It's still a fairly new stat so not a lot of historical analysis but at least on a player level, any player that goes on a run of outperforming or underperforming their xG tend to revert back to the mean eventually.

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

And as infuriating as last night was, we were poor, but we still didn’t deserve to lose.

Their goal wasn’t some worldy, or deflection, it was a series of mistakes we made. When you say we didn’t deserve to lose, sometimes I can see that view, but last night I thought we did deserve to lose because the goal basically our own fault and we didn’t do enough to score. Sure we looked a bit better than them 2nd half, but they had a lead to defend.

 

[Machiavelli]

Potter has had a lot of challenges thrown at him and he's overcome many - breaking down the low block is a challenge all top clubs that can dominate play have to learn, and its glaringly obvious - but there's also no reason to believe that this challenge can't be overcome either.

Another good post. I'm not sure we have the resources to deal with the low block. Murray from three years ago would clean up if Gross and/or Ali J adapted their crossing for him. It's that type of player we're crying out for. I don't really blame anyone at the club for us not having one of that ilk, for the simple reason that they're not that easy to come by.

 

[Machiavelli]

It doesn't need to be Potterball that overcomes this. It could be Potterball mark 2 where for instance we play the long ball more often or something along that ilk, You know win ugly sometimes. I'm not saying use tactics like that too much, but if it counters teams playing like Sheff Utd surely its worth having in our armour.

I find this kind of post strange. It's as if GP and his team haven't thought about getting the ball from back to front swiftly. We mix our game up on that front. I'd be interested to see some stats on this.

 

[jonny.rainbow]

Reading this thread has made me angrier than watching out shot performance last night.

 

[andy1980]

I find this kind of post strange. It's as if GP and his team haven't thought about getting the ball from back to front swiftly. We mix our game up on that front. I'd be interested to see some stats on this.

The point I was trying to make was we need to try different things if what we are doing isnt working. It wasn't impossible to beat Sheffield utd last night as most teams have.

 

[Machiavelli]

And arguably worse. Fact.


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1, with this point, I'm making it half in jest, but you want Fat Sam
2, last season, we got our highest ever points total in the PL -- that's some achievement
3, correct me if I'm wrong, but this season isn't over yet ...
4, ... but if we either finish lower in the table, or get fewer points, or both, then your point will be proved correct, but it's a rather dull empirical point
5, I take it you're of the view that we need to 'improve' season after season after ... you'll see where this one's going
6, we could say that we're a point behind the 2018/19 final total, with five games to go (and don't get me started on that season), but you chose not to
7, three out of CH's 4.5 seasons were exceptional, and exciting -- we had Murray (still) in his pomp for 2016/17 and 2017/18 (and the first half of 2018/19): he hasn't been replaced ...
8, ... we've instead invested in the future. We have one of the youngest starting line-ups, and we have plenty more exciting players in reserve; in short, we're replete with potential rather than stuffed full of dead wood (as we were in 2018/19)
9, in all likelihood, we'll get a tidy sum for one or two of our star players in the summer
10, for the first season in the PL, we've suffered a number of long-term injuries, and to some of our best players
11, FACTually we've got a rather stupendous xG total

All of this means that I'm excited about next season, and that's a multi-faceted analysis which finds a singular fact rather dull

 

[Bry Nylon]

For ‘Low block’ also see ‘Playing through the lines.’ They have become this season’s phrase of choice for ex-pro pundits.

Last season it was ‘High press’ and the season before ‘False 9’

Bids for next season are now being accepted.

 

[Hugo Rune]

7, three out of CH's 4.5 seasons were exceptional, and exciting -- we had Murray (still) in his pomp for 2016/17 and 2017/18 (and the first half of 2018/19): he hasn't been replaced ...

If we had a striker converting chance like Murray did in those seasons, we'd be between 5th & 9th at the moment. Murray's legend has got a lot more impressive in my view since we can see what sort of side we are without his finishing. Best Albion player ever for me.

 

[Swansman]

For ‘Low block’ also see ‘Playing through the lines.’ They have become this season’s phrase of choice for ex-pro pundits.

Last season it was ‘High press’ and the season before ‘False 9’

Bids for next season are now being accepted.

The next thing you know they are going to call the half-backs "midfielders".

 

[Guinness Boy]

1, with this point, I'm making it half in jest, but you want Fat Sam
2, last season, we got our highest ever points total in the PL -- that's some achievement
3, correct me if I'm wrong, but this season isn't over yet ...
4, ... but if we either finish lower in the table, or get fewer points, or both, then your point will be proved correct, but it's a rather dull empirical point
5, I take it you're of the view that we need to 'improve' season after season after ... you'll see where this one's going
6, we could say that we're a point behind the 2018/19 final total, with five games to go (and don't get me started on that season), but you chose not to
7, three out of CH's 4.5 seasons were exceptional, and exciting -- we had Murray (still) in his pomp for 2016/17 and 2017/18 (and the first half of 2018/19): he hasn't been replaced ...
8, ... we've instead invested in the future. We have one of the youngest starting line-ups, and we have plenty more exciting players in reserve; in short, we're replete with potential rather than stuffed full of dead wood (as we were in 2018/19)
9, in all likelihood, we'll get a tidy sum for one or two of our star players in the summer
10, for the first season in the PL, we've suffered a number of long-term injuries, and to some of our best players
11, FACTually we've got a rather stupendous xG total

All of this means that I'm excited about next season, and that's a multi-faceted analysis which finds a singular fact rather dull

Without tackling the whole thing, improving every season by season is mathematically impossible unless someone starts the Galactic Super League. However, finishing every season on around 40 points in around 16th place simply reinforces that Poyet may have had a point about our "ceiling".

If the top brass are going to make noises about 10 ten, noises about Europe then it's time to start delivering on it. Shit or get off the Pott.

 

[blue-shifted]

If we had a striker converting chance like Murray did in those seasons, we'd be between 5th & 9th at the moment. Murray's legend has got a lot more impressive in my view since we can see what sort of side we are without his finishing. Best Albion player ever for me.

And he'd have the golden boot sewn up by now and there would be a mass clamour for him to be Harry Kane's back up at the Euros

 

[blue-shifted]

Without tackling the whole thing, improving every season by season is mathematically impossible unless someone starts the Galactic Super League. However, finishing every season on around 40 points in around 16th place simply reinforces that Poyet may have had a point about our "ceiling".

If the top brass are going to make noises about 10 ten, noises about Europe then it's time to start delivering on it. Shit or get off the Pott.

Explain this bit? Nobody at the club has put a timescale on this

 

[Swansman]

Without tackling the whole thing, improving every season by season is mathematically impossible unless someone starts the Galactic Super League. However, finishing every season on around 40 points in around 16th place simply reinforces that Poyet may have had a point about our "ceiling".

If the top brass are going to make noises about 10 ten, noises about Europe then it's time to start delivering on it. Shit or get off the Pott.

Especially for those who are dead keen on overlooking any improvement outside the league table and shrug their shoulders on the potential of those improvements eventually reflecting on that league table.

Top 10 is a long term goal. My guess is that long term is two different things in TB and GB land.