[Football] Are the shackles off or is this a false dawn

[oldboyroy]

Bring on saints we will lose at city and depending on how many by hope confidence doesn't get drained

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Am I wrong?

There's been some real pace injected with the introduction of Trossard, a real gem. Maupay will more than, er, maupay his way. Dan Burn's been something of a gawky revelation. And AJ and Big Jurg appear to be rightly sidelined. So no, I don't believe it's a false dawn. But neither do I believe in that shackles guff.

 

[Bakero]

Yup, happy to confirm I still think talk of shackles off is complete BS. It's an insult to CH. A number of players under-performed chronically last season

You must see that the new formation is less rigid.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Am I wrong?

Shackled could be the wrong word.

Different tactics based on necessity would be my description of what went on last season.

CH was given the aim of survival and he achieved this twice. I’d play two defensive midfielders and rely on Murray scoring one of the three chances he had per match too if I’d have had that target. The two Palace matches were supreme examples of how good we were when things went right. Sadly, the rest of the division seemed to have worked our tactics out and things mostly went wrong. We regularly created next to no chances per match.

Potter has to finish top 10. A different ball game one might say.

 

[Bakero]

Shackled could be the wrong word.

Different tactics based on necessity would be my description of what went on last season.

CH was given the aim of survival and he achieved this twice. I’d play two defensive midfielders and rely on Murray scoring one of the three chances he had per match too if I’d have had that target. The two Palace matches were supreme examples of how good we were when things went right. Sadly, the rest of the division seemed to have worked our tactics out and things mostly went wrong. We regularly created next to no chances per match.

Potter has to finish top 10. A different ball game one might say.

I'm not sure anyone is insisting Potter leads is to a top ten finish. Survival but with more entertainment would do for most.

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

You just have to look at Davy Pröpper, he now looks every bit the classy Dutch international that we hoped he was. He’s playing with his head up FACING the the opposition rather than head down looking backwards. He’s integral to all that we do and I’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t bag 5 or 6 goals this season.
I’ll also give a huge nod to Dale Stephens too, he looks every bit the box to box midfielder that performed so well with Kayal in the Championship.

 

[el punal]

False Dawn and shackles off sounds like the tail end of a swingers party. I’m almost waiting for someone to ask “When will we come good?”

 

[LamieRobertson]

They under performed because they were shackled. There was only plan A, defend in depth and hope for a breakaway, which if it happened resulted in in depth defending for the rest of the game.

That’s debatable for starters

 

[Knocky's Nose]

I'm not sure anyone is insisting Potter leads is to a top ten finish. Survival but with more entertainment would do for most.

This. I'm not greedy.

It's like watching a different team now, and it's actually enjoyable. Yes, we'll get thumped a few times, yes we'll have a poor run of form - but if we stay up and play this kind of football, my Season Ticket money is bloody well spent.

 

[bluenitsuj]

If we play like this all season, home and away, win a few, draw a few, lose a few....and finish 17th... I will be THRILLED.

If we play like this all season we will finish a lot higher than 17th. Which I believe we will anyway.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Shackled could be the wrong word.

Different tactics based on necessity would be my description of what went on last season.

CH was given the aim of survival and he achieved this twice. I’d play two defensive midfielders and rely on Murray scoring one of the three chances he had per match too if I’d have had that target. The two Palace matches were supreme examples of how good we were when things went right. Sadly, the rest of the division seemed to have worked our tactics out and things mostly went wrong. We regularly created next to no chances per match.

Potter has to finish top 10. A different ball game one might say.

agreed....shackled is the fashionable word now though

 

[theboybilly]

Let’s smash saints first....

I know it's only from highlights but Saints looked good at times yesterday and caused Liverpool a few problems. And they also have that sh*thouse (but really quite good) Ward-Prowse to wind up the home fans. I'm nervously looking forward to this one

 

[Icy Gull]

That’s debatable for starters

Care to name games we took the game to the opposition that ended well? Players didn’t have a clue how to play attacking football and ended up getting beaten is my memory. Defend defend defend was very firmly engrained in the players’ minds.

 

[GT49er]

Am I wrong?

We'll never know, unless we were in the dressing room (and I assume no-one on here was). Did he actually brief them, "Right lads, get out there and huddle round the penalty area and six yard box like frightened sheep encircled by a pack of ravening wolves" or did he say, "Keep you shape, but FFS try defending a little further upfield and move forward faster to support attacks when we have the ball in their half"?
The fact that they did huddle round the six yard box like frightened sheep may not have actually been what they were briefed to do.

Anyway, this thread was obviously set up to gratify those who want a bit more CH bashing, who would like us to believe they were calling 'Hughton out' on here long before Uncle Tony got his long knife out, so just for balance (and not for personal conviction - I personally think Potter is doing a good job, and hope he continues to do so) I'll give you three words:

New. Manager. Bounce.

 

[Surrey Phil]

The main question now, is will we put away enough chances & do we have the players to do it? We were really good yesterday but ultimately, didn’t put away our chances but we did at Watford! Time will tell!

 

[LamieRobertson]

There was much close season talk of Potter taking the shackles off a side who looked scared of their own shadows by the end of last season. It looks like a team that “weren’t good enough to compete without defending in depth” comments from so many CH diehards are being proved very wrong....so far

Anyone still think that the players aren’t good enough and the recruitment team are shit?

Oh and THPP do you STILL think talk of shackles off is still bullshit?

I didn’t join on the bandwagon over criticising the recruitment team (re last summer)...but nor do I think they are infallible...but if you look at the starting team yesterday ..the two players who’ve taken most flak weren’t either in the starting lineup or in the match day squad.

Re the change in performance...no one in their right mind can argue that we aren’t looking a better side ...will this translate into better results than last season...so far it’s a win when we lost last season and a draw when we won.....let’s see how we react after a run of defeats ...and the strength of the squad is truly tested....having said all that I can’t remember the last home game when we created so many chances...probably you’d have to go back to the championship

 

[Titanic]

There's been some real pace injected with the introduction of Trossard, a real gem. Maupay will more than, er, maupay his way. Dan Burn's been something of a gawky revelation. And AJ and Big Jurg appear to be rightly sidelined. So no, I don't believe it's a false dawn. But neither do I believe in that shackles guff.

We played the same style with none of the new pacey players on the pitch v Watford. It is not about individual players, it is about STYLE.

 

[Shoreham Beach Seagull]

Shackled could be the wrong word.

Different tactics based on necessity would be my description of what went on last season.

CH was given the aim of survival and he achieved this twice. I’d play two defensive midfielders and rely on Murray scoring one of the three chances he had per match too if I’d have had that target. The two Palace matches were supreme examples of how good we were when things went right. Sadly, the rest of the division seemed to have worked our tactics out and things mostly went wrong. We regularly created next to no chances per match.

Potter has to finish top 10. A different ball game one might say.

Wait, so you believe Hughton played the way he did because our aim was to avoid relegation, where as Potter’s setting the team up this way because Bloom wants to finish top 10? Hughton did brilliantly up to last season to get us to where we were, but in no way did he have the ability to get the team to play like we have in the first two games this year.

The exciting thing about the way we have started is that it looks fairly obvious the players haven’t fully adapted to Potter’s tactics. Only slight worry for me is if a team sits behind the ball rather than pressing, I feel we may struggle to break these teams down.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

All I will say is we were a joy to watch and I felt we could score from every forward move we made. Hugely entertaining game and the reason I go to watch football. If we play like this regularly we will have a fine season and be safe. What if we improve?

 

[Hugo Rune]

I'm not sure anyone is insisting Potter leads is to a top ten finish. Survival but with more entertainment would do for most.

‘Has’ is too strong a word maybe.

I’d be happy with 16th or 17th with this style of football but I don’t own the club or set the targets. Tony has said we’re aiming for top ten. Potter seems like the sort of character who’d be up for that challenge!