[Albion] Are we in form ?

[jakarta]

Injuries innit? Losing Solly March when he was in the form of life started it all.

 

[Brovion]

I've been asking this a fair bit lately on account of the fact that the general perception is that we are not doing as well as last season. Take this from the Guardian's 10 things piece:

"De Zerbi’s tactics, once so revolutionary, have also been picked apart by the analysts"

With the implication that we've been found out somewhat. We are however, in the last 16 of the Europa League have only lost twice in 14 games (6 in 23 overall incl. the Carabao) and have been carrying injuries that would have been spoken about at length is we were one of the big clubs (that have MASSIVE squads)

Whilst I get your point, surely all PL squads are the same size? I.e. even though Man City, Newcastle etc are a bajillion times richer than us - they can still only select a match-day squad from 25 players. (Although I accept that their 'lesser' players are probably all internationals and not youth team graduates).

 

[London Irish]

I don't think in our best form, the defence still looks a bit creaky at times and while the fluency is starting to come amid all the rotation, it's not at top speed yet. Goals are a problem given the amount we are conceding, notwithstanding last night's heroics, Joao has been a better pen taker than open play goalscorer and Fergie is having a growing pains season. We've lost Fati's goals albeit Adingra has been a bonus. I'd say we have to be delighted where we are given all this, there is definitely potential to move up gears if we avoid more big injuries and start improving on some of the above

 

[KZNSeagull]

I thought last night we looked much better at the back and much more fluid and confident in midfield. Wee Billy playing a blinder helped with that. We were a bit lacking up front last night, tiredness maybe playing a part there. The "we have been found out" thing I don't think is right, we have changed the spine of the team and it will always take time to get up to top form with new players, it certainly did last season. RDZ is also adapting. Rotation hasn't helped with that in the short term but the benefits will be there in the second half of the season especially with key players coming back and the likes of Moder getting up to speed.
I'm confident that we can get something against Arsenal and push on.

 

[JBizzle]

Whilst I get your point, surely all PL squads are the same size? I.e. even though Man City, Newcastle etc are a bajillion times richer than us - they can still only select a match-day squad from 25 players. (Although I accept that their 'lesser' players are probably all internationals and not youth team graduates).

Fair point, although we only actually submitted a 20-man squad and City/Liverpool submitted 22-man squads on account of youth players not counting. Either way, you're probably right on that one

 

[Brovion]

Fair point, although we only actually submitted a 20-man squad and City/Liverpool submitted 22-man squads on account of youth players not counting. Either way, you're probably right on that one

No, actually I think you're right, I didn't know youth players didn't count, and 22 is bigger than 20, so yes, they did have bigger squads. I concede

 

[NorthstandRacoon]

Eeeeee’s complicated, to quote somebody from our recent past.
the BBC report says we were heading for a drab draw before Pedro scored. I thought it was far from drab.
but the Guardian report said that Mitoma and Adingra “sparkled”!
I thought on occasion we scored some cracking football last night.

the only downside was the journey home. Got in at 1.20am which should have been midnight. But I was smiling most of the way. I gather it was a motorcyclist coming off? Hope they’re ok.

Agree

 

[trueblue]

I’d say that in about 80% of the games this season I’ve felt we could have done better. Not because I’m down on the players but because RDZ and this team can - and will - play so much better.

It’s been a fantastic season in Europe so far nd a good one in the Premier League. If the injuries ease up and RDZ’s rotation policy pays dividends Feb-May could be off the scale exciting.

 

[GT49er]

In the Europa League definitely - 4 wins and 4 clean sheets on the trot is dreamland!

In the PL, less so.

 

[A1X]

I still think the failure to put away Burnley and Sheffield United will come back to haunt us somewhere down the line TBH (sorry)

 

[Super Sub]

Until the goal, I wasn't sure if we were just trying to be patient, or couldn't hit a cows arse with a banjo...So I'm not really sure if you call that in form? We've done flipping well with the level of injuries we have, thats for sure!!

Spot on. Your post got me thinking about our currently unavailable players (loans and injuries) and what surprised me was that we are able to put this lot together. Thats some unavailable list and just goes to show how well the squad have done after being decimated to the core.

Scherpen
Lamptey
Estupinan
Webster
Turns
Enciso
March
Alzate
Sarmiento
Welbeck
Fati

Subs

Sima
Undav
Ayari
Moran
Leonard
Kozlowski
The list goes on...

 

[oldboyroy]

I think we're starting to hit some form. The players are getting used to each other with so many changes being made as well as the half dozen injuries who we'd expect to start. Some of the football last night was sublime but we're lacking that killer instinct in finishing. Even with the injuries we've still played some sides off the park and been done by the silly goals conceded. Would like to see the back 3 stay the same for Arsenal as Dunk, JPVH and Igor were excellent last night.

 

[Mellotron]

Our season could have gone in a very different direction if we'd collapsed in that first Marseille (A) game - having gone in 2-0 at half time. ALmost certainly out of Europe.
Instead - a draw in the last minute and ...2 months later...8th in the league, 2 defeats in 14, and last 16 in Europe...

Half time at the Velodrome definitely felt like a turning point.

At 2-0 down, we would've been forgiven for wondering if Europe was just a bit too....big for us at that point. Haven't conceded a single goal in Europe since.

 

[Mellotron]

There is the potential for a very exciting second half of the season if we're still firing on all fronts when Enciso, Fati, Estupinan and others return.

 

[dwayne]

The first post sums up my confusion perfectly.

I flip flop massively week to week. Pre the game yesterday I didn't have much hope I expected another draw which would have been fine.

Now I'm on cloud nine again , but when I think back on the game yesterday we weren't that great (for our standards).

I'm also massively confused why we keep clean sheets in Europe while we never do in the league. And we get loads of luck in Europe and zero in the league.

There's no logic to any of it which is what makes football great I suppose.

 

[chaileyjem]

The results have continued to be okay, but those of us watching, know what we are seeing - this is absolutely NOT prime RDZ Albion. Hopefully get Pervis and Enciso back out there soon, though...

Yep. The results - in the PL are actually little different to last season in terms of points per game after 15 games etc. And agreed we've not quite hit the heights of Wolves (A) and Man Utd (A) - but we've definitely controlled games this season especially in the Europa League

Spot on. Your post got me thinking about our currently unavailable players (loans and injuries) and what surprised me was that we are able to put this lot together. Thats some unavailable list and just goes to show how well the squad have done after being decimated to the core.


The list goes on...

True there's been a big turnover, and nobody denies its hard to lose a Caicedo and a Mac Allister - and our injury list was daunting a few weeks back (but has started to improve) but we've had some pretty impressive incoming as well. Its not just one way.

Igor , Milner, Pedro, Van Hecke, Hinshelwood, Adingra - were key last night and none of them had started games for the Albion until this season.

 

[Simster]

There is the potential for a very exciting second half of the season if we're still firing on all fronts when Enciso, Fati, Estupinan and others return.

It's that simple really.

We've dropped league points but in the grand scheme of things with injuries and a constantly rotated squad, that is to be expected. As we get towards the business end of the season, I suspect we'll find RDZ simply picking more-or-less his best team - and the points will come with the rest of the squad playing in the FA Cup and hopefully progressing. Not having to think about the Europa League for 3 months is a massive advantage.

 

[London Irish]

I still think the failure to put away Burnley and Sheffield United will come back to haunt us somewhere down the line TBH (sorry)

We can definitely make up those dropped points with all the games to come - but we need to improve. I know Bloom hates spending in January but reinforcements could pay massive dividends this time

 

[Machiavelli]

The results have continued to be okay, but those of us watching, know what we are seeing - this is absolutely NOT prime RDZ Albion. Hopefully get Pervis and Enciso back out there soon, though...

There were signs that we were getting things back together last night performance-wise, and if we can get those two back in the not too distant future, alongside Welbeck, we ought to have a little more consistency in selection and performance. We'll be assisted by more time to refresh between games after the Arsenal game. (Of course, we could pick up some more key injuries.)
The BBC reporter had a bit of a downer on the game last night. I thought it was better than that. We were looking better, and got into so many excellent situations but were let down by the final ball (Adingra, Joao Pedro and to a lesser extent Mitoma were the chief culprits here). Despite that, we still had 5 shots on goal, and 13 in all.

 

[JBizzleBeard]

There is the potential for a very exciting second half of the season if we're still firing on all fronts when Enciso, Fati, Estupinan and others return.

And potentially where the squad rotating RDZ has done thus far will start to play its part.


Hopefully.