[Albion] Best manager under Bloom?

[Uh_huh_him]

I’m not sure Potter was a better coach than De Zerbi at all.

De Zerbi improved so many more players, brought so many more youth players through to the first team, and did it all by playing a much nicer brand of football.

Arguably it’s De Zerbi and Poyet who stand alone in getting the most out of their squads, turning players who looked at their level before them into coveted assets. That’s coaching.

Hughton by far the best bloke.

Disagree - De Zerbi's tactics and management got the most out of players Coached by potter, IMO.
Mac Allister and Caicedo, were already well on their way to greatness by the time De Zerbi rocked up.

If De Zerbi was the better coach, I would be expecting to see more from Baleba, and Buananotte at this point.
He has had more time with them than the ones he has supposedly coached to greatness.

 

[Arnold]

Houghton by a country mile he got us into the premiership"

This grinds my gears

 

[JetsetJimbo]

RDZ for me.

But if I'd known when I voted that Oscar was sitting on 0 votes, I'd have voted for him. He doesn't deserve to be on zero, top guy and good coach. Someone chuck him a vote, please!

Edit: Thanks, mystery hero.

 

[Beanstalk]

Disagree - De Zerbi's tactics and management got the most out of players Coached by potter, IMO.
Mac Allister and Caicedo, were already well on their way to greatness by the time De Zerbi rocked up.

If De Zerbi was the better coach, I would be expecting to see more from Baleba, and Buananotte at this point.
He has had more time with them than the ones he has supposedly coached to greatness.

That's kindly ignoring the rise of Ferguson, Mitoma, Enciso, Van Hecke, Colwill, Hinshelwood, Gilmour, Adingra, Pedro, Steele under RDZ. And lets not forget Solly March either, a player completely misused by Potter. Regarding Baleba and Facundo, their improvement this season has been tenfold. Facundo has started to look comfortable in the PL (though lots to work on) and Baleba was forced into the team too early because of Caicedo's departure, something the club hadn't planned for. He's also looked really exciting and I'd imagine if RDZ had stayed for another year, he'd have been able to kick on.

Potter was very good, but Caicedo fell into his lap after Bissouma's absence left a large whole in the squad. He only played 14 games under Potter - 31 under RDZ.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

That's kindly ignoring the rise of Ferguson, Mitoma, Enciso, Van Hecke, Colwill, Hinshelwood, Gilmour, Adingra, Pedro, Steele under RDZ. And lets not forget Solly March either, a player completely misused by Potter. Regarding Baleba and Facundo, their improvement this season has been tenfold. Facundo has started to look comfortable in the PL (though lots to work on) and Baleba was forced into the team too early because of Caicedo's departure, something the club hadn't planned for. He's also looked really exciting and I'd imagine if RDZ had stayed for another year, he'd have been able to kick on.

Potter was very good, but Caicedo fell into his lap after Bissouma's absence left a large whole in the squad. He only played 14 games under Potter - 31 under RDZ.

You see thing differently.
I think Roberto's tactics and man-management got the best out of many of our players last season.
I don't think he can really be given credit for Gilmour (already highly rated before he signed for us) and Pedro.
Colwill is an interesting one, but again I think that's more of a case of his best attributes fitting in with what De Zerbi wanted.

De Zerbi's man-management is what you are really referring to.
And that is excellent - as long as he likes you.

Pottter is a better coach - but does not inspire players to greatness.

 

[oldboyroy]

Roberto by a country mile for me. Potter was good but Roberto by far the more charismatic and passionate manager as well as believing he could take us to another level(champions league) and although he got some tactics wrong, I simply cannot see us getting another manager as elite as Roberto. Roberto pushed the players to higher levels and really made them believe in themselves.
I hate to think it but can't see us repeating getting into Europe again. Looking back now he's gone, who else would have us finish in 11th with a patched up team for half a season and missing critical players virtually since October?

 

[Commander]

Hear me out.

Gus.

Think where we were before he joined. Think the style of football being played. I remember sitting there in our awful athletics stadium and after only about 3 games seeing Adam El-Abd passing out from the back and just thinking "bloody hell. How's he done this".

In my opinion, he created the biggest shift in style we have seen when you consider the tools he had available and where we were playing at the time.

Yes, the end was messy but the fact he even got us to that position in the first place was amazing.

I don't think the rest would have happened (or not as quickly) without him. We suddenly had an identity.

I think he was the most influential manager in this period. But not the best.

 

[Commander]

Looking back now he's gone, who else would have us finish in 11th with a patched up team for half a season and missing critical players virtually since October?

I think plenty of others would. Since the end of 2023 we have been the 5th worst team in the league. I can't imagine there aren't other managers out there that couldn't have improved on that.

 

[deletebeepbeepbeep]

SALDE

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

Hear me out.

Gus.

Think where we were before he joined. Think the style of football being played. I remember sitting there in our awful athletics stadium and after only about 3 games seeing Adam El-Abd passing out from the back and just thinking "bloody hell. How's he done this".

In my opinion, he created the biggest shift in style we have seen when you consider the tools he had available and where we were playing at the time.

Yes, the end was messy but the fact he even got us to that position in the first place was amazing.

I don't think the rest would have happened (or not as quickly) without him. We suddenly had an identity.

Oh, absolutely, Gus was fantastic. Still my favourite manager from this era. But Chris was the 'best', in my opinion - the hardest things we have had to do were get promoted, and to stay up first season, and he did both. Amazing job.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Taking into account who the OP is, the answer is obviously DEAN WILKINS (Drool)

 

[oldboyroy]

I think plenty of others would. Since the end of 2023 we have been the 5th worst team in the league. I can't imagine there aren't other managers out there that couldn't have improved on that

You may well be right. Shoring up the defence and rotation of keepers didn't help. Obviously Fulham, Bournemouth Luton Roma really turned us over but we still played some good stuff in other games with patched up team. Fixtures, especially the last 8 didn't help including Villa, united City Liverpool arsenal Newcastle Chelsea. All I'm saying is we still played some teams off the park at times albeit still losing.
Having said that, did Roberto work them too hard in training. Several injuries picked up in training and sometimes the players look shot in games when we'd been knocked out of cups and had full weeks break between games.

 

[warmleyseagull]

Silly thread that plays up to current emotion and ranks people facing very different circumstances. If any of them had had Caicedo and Mac they would get over 100 votes. RDZ was just lucky he did (and got fewer ppg than GP did in his 14 games with them both).

I voted for SH safe in knowledge that I would be only one, and shock horror, 6 other felt the same.

 

[Weststander]

Silly thread that plays up to current emotion and ranks people facing very different circumstances. If any of them had had Caicedo and Mac they would get over 100 votes. RDZ was just lucky he did (and got fewer ppg than GP did in his 14 games with them both).

I voted for SH safe in knowledge that I would be only one, and shock horror, 6 other felt the same.

Because the result didn’t go your way .