[Albion] Albion Mojo Meter

[timbha]

8 of the players who started were in the Championship side

....and that is beginning to show. Yday was like a mid table championship match in terms of quality, with Cardiff out fighting us. I’m not sure that we have many players that can improve sufficiently to change us into a solid PL team. It appears our recent signings were made in hope rather than expectation.
D,D and Ryan do well at what they are good at but they aren’t the ones who can turn it around for us.

3/10 on the mojo score.

 

[Hampster Gull]

8/10

Picking up points, some impressive results, currently above the pack despite Gross and Propper out. Football not impressive but all teams go up and down, we’ll recover.

 

[zefarelly]

Spot on, I won't be too disappointed if we go down, the following season would undoubtedly be more entertaining, although watching every game via a stream won't be as easy.

Welcome to the Premier League. First season is exciting seeing big names, clubs and MOTD highlights. But the reality slowly creeps in that you can’t compete with a third of the clubs and survival is such a be all and end all it promotes nervy, negative football.

In many ways I think it would be preferable to have 4/5 years in the top league to balance the books coupled with 1 or 2 successful seasons in the Championship.

As a fan I get much better value in the Championship. Yes the standard isn’t as good but you see competitive matches week in week out where all 3 results are possible. In contrast you don’t go away from home as a 20/1 outsider having to put ten men behind the ball for 90 minutes with 20% possession and take a 2-0 defeat as a positive ivo goal difference.

 

[dazzer6666]

Need to be in this for the long haul if we’re going to get properly established as a PL team, with incremental improvements to the squad season by season gradually allowing us to move onwards and upwards. In season 2 we’re still very much in ‘just stay up’ mode, so the football reflects that - very cautious and pragmatic. We’re hampered by injuries (and now a suspension), making the football even less expressive with our key creator out.

It’s disappointing though that CH hasn’t felt able to get the new signings more integrated and more game time as we don’t really know what any of them are properly capable of, as he sticks with the ‘tried and tested’ formula for points harvesting.

We’ve got more points than we really deserve at the moment IMO, but we’ll get better. Solid 7 on the mojo scale for me at the moment but it’s going to drop if we continue to play like we have in the last few games without any sings of improvement.

 

[Stat Brother]

Welcome to the Premier League. First season is exciting seeing big names, clubs and MOTD highlights. But the reality slowly creeps in that you can’t compete with a third of the clubs and survival is such a be all and end all it promotes nervy, negative football.

In many ways I think it would be preferable to have 4/5 years in the top league to balance the books coupled with 1 or 2 successful seasons in the Championship.

As a fan I get much better value in the Championship. Yes the standard isn’t as good but you see competitive matches week in week out where all 3 results are possible. In contrast you don’t go away from home as a 20/1 outsider having to put ten men behind the ball for 90 minutes with 20% possession and take a 2-0 defeat as a positive ivo goal difference.

I don't agree with any of this, apart from the last line.

We can compete with all but 1 club in the division, it just seems that the manager chooses not too.
He rolled the Albion over so his team could tickle our tummys, when we played Spurs.

Since then the wingers have been pulled further and further back, Murray has been distanced, the pace has been sucked out of the team.
We're a shadow of the side that played against Utd.

The Championship is a cluckerf**k of a division and I never want the Albion return assuming they actually 'play' in the Premier League.

 

[big nuts]

I don't agree with any of this, apart from the last line.

We can compete with all but 1 club in the division, it just seems that the manager chooses not too.
He rolled the Albion over so his team could tickle our tummys, when we played Spurs.

Since then the wingers have been pulled further and further back, Murray has been distanced, the pace has been sucked out of the team.
We're a shadow of the side that played against Utd.

The Championship is a cluckerf**k of a division and I never want the Albion return assuming they actually 'play' in the Premier League.

The Championship is amazing. Just look at the league table. Try calling a winner of that league and surely that’s what sport should be about? Watching genuine competition between evenly matched teams.

A shocking stat taken before the last round of games in the top division.

Current bottom five clubs v current top 5 - P19 W0 D0 L19 F12 A60

 

[El Presidente]

9/10

We have a superb chairman, a manager whose dignity and level headedness is a credit to his profession and a squad of hard working players who are operating at the extent of their experience and ability.

 

[Iggle Piggle]

Really disappointed that the new players haven’t improved what we had already, didn’t see that coming.

This. Balogun looked good, as does Montana - albeit isnt better than Bruno IMHO - and I liked Andones performance yesterday but the rest haven't inspired me at all yet. Bernardo has dissappeared, I'm not sure what Alireza is yet, (he neither looks like a winger or 10) and Bissouma, well, is it unkind to compare him to Rohan Ince? I appreciate they need time to bed in but I'd expect a bit more from some of them by now.

For all the plaudits we quite rightly give the recruitment team, it's a bit dissapointing that 8 of 11 yesterday are still the team from the promotion season accepting injuries play their part in that.

 

[Stat Brother]

The Championship is amazing. Just look at the league table. Try calling a winner of that league and surely that’s what sport should be about? Watching genuine competition between evenly matched teams.

A shocking stat taken before the last round of games in the top division.

Current bottom five clubs v current top 5 - P19 W0 D0 L19 F12 A60

But the Albion aren't (yet!! ) a bottom 5 club.

Our team, beat Arsenal, easily beat Utd, held it's own v Liverpool, give me that over Rotherham, Bolton, Ipswich, Preston, Wigan etc every day of the week.

My problem is growing from the fact the manager and players seem to be treating those bottom 5 clubs the same as he does City.

 

[goldstone]

Welcome to the Premier League. First season is exciting seeing big names, clubs and MOTD highlights. But the reality slowly creeps in that you can’t compete with a third of the clubs and survival is such a be all and end all it promotes nervy, negative football.

In many ways I think it would be preferable to have 4/5 years in the top league to balance the books coupled with 1 or 2 successful seasons in the Championship.

As a fan I get much better value in the Championship. Yes the standard isn’t as good but you see competitive matches week in week out where all 3 results are possible. In contrast you don’t go away from home as a 20/1 outsider having to put ten men behind the ball for 90 minutes with 20% possession and take a 2-0 defeat as a positive ivo goal difference.

Agree with you last paragraph in particular and with most of the other comments on this thread. I think I enjoyed our last three seasons in the Championship more than I'm enjoying the Premier League. The football was way more entertaining, we were winning regularly, we had aspirations of winning something every season. I had been kind of expecting this issue in the Prem where the best we can hope for is mid table, where we fight relegation every season. How much fun will that be on an ongoing basis? Sure it's nice to be playing the "big" teams, but it's also nice to be playing attractive and entertaining football and winning more than we lose.

 

[Acker79]

All over the place.

The Team
The season started badly and it was low, but we seemed to find our feet against man united and liverpool and it went shooting up. It then dropped back down as we seemingly forgot how to play as a team, particularly in the front two thirds of the pitch. It feels to me that, playing wise, we have gone backwards. I remember being more entertained by the football last season than anything (bar united) this season, and most of the promotion season.

I was excited by the numbers in the summer. Locadia was a mid-season buy and never got a real chance last season. I had hopes that a full pre-season, but supplemented with AJ and Bissouma and Andone and Montoya and Balogun and Bernardo. I was excited that we would see a jump in quality, that we would be able to attack a bit more with added quality in every position. But that change hasn't seemed to happen. We rushed Dunk back from injury despite Balogun dong well in his place. We used Murray a week after a concussion (albeit with a clearance garnered from a medical FA policy that was reduced from 10 days to 6 due to pressure from clubs and players who wanted to rush back to action) rather than give Locadia a home start against a promoted side.
Appearance are few and far between for most of the new signings. I get that there are bedding in periods, Andone was injured. But that excitement for an improved squad and the idea that it would lead to improved performances, more comfort in games just hasn't come to pass.

I wouldn't mind the lack of starts for new signings if their presence has forced the existing players to up their game, but our performances post-liverpool away have left a lot to be desired. Simple things like passing to a teammate, looking up and making the right choice in the final third. We got some good results against West Ham, Newcastle, and Wolves, but they weren't comfortable wins and if we drew or lost them I don't think we'd be able to have any complaints about the result.

That performances have been poor for so long is a concern.


Board room
High. I admit, a part of me looks at the spending of Fulham and Wolves and thinks 'how great would that be?', but my head sees that as a game that is too dangerous to play. It worked early for Wolves, but they seem to be in a bit of a dip and we don't yet know how that will end up, there's also the questionable level of influence an agent has over their club and the long term effects that could have on Wolves. It hasn't worked out for Fulham as yet (too many teams were cut a drift and written off last year only to recover and surge up the table to write them off in early mid November). High price doesn't guarantee either quality, or that a player will work out in our team, our system, our league.

I think it's relatively easy for a new club in the premier league first season up to play the cautious owner when it comes to spending, but I suspect there is more pressure to spend in the second season - yet the dangers of the first are still there, so I'm glad the club have not spent the £100+m just because we survived out first season in the premier league. So I'm grateful we have an owner that understands the importance of sensible planning.

 

[Napier's Knee]

Mojo very high after Man Utd and Liverpool - especially Liverpool because it looked like we had become a hard-pressing intelligent side. We're badly missing Gross and Propper but that does not excuse The ineptitude of some of our passing and vision, our default to defence and CHs total inability to work to out how to perform away.

I'm also totally fed up by how often bad referees ruin games (not just us but anything involving Atkinson Hooper, Moss etc).

Feeling like my love is dying a bit right now even though these are the Albion glory days

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

For the first time since we have been in the division, I didn't bother watching MOTD last night. And I didn't bother watching the replay this morning. And I haven't looked in my diary to find out when we are playing next, or thought about who to invite to join me for the next home game. If I were the employer I think that I would wait until January to look for green shoots of improvement (I mean an ability to do a bit more than dig in), then give some serious thought to who I might like to appoint as the new manager at the end of the season. All things must change.

I watched the Palace game on the box yesterday and even though their record at home is embarrassing, they do play with a positivity that has promise, and I would put a considerable amount of money on them climbing the table. I just hope we can do the same. But my hope greatly outweighs my expectation, sadly.

 

[El Presidente]

A it's also nice to be playing attractive and entertaining football and winning more than we lose.

Agreed, but that has never happened in our time in the top flight

79/80 Won 11 Lost 16
80/81 Won 14 Lost 21
81/82 Won 13 Lost 16
82/83 Won 9 Lost 20
17/18 Won 9 Lost 16

Total Won 56 Lost 89

 

[BLOCK F]

Agree with you last paragraph in particular and with most of the other comments on this thread. I think I enjoyed our last three seasons in the Championship more than I'm enjoying the Premier League. The football was way more entertaining, we were winning regularly, we had aspirations of winning something every season. I had been kind of expecting this issue in the Prem where the best we can hope for is mid table, where we fight relegation every season. How much fun will that be on an ongoing basis? Sure it's nice to be playing the "big" teams, but it's also nice to be playing attractive and entertaining football and winning more than we lose.

This is much as it was when we went up to the old 1st Division back in 1979. The journey was a lot more enjoyable than the destination.
However, I would like to think that we can establish ourselves on a par, with say, Bournemouth( despite yesterday's hiccup at Newcastle!)
Whilst most fans, I am sure, admire and have faith in C.H. at the moment, I do have reservations about the 'safety first' style of play and I reckon the admiration and faith will begin to fade if things do not change/evolve over the course of the season.

 

[spanish flair]

CH often says we have to learn from our mistakes, well Chris from the increasing number of fans posting on here how fed up they are with our tactics they are turning into Norwich fans and you know what happened to you there
We know you can use tactics with more attractive football, so let's be seeing it

 

[Spencer Vignes]

Having been up and down and up the leagues with Albion over the past 40 years, I can honestly say that some of my happiest supporting days were in League One/the old Third Division. Somehow the pressure seemed off, expectations were low(ish), you could turn up at a match on the day and pay on the gate (and stand/sit with your friends), etc. Not saying I'd want to go back there, but I/the people around me always seemed to be 'sunnier' and more grounded.

The Championship/Division Two? The greatest thrill was always the unknown in terms of how Albion (and everyone else, come to think of it) would perform. For example, 1990/91. I fully expected us to be fighting relegation that year. So what happened? We made the play-off final! On the back of that, I expected 1991/92 to be something special. And we went and got relegated. Like taking part in a nine month game of musical chairs - that's the second tier.

The Premier League/Division One? I've never really felt like we belong there. It's a bit like climbing a mountain. After 15/20 minutes standing on the summit, looking at the view, feeling exhilarated if slightly uncomfortable, you know it's time to go back to your level, get your breath back, have a refreshing pint, and talk about the best bits of the whole experience.

The one league I absolutely wouldn't want to go back to is League 2/Division Four. No fun, as the Sex Pistols once sang. No fun at all. The worst thing is the fear, especially since relegation was introduced during the nineties. One bad season and it's potentially goodbye. A glance at the current Conference North table, an absolute graveyard when it comes to former Football League clubs, bears that out.

 

[Stat Brother]

CH often says we have to learn from our mistakes, well Chris from the increasing number of fans posting on here how fed up they are with our tactics they are turning into Norwich fans and you know what happened to you there
We know you can use tactics with more attractive football, so let's be seeing it

I've been super critical over the last 24 hours, but that's so far away from that kind of nonsense.

I think it's healthy to have a critical eye, the 'CH is perfect, never lies, never makes a mistake' brigade are probably more dangerous than the one 'get rid' poster.

 

[Icy Gull]

9/10

We have a superb chairman, a manager whose dignity and level headedness is a credit to his profession and a squad of hard working players who are operating at the extent of their experience and ability.

The ideal fan who chooses not to comment on any shortcomings, or maybe doesn’t think that there are any

 

[LamieRobertson]

We lost and to a contentious decision...how do you think the 'mojo' would be....but looking forward to the next game..and bored? Never!..for me going to watch Albion is still an experience I look forward to after 50 years of going....and then of course not long to wait for the Palace game...bound to be fireworks