[Albion] 33 after 31

[Mo Gosfield]

Crazy stat. Agree with what has been said about TB not accepting flirting with relegation next year. To become established in the top 10 we need to be looking to finish there


This mythical top ten only belongs to a few elite clubs and we all know who they are. The rest is a flexible, moveable feast, ever changing, ever surprising. More determined by the dynamic within individual clubs and the narrow margins between relative success and relative failure. Our target should not be stated as top ten but purely as solid survival every season. Building up squad strength and experience at this level. Ensuring that the dynamic and focus within our club doesn't change.
Wolves comfortably in the top ten recently, now will finish bottom half. Sheff Utd...9th last season, relegated this. Burnley, 10th last season, fighting relegation. Villa...survival on the last day of last season, now looking for a top half finish. West Ham, fought relegation all last season, could now finish in the CL. Leeds newly promoted, sitting 10th at present.....and as for BHA.....well, I'm rather encouraged that we aren't yo-yoing up and down the league. We are solidly bottom half and gradually establishing ourselves at this level. Softly, softly is the way forward. A big leap upwards ( top ten ) will inevitably be almost impossible to sustain. The elite group will always finish above us ( and that includes Everton ) Throw in Leicester ( recent title winners and starting to establish themselves as top six material ) and that only leaves about two places. Anyone one of 7-8-9 clubs will be eyeing those places. Some of those clubs with more resource than us. We will lose some of our best players, as we establish ourselves at this level. They will need replacing and that's where the fine margins come in. Throw in injuries at the wrong time and the dynamic can change very quickly. Thats why we have to slowly and surely build squad strength and keep looking for marginal gains, rather than significant leaps forward. By all means set targets but make sure that they are realistic.

 

[Butch Willykins]

Some ever present names there, as you would expect. Surely Saints for the drop next season.

 

[Sheebo]

But effectively not moving forward where it matters in terms of the league. The first season I found the most enjoyable, but I guess that’s because it was the first season.

I do feel we remain a decent forward away from top 12 though....

I think we’re set up to get the bit where it matters right / much better though. So it is without doubt a huge progression for me. And yes, the prem bottom third is a bit stale as always!

Think the comms last night said something about how we should / can be very happy with everything bar the points total. I agree. We’ve made clear progression on the pitch, just not the table... yet. But we’ve not gone downhill in the points either which could have potentially easily happened - luckily we have Potter and a great squad.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Some ever present names there, as you would expect. Surely Saints for the drop next season.

Why?
Why not Palace or Newcastle or Burnley or Brighton or Leeds or Villa or Wolves? Its a moveable feast. Ever changing. Fine margins.

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

Crazy stat. Agree with what has been said about TB not accepting flirting with relegation next year. To become established in the top 10 we need to be looking to finish there


This mythical top ten only belongs to a few elite clubs and we all know who they are. The rest is a flexible, moveable feast, ever changing, ever surprising. More determined by the dynamic within individual clubs and the narrow margins between relative success and relative failure. Our target should not be stated as top ten but purely as solid survival every season. Building up squad strength and experience at this level. Ensuring that the dynamic and focus within our club doesn't change.
Wolves comfortably in the top ten recently, now will finish bottom half. Sheff Utd...9th last season, relegated this. Burnley, 10th last season, fighting relegation. Villa...survival on the last day of last season, now looking for a top half finish. West Ham, fought relegation all last season, could now finish in the CL. Leeds newly promoted, sitting 10th at present.....and as for BHA.....well, I'm rather encouraged that we aren't yo-yoing up and down the league. We are solidly bottom half and gradually establishing ourselves at this level. Softly, softly is the way forward. A big leap upwards ( top ten ) will inevitably be almost impossible to sustain. The elite group will always finish above us ( and that includes Everton ) Throw in Leicester ( recent title winners and starting to establish themselves as top six material ) and that only leaves about two places. Anyone one of 7-8-9 clubs will be eyeing those places. Some of those clubs with more resource than us. We will lose some of our best players, as we establish ourselves at this level. They will need replacing and that's where the fine margins come in. Throw in injuries at the wrong time and the dynamic can change very quickly. Thats why we have to slowly and surely build squad strength and keep looking for marginal gains, rather than significant leaps forward. By all means set targets but make sure that they are realistic.

Why on earth would you set the target as staying up when knowing Tony's aim is to become established top 10?

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[Jim in the West]

Some ever present names there, as you would expect. Surely Saints for the drop next season.

Yes - interesting....Us, Burnley, Newcastle, Southampton - all flirting with relegation in each season (apart from a fluke Burnley season in 17/18). With Norwich and Watford back in the EPL next season (plus one other), I think you already have seven of the bottom 10 for next season! Add Palace, Wolves and possibly Leeds - and that's the bottom half decided

 

[HalfaSeatOn]

I think it’s a minor miracle that Potter has got us where we are when we went into the season with a front three of Maupay, Connolly & Zeqiri. That’s a championship strike force, so to have us reasonably clear of the drop, playing well in almost every game and with a minus 5 GD is a genuine feat and testament to his coaching abilities. Give him the tools and then he will be tested and we can judge.

Spot on. It’s not all about GP as some are saying. TB’s summer investments will also gauge ambition for next season. #together

 

[Nitram]

Great stat. Shows how competitive the league is, although we don’t look like we have progressed on paper the style, frustration that we have not got more points due to lack of end product, and strength of the squad points otherwise.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

One thing that surprises me and yes stating the obvious but with out the figures in front of me I would never have guessed it. Based on Chris's defensively minded set up. I would never have guessed this would be the lowest season for goals against.

I believe GP is more attack minded. (Yes I know others will disagree) So pleasantly surprised by this. And we have actually scored more in the last two seasons. Not by much mind......

I take that small positive.

I would put it down to us having the ball more, not doing much with quite often but the opposition cannot score when we have it


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[SeagullinExile]

Agree with that.
We didn't quite get the right £20m striker in Maupay. He works hard but is just short of the level required. The other two have youth on their side but not the quality needed. Welbeck has experience and class but is not a prolific goalscorer ( 6-7 a season ) We need more.

Got to disagree. Maupay is about the best we'll attract atm I'm afraid. He's still young and learning at this level. He could quite easily bang in 20 goals next season. Look at Bamford for example, most on here were writing him off due to previous failure in the PL.

Have some patience.

 

[*Gullsworth*]

Great stats and we have progressed playing style most would say but not only will our position still be fluid for a while, hopefully more stable mid table position, but our playing staff will be fluid & also possibly will alert Potters availability to bigger clubs. The better position we hope for will come at a cost as top clubs here & abroad lick their lips at the possibility of signing Biss, White, Webster, Lamptey even Potter himself.

 

[Coach_Carter_92]

Another great stat is since the turn of the year we have kept the most clean sheets at home in the league

 

[A1X]

So essentially Graham Potter, with a better squad, is doing no better than Chris Hughton did (and in some respects can be said to be doing worse)?

 

[Silverhatch]

So essentially Graham Potter, with a better squad, is doing no better than Chris Hughton did (and in some respects can be said to be doing worse)?

Chris did a great job in our first season and then did a better job than Wilder did with Sheff U in the second (just). Then Potter arrives with a remit to make us more like a top half of the table side. Palace did the same with DeBoer and bottled it after 4 games and reverted to Hodgson. Stoke spent millions on players but didn’t get the coaching right. Burnley are constipated with fear at the thought of ‘risking doing a Potter’ - Pep & Klopp both (rightly) state how brave Potter & Brighton are trying to play like them with 10% of the squad value. Potter did get us the most points in a PL season and has 7 games to get 9 points to improve again (unlikely). Chris Hughton is a fantastic football manager and person. So, it appears, is Potter. But they were charged with achieving different things at our club

 

[Ecosse Exile]

Lots will depend on recruitment this summer, if we lose Bissouma and dont find an adequate replacement (Caicedo doesn't look ready to me) thats a big loss, equally, yet again failing to recruit a more regular goal scorer or at least getting better returns from the ones we have and we could be in serious trouble, if we do get it right though we could be flying.

Palace, hugely uncertain summer, will Roy still be there? Will half the team have their contracts renewed? Will Zaha finally get his wish to move on? Lots that could go wrong for them imho.

Southampton, somethings not right at that club, i think i heard the owners want out, if thats the case, are they willing to provide the funds to replace Danny Ings if he leaves, will bigger clubs be after Ward-Prowse? Could be another backward step for them next season.

Aston Villa, will they lose Grealish? Almost impossible to replace if they do, not just because he's a great player for them, but because he is a Villa lad and has been there so long, at times he carries that team, huge boots to fill and i dont see them anywhere near top half without him.

Leeds, is Bielsa going to be there? Will 2nd season syndrome hit hard, theyv'e done really well this season but i think they need massive investment this summer to maintain that, especially if bigger clubs (yes, there are some ) come calling for the likes of Raphinha.

Newcastle, just an ongoing saga isn't it, they will probably survive this season, but without new owners, manager, better players to support Saint Maximin and Wilson it doesnt look too rosy.

There are others like Wolves and Burnley who should be fine but again, get the recruitment wrong and they could be in trouble and all this before you mention the 3 promoted teamss who will all be tipped to be better than the teams they are replacing, it happens every year, but it's rarely the case, it's just 3 different names in the relegation mix.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Doesn't this all point us to becoming an established PL team, still learning a nd improving on the way

 

[vagabond]

So essentially Graham Potter, with a better squad, is doing no better than Chris Hughton did (and in some respects can be said to be doing worse)?

That’s only if you’re looking at the points and disregarding all the progress we’re making on and off the pitch. Think about it.

- GP has proved we can stay up in this division playing attractive football (all the critics said we couldn’t, and we should accept our lot. Proved them wrong)
- We’ve had a complete mindset shift, we can now play any team and give them a game home and away
- We’ve replaced the oldest team in the division with one of the youngest squads. All bodes well for future investment on and off the pitch
- All our players are valuable assets coveted by other clubs.

Definitely is room for improvement though... Seasons not over yet, but I still think we can beat our points total from last season and GP will set another club record.

But we all want the same thing. We want a season where we’re not sweating on relegation. I don’t think we’re far off that, I really don’t. If we changed only half of our many draws to wins we’d be comfortably mid table.. not far off top 10. One striker away.

 

[Napper]

I think the level we are it is ahead of when we came up. I dont think the league is harder but i think its now harder to stay up. We are a 10th to 17th side. Its ridiculously hard for promoted teams ( hats off to Leeds ) . Next season could see the bottom 3 being better than previous years so you always need to progress to stay above the line. Stand still or go backwards and you drown ( Sheff Utd ).

Bottom line is we need to improve further from where we are at. We have a good foundation to do it.

Agree with many that the year cardiff went we got lucky and things like that change everything

 

[chaileyjem]

Form in last 7 games

17/18 - DLDDWLL - 40pts (+6) - 15th
18/19 - LLDLDDL - 36pts (+3) - 17th
19/20 - LWLLDDW - 41pts (+8) - 15th
20/21 - Chelsea, Sheff Utd, Leeds, Wolves, West Ham, Man City, Arsenal

 

[hans kraay fan club]

form in last 7 games

17/18 - dlddwll - 40pts (+7) - 15th
18/19 - lldlddl - 36pts (+3) - 17th
19/20 - lwllddw - 41pts (+8) - 15th
20/21 - chelsea, sheff utd, leeds, wolves, west ham, man city, arsenal

17/18 dlddwll = +6