[Albion] Andone and Locadia

[Thompson720]

Don't worry. I won't quote you.

Arghhh! See what you did there haha!

"We want our celery, we want our celery" - Withdean J Block

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Someone(not Hughton) should have received their P45 because of these two.

Two of the worse signings of the AMEX era.

I hope neither kick a ball for the club again.

Nowhere near as bad as Elvis.

Or Kemy... *shudder*

 

[Teamsmiff82]

The only thing Bloom did wrong was not dumping Hughton earlier. Since then he’s behaved like the born winner he is.

In fact, talking of Hughton I hope he watched the game today and it finally dawned on him why we sacked him. He can forget his “shock and disappointment” at that meeting in May, this shows just how far he ran our team into the ground and how it was allowed to go on far too long. Thank god we’ve got a Premier League manager now.

Not sure that’s really a fair comment.

 

[Teamsmiff82]

It’s a lot more positive and I am enjoying this - but I am not sure he ran the club into the ground or even intended too. I didn’t realise how bad and dire it was to watch until this season, but he did so much for the club. He just didn’t have the right plan. Happens.

 

[Teamsmiff82]

Yeah I don’t disagree with any of that

 

[Da Man Clay]

They are good, but....

And I expect to see a chastened Andone back here and playing in the new year. Of course, he could always go down he Kazim Richards route if he wants, but maybe he has a bit more sense. And GPot is still open to the idea or a return.

Anyway, we had a good win against Spuds today and have another game soon. This is what it's like in the PL. At some point, hopefully, we may get used to it . . . .

Nah Andone is very much gone. He’d come back here much further down the pecking order than when he left. His ship has sailed. Trossard, Maupay, Connolly, Murray all ahead of him in the front line. Even Alzate would get a game in a front two before Andone.

 

[big nuts]

The only thing Bloom did wrong was not dumping Hughton earlier. Since then he’s behaved like the born winner he is.

In fact, talking of Hughton I hope he watched the game today and it finally dawned on him why we sacked him. He can forget his “shock and disappointment” at that meeting in May, this shows just how far he ran our team into the ground and how it was allowed to go on far too long. Thank god we’ve got a Premier League manager now.

I was with you all the way until this post. Bloom got the timing exactly right. Hughton is the best manager in 30 years+ of me watching the Albion. However post Fulham away something happened and the football become diabolically shit.

Hughton deserved time and Bloom gave him enough but not too much. The uproar of a sacking on or close to an FA cup semi final would have been too controversial. The end of the season was perfect giving Potter ample time to get his back room and playing staff somewhere near where it needed to be.

The analogy I’d use is that Hughton was our Nasser Hussain and Potter is our Michael Vaughan. It had to be in that order to be successful.

 

[Weststander]

I was with you all the way until this post. Bloom got the timing exactly right. Hughton is the best manager in 30 years+ of me watching the Albion. However post Fulham away something happened and the football become diabolically shit.

Hughton deserved time and Bloom gave him enough but not too much. The uproar of a sacking on or close to an FA cup semi final would have been too controversial. The end of the season was perfect giving Potter ample time to get his back room and playing staff somewhere near where it needed to be.

The analogy I’d use is that Hughton was our Nasser Hussain and Potter is our Michael Vaughan. It had to be in that order to be successful.

What a great post, and perfect analogy.

It emphasises the strategic brilliance of Tony Bloom.

 

[London Irish]

CH got us a base in the PL but no one will convince me that the style of play today was anywhere near his agenda.

It’s how we played to get promoted. He just didn’t think he had the players to do it in our first 2 seasons up. If he’d got a succession of 20 million signings he may have? A counterfactual hard to prove or disprove now

 

[Weststander]

I largely agree with you. I have written in a way that sounds harsher on CH than I really am. Make no mistake about it, for the first 4 years of his 4.5 in charge he was my favourite ever Albion manager.

The reason I think Bloom should have acted sooner is that we were so obviously broken in the Bournemouth home game that there was no way we were ever going to avoid defeat against Cardiff three days later. Without a change it was a guaranteed defeat, which is what we got. And that result put our PL place in severe doubt. Had Cardiff beaten either Fulham or Palace we’d have gone down. In hindsight, that was too close for comfort.

But Cardiff will also be thinking if only we’d beaten ...... . TB obviously didn’t plan that ending to be so close, he would’ve been as tense and annoyed as us. But it would’ve incredibly high risk to bring in Allardyce or similar for a handful of games without a transfer window. Those firefighters invariably like to go on a spending spree.

 

[Weststander]

True. Thankfully Cardiff weren’t good enough.

In the end, everybody has won.

BHAFC are consolidated in the Premier League thanks to Hughton and now have a progressive manager who will take us to the next level.

Chris Hughton leaves with a CV that shows only success that will get him another job as soon as he wants one. And most importantly, as a legend. He never got to a point where he was getting flak from fans which I believe he would have had he stayed and we started this season badly. After four years of success I would have hated to see that.

Tony Bloom retains his reputation as a born winner.

Once CH gets over any sense of grievance, he’ll always be applauded back as a special guest.

 

[oldboyroy]

Sir Chris will always be in folklore and I will never forget what he did for our club however I do remember 3 games in particular in his last few. Spurs away we were never out of our own half until spurs scored in 88th minute. Wolves away when we didn't bother to attack and that 1St 45 against Newcastle at home when we looked like we didn't care. Now we play exciting attacking football with young players being given the chance and proving they can play and deserve to play

 

[Fungus]

Progress.

Makes a change from, say, selling our best best player to pay a bill.

When did we actually last do that? Genuine question. Thank goodness for Bloom.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Come on, wind in the anti Hughton rhetoric a bit. He didn't "run this club into the ground", he is simply guilty of making the team curl up into a ball when the going got tough and having no plan for reversing the decline in fortunes.

He needed to go because he had taken us as far as he could. No shame in that.

Well said. We avoided relegation two seasons in a row, after actually getting us promoted.
We beat Palace home and away, and got to Wembley in the FA cup.

That is not running the club into the ground.

Why can't people enjoy the Potter revolution without being disrespectful of what Chris Hughton did for us. Hughton had his limitations, Bloom recognised that, and now we're on the up again.

 

[AZ Gull]

... however I do remember 3 games in particular in his last few. Spurs away we were never out of our own half until spurs scored in 88th minute. Wolves away when we didn't bother to attack and that 1St 45 against Newcastle at home when we looked like we didn't care. ...

Guess which were the only 3 matches I was able to see live last season

 

[Dutch]

Graham is the manager I’ve been waiting for all my life. And I’ve said that after every game this season as it’s been so obvious how good he is right from the start. Some of the criticism from thickos on here has been ridiculous and shows how many people just follow results and not performances.

The way he’s turned a team that had all the pace, mobility and fluidity of a fat bloke running for a bus into a slick passing machine with goal threat from across the pitch in just eight games is absolutely amazing. We are witnessing a genius of a manager at work here. Enjoy it before he gets a big job.

And yes, as you say, it’s one thing having a plan and a system to allow beautiful, winning football, but it’s another to have the balls to make some of the decisions he has within weeks of getting his first PL job. Last year’s POTS - dumped. Last year’s top scorer - out. Club record signing - nowhere to be seen. Two of our three strikers from last year - banished to loan spells. If this had gone wrong he’d have looked a mug. But it shows how confident he is in his ability that he has embraced kicking out the players he knows simply aren’t good enough or won’t fit his style. He knows exactly what he wants and he doesn’t care if it’s kids, Championship players or unproven foreigners he needs to call upon to deliver it. In fact, all the better if it is as he knows they have the hunger to do it for him. The man has a vision and the guts to make it happen.

I couldn't agree more. When Potter was signed the possibilities were so exciting and it's now starting to bear fruit. We are playing some great football. Our balance between attack and defence is sound. We pose a real attacking threat whilst mostly remaining solid at the back. In possession we look comfortable. Like the OP said, this is after just 8 games. At Swansea the second half of their season far eclipsed the first half. We could be in for a treat.

The introduction of Alzate and Connolly into the first team takes big managerial cahonas. Oh boy has it paid off. We have March, Bernardo, Trossard and Propper to come back. Competition for places is looking strong. The noises the players are making are overwhelmingly positive. They must feel revitalised. My BHAFC mojo is in orbit.

UTA.