Cheshire Cat
The most curious thing..
We are exactly where we deserve to be, and slightly above where we will be soon.
Well, when we poached Potter from Swansea had you heard of Steve Cooper? Stuck a fiver on him as their next manager? Seen him tipped on their board to take over? Or, like the majority of fans, were you a bit "Steve WHO"?
And yet, from the article.....
And it is tempting to wonder if, while Brighton are an evolving team, they nonetheless have the characteristics of Potter’s previous side. In some respects, he did an excellent job with Swansea, taking the wreckage of a relegated team, playing fine football and developing young talent. Yet his side came 10th with Oli McBurnie and Daniel James; a year later and after selling each, Steve Cooper’s side finished sixth.
it has been work in progress for over 2 years, except it isn't working. My expectations were never very high this season, but on present form to finish fourth from bottom would be a bonus.Another negative thread, was it really needed?
We are just 2 points behind tracker. To the the half empty guys, perhaps you need to reset your expectation this season to survival and not top ten, this is still work in progress.
You will feel so much better for it.
Yet yesterday, according to you, we also needed a specialist defensive coach to improve our defending of set pieces?
The article makes reference to something I've pointed out before, Potter's less than stellar results with Swansea when they had James and McBurnie. Apparently Swansea also had a problem with set pieces?
Ultimately, Potter's recruitment man came with him to join our recruitment team. Shouldn't they be much more forceful in getting the last couple of pieces of the jigsaw in, if that is all it is?
The point is shit as Ive told you before.
Who were Dan James and McBurnie when Potter arrived? Just like Rodon, Roberts, Grimes and most of the others: nobodys, but you make it sound like he inherited this super team. And further - who are they without him? They are not exactly killing it in the PL...
Coopers squad is a lot better. They have more than one player for every position.
Blaming Kyle Macauley for the lack of the "final jigsaw" is also quite funny when Brighton got a big recruitment team with a collective responsibility for signings.
Its not exactly easy getting those "last couple of pieces" in
Tony Bloom might seem financially invicible. He isnt.
Watching on the telebox yesterday, I couldn't believe how slowly we passed the ball around, gently rolling it from player to player. Surely the point of playing possession football is to move the opposition around and pull them out of shape? To do that, you need to move the ball much faster - moving it as slowly as we do gives the other team all the time in the world to keep us covered.Is it even pretty anymore? I've started finding it predictable, slow and frustrating of late. Not sure because of lack of confidence, options, or how teams set up against us knowing we struggle to break teams down (probably a mix of all three), but I'm certainly not finding it pretty overall at the moment
Very good article. Hundreds of our supporters could have penned it.
Another negative thread, was it really needed?
We are just 2 points behind tracker. To the the half empty guys, perhaps you need to reset your expectation this season to survival and not top ten, this is still work in progress.
You will feel so much better for it.
One of the better neutral articles I've seen written about us. I am on the much more positive side of it though, I'm a strong Potter believer and feel the results will come. I think to get rid of Potter would be a massive mistake whether we do go down or not (which I don't think we will).
If the board or more specifically TB feels the same then he will spend in January.
The fact we only spent £13.4m is well documented so allowing for the ‘lost’ £20m from home games this season and the fact in previous seasons we have spent £60-70m suggests there is something in the tank and for me I now feel this is the time for once to spend it all in one place.
We can make do with slightly sub par replacements in the wing back slots IMO but only
If we start taking the chances we’re creating and that means spending big on a striker.
The essence of this article, and others, is only what most Albion fans have been saying for 3 seasons now.
We need a prodigious goal scorer, Murray filled the gap in our first PL season, not so much in our second season and we just haven’t replaced him, until we do, Tony Blooms dreams of a top 10 finish,are just that,Dreams.
So much of football is about confidence, we have zero confidence at the moment. A good win against anyone would boost this, on the other hand, keep not winning games we should win and confidence will remain rock bottom, and results will reflect this.
Watching on the telebox yesterday, I couldn't believe how slowly we passed the ball around, gently rolling it from player to player. Surely the point of playing possession football is to move the opposition around and pull them out of shape? To do that, you need to move the ball much faster - moving it as slowly as we do gives the other team all the time in the world to keep us covered.
To be effective the ball needs to be pinged around, especially in the final third, not gently rolled.
I think the point with the "we need a top striker" argument is that all teams need a top striker but teams like ours don't have the budget or often the opportunity to get one. Therefore you have to grind out wins, be solid and make the most of what you've got. A top striker is not a panacea. Potter would no doubt like one but, unlike Hughton, he has got Welbeck, Lallana, Lamptey, White, Trossard and Maupay at his disposal yet for all the alleged improvements we're still knocking around the relegation zone.
James, McBurnie, Rodon and Celina weren't exactly dragged out of the local pub.
Potter's squad here is a lot better than Hughton's. And he seems to have two positions for every player.
I agree. I think adding him has made "too many cooks". Who has the last say on a player? Why was Veltman apparently a piece in the jigsaw and then Welbeck brought in as a panic measure after the window slammed shut?
True but should we then not cut our playing cloth accordingly?
Don't insult me Swanny. You've been here two minutes. I remember when Bloom took over at a wet athletics stadium.
Watching on the telebox yesterday, I couldn't believe how slowly we passed the ball around, gently rolling it from player to player. Surely the point of playing possession football is to move the opposition around and pull them out of shape? To do that, you need to move the ball much faster - moving it as slowly as we do gives the other team all the time in the world to keep us covered.
To be effective the ball needs to be pinged around, especially in the final third, not gently rolled.