[Albion] Is Mr Potter, Chris Hughton II...

[Nobby Cybergoat]

A stack of Amex draws and losses, we were incredibly low scoring, with a triangle of tedious passes between the goalie, Greer and El-Abd. Away teams came with deckchairs for their CB's.

Great that we've left all that in the past

 

[Weststander]

Great that we've left all that in the past

Against Championship opposition. Not the EPL of mega-money/decent players/shrewd coaches.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Against Championship opposition. Not the EPL of mega-money/decent players/shrewd coaches.

Against Championship opposition yes, but we had Championship players ourselves. Many came up from League 1 of course.

And we can't have had that many home draws and losses in the Championship, we made the play offs twice

 

[Bold Seagull]

Well, it's difficult to compare apples to apples...

But Poyet took us from the bottom of League 1 to the brink of the PL.

Potter took us from lower PL to... lower PL.

Obviously, it's not that black and white. But that's why for me, Poyet is ahead of Potter.

Given all the teams that have been relegated since we've been in the PL, I do find it hard to comprehend that 3 years of PL survival on a budget that let's face it could see you go down at anytime, is not seen as any kind of achievement. Just lower PL to lower PL. A manager that does well in League One, then fails in the Championship that is somehow a greater achievement than sustaining your position in the top flight against teams with squads worth over a billion. Nigel Adkins did well in league one!

Poyet's 2 full seasons in the Championship doesn't stand up to Hughton's either, so how is he even ahead of Chris Hughton let alone Potter?

 

[Weststander]

Against Championship opposition yes, but we had Championship players ourselves. Many came up from League 1 of course.

And we can't have had that many home draws and losses in the Championship, we made the play offs twice

FWIW I'm bored by most Amex games this season, I now go infrequently.

I'd love GP to look at a counter attacking game. Wolves and CP play this. Shore up the defence, with pace/guile in the forwards.

The problem for us in the EPL is that virtually only Liverpool (and naively Watford ) throw everyone forward. The rest wait to pick us off on the counter, even Howe's Newcastle and they all do.

 

[Bold Seagull]

FWIW I'm bored by most Amex games this season, I now go infrequently.

I'd love GP to look at a counter attacking game. Wolves and CP play this. Shore up the defence, with pace/guile in the forwards.

The problem for us in the EPL is that virtually only Liverpool (and naively Watford ) throw everyone forward. The rest wait to pick us off on the counter, even Howe's Newcastle and they all do.

You're going to suck Stat-man back into thread with thoughts of 'shoring up the defence' Hughton-esque - Wolves are just that with better attackers that finish the few chances they create.

 

[JBizzle]

How he didn’t get that title winning side up in those 2 years is anyone’s guess. We were better and more consistent than Southampton, and somehow they went up automatically that first season and we barely scrapped 10th. We were all wrapped up in shiny new stadium but that was a huge failure on the momentum and belief we had, and all because he didn’t rate Murray and couldn’t keep a front line together that destroyed everyone in front of it.

You said it yourself: he binned off our best striker (by miles) who suited Poyet's system to a tee, then replaced him with a completely different type of striker and refused to change the system to make the best of his abilities. Madness

 

[Icy Gull]

I don't know why you keep suggesting I wasn't at the games. For reference, I was at the majority of home and away games.

You have some strange revisionism going on, seemingly based on your dislike of Poyet's personality.

Weirdo, you live in Toronto, seems reasonable to ask if you were there. I guess you are also going tonight then?

No revisionism either, if you care to check back I was posting how pissed off I was with Poyet’s touting for a couple of years before he left. I was called needy, still am as it happens

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

You said it yourself: he binned off our best striker (by miles) who suited Poyet's system to a tee, then replaced him with a completely different type of striker and refused to change the system to make the best of his abilities. Madness

I believe it's been mentioned at some point on NSC that Murray's contract came to an end. The club offered him a new one. He chose a better offer.

 

[Acker79]

Seems a few people here are showing quite the sense of entitlement about our early Championship run with Poyet.

 

[albionalex]

Weirdo, you live in Toronto, seems reasonable to ask if you were there. I guess you are also going tonight then?

No revisionism either, if you care to check back I was posting how pissed off I was with Poyet’s touting for a couple of years before he left. I was called needy, still am as it happens

I guess it's impossible that people live in different places during their life. I won't be there but I'll be watching

I don't disagree with you about Poyet's personality. Just with your assessment of the job that he did.

 

[albionalex]

Given all the teams that have been relegated since we've been in the PL, I do find it hard to comprehend that 3 years of PL survival on a budget that let's face it could see you go down at anytime, is not seen as any kind of achievement. Just lower PL to lower PL. A manager that does well in League One, then fails in the Championship that is somehow a greater achievement than sustaining your position in the top flight against teams with squads worth over a billion. Nigel Adkins did well in league one!

Poyet's 2 full seasons in the Championship doesn't stand up to Hughton's either, so how is he even ahead of Chris Hughton let alone Potter?

I didn't say it's not an achievement.

Just personally, I think what Poyet did is more of an achievement.

And I never said Poyet was ahead of Hughton.

 

[Springal]

I believe it's been mentioned at some point on NSC that Murray's contract came to an end. The club offered him a new one. He chose a better offer.

Allegedly salary was the same or minimal increase. I actually have a bit of insight here - but partly down to Ken Brown- budgets were set in 2 pots 'Transfer Fees' 'Wages' and the 2 could not move around. We probably could have met Murrays demands by taking some out of the transfer fee pot and allocating it into wages / signing on fee, but wouldn't budge. Perhaps if Poyet had really pushed it might have happened but he didn't

 

[albionalex]

A stack of Amex draws and losses, we were incredibly low scoring, with a triangle of tedious passes between the goalie, Dunk and Veltman. Away teams came with deckchairs for their CB's.

Fixed

 

[Machiavelli]

Sorry, but he just hasn't. He's never had a reliable competent goalscorer, and the club sold his only two centre backs with any pace and chose not to replace them. You can argue that where we are three years on from his appointment is fairly underwhelming, we've had the same problems season after season, so although I disagree with that I do see where you are coming from. However with the squad we have I'm not sure that most managers would be doing massively better

While I agree with your overall assessment of GP and what has been made available to him, I'll quibble with your player assessment. Maupay is a decent goalscorer at this level (check out the returns of those outside the top six if you don't believe me) and, when fit, Welbeck is a good striker too. It's the lack of options that's the problem squad-wise.
As to CBs, Webster is the quickest, who is still with us, then White, followed by Veltman. Burn might catch up with Velts but generally needs a few yards to get his long legs into gear. At least you don't think Dunk is quick, which I've been told on numerous occasions on here.

 

[Stat Brother]

You're going to suck Stat-man back into thread with thoughts of 'shoring up the defence' Hughton-esque - Wolves are just that with better attackers that finish the few chances they create.

Nah not the intention of the thread.

 

[Machiavelli]

You're going to suck Stat-man back into thread with thoughts of 'shoring up the defence' Hughton-esque - Wolves are just that with better attackers that finish the few chances they create.

Wolves have a quite brilliant handful of strikers -- Jimenez, Podence, Neto, Hwang especially -- and they also have two CMs that can score from the edge of the box. They're looking very good this season. They've just got a better squad than us. We need to up our number of forwards/attacking players -- one very high quality, perhaps even two to go with Undav (especially considering we may well lose at least one). Our midfielders need to start chipping in with goals, as Neves and Moutinho do.

 

[albionalex]

How he didn’t get that title winning side up in those 2 years is anyone’s guess. We were better and more consistent than Southampton, and somehow they went up automatically that first season and we barely scrapped 10th. We were all wrapped up in shiny new stadium but that was a huge failure on the momentum and belief we had, and all because he didn’t rate Murray and couldn’t keep a front line together that destroyed everyone in front of it.

Our squad in our first year was comprised of mainly League 1 players (and I include CMS in that). Even Taricco played a number of matches iirc.

Southampton had Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Schneiderlin, José Fonte and Jack Cork, all of who ended up having long careers in the PL.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Allegedly salary was the same or minimal increase. I actually have a bit of insight here - but partly down to Ken Brown- budgets were set in 2 pots 'Transfer Fees' 'Wages' and the 2 could not move around. We probably could have met Murrays demands by taking some out of the transfer fee pot and allocating it into wages / signing on fee, but wouldn't budge. Perhaps if Poyet had really pushed it might have happened but he didn't

Yes, I think the club have gone on record by saying this, from memory at a fans forum. Poyet also was on record many times saying he wanted Muzza to stay, why wouldn't he?

Even if we had shunted money around between the pots and covered the signing on fee he was getting at Palace, there is no guaranteed Muzza would have stayed. It's a possibility, nothing more

Just wanted to correct the previous poster that Poyet, did not bin off Murray. Whether he could have more out of CMS? Again, it's been documented to death, but my view it was the injury that did for him, rather than the manager.

 

[Weststander]

You're going to suck Stat-man back into thread with thoughts of 'shoring up the defence' Hughton-esque - Wolves are just that with better attackers that finish the few chances they create.

I read analysis about the Wolves defence a while back. Every great results seems to involve a constant back 3 of Kilman-Coady-Saiss. I think Coady's an outstanding top flight CB and organiser. Giving them a great bedrock, for everyone else in front of them to perform.

Lage simply sticks to a back 3 in every game, giving the goalie and the back 3 certainty. Just 23 goals conceded is outstanding.

I suppose our perfect back 3 would be Veltman-Webster-Dunk. Assuming?? that Potter would stick to that, he's been unlucky with injuries.