Did Gus overachieve last season?

[Icy Gull]

Firstly, those that are sick of talking about Gus, maybe you should close this thread now?

Personally I am going to ignore the play off semi final second leg which I think Gus fecked up. Easy I know to say in hindsight and we did hit the bar before they scored but I was really disappointed that we tried to pick Palace off by playing keep ball rather than going for them from the off. This was always a big risk imo as in Zaha Palace had a game changer in the side, if he hadn't been playing then I could have understood the approach from the Albion. It seems clear that all was unravelling by that evening anyway so I'll ignore that game in forming my opinion.

It's a tough one tbh but I think we could have got auto with the players we had, time will tell because Oscar's side is arguably not much weaker now, even before the transfer deadline closes, so it will be interesting to see how Oscar fares in this very very tough division ( no tougher than last year overall imo)

With the new season upon us and the dust settling around Gus how does NSC think Gus did last season? Obviously he did a fantastic job overall but do you think he overachieved?

 

[blockhseagull]

No !

 

[nail-Z]

Yes. 4th was a great achievement.

 

[spanishdave]

he did great last season. he brung in some good signings and pushed the team to a good position hopefully we can do the same this season with oscar

 

[kevtherev]

Overachieve,,,,,,,how exactly.... BY finishing in the play offs with the most expensive Albion squad any manager has ever assembled since Mullery, on the back of 26,000+ crowds.....No he didn't overachieve, far from it. He went out with all the fizz of a wet firework in the end. Apart from all the off field trouble of course, which set us back, who knows how far in preparation for this season. We will see on that score.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

He underachieved with the players at his disposal. Vicente could have been used more as an impact sub. LuaLua put in tremendous performances only to find he was on the bench the following game. He allowed the side to come under immense pressure during the latter stages of a game by defending too deeply or chose to accept a draw as a decent result considering the opposition instead of going for it. No plan "B" if it went tits up.

 

[upthealbion1970]

Finished 4th with a mid table budget, but the target was top 6 which we achieved so about par I'd say.

 

[martin tyler]

I think we should have gone up personally. Think Gus was a little tactically found out at times and some of the football was slow and predictable. That said it was a wonderful season to watch but i ended the season thinking we should have gone up. So underachieved for me only just though

 

[RexCathedra]

40+ games. 30+ players. One manager.

Everything in football is over-determined. There are far more available causes than there are effects.

 

[symyjym]

Firstly, those that are sick of talking about Gus, maybe you should close this thread now?

Personally I am going to ignore the play off semi final second leg which I think Gus fecked up. Easy I know to say in hindsight and we did hit the bar before they scored but I was really disappointed that we tried to pick Palace off by playing keep ball rather than going for them from the off. This was always a big risk imo as in Zaha Palace had a game changer in the side, if he hadn't been playing then I could have understood the approach from the Albion. It seems clear that all was unravelling by that evening anyway so I'll ignore that game in forming my opinion.

It's a tough one tbh but I think we could have got auto with the players we had, time will tell because Oscar's side is arguably not much weaker now, even before the transfer deadline closes, so it will be interesting to see how Oscar fares in this very very tough division ( no tougher than last year overall imo)

With the new season upon us and the dust settling around Gus how does NSC think Gus did last season? Obviously he did a fantastic job overall but do you think he overachieved?

He did a very good job at being predictable and keeping to the basics, it worked well for him and we played safe. My biggest worry was when he always publicly said he never studies the opposition and we just concentrate on what we do.

This works up to a point but; Is this a good idea? Is this being arrogant? Is it just being lazy?

One thing that has to be said for all of hs faults, he did help make us become a good passing side that would be an attractive proposition for a more schooled manager, with a tried, tested and proven training regime.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Neither over-achieved or under-achieved - with our squad we should be making the play-offs - and we did.

 

[The Oldman]

The play off final was there for the taking after the 1st leg of the semi. On that basis he underachieved especially taking into our form in the second half of the season.

 

[Stat Brother]

No.

Say what you want about the budget and where it figures against the competitive.

With all things money 'it's not how much you have, it's how you spend it'.


Gus/whomever spent wisely throughout the year, culminating in the 4th best team in the division.
Looking at what we had against the competition, if anything I'd say he underachieved, but that would be churlish.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I think people expect players to just gel and immediately form a team. Our personnel was good, but we had players from other countries to settle in etc. I think it was tough to expect them to form a unit that was simply going to make top 6.

I was expecting a tougher season and that top 6 would be overachievement. I'm sticking with that.

Oscar comes in with a more settled side with a very strong core to the squad. Gus has left us in very good shape.

 

[Acker79]

I think it's difficult to say because so many other teams underperformed. Of course there were some of our results that could so easily have gone another way, player errors, off days, but our opponents will say the same thing. Some opponents were consistently underperforming, others were simply inconsistent. If every team played as well as they could in every game, would we have finished so high? I don't think we would have.

We finished where we did partly because of gus, partly because of the players, partly because of the other teams and their managers. I think I would say the club benefited from other teams underachieving more than gus overachieving, I think Gus did as well as most very good managers could last season.

 

[Ernest]

Underachieved, should have got in the top 2

 

[The Large One]

Overachieve,,,,,,,how exactly.... BY finishing in the play offs with the most expensive Albion squad any manager has ever assembled since Mullery, on the back of 26,000+ crowds.....No he didn't overachieve, far from it. He went out with all the fizz of a wet firework in the end. Apart from all the off field trouble of course, which set us back, who knows how far in preparation for this season. We will see on that score.

Another one who doesn't think through their arguments. We are all well aware of your small-minded, xenophobic outlook on life and the Albion, but you're excelling yourself here.

How much he had to spend compared to previous Brighton managers is irrelevant - but we know it's a failed argument you'd use, and you didn't disappoint.

However, if you must compare him with previous Brighton managers, he did achieve the highest finish since Mullery's days.

 

[mwrpoole]

Yes, finishing 4th with a game to go was an over-achievement IMO.

Even with the same squad it would be difficult to improve on that this season, regardless of who the manager is.

 

[DavePage]

Think he underachieved with regards to turning around the "not winning after going a goal behind" problem.
We had more quality players in the squad than ever seen before.
Underachieved in his ability to bring out the potential of what he saw in Dobbie & Harley. If his words are correct, you could add Vicente into that list.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

No.

Say what you want about the budget and where it figures against the competitive.

With all things money 'it's not how much you have, it's how you spend it'.


Gus/whomever spent wisely throughout the year, culminating in the 4th best team in the division.
Looking at what we had against the competition, if anything I'd say he underachieved, but that would be churlish.

Well exactly 'it's not how much you have, it's how you spend it'. So is assembling a squad like that with the budget he had 'over-achieving'?