[Football] Assuming we appoint Graham Potter, your gut feeling on next season

[Anya1000]

Pretty much sums up how I feel.

Absolutely agree with you on this. I know many close to Hughton and you have hit the nail on the head here. The clubs signings were poor a shame hughton had no say.

 

[Hugo Rune]

Absolutely agree with you on this. I know many close to Hughton and you have hit the nail on the head here. The clubs signings were poor a shame hughton had no say.

I don’t think that the signings were poor in terms of the quality of the player, just that they were not the sort of players that Hughton needed for his style of football and formation.

Our first Premier League season was great but why did we not sign up a back-up Groß and a back-up Murray? Do we have another defensive midfield like Stephens? The club hierarchy clearly wanted to go in a different direction. They will now.

 

[Goldstone1976]

Hughton all day. Wish TB gave had given a chance and with his choice of signings as opposed to be given players.

Absolutely agree with you on this. I know many close to Hughton and you have hit the nail on the head here. The clubs signings were poor a shame hughton had no say.

Oh, do piss off with this utter bollocks.

If you were so sure of your facts, why did you wait for over 4 years after Hughton’s appointment to tell us? It’s bollocks - you know it is, we know it is. Stop trolling.

 

[studio150]

I really don't understand this mantra.
The team appeared ponderous because they were prisoners to play ponderously.

Watching the tactics 'masterclass' vid, there are very few current players who wouldn't be an instant fit for what he asks the team to do, I do expect them to follow orders and rise like a phoenix's.

Montoya & Stephens would have to do more work, quicker, but beyond that esp last seasons new singings ought to fit into his philosophers system perfectly.

Gross, Murray...

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Hughton all day. Wish TB gave had given a chance and with his choice of signings as opposed to be given players.

Yet more tiresome vilification of Tony and the recruitment team. Another with an agenda bursting through.

 

[Green Cross Code Man]

Yet more tiresome vilification of Tony and the recruitment team. Another with an agenda bursting through.

It's a Palace fan, I would ignore it.

 

[Icy Gull]

It's a Palace fan, I would ignore it.

Better to ban it

 

[Klaas]

Another question might be: who would you most trust to keep us in the Premier League - Potter or Hughton? I think this is a huge gamble by TB. Despite coming close to going down, I think CH was unlucky with dud signings and injuries. And in the end he just about got the job done. He is tactically adept at nullifying the opposition. I think we will be on the end of a few 6-0's ourselves next season and could well end up doing a Fulham - trying to play expansive football but getting picked off by teams that are simply better than us.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[Bwian]

There seems to be a pattern emerging here. Just about every poster who was disappointed/furious with the way CH was dismissed or who thought he should be given more time, is predicting that we will get relegated playing expansive football. Who says we will be playing such gung ho tactics, it’s just an ill informed guess, fuelled by what looks like a hope for failure.

Just a heads up, we may or may not go down but you are just letting your emotions rule your thoughts. NOBODY knows what will happen and the majority of the CH outers are mostly accepting that it could go horribly pear shaped. NONE of the angry ones can even contemplate that it just MAY be a new and exciting dawn.

An interesting observation and a pattern that I was starting to see also.

One thing is certain: change was needed based on last season's performances, home and away and our away record the previous season. We were getting worse as the season reached the crucial stage. Tony Bloom held his nerve but Hughton would have been long gone at nearly every other PL club. We got lucky.
[MENTION=616]Guinness Boy[/MENTION] hit the nail on the head with his comment about fitness. For next season improved fitness should be a priority if we get Potter and adopt a lot of his ideas. Last season we were 4th from bottom in distance covered but only 89km as a team behind leaders Arsenal but we looked less fit somehow. I have no idea if those stats equate to fitness by the way.

Next season could be the start of a new era for The Albion or we find ourselves needing to resort to a pragmatic, defensive style. None of us know until the season is underway. A quick look at his Wikipedia entry (yes, I know, Wikipedia, blah blah blah) and there is the following quote:

"He's English, he's a modern coach, he has new ideas, he brings new ideas. [Swansea is] a team that takes care of how they move the ball... in their style, the goalkeeper and defenders build from the back. And for me it’s the feature that you could underline from Swansea [under Potter].

—Argentinian coach*Marcelo Bielsa*on facing Graham Potter's Swansea City team, 20 August 2018.

That is encouraging for me. Not Poyet's Tika Taka (which at times was great to watch) but not our "lump it forward to our one man hoping for a knockdown to a teammate" that we saw so much of under Hughton in the PL.

I'm quite optimistic right now and looking forward to what might be an exciting transfer window for The Albion. Everything is coming together: Ashworth, new manager, Tony Bloom looking to move forward. Thanks Chris-your contributions to our club are appreciated but it was/is time for new ideas.






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[Stat Brother]

Gross, Murray...

If Murray is part of Potters plans then he might as well get the sack now.
Groß may well have to be accommodated but even then a tighter role and more options ahead of him could take the edge off his lacking pace.

 

[Icy Gull]

If Murray is part of Potters plans then he might as well get the sack now.
Groß may well have to be accommodated but even then a tighter role and more options ahead of him could take the edge off his lacking pace.

You are obsessed

 

[Stat Brother]

You are obsessed

Not really i didnt even mention Murray as a player who might not fit seemlessly into Potters 'masterclass'.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Another question might be: who would you most trust to keep us in the Premier League - Potter or Hughton? I think this is a huge gamble by TB. Despite coming close to going down, I think CH was unlucky with dud signings and injuries. And in the end he just about got the job done. He is tactically adept at nullifying the opposition. I think we will be on the end of a few 6-0's ourselves next season and could well end up doing a Fulham - trying to play expansive football but getting picked off by teams that are simply better than us.

I'm not sure you can call dud signings "unlucky". The judgement of the manager and his recruitment team should be good enough that it isn't down to luck. You're not going to get it right 100% - nobody does, even Fergie hired poorly at times, but you should have a decent hit rate. For our recent strikers it seems to be near enough 100% failed.

 

[Biscuit]

We'll get ripped to pieces and he'll be gone by Christmas. That's what my gut says anyway.

I genuinely think Hughton worked wonders with our squad. We'll have to sign some absolute quality for my opinion to change.

 

[MattBackHome]

Yeah 15/16th and no real danger of dropping.
North of 40 points and a GD between -10 and 0.
Far more chances created.

 

[Simster]

It's really difficult to judge a bloke on one season in English footy, let alone not in the Prem. So I will save my judgement for now. What my head and heart say, it'll be a car crash, but I hope so much I am proven wrong.

It's not hard to see where you're coming from. Potter will be under immense pressure to change our playing style, which is great if he can keep us in the division at the same time. On the other hand, what if he changes the way we play and we're 6 points from safety come November?

 

[TSB]

There seems to be a pattern emerging here. Just about every poster who was disappointed/furious with the way CH was dismissed or who thought he should be given more time, is predicting that we will get relegated playing expansive football. Who says we will be playing such gung ho tactics, it’s just an ill informed guess, fuelled by what looks like a hope for failure.

Massive gamble dismissal amplified by massive gamble appointed.
Who made you overlord, decreeing that it is 'ill informed' to think we will be getting relegated. Especially when you put it as a pole option.
What a self-opinionated blowhard you've become.

 

[blue-shifted]

What's great is that Potter, (assuming he comes) is going to have the whole of the summer to get the players he wants and the whole of pre-season to drill them in a new style. Most managerial appointments happen on a Wednesday when their first match is the Saturday. So I think Bloom's timing was spot on.

In practice I think the style of football will be a lot more similar to last season than people think. We will still mostly have to defend in the majority of games, simply because other teams are better than us and will force us back. The differences I suspect are that we'll press more aggressively from the front, have less emphasis on keeping our shape, take fewer hoofed free kicks aimed at Duffy from the centre circle and we'll probably get involved in some nerve shredding, goal kick routine where Ryan passes out to Dunk at the side of the box who has to find a pass under pressure.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

We needs goals. Same as the season just gone we need a striker to hit form and stay fit. One of those and it covers a lot of problems elsewhere. Recruitment need to get lucky.

Without the above and with our player costs remaining in the lowest three in the division it will be another struggle.

 

[Lifelong Supporter]

I think that as much as we are concerned how we will play, it is the others that are the danger. Our current competitors at the bottom ie Burnley, Palace, Newcastle, Southampton, Bournemouth and Watford are all now well managed. Potter may turn out to be quite decent, but even if he is I anticipate that we will be in a relegation scrap and heavily dependant on those coming up making a poor fist of it, if we are to survive.