[Albion] Is it the manager, or is it recruitment?

[deslynhamsmoustache1]

It’s a combination.
Our recruitment was terrible when we got promoted - Locadia, Bernardo, AJ etc. Since then it’s been patchy.
That would hinder any manager.
Potter has inherited some gooduns though, and hasn’t got the best out of them.
And some players have got worse.
He’s made big calls on Andone, Connolly, Ryan, Webster etc - Either putting faith in them or axing them - and none of them have really worked out.
It all points towards relegation. Not so much because of our place in the table but the direction of travel. We are unravelling, others are getting stronger.
A change of manager MIGHT get us over the line. Linkewise a big money striker.
It’s all rather late in the day though.
The best thing that can happen is that we do business in January. No excuses. Keep Potter. Gamble on buying a decent striker. Don’t ask me who. Ask the army of recruiters whose job it is to identify talent.
Some advice for Tony - Dont listen to the guy who came up with AJ and Locadia.

This in spadefuls. Get rid of the rubbish, yes we take a massive hit on saleable value but gets them out of the club and off the wage bill. Barnardo, Ryan ,AJ plus Locardia got to be over 100k a week in wages would pay for the new big mans upfront.

 

[Lethargic]

Could there be something in the Sussex air?
Pretty much every other Premier League team plays with pace across the team we don't and we play like a collection of ex-players seeing out their days in a Sussex care home. This is not a new thing it has been constant across the last (insert number) of seasons.

Alternatively does the high level of sunlight in Sussex cause the players to tire quicker?

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[Springal]

This in spadefuls. Get rid of the rubbish, yes we take a massive hit on saleable value but gets them out of the club and off the wage bill. Barnardo, Ryan ,AJ plus Locardia got to be over 100k a week in wages would pay for the new big mans upfront.

So spend millions / tens of millions to get rid of players, to then spend £30M on a striker and £100k a week on his wages. Also disrupting harmony of the squad when most of the others are on less than half of that

 

[chaileyjem]

So why have we not improved in 4 seasons?

10 years ago
2010/11: L1 champions

5 years ago
2014/15 : 20th in the Championship

Last 4 years Premier League:
17/18 : 15th - 40 points
18/19: 17th - 36 points
19/20: 15th - 41 points

so far - we've stayed in the division, last season was our best finish in the top flight for 40 years - this season has 24 games to go and currently we are 16th and will be 15th if we win our next match.

PS: 1 year ago - last game before xmas
0-1 (H) v Sheffield United

 

[Milano]

January, one word - Origi. 6 months left on his contract so will not cost loads, he’s not on £100k a week either. Proven in this league, quick, can finish. Is he top 4 standard, probably not quite, is he top 10 I’d say definitely. It’s a no brainer for me it would be a big upgrade on what we have here.
This is our last chance to sort this out or we’re heading back down.

 

[sydney]

Maybe we should use all of the next transfer budget on a striker alone.

i think we have a decent enough squad , we're just a bunch of ponces......show ponies if you will or posers ......if there were to be an all in brawl between pl squads we would be the first team out , soft as babies derriere.....

 

[Seasider78]

Having gone to the game yesterday, it is startling how gun-shy we are in front of goal. The ball is endlessly passed around the edge of the box, and fed to the wing back. Cross comes in, ball is cleared and repeat. The stats for yesterday seem to back up that impression. We seem very low on confidence. And a lot of players are under-performing, compared with last season.

That's primarily down to the coach (and the senior players).

Reminds me a bit of end of Hughtons reign when we lost our ability to break quickly so were left trying to pass our way through two banks of 4 without the quality of player who can actually do that. No coincidence our convincing win against Newcastle featured two counter attacking goals at pace.

Far too slow from back to front these days

 

[Acker79]

currently we are 16th and will be 15th if we win our next match.

You write that as if it's a fact.

Burnley are two points below us, with two games in hand. They play twice before we next kick a ball (Wolves and Leeds). Arsenal, currently 15th also have a game before we next play (v chelsea). We could be stuck in 17th with 4 points to 16th the next time we play. Fulham play before us, too (v Southampton). We could be in 18th place before we next kick off, in that situation a win would help us move into 17th.

 

[RandyWanger]

Recruitment

 

[willalbion]

i think we have a decent enough squad , we're just a bunch of ponces......show ponies if you will or posers ......if there were to be an all in brawl between pl squads we would be the first team out , soft as babies derriere.....

I kind of agree with this, who would you want on your side in a bar room brawl? Sanchez, Dunk, Maupay (if he rediscovers his mojo), Lamptey (only because he never stops/gives up) Biss maybe? That's about it I think

 

[Simster]

Recruitment. They clearly haven't got a clue when it comes to identifying goal scorers at reasonable prices.

 

[zefarelly]

Both.

My thoughts entirely

we've gambled on bargain players, over invested on others who've not shown 'value' for the investment

equally we're not playing to many of our players strengths

I think GP would do better at say Arsenal, with players who have the ability to do what he would like to see . . .but GP isn't capable of getting the best performances nor any results from the standard of players we have.

we're a better squad than any of the Allardyce type managers. but we're not going to attract a top manager.

 

[chaileyjem]

You write that as if it's a fact.

Burnley are two points below us, with two games in hand. They play twice before we next kick a ball (Wolves and Leeds). Arsenal, currently 15th also have a game before we next play (v chelsea). We could be stuck in 17th with 4 points to 16th the next time we play. Fulham play before us, too (v Southampton). We could be in 18th place before we next kick off, in that situation a win would help us move into 17th.

we're in a scrap. i know it. everyone knows it and yesterday was grim - although we did get a point.
to be fair we keep thinking burnley, west brom, sheff utd and fulham (and arsenal) will pick up lots of points. and they don't.

 

[willalbion]

Bookies still have us as 6th favourites to go down.

 

[Beanstalk]

Recruitment. They clearly haven't got a clue when it comes to identifying goal scorers at reasonable prices.

Whilst it is easy to blame recruitment, they did identify two (three if you include the reports of Edouard) strikers to buy that are killing it this season. Darwin Núñez has got 5 in 5 in the Europa League. Boulaye Dia is the second top scorer in Ligue Un behind Kylian Mbappe. The recruitment team clearly thought that these players would improve the team and now, almost halfway through the season, they have been proven damningly correct. Ultimately, we didn't stump up enough money for Dia and we didn't do enough to convince Núñez that we'd be a better option than Benfica. It's hard to blame Winstanley for those.

Regardless, it is Potter's job to make the best of the team in front of him. Apart from Trossard (who should probably be counted as a forward) our midfield scored 6 goals (non-penalties) last year. 15% of our total and a goal less than our defenders. This year it is 2 goals from midfield (non-penalties). If we continue at the pace we have set so far, they are set for 4.75 goals (lets call it 5). That is a worsening of a problem area for the team. If he can't get the strikers to score, he needs to find another way to score goals. He hasn't.

 

[sydney]

reading above ....we are in a scrap for sure ...12 points thrown away this season through being pony , not very good or even shyte.

 

[Acker79]

we're in a scrap. i know it. everyone knows it and yesterday was grim - although we did get a point.
to be fair we keep thinking burnley, west brom, sheff utd and fulham (and arsenal) will pick up lots of points. and they don't.

Points won in the last five games
Brighton: 3 pts
Burnley: 8 pts
Fulham: 6 pts

They are closing the gap.

(edit: five games not six, misread the table I was taking it from)

 

[blue-shifted]

Whilst it is easy to blame recruitment, they did identify two (three if you include the reports of Edouard) strikers to buy that are killing it this season. Darwin Núñez has got 5 in 5 in the Europa League. Boulaye Dia is the second top scorer in Ligue Un behind Kylian Mbappe. The recruitment team clearly thought that these players would improve the team and now, almost halfway through the season, they have been proven damningly correct. Ultimately, we didn't stump up enough money for Dia and we didn't do enough to convince Núñez that we'd be a better option than Benfica. It's hard to blame Winstanley for those.

Regardless, it is Potter's job to make the best of the team in front of him. Apart from Trossard (who should probably be counted as a forward) our midfield scored 6 goals (non-penalties) last year. 15% of our total and a goal less than our defenders. This year it is 2 goals from midfield (non-penalties). If we continue at the pace we have set so far, they are set for 4.75 goals (lets call it 5). That is a worsening of a problem area for the team. If he can't get the strikers to score, he needs to find another way to score goals. He hasn't.

This is correct

The recruitment team found players who have gone on to do well.

We chose not to pay market rate. Villa and Newcastle did and have overtaken us.

Anyone who is blaming recruitment is actually blaming Tony Bloom. He is the one who wasn't convinced enough to sign the cheque. Easier to have a go at the much more nebulous department of recruitment though isn't it. It makes you sound like less of a spoilt brat. ie "Ie want a new stadium, cat 1 academy and a £30m and £120k pw week striker"

 

[Beanstalk]

This is correct

The recruitment team found players who have gone on to do well.

We chose not to pay market rate. Villa and Newcastle did and have overtaken us.

Anyone who is blaming recruitment is actually blaming Tony Bloom. He is the one who wasn't convinced enough to sign the cheque. Easier to have a go at the much more nebulous department of recruitment though isn't it. It makes you sound like less of a spoilt brat. ie "Ie want a new stadium, cat 1 academy and a £30m and £120k pw week striker"

Yes, you're absolutely right.

However, the club have regularly said that we make transfer decisions by committee.

“We would work off of a traffic light system; the recruitment department have got to like the player; the player has got to stack up on data and numbers like the contract and if we can afford him; and the first team manager has got to like the player. If all three things get the green light, then we’ll go ahead. If one is orange, then we need to have a discussion “ Dan Ashworth

Ultimately, if you don't like our lack of substantial recruitment up top, its Bloom, (presumably) Barber, Ashworth and Potter you have a problem with, as clearly the two players I mentioned got past the first step of the recruitment department liking the player.

 

[herecomesaregular]

Both of course.

- recruitment: we seek too much "value". This can work out ok for all positions except striker. For a striker there is so much other interest that in the end you have to take a punt on someone because they will always be over priced. Tony doesn't like over priced however, hence we have had a striker issue for several (many) years now.

- manager: there's a lot to like about Potter and I still think, nay hope, he will do well for us. But it still lingers that he's oh-so-smart with his desire to be very tactically adaptable to change both game by game and during games. And most footballers are a bit thick and like stability and playing the same way/keep it simple. For me, this is most likely his undoing and our biggest issue.