[Albion] A few observations post Cardiff...

[Triggaaar]

Such a convincing 'wrong'.

A Gross back from a long time out. And a team that has now had to resort back to 4-4-1-1 after months of playing and being battered at 4-3-3. You got me. Convincing...

I don't need to convince you. You said we haven't changed to how it was prior, but we just did exactly that. And lost.

 

[Baldseagull]

I actually stopped counting at about 6, but I make that something in the region of 8 (Eight) penalties which we haven't been given in 2019.

That's not 8 "shouts" at a penalty. It's, on review, 8 stonewall penalties. In the view of commentators and pundits, not just me. Even before last night I was wondering whether PB has been able to say or do anything in terms of expressing dismay to the officials and the FA, because that's likely 8 goals we should have had and that can make an enourmous difference. On some of those occassions we've been playing well, should have been awarded a penalty and then lost our heads (and confidence) after it being denied.

I know we cannot blame referees for our current form, but either there is some kind of FA conspiracy against us, which abviously isn't likely, or Warnock was right. Premier League referees are some of the worst and most incompetent in the world. I just hope it doesn't end up contributing to costing us our place in this league and that we will still be here when VAR kicks in and we won't have to rely so heavily on what appear to be, at least in our games, referees who are not able to spot a clear penalty.

Our players do not berate the ref and get in his ear half as much as other teams seem to, I think that is part of it.

 

[father_and_son]

This 'no perspective' is thrown about so frequently without anyone actually offering what 'the perspective' should be.

The 'perspective' is:
25 points in our first half of season
8 points in 2019
Formation switch has cost us dearly, but no change to how it was prior
Defensive rigidity has been sacrificed for a few more %points in possession with no game plan as to what to do with said possession
In ability to bounce back
Players look shot on confidence
Underperforming players not being replaced with fringe players to ensure there is competition (I.E. Stephens and Kayal)

Not sure what else we're meant to be looking at, we know our players under the right formation can produce something - but they've been tweaked and now we're not getting results.

Also add to this some very obvious spats between players as they lose the team spirit we shouted about having. And other simple things like, Kayal clearly very frustrated at not being used, no attempt by Chris to engage with AK after his sending off (yes, Knocky stormed off down the tunnel, but Chris let him without even acknowledging him). There are lots of niggly little signs that things are not just about bad luck or lack of confidence. All the little things add up to discontent which breeds failure which breeds more discontent and there is no obvious moves by either the manager or Captain to break the cycle.

Are the players turning on the manager... no idea.
Do all the players still care about the club... no idea.

The evidence does seem to suggest that both are true though, then it's a very small leap to get to OP's bold comments.


The team seemed to switch off at 22minutes last night (goal time) and also at 22 mins of sat (10mins before the goal), then it was heads down and, had the Taffs any quality, we could easily have had another whitewash like Saturday.

Are people jumping to conclusions... yes. Is it a justified jump... IMO, yes!

 

[*Gullsworth*]

It is not so much they don't care, bar Propper who looks like he left the club a few weeks ago more that they are not a very good team at this level really I would say. How long and how many seasons do we really want to be trying to claw to 17th in the league and looking desperately at other teams results and hoping other teams will do us a favour, like we are now. No fan wants that, surely ?
That is why I think although a financial disaster for the club to be relegated without a whimper after 7 years of meticulous planning to get there in the first place and hundreds of millions of pounds, a lot of fans won't mind going down as the Championship is a good league and we might have a chance of scoring a few goals and winning a few games. The whole feeling around the club atm is not so much if we will go down but when

Nail on head US. Half time in the concourse in the Lower East fans had accepted the inevitable defeat and slide into relegation candidate favourite. Sad I know but not many were unhappy at this prospect or angry or even bothered to a point but just looking towards the positives, more games, cheaper admission, more wins ect ect ect. We have as a club......thats manager, players and fans alike just sleptwalked into championship football.

 

[Wozza]

It's not that players don't care.

The gameplan is: don't let in goals and nick one if we can. That means very, very few chances.

Players blatantly get demoralised when we concede as they know we don't create chances - AND that Hughton won't change things.

The game is lost after 20 or 30 minutes or whatever.

CH needs to have a plan B (and maybe C) and make sure it's communicated to players.

We've missed our best chances for points now, of course. Unfortunately plan A away at Wolves has to be defend...

 

[southstandandy]

Today I woke up feeling fine.

Somehow after the anger of the weekends performance, last nights result was largely expected and I feel comfortable in the fact that it appears we will in all likelihood be relegated. Don't think for one second that I want this to happen but after the recent weeks of stressing about our results and poor performances this morning I seemed at peace with our current situation.

If we were to pull a result out of the fire and somehow survive then that would obviously be a bonus, but having supported the club for 42 years only 6 of them have ever been in the top flight, so if we drop down again it will be more like what I've been used to for most of my supporting life. I accept that the consequences will be dire for TB and our financial position will take a huge hit, but at least hopefully we could clear out a lot of the dead wood including Ali J, Locadia, Stephens, and even Izy to name but a few.

In life the most crucial thing anyone or anything can do is to learn from their mistakes. Obviously our recruitment has been dire and hopefully this will be extensively reviewed in the summer to prevent us spunking money on too many players who clearly just can't cut it at this level in the future.

It's strange but I'm not angry anymore - what will be will be. I will always support the club whatever division we are in. I just can't be bothered to be stressed about the situation we find ourselves anymore, BUT we must learn from our mistakes and that includes an emphasis on looking for quality over quantity.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Yesterday with Gross back in was not 4 4 1 1 it was still 4 3 3. With Murray drifting out wide because he is going to do alot of damage out there.

 

[Yoda]

This 'no perspective' is thrown about so frequently without anyone actually offering what 'the perspective' should be.

The 'perspective' is:
25 points in our first half of season
8 points in 2019
Formation switch has cost us dearly, but no change to how it was prior
Defensive rigidity has been sacrificed for a few more %points in possession with no game plan as to what to do with said possession
In ability to bounce back
Players look shot on confidence
Underperforming players not being replaced with fringe players to ensure there is competition (I.E. Stephens and Kayal)

Not sure what else we're meant to be looking at, we know our players under the right formation can produce something - but they've been tweaked and now we're not getting results.

Having to highlight this part, because as far as I have noticed, we have played more of a 4-3-3 this season (not just 2019) than lasts 4-4-1-1.

How come from that perspective, has the second half of been such a struggle, when the same formation was working so well to begin with?

Completely agree with the other points though. We did use to have an ability to bounce back from a couple of bad performances/results to grind something out the next and the confidence is clear from the misplaced passes. Not so much from the person trying to make the pass, but the person who would've been receiving the pass not making the run they would've when we had confidence.

 

[*Gullsworth*]

Today I woke up feeling fine.

Somehow after the anger of the weekends performance, last nights result was largely expected and I feel comfortable in the fact that it appears we will in all likelihood be relegated. Don't think for one second that I want this to happen but after the recent weeks of stressing about our results and poor performances this morning I seemed at peace with our current situation.

If we were to pull a result out of the fire and somehow survive then that would obviously be a bonus, but having supported the club for 42 years only 6 of them have ever been in the top flight, so if we drop down again it will be more like what I've been used to for most of my supporting life. I accept that the consequences will be dire for TB and our financial position will take a huge hit, but at least hopefully we could clear out a lot of the dead wood including Ali J, Locadia, Stephens, and even Izy to name but a few.

In life the most crucial thing anyone or anything can do is to learn from their mistakes. Obviously our recruitment has been dire and hopefully this will be extensively reviewed in the summer to prevent us spunking money on too many players who clearly just can't cut it at this level in the future.

It's strange but I'm not angry anymore - what will be will be. I will always support the club whatever division we are in. I just can't be bothered to be stressed about the situation we find ourselves anymore, BUT we must learn from our mistakes and that includes an emphasis on looking for quality over quantity.

That is exactly how I feel and that feeling came across at last night's game which had an atmosphere of resignation not anger or depression . Sort of " oh well ,what will be will be"

 

[Weststander]

Today I woke up feeling fine.

Somehow after the anger of the weekends performance, last nights result was largely expected and I feel comfortable in the fact that it appears we will in all likelihood be relegated. Don't think for one second that I want this to happen but after the recent weeks of stressing about our results and poor performances this morning I seemed at peace with our current situation.

If we were to pull a result out of the fire and somehow survive then that would obviously be a bonus, but having supported the club for 42 years only 6 of them have ever been in the top flight, so if we drop down again it will be more like what I've been used to for most of my supporting life. I accept that the consequences will be dire for TB and our financial position will take a huge hit, but at least hopefully we could clear out a lot of the dead wood including Ali J, Locadia, Stephens, and even Izy to name but a few.

In life the most crucial thing anyone or anything can do is to learn from their mistakes. Obviously our recruitment has been dire and hopefully this will be extensively reviewed in the summer to prevent us spunking money on too many players who clearly just can't cut it at this level in the future.

It's strange but I'm not angry anymore - what will be will be. I will always support the club whatever division we are in. I just can't be bothered to be stressed about the situation we find ourselves anymore, BUT we must learn from our mistakes and that includes an emphasis on looking for quality over quantity.

Same here, only angry during matches at times, when incompetence shows on the pitch. Resigned to a possible/probable relegation, NSC allows us to vent our spleen. Relaxed about our fate.

Every cloud .... TB will look at £115m spent on not a lot really, in terms of pace, PL quality, ball retention. Heads will roll, some bang average to pretty poor players will be moved on, a new approach at recruiting, a new style of play. I look forward to much needed changes on several levels.

 

[Ernest]

Yesterday with Gross back in was not 4 4 1 1 it was still 4 3 3. With Murray drifting out wide because he is going to do alot of damage out there.

I felt like running onto the pitch and dragging him into the box, what was he doing out wide all the time ? Stupidity