[Albion] how good are we, actually?

[um bongo molongo]

Could go either way long term but plenty of positive signs. First half was very good tonight even with a much-changed team. I think elements of the style are fairly chaotic. Attack-wise, the press is so intense that the chaos seems deliberate. We try to exploit it quickly. Defensively, a high line/offside trap is always going to be nervy to watch. As well as poor passing out from the back I thought one issue second half was that we ended up playing that offside trap on the edge of our own box. Almost got punished for it. Hopefully when the line-up is more settled, we’ll have a calmer command of the game.

The introduction of the subs seemed to help us regain composure and some control.

I think the change of style is going to take fans a while to get used to as well. We have less control, and there is more chaos. But that also means (Saturday apart) we’ve looked very threatening and scored lots of goals

 

[um bongo molongo]

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

£183m in more Igors, Dahouds and Fatis and we’d be in a very bad place. Am very happy that TB told him to sling his hook we are trusting TBs recruitment methods again.

 

[dazzer6666]

Brand new manager with no experience in English football, mostly making do for now with the squad that was abject from February onwards last season, is unbeaten in all games despite some pretty tricky fixtures. I’d personally expected not much at all until perhaps Christmas given the circumstances and all the new signings - to be doing as we are now (limitations accepted) is brilliant. Also think Fab is a deep thinker and fast learner so as the new signings return to fitness and start to gel and he shapes a better idea of what his ultimate ’first XI’ looks like (we’re miles away from that at the moment imo) things will get even better. He also seems very tactically flexible, making in-game changes. I love watching the kind of organised chaos he favours, and it’ll be a nightmare for opposing managers to work out when it’s really fizzing. He’s also already turned Baleba into an undroppable beast on the last couple of showings.

 

[Triggaaar]

I think the change of style is going to take fans a while to get used to as well. We have less control, and there is more chaos.

That's a deliberate style

 

[timbha]

Brand new manager with no experience in English football, mostly making do for now with the squad that was abject from February onwards last season, is unbeaten in all games despite some pretty tricky fixtures. I’d personally expected not much at all until perhaps Christmas given the circumstances and all the new signings - to be doing as we are now (limitations accepted) is brilliant. Also think Fab is a deep thinker and fast learner so as the new signings return to fitness and start to gel and he shapes a better idea of what his ultimate ’first XI’ looks like (we’re miles away from that at the moment imo) things will get even better. He also seems very tactically flexible, making in-game changes. I love watching the kind of organised chaos he favours, and it’ll be a nightmare for opposing managers to work out when it’s really fizzing. He’s also already turned Baleba into an undroppable beast on the last couple of showings.

Good summary. The deeper we go in the Carabao cup the more chance he will have to learn about the fringe players, those returning from injury and the newer signings. He will also be looking at any gaps to be filled in January.
He’s a deep thinker, won’t bin players too early but won’t tolerate players not playing to his pattern/style.
The timing of the two goals conceded last time highlights a big difference in mentality between good and very good teams. Concentration and leadership was lacking last night

 

[dazzer6666]

Good summary. The deeper we go in the Carabao cup the more chance he will have to learn about the fringe players, those returning from injury and the newer signings. He will also be looking at any gaps to be filled in January.
He’s a deep thinker, won’t bin players too early but won’t tolerate players not playing to his pattern/style.
The timing of the two goals conceded last time highlights a big difference in mentality between good and very good teams. Concentration and leadership was lacking last night

Agree……Dunk and JPVH in the centre and that probably doesn’t happen.

 

[Triggaaar]

The deeper we go in the Carabao cup

Was it only for this round that the top 6 were given preferential treatment, or are they getting byes in the next round too?

 

[Simster]

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

I think we all know. He'd have wasted it, as he did on Ansu Fati and Igor. He'd then have moaned for six months that £183m wasn't enough.

As a coach, RDZ is very good - that season we finished 6th and a cup semi quite possibly won't be beaten, but RDZ is yesterday's man because he was a pain in the arse who was hard to work with.

FH needs patience but I think he'll be fine. Including off season, we are 11 unbeaten under him, now!

 

[el punal]

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 didn’t go to last night’s game so I can’t comment on the performance. I have been to three of our four league matches. My opinion is that we are still bedding in on tactics, style of play and team selection. With anything that’s new it takes time to become the finished article. What is promising is the abundance of talent that we now have and it’s showing. Early days I know but the results have gone our way - who would have predicted that after four games we’d be sixth in the table, no defeats and eights points from twelve. Okay, it’s fair to say that it takes ten games to assess a team’s true potential but as it stands we’re not doing too badly. There, that’s me with my glass half full of confidence for the future.

 

[Super Sub]

Didn’t we match Arsenal away?

When they went to 10 men, yes.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Was it only for this round that the top 6 were given preferential treatment, or are they getting byes in the next round too?

How can you expect these top 6 to maintain their dominance despite spending twice as much as everyone else, if they might have to risk difficult fixtures in order to get trophies?

Far better for the competition to ease them through to the final. It makes it much easier to market in Africa and the far east you know

 

[timbha]

How can you expect these top 6 to maintain their dominance despite spending twice as much as everyone else, if they might have to risk difficult fixtures in order to get trophies?

Far better for the competition to ease them through to the final. It makes it much easier to market in Africa and the far east you know

I expect the rules allow a re draw if they don’t get who and where they want to play, or a “top 6 override”

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

I expect the rules allow a re draw if they don’t get who and where they want to play, or a “top 6 override”

And it's right and proper that, that should happen

 

[Napper]

what is the new style . I can see tpressing high and seems a high line for offsides. Can't really say seeing anything really striking emerging ( have seen 3 moves of unbelievable one touch quality which maybe where we are heading though)

As someone else said , we might just end up a good team in a similar way to Brentford . Without the swagger of an RDZ team for example.

I'd say as it stand Potters + Rdz teams were easier on the eye.

If it's more effective though then perfect

 

[Change at Barnham]

It's chaotic and unpredictable in a good way that will always leave us vulnerable at the back.
Percentage wise I think we will get more points this way than under Potterball with it's slower more methodical style.

It's very exciting to watch, I enjoy it.

 

[Berty23]

When they went to 10 men, yes.

When they had 10 we battered them. Do people expect us to go and dominate. We had more possession than them first half. We had half as many shots (and one of their’s was yard offside so would not have counted) and they scored a pretty jammy goal when the ball hit Saka on the back and broke nicely.

 

[dazzer6666]

what is the new style . I can see tpressing high and seems a high line for offsides. Can't really say seeing anything really striking emerging ( have seen 3 moves of unbelievable one touch quality which maybe where we are heading though)

As someone else said , we might just end up a good team in a similar way to Brentford . Without the swagger of an RDZ team for example.

I'd say as it stand Potters + Rdz teams were easier on the eye.

If it's more effective though then perfect

Much quicker transition I think - moving the ball forward at pace, either with Baleba/others barrelling forward or pinging quick passes. More likely to go wrong as a result (higher risk) but more likely to create chances. Under DeZ it was more ‘controlled’, with seemingly almost every situation having a ‘drill’ that needed to be followed. Really interesting to see how this develops once the players we’ve signed to do this even better are fit/integrated.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Blown away by how quickly the new manager has understood the club and players. The back half of last season wasn't that great, so to hit this season running is a huge positive. We have shown we can compete with anyone in the PL already. Not sure there is anything negative at this point, even room for improvement is a positive.

 

[Mancgull]

I think the change of style is going to take fans a while to get used to as well. We have less control, and there is more chaos. But that also means (Saturday apart) we’ve looked very threatening and scored lots of goals

Yes, right from the start of the season I was disturbed by the lack of control we had compared to Potter and RDZ but I think this is all part of the way that Fabian wants to play. High pressing, quicker forward movement and responses from transitions.
Would like to see more control at times though.
He’ll have been fuming at the lack of response to the Wolves first goal. Looks like some of our midfielders and defenders were strolling back.

 

[Mancgull]

Blown away by how quickly the new manager has understood the club and players. The back half of last season wasn't that great, so to hit this season running is a huge positive. We have shown we can compete with anyone in the PL already. Not sure there is anything negative at this point, even room for improvement is a positive.

It is worth noting that our form for the last 15 games of last season was virtually relegation standard. So, we have seen improvement.