[Albion] Mr Potter has got to sort out his blind spot or else...

[andy1980]

For along time I have thought he isn't the person to take us to the top 10. Today was the day he could have made me doubt that. A potential banana skin that if he guided us through meant we could be safe. Instead I feel more strongly than ever that I'm right. Many times I have heard the saying a squad will take you so far but a good manager will get you a few extra places up the table. I don't think Potter gets us any further up the table than our squad deserves to be. Pretty football though and apparently thats what matters.

 

[big nuts]

Its more than that.
We have little or no quality around the edge of the box or from set pieces. We seem to think that its a numbers game and the more balls we play into the box, surely we are going to get on the end of something. Wrong. Its quality needed not quantity. Poor ball after poor ball tonight. Easily defended. No real variety, nothing really clever or inventive. An unbalanced side. Decent at the back and through midfield but poor at this level in the final third. All the attractive approach play is wasted.

Ali J put in two superb crosses, both missed by strikers either off form or slow of the mark. Bissouma slid a great ball into Maupay but his first touch made it easier for the keeper, who in fairness made a great save.

I’m with you on set pieces, but goals change games and without a decent striker we really make it difficult for ourselves.

 

[Albion Dan]

... he'll never move beyond bottom 6.

He can be as creative as he wants but all the time his team is required to be an attractive ball playing side but is also completely ineffective against a well organized low blocking team, he's going nowhere.


Cry all you want about 'just needing a striker' but far too many times, in his tenure here, any one of us could have played in goal for the opposition and still not conceded.

Tonight it took less than 10 minutes for all but 3 of us to know EXACTLY how the game was going to pan out.
That just isn't good enough.

4 points from 18 from the bottom three is all you need to see. A criminal return with our squad. One bad game would be understandable. Two or three possibly bad luck. But SiX. SIX. Six is way beyond statistical relevance and a damning indictment on ineffective management. No defence.

 

[Pavilionaire]

I don't see that 2020/21s Welbeck, Maupay, Connolly, Trossard are any better than 2017/18s Murray, Hemed, Baldock and Knockaert.

 

[Albion Dan]

And this thread started so well. How sad.

"Potter out. Sack the board. Burn the Amex. Just get rid, Rid, RID!!!!!!"

And.....exhale

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

... he'll never move beyond bottom 6.

He can be as creative as he wants but all the time his team is required to be an attractive ball playing side but is also completely ineffective against a well organized low blocking team, he's going nowhere.


Cry all you want about 'just needing a striker' but far too many times, in his tenure here, any one of us could have played in goal for the opposition and still not conceded.

Tonight it took less than 10 minutes for all but 3 of us to know EXACTLY how the game was going to pan out.
That just isn't good enough.

What is the alternative to the low block? Not be as good in possession?

I’d be interested to know what you think the tactical alternative is?

Personally, I don’t think our tactics are wrong but we sometimes play too slowly. I’ve just said in another post Trossard, Gross and Moder all got subbed - my assumption is for not following instructions and playing the ball to slowly - you don’t generally sub players who are doing what you want.

The solution against the low block is possession through the lines of your team to suck opposition players out of position. We did that okay, but you’d be blind not to accept we lack real quality in the final third.

I looked at McGoldrick’s contribution, not just his goal, but generally, he was more effective than Welbeck and Maupay rolled into one.

 

[Stat Brother]

4 points from 18 from the bottom three is all you need to see. A criminal return with our squad. One bad game would be understandable. Two or three possibly bad luck. But SiX. SIX. Six is way beyond statistical relevance and a damning indictment on ineffective management. No defence.

What will happen next season (assuming we are still an EPL side) is the really good teams will sit back.

We'll be told it's impressive, what an honour, such kudos it is that Liverpool Utd et al water down their attacking intent when facing the mighty Albion as they also walk off the pitch winning 1-0, thankful it didn't require too much effort.

 

[redoubtable seagull]

When your top goal scorer misses a sitter from 6 yards out because he can’t angle his foot correctly then you’re always going to struggle. Murray in his pomp would have scored 2 or 3 of Maupays misses. Plus we have no striker it seems capable of scoring with his head which limits your attacking options a bit.

 

[A1X]

What is the alternative to the low block? Not be as good in possession?

I’d be interested to know what you think the tactical alternative is?

Personally, I think we badly lack pace. It's no coincidence we looked a lot better when Izquierdo and Jahanbakhsh came on to actually run at players, and they got more joy than arguably anyone else. March provided some but is obviously now out, Lamptey the same.

 

[Stat Brother]

What is the alternative to the low block? Not be as good in possession?

I’d be interested to know what you think the tactical alternative is?

Personally, I don’t think our tactics are wrong but we sometimes play too slowly. I’ve just said in another post Trossard, Gross and Moder all got subbed - my assumption is for not following instructions and playing the ball to slowly - you don’t generally sub players who are doing what you want.

The solution against the low block is possession through the lines of your team to suck opposition players out of position. We did that okay, but you’d be blind not to accept we lack real quality in the final third.

I looked at McGoldrick’s contribution, not just his goal, but generally, he was more effective than Welbeck and Maupay rolled into one.

The tactical alternative is to think:-

'Oh blimey it's happening again, this time we need to do something different'.


I'm not being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to know what that something different is, but I do know what is the definition of stupidity.

For all I know the answer is put Dunk up front, have 2 players hugging each touch line while everyone else backs off a little bit.
Anything, absolutely anything has be better than thinking that team playing that way will eventually score, while 1-0 down.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

Tonight just reminds us how far the players and manager have still got to go. We are a bottom six side because we still give the ball away too much and as is obvious, lack a cutting edge. After the little flurry against Saints and Newcastle, its normal service resumed again, with one goal and no wins in the last four games. We are going to struggle to beat last season's points total now and Potter has a lot of work to do to prevent a limp and worrying finish.

 

[JC Footy Genius]

If we had more clinical strikers we would be comfortably mid-table, fact ...

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

The tactical alternative is to think:-

'Oh blimey it's happening again, this time we need to do something different'.


I'm not being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to know what that something different is, but I do know what is the definition of stupidity.

For all I know the answer is put Dunk up front, have 2 players hugging each touch line while everyone else backs off a little bit.
Anything, absolutely anything has be better than thinking that team playing that way will eventually score, while 1-0 down.

Perhaps you have a blind spot for noticing the various tactics, formations and flexibility we’ve shown across the season to try to get results?

You seem to be suggesting that the definition of stupidity is trying the same thing, however if a criticism could be levelled at Potter, it isn’t that he tries the same things game in game out.

 

[Mo Gosfield]

For along time I have thought he isn't the person to take us to the top 10. Today was the day he could have made me doubt that. A potential banana skin that if he guided us through meant we could be safe. Instead I feel more strongly than ever that I'm right. Many times I have heard the saying a squad will take you so far but a good manager will get you a few extra places up the table. I don't think Potter gets us any further up the table than our squad deserves to be. Pretty football though and apparently thats what matters.

I am waiting for him to show us that he has more to his locker than just setting up a one dimensional, attractive style of play. Football history is full of the young potential manager, who talks well, apparently studies the game and thinks deeply about it. The quietly spoken, forward thinkers who, more often than not, fail to deliver because they fail to master the basics and fail to remember that it is a simple game.
I am prepared to wait a little longer but he is two seasons in now and I am worried that some of the same failings have not been rectified. He needs a decent finish to the season rather than a limp, crawl over the line.

 

[Ethelwulf]

And here lies the problem. Potter is never going to change

 

[Mo Gosfield]

If we had more clinical strikers we would be comfortably mid-table, fact ...

Does a complete lack of goals from midfield come into the equation?

 

[Mo Gosfield]

And here lies the problem. Potter is never going to change

Then we won't progress.

 

[Stat Brother]

Perhaps you have a blind spot for noticing the various tactics, formations and flexibility we’ve shown across the season to try to get results?

You seem to be suggesting that the definition of stupidity is trying the same thing, however if a criticism could be levelled at Potter, it isn’t that he tries the same things game in game out.

Partly due to inheritance and partly due to financial restrictions, GPott has a very similar squad.

Now when it works, it's brilliant.
Having like for like replacements of nice, pretty, combative, skillful players means an already beaten side has no let up.
Another bonus is the depth of the similar squad is less prone to an injury 'crisis' that pretty much guarantees loses, such as all Newcastle's loses without Wilson and Saint Maximum.


But there are so many games, like tonight, where all the manager is doing is rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic, hence the thread.
He needs a big red button and occasionally, 5-10 times a season, he needs to push it.

 

[JC Footy Genius]

Does a complete lack of goals from midfield come into the equation?

On the margins but strikers are the ones paid to score the goals, Maupay (Effort and character but clearly Championship Standard), Wellbeck (glimpses of quality but past his prime), Connelly (way too young and inexperienced) aren't going to be good enough to sustain us next season.

 

[andy1980]

I am waiting for him to show us that he has more to his locker than just setting up a one dimensional, attractive style of play. Football history is full of the young potential manager, who talks well, apparently studies the game and thinks deeply about it. The quietly spoken, forward thinkers who, more often than not, fail to deliver because they fail to master the basics and fail to remember that it is a simple game.
I am prepared to wait a little longer but he is two seasons in now and I am worried that some of the same failings have not been rectified. He needs a decent finish to the season rather than a limp, crawl over the line.

I can't see us having a decent finish. I can see us drawing a few, and we have enough points but I don't think he knows how to win games. The trouble is most fans are blinded by the fact we play decent football. If you read the accounts Tony writes our primary objective is to stay in the Premier League. We have done this, but under Potter I can;t see us doing anything more than that, and thats because we have the squad good enough to do that.