[Albion] how good are we, actually?

[Cotton Socks]

I said midtable, which would be the non-Europe places.

What’s your predicted final position this seasom?

Charity bet?

I think he was referring to you typing that you'd want an injury to Beleba & JPVH.

 

[Weststander]

I think he was referring to you typing that you'd want an injury to Beleba & JPVH.

Oh, typo.

Obviously meant praying that neither are out at all this season. Both incredible just now.

 

[Simster]

Webster is plenty good enough. Igor is truly dreadful.

Beat me to it. Nothing wrong with Webster as a squad player.

But as the OP suggests, we are flattering to deceive insofar as we have ridden our luck a bit. The sending off at Arsenal changed the game, we might have lost against Man Utd with worse luck, and we didn't look like breaking down lowly Ipswich for large parts of the game.

On the flip side, we've got some handy players on their way back and yet we've still not lost with the players who we are debating their worth in the squad.

 

[aftershavedave]

the most disappointing thing so far, despite some good results, is that we spent £200m and so far none of them have wowed, or played. hopefully that will change

 

[zefarelly]

I think it’s just hard to tell tbh. We’ve gotten the results but tbh, I’ve thought we’ve looked poor in most of the games bar Everton. The style isn’t that clear and the passing has been really poor as has a lot of the play at times.

These are things that can come right with time and practice, so it could just be early season issues, especially with such a lot of new players, who themselves are trying to get up to speed and learn.

I am glad fans are staying positive and backing the team because it’s still the best position we’ve ever been but I am not sure I agree with a lot of the calls that we look great and the players all look amazing and a cut above everyone else - nearly everyone out there is misplacing passes and making mistakes. I think we should recognise that too.

It looks like FH ball is sprint . . . Before we can all run together . . . It'll get there . . .

Our PL transition, post CH, reminds me of the dishwasher . . . . In every house there is someone who stacks it like a Swedish Architect, and someone who loads like a racoon on Chrystal meth.

There were a few little passages of play on Sat and this eve which made RDZ ball look positively pedestrian, Segued with calamitous school boy errors.

cut the latter out and fine tune the former and we'll be absolutely fine.

 

[Wardy's twin]

We are ok going forward and not very good at defending. Tonight we were carved open many times and my concern is the manager didn't seem to really notice this. Personally felt we needed to switch to 4 3 3 to re-establish control in midfield but i don't think the manager thinks that way.

 

[studio150]

Unbeaten and we still haven't started with what would be our starting eleven if everyone is fit. It is starting to come together, but believe that the time to make a better judgement would be after the next international break.

But the sign of a good team as they say is not losing when not playing well.

Lucky to progress tonight, as if Wolves had got to 2-2 they would have been the most likely winners, but onwrds.

 

[Shaktarman]

Too much negativity in this thread and very short memories. We’ve been overall superb for 3 seasons now in the premier league given we aren’t a big 6 club. This is the 4th season of that and still going along well. Some comments sound a bit spoilt & entitled for me.

 

[Terry Butcher Tribute Act]

I don't like the De Zerbi comparison but i understand the thread sentiment. I'll judge us a lot more when we've seen the side with Weiffer in it and had a run of games. I agree about being a little unsure on our style.

Main thing is there's enough in there to be encouraged about even if it hasn't quite clicked yet. It certainly took a few games of the RDZ era until we really knew what we were about and hopefully it's the same here.

 

[Weststander]

We are ok going forward and not very good at defending. Tonight we were carved open many times and my concern is the manager didn't seem to really notice this. Personally felt we needed to switch to 4 3 3 to re-establish control in midfield but i don't think the manager things that way.

In the Hurzeler tactics videos posted here this summer by @Zeberdi and latterly @Hugo Rune , from memory, when his team loses the ball and are countered into wide open space, it relies on several players with searing pace running back in tandem. The key is pace.

Definitely a work in progress for us. I expect it’ll be partlydealt with in the next transfer windows.

 

[Perry's Tracksuit Bottoms]

We're going to win the league

 

[American Seagle]

let me just say first off it’s been an excellent season results-wise. and obviously there’s the usual caveat about a new manager needing time, same with the new players.

i do think it is just worth mentioning, more out of curiosity than a moan, that to be honest, i really haven’t been that impressed with any of our performances so far. certainly not like we saw when RDZ took over from potter (although again there were a few dodgy performances early on). our buildup routines are mostly appalling, we look as defensively open as we did last season and saw against ipswich the same old issues of not being able to win against park-the-bus teams.

it’s absolutely nothing to worry about really, we got four points of arsenal and utd ffs, but it does leave me wondering if we are flattering to deceive a little?

I think we have looked way more defensively sound than under RDZ but not as solid as under Potter.

But it's only a few games in with a pretty new squad. So I wouldn't make any judgement yet.

 

[Uncle Spielberg]

Fabian is ok but if Roberto had a £ 183 000 000 backing who knows what he would have achieved. It is all about how young Fabian is, his test will come but he is far from the messiah atm

 

[Gazwag]

Thought we were piss poor in the first 20 mins vs Everton.

I agree and we played that way for double that time tonight

 

[pocketseagull]

Regarding style, for the majority of RDZ's time we not only played some incredible football, critics also couldn't stop heaping praise, other clubs were copying our tactics, we were being seen as pioneers, it was mental. Now I think we're just seen a good team but we've lost that bit of glamour. Maybe it'll return and can't argue with the results so far.

 

[SkirlieWirlie]

The new guys have hardly played, apart from Minteh (who is obvs very raw, but has loads of potential). Plus we've got a fair few players coming back from seriously long periods injured last season (Mitoma, Ferguson, Estupinan...). And - possibly most importantly - Fab is completely new to the Premier League. The difference between Bundesliga 2 and the EPL is HUGE. I'm amazed we've done this well (so far).

All of this. Very much a team that hadn't played together and few competitive minutes between them. Not withstanding some individual errors, it looked exactly what it was and we could/should have won comfortably with the quality we had on the pitch. Just needs time...

 

[Hugo Rune]

Without Van Hecke, Veltman and Verbruggen (who I like to call the 3 Dutch Vs), I think we’re pretty average in defence. Luckily, they are currently permanent fixtures in the Premier League. Our problems may start if they pick up injuries.

 

[dazzer6666]

Fabian is ok but if Roberto had a £ 183 000 000 backing who knows what he would have achieved. It is all about how young Fabian is, his test will come but he is far from the messiah atm

Roberto would have bought 3 x 60m players in January, all in their late 20s and probably with question over their private lives, and still left within a year anyway leaving us with the mess……

 

[Bodian]

Regarding style, for the majority of RDZ's time we not only played some incredible football, critics also couldn't stop heaping praise, other clubs were copying our tactics, we were being seen as pioneers, it was mental. Now I think we're just seen a good team but we've lost that bit of glamour. Maybe it'll return and can't argue with the results so far.

Weird isn't it. Unbeaten, yet feels as though we are an 'ordinary good team' instead of 'something special' like at this time last season.

 

[Bring back Bryan wade!!]

Webster is plenty good enough. Igor is truly dreadful.

Thought Webster was poor today.