[Albion] Does Potter have a clue ?

[Sarisbury Seagull]

I do think Potter does have a clue and he is a really promising manager. I do also think he is suffering from a little crisis of confidence at the moment though which can happen in the Premier League which is incredibly tough when you start losing and the magnifying glass is placed on you.

He needs to have the courage of his convictions and go back to what he believes and what was working earlier in the season: stick with Webster, start Maupay, start Alzate, play with 3 at the back more. Some of his selections recently are very cautious and are almost designed to avoid defeat rather than going for the win as well as being reactive to what some fans and the media say. Some of his comments in recent press conferences also back that up.

 

[Insel affe]

I do think Potter does have a clue and he is a really promising manager. I do also think he is suffering from a little crisis of confidence at the moment though which can happen in the Premier League which is incredibly tough when you start losing and the magnifying glass is placed on you.

He needs to have the courage of his convictions and go back to what he believes and what was working earlier in the season: stick with Webster, start Maupay, start Alzate, play with 3 at the back more. Some of his selections recently are very cautious and are almost designed to avoid defeat rather than going for the win as well as being reactive to what some fans and the media say. Some of his comments in recent press conferences also back that up.

Agreed, and Murray to be played as in an impact player, he played well today but we rarely gave him anything to work with, when we tippy tap it around at the back he’s not got the pace to run in behind from the killer ball, Muzza feeds of long balls.

Still team Pootter

 

[kevo]

I like Graham but as each week and game goes by I just think the fella is winging it. I think he is unsure of his best 11, mixes it up for sake and just hopes for the best. Seems like it to me

What a stupid comment. He is obviously not 'winging it'. Do you really think someone of his intelligence will just pick players and tactics at random? He obviously spends a great deal of time thinking about who to pick and how to play. Possibly overthinking it, if anything. As others have said, it would be good to have a more settled line-up. It must confuse the players at times.

 

[nickjhs]

Of course he doesn't have a clue, given our resources if he had a clue we would be keeping our heads above water sitting outside the relegation zone in the most competitive and expensive league in world football. Oh hang on we are doing that, OP think again you clueless Tawt.

 

[Hamilton]

I think we are going to regret not signing that striker. But then again, where do you find a striker?

Yesterday’s team selection smacked a little of throwing the cards in the air and I wondered if Potter was doubting himself.

That said, I like his style of football, I just don’t think our current squad are up to the high standards needed. Potter is not the problem.


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[Dick Knights Mumm]

I think the problem is that we have stopped playing the Potter way. At the beginning of the season we played high up the pitch and took the game to the opponents. Now we've gone back to cowering in front of our own penalty area and passing around with no penetration until we lose the ball cheaply.

The exceptions are Alzate and Maupay, who both seem to want to attack the opposition. Solly March looks scared to take players on nowadays. Trossard looks like a world-beater for about five minutes and the laziest luxury player imaginable the rest of the time. And what Bernardo is supposed to have done wrong to let Burn straight back into the team is anybody's guess. I think we're desperately in need of the fresh enthusiasm that Lamptey and Ally Mac should bring.

It looks to me like he now doesn't believe we've the players to successfully play the Potter way. It wasn't working in that we were conceding and not scoring so he has taken a more pragmatic approach. Which based on yesterday is also not working. There may be trouble ahead.

 

[nickjhs]

It looks to me like he now doesn't believe we've the players to successfully play the Potter way. It wasn't working in that we were conceding and not scoring so he has taken a more pragmatic approach. Which based on yesterday is also not working. There may be trouble ahead.

Yep, I think he needs to go back to Potterball, it was working, maybe not as well as we would like but we were 8th in November, if it hadn't been for some idiotic play and horrible luck who knows .....One thing stood out after the equaliser we were the only side trying to win. Last season we would have breathed a sigh of relief and parked the bus.

 

[Justice]

I have a theory GP is not happy, when we played like we did against Palace, Villa, Liverpool, Spurs away etc etc the only thing lacking was some real quality in two areas. January these players should have arrived for all I hear TB is a gambler he has never gambled on a big money striker with the quality needed for the PL. We would rather spend £30-40m on a collection of average players rather than that one with real quality and that’s why we fail.

Murray should have gone. In Jan with a new arrival incoming, Murray is not the future and I don’t think GP wants to even play him and he’s proving a costly point. Why back a manager and then not give him the tools to work with?

 

[Ooh it’s a corner]

I worry about two things:

1. Potter changing the team too often.
2. We dominate possession but without creating chances.

Against that we show real progression in our play and we look a better more accomplished side than last year and we have the same points as last season. It's not a black and white situation clearly, and we are a work in progress but overall I think we are heading in the right direction. It's too late to make a change now anyway and why would we? Changing from our style of play, lowering the age of the squad, bringing through youth, entertaining football and actual progression up the league rather than just survival, all of this was never going to be straightforward or immediate. We need to show some patience as a fan base.

Agree with much of this.
We have now missed the chance to beat some of those around us and must look to beat some of the better teams. Who knows we may well do just that. Anyway I shall stick to supporting my team - come on Albion!

 

[neilbard]

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[sussex_guy2k2]

Yes, he absolutely does. At times he’s over complicating it, but this is his first season at this level and he’s doing it with a group of players that aren’t that good for the level and he’s doing it whilst trying to implement a style of play which is totally alien to some of them.

My one gripe is that I do think he’s got to a stage where he looks like he’s trying to put plasters on the team with his selections rather than persevering with what he’s trying to do. Picking Duffy yesterday kind of proves this, and yet again Duffy had a stinker and cost us a goal, whilst simultaneously slowing our play down at every turn. But I’d still keep him in charge. This season was always going to be incredibly tough, as it will be next season if we survive.

 

[sydney]

how can we turn the game around like last week with that scintillating spell and then turn in a pile of crap like yesterday is what is frustrating to supporters......4 points from a possible 16 against teams we are going to be up against for the drop come may........it's simply not good enough.

 

[Bold Seagull]

I’m worried Potter has found himself in a reactive phase rather than proactive.

It felt that selections earlier in the season were proactively looking at improving strengths, exploiting opportunities, building on positives.

Yesterday felt reactive. Bringing Schelotto, Duffy and Burn in all at the same time for a complete transformation of the back line felt a step too far. Mooy has been out of sorts for a few weeks, playing him in a central midfield role against a well drilled very strong very mobile midfield felt the wrong move, giving the ball away for their goal was coming, whether from him or someone else, Propper also got away with one. Did Gross have enough touches to give the ball away?

March and Trossard, get the ball in lads!!?? Why do we stop, turn, take a touch every bloody time we penetrate down the wings?

Duffy looked like the ball was covered in the coronavirus every time it came near him.

It was pretty shambolic that first half. The saving grace was that Pearson gave his lot an old school team talk at HT and told them to shut up shop, not seen a team go that deep in 2 banks of 5 since our away 0-0 at Wolves at the end of last season. Made us look at least a bit decent second half, but still hardly managed a shot of any note and needed another og on our behalf.

 

[Seasider78]

What was noticeable in the first part of the season and last 30min of West Ham was how quickly we moved the ball which meant we were attacking a team who were out of position and spaces and chances popped up all over the place.

However excluding those 30min at West Ham we have gone back to really slow pedestrian build up play which means we are always trying to pick our way through 2 settled banks of 4 which we do not have the required quality to do.

Desperately need to get some pace back in the side and move the ball quicker

 

[LamieRobertson]

how else would you interpret what he said? it's not the first time he's called out our support and fair enough, cos right now we're not great but still, seemed a bit off. he really doesn't like us right now.

Rubbish

 

[sagaman]

Pedestrian football, really easy to defend against

Constant tinkering with team so no momentum built up

We look very naive and the decision to let Andone/Locadia go with no replacement looked mad at the time

 

[tigertim68]

Duffy, Schletto & Burn all straight back into a starting line up ?

He seems not to have a clue about how important pace is in a team , he keeps leaving the players out who have pace

 

[Springal]

I’m worried Potter has found himself in a reactive phase rather than proactive.

It felt that selections earlier in the season were proactively looking at improving strengths, exploiting opportunities, building on positives.

Yesterday felt reactive. Bringing Schelotto, Duffy and Burn in all at the same time for a complete transformation of the back line felt a step too far. Mooy has been out of sorts for a few weeks, playing him in a central midfield role against a well drilled very strong very mobile midfield felt the wrong move, giving the ball away for their goal was coming, whether from him or someone else, Propper also got away with one. Did Gross have enough touches to give the ball away?

March and Trossard, get the ball in lads!!?? Why do we stop, turn, take a touch every bloody time we penetrate down the wings?

Duffy looked like the ball was covered in the coronavirus every time it came near him.

It was pretty shambolic that first half. The saving grace was that Pearson gave his lot an old school team talk at HT and told them to shut up shop, not seen a team go that deep in 2 banks of 5 since our away 0-0 at Wolves at the end of last season. Made us look at least a bit decent second half, but still hardly managed a shot of any note and needed another og on our behalf.

Admittedly I was a few pints down when I started this thread but your post puts my thoughts at the time across in a much more succinct manner.

 

[sydney]

What was noticeable in the first part of the season and last 30min of West Ham was how quickly we moved the ball which meant we were attacking a team who were out of position and spaces and chances popped up all over the place.

However excluding those 30min at West Ham we have gone back to really slow pedestrian build up play which means we are always trying to pick our way through 2 settled banks of 4 which we do not have the required quality to do.

Desperately need to get some pace back in the side and move the ball quicker

we get down the wings and then go backwards again .....all the way back to ryan sometimes ........pearson said he knew we played possession football so all they have to do is let us pass around between back 5 , push us deeper and deeper ...back to ryan who half the time has to boot it under pressure.......it does get tedious.

 

[Eric Youngs Contact Lense]

I am one for finding the positives.. even end of last season where there were few to find! I understand the calls for moving the ball quicker, but that is very, very hard to do with teams who sit in. We saw us do that numerous times last season, frustrating the hell out of the opposition (and many of our fans) whilst teams, with much better players than we have now, passed the ball around. There are accusations that "we don't start playing until 70 minutes have gone" - well could that be linked to the possession play, moving teams around, making them work and it takes that long for some spaces to open up?
We could have lost that game yesterday, but we didn't! We kept a rival at bay, who have been playing pretty well recently and the biggest criticism we have is that we didnt create enough chances.. Well I for one am happy with my lot - of course would love to see us hammer someone, but accept that teams who fear us, will sit in and make it horribly difficult for us to create. Sheff Utd, Palace will do exactly this!
I would much rather have been a Brighton fan watching yesterday than a Watford fan..