[Albion] Exactly how long has this season been petering out for?

[essbee1]

People are saying Baleba has improved, has he really? He runs with no purpose yesterday Enciso was free to his left and Adingra to his right and the ball ended up high in the east stand. Give RDZ decent players and he will win games I think that’s all he has been saying.

I thought Baleba showed real promise on his first couple of games, but I'm not so sure his control
or awareness of other players is spot on (yet).

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Maybe petering out results wise but I thought yesterday that some of our playing out from the back was sublime. We beat their press several times and transitioned quickly, only for it to go wrong in the final third but their defending as a team was exceptional. It certainly wasn't all doom and gloom.

I thought this too. We matched up well with them first half and it took a debatable penalty to separate the two teams. I thought we were on top in the second half, lots of the ball but unable to really break down their excellent defense, then the second goal went in and it killed the game.

People are saying Baleba has improved, has he really? He runs with no purpose yesterday Enciso was free to his left and Adingra to his right and the ball ended up high in the east stand. Give RDZ decent players and he will win games I think that’s all he has been saying.

Yes he has improved, he's breaking up play a lot more. He's understanding where he needs to be when we play out from the back. He makes mistakes, he's still finding his feet at this level. He made a couple of other runs forward with the ball where he did find one of our players. Its clear a run of games is helping him and he's starting to show signs that he can be a real player at this level.

 

[Springal]

I thought Baleba showed real promise on his first couple of games, but I'm not so sure his control
or awareness of other players is spot on (yet).

And the 2 times in quick succession he shanked it out of play Roberto was going absolutely mental at the bench about him

 

[nwgull]

Maybe petering out results wise but I thought yesterday that some of our playing out from the back was sublime. We beat their press several times and transitioned quickly, only for it to go wrong in the final third but their defending as a team was exceptional. It certainly wasn't all doom and gloom.

Baleba is young, and only just 20, which for a central midfielder playing at this elite level is particularly young. At the same age Bissouma was in Lille reserves, Caicedo was playing for our U21s and MacAllister was at Argentinos Juniors (not even Seniors).
I think he was probably scouted as successor to Caicedo, and we weren’t really wanting to sell Caiceso until this summer at the earliest.

He’s got a lot of potential and I can see him being discovered by Liverpool in 2-3 seasons time.

 

[GT49er]

Of course it's petering out - and that's not being disrespectful to anyone. We're out of the EL (after a good run), we're out of the domestic cups (rather tamely, TBF), and our league form is not good - not that we were ever going to win the league, but obviously we were hoping to match the last couple of seasons.
Now it seems that week after week, 'We could go 7th. if we win this' - and we don't! We could still sneak into the final European place (and I would love the European Conference League) - but does anybody seriously think we will?
To directly answer the OP, I'd go for around the end of January to mid-February.

 

[Justice]

I thought Baleba showed real promise on his first couple of games, but I'm not so sure his control
or awareness of other players is spot on (yet).

This isn’t a slating of a prospect player it’s simply saying we didn’t give RDZ anything to work with. The players that are available are knackered after the extra EL games and Adingra also went to Afcon.

 

[portlock seagull]

Of course it's petering out - and that's not being disrespectful to anyone. We're out of the EL (after a good run), we're out of the domestic cups (rather tamely, TBF), and our league firm is not good - not that we were ever going to win the league, but obviously we were hoping to match the last couple of seasons.
Now it seems that week after week, 'We could go 7th. if we win this' - and we don't! We could still sneak int the final European place (and I would love the European Conference League) - but does anybody seriously think we will?
To directly answer the OP, I'd go for around the end of January to mid-February.

This. There are so many precious people on here that see criticism or simply stating what’s apparent as insulting, negative, disrespectful etc. It’s anything but. We go again, next season, with different players and likely manager. Which is nearly always the case in football!

 

[Krafty]

Wolves 1-0, Fulham 3-0, Roma 4-0

After those results, most knew the season was over.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I thought this too. We matched up well with them first half and it took a debatable penalty to separate the two teams. I thought we were on top in the second half, lots of the ball but unable to really break down their excellent defense, then the second goal went in and it killed the game.



Yes he has improved, he's breaking up play a lot more. He's understanding where he needs to be when we play out from the back. He makes mistakes, he's still finding his feet at this level. He made a couple of other runs forward with the ball where he did find one of our players. Its clear a run of games is helping him and he's starting to show signs that he can be a real player at this level.

They had three decent chances even before the penalty, all of which they squandered

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

They had three decent chances even before the penalty, all of which they squandered

Yes and it still took the penalty to separate the sides. We had the Enciso shot that Raya made a great save from and I think it was Moder who put one just wide. Arsenal edged the first half but not by much.

 

[Bozza]

They had three decent chances even before the penalty, all of which they squandered

Any of them may have been offside if reviewed by VAR. The east-side lino was on strike for most of the first half.

 

[Stat Brother]

Baleba is young, and only just 20, which for a central midfielder playing at this elite level is particularly young. At the same age Bissouma was in Lille reserves, Caicedo was playing for our U21s and MacAllister was at Argentinos Juniors (not even Seniors).
I think he was probably scouted as successor to Caicedo, and we weren’t really wanting to sell Caiceso until this summer at the earliest.

He’s got a lot of potential and I can see him being discovered by Liverpool in 2-3 seasons time.

It ain't rocket science.

There's not a single person on this entire planet, or being in the solar system, that knew The Chelse would pay £35,000,000 over their initial offer and £15,000,000 over the actual asking price, for Caicedo.

We ought not blame the club for that deal putting a bump in the road of our season.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

Any of them may have been offside if reviewed by VAR. The east-side lino was on strike for most of the first half.

When he finally did flag he only did so cause the ref was already giving offside. I’m sure they must have been told through their earpieces that they were letting too many offsides go.

 

[dazzer6666]

Death by 1000 half arsed performances against the bottom feeders has taken its toll.

Or death by 1000 negative posts

 

[Stat Brother]

Or death by 1000 negative posts

 

[Acker79]

Since New Years Day.

Was my instinctive answer to the question. No league goals in January. Buncha goals v weak flailing clubs in february before a run of defeats (without scoring). Now two league goals since late February, one of which was the Forest own goal.

Ferguson gets a lot of criticism for his goalless run, but the team as a whole have been struggling for goals (bar the odd exceptions against really weak teams, and I don't think we have any more of them this season)

 

[Weststander]

When significant injuries were announced, around New Year? ITK posters said they’d back mid Feb … sadly didn’t turn out that way.

 

[ewe2]

Aspirations for top half finish…..NOT top four !!

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I blame the jolly boys outing to Dubai

 

[Dave the OAP]

At the end of the day we have become victim of our success last season and our interpretation of Pep’s RDZ ball. If you watch every side ( including a lot of championship sides) do not have the goalie hoof the ball from a goal kick downfield! RDZ stopped us doing that, playing fantastic passing to get us downfield. We have been sussed ( look that little side in the south coast playing us off the park, we must change to their way and do it better with better players) and now we are pressed very high and it’s affected our game. Our passing game goes sideways and backwards a lot especially when the players we have cannot unlock premier defences. We have seen the all season long. And the game fizzes out.

We also have fans have to accept that our young squad was never going to match last season and the European games flattered us a bit in that we suddenly thought we were one of the best teams in the world when we beat marseilles as an example.

Missing mitoma and march has been pivotal and losing Enciso . Estupian, fati and then Milner and Gilmore for large parts has disrupted our dynamic. The youngsters we gave are not good enough yet to compete with the top 10 teams without the protection of Mac Allister and Caciedo.

I really do hope this current anti RDZ BS that is prevalent does not force him away from our club