[Football] Potter [NOT] at Chelsea

[jackalbion]

The biggest shame in all this is that we’ll never know what GP would have achieved had he stayed, we don’t really know if what is happening under RDZ would have happened anyway.
I do wonder if GP might also ponder this from time to time?

Probably will in the queue for the Job Centre Plus in the next few months

 

[Swansman]

I agree his work with Ostersunds was very very good, but I think we all suffer from delusions in football, and now he’s no longer with Brighton I can stop being deluded with the idea that he was a genius. Pretending his first two seasons with Brighton were highly successful would be incorrect and his time at Swansea was instantly out done by Cooper within a year. Getting us 9th was impressive and leaving us at 4th was also pretty decent but he had a chance to do something genuinely special with us, but he chose to not be highly successful with Chelsea.

Depends on what you mean with highly successful, I suppose. Managed to achieve everything he was supposed to do... with close to a £0 net spend. Not saying its a fantastic accomplishment - just that no one else has accomplished it.

Yup, a stronger Swansea did manage to hoofball themselves into a better position with Steve Cooper. He's a good manager (albeit a destructive one) and had better and more players to his disposal.

He did chose to go to Chelsea, yes. If they or another team with gigantic resources come for De Zerbi... prepare to be taught a disappointing lesson how the world functions.

 

[BadFish]

Swansea season: no one in their right mind thought Swansea could come 10th, in fact after the transfer window closed many Swansea fans thought they'd do a Sunderland and finish in the bottom and get relegated. So, minimum expectation according to who exactly?

Brighton season 1: you tell me what the team looked like in CHs final six months... GP gets the job with the mission to keep the team up, change team the style of football and make use of the academy. Plenty of pundits and people here thinks the team will get relegated: it doesn't.

Brighton season 2: ambition is to get closer to the top 10, continue developing the style of play, continue to introduce academy players. While the points tally isn't much better than in season 1, the performances certainly are on an entirely different level, and by nearly every metric - aside from putting the f***ing ball in the net - Brighton is a top 6 team performing at a level that has not been repeated before or after. Despite the miniscule improvement in regards of points, the team has taken very far steps forward

Brighton season 3: the aim is top 10, TB says before the season. Style of play is already good enough going into the season, as is the youth development. However, despite decent results, the quality of football is poor until December and it looks worrying, but additional edge is added when Alexis has bulked up by January. Some poor/very poor results follow in February/March but by the end of the season, quality of football is top notch, targeted league position is reached and development of youths keeps progressing

Four seasons in football, reaching and sometimes exceeding the aims aside from two aspects (points/position in Brighton s2, and quality of football for a number of months in s3). Perfect? No. But far better than most other managers who on average fail to reach ANY of their clubs ambitions and get sacked within 2 years.

All of this in sometimes dire/poor conditions (dire: Swansea season with like 10 proven first team players, Brighton season 1 with a slightly boosted team compared to the one that had done f*** all of use in the Pl for 6 months, poor: Brighton season 2 when covid had ripped the economy apart and prevented the club from really being able to rebuild).

All points to successful to me. Highly successful not so much IMHO. The potential has always been there but he hasn't stuck around anywhere in England long enough the realise it.

 

[GT49er]

It's all Potter, Potter, Potter at the moment - but is that really the problem (apart from overpaid self-styled superstars who consideer themselves above working for a manager who isn't foreign, ex[pensive and famous (and covered in glitter))?

Surely the big ball's now in the court of Winstanley and Potter's recrutment guru that he took with him. And, just to stir the pond a little more, how are two superstar GKs reacting to a mainly lower league (good as he was) GK coaching them? Are they ignoring him too?

 

[dwayne]

The revisionism from some on this thread (and the others like it) is incredible.

You know we were 4th when he left, right? Average achievement? Really?

You're either on a wind-up, or really stupid.
Perhaps both?

Just managed to stay up twice which swanners has us believing is some kind of miracle. When the bookies in both seasons didn't fancy us to drop. So he made par. Yes the second season we had an amazing xg and played good football at times. But ultimately we just finished above relegation. He hardly set the world on fire.

Last season was dire at times until he brought caciedo into the team and then it clicked. Great end to season. But that's because of the team at his disposal. Brightons recruitment team had bought brilliantly, as swanners keeps telling us.

And yes this season, we had an easy start but there's no doubt we were on fire. Which has now been improved upon by zerbi.

Don't get me wrong I would have like to have kept potter at the time. He had a project. Things had turned around.

And how about that crazy star where we won 1 home game in a calendar year or something ridiculous

let's not kid ourselves he was far from highly successful.

 

[Swansman]

All points to successful to me. Highly successful not so much IMHO. The potential has always been there but he hasn't stuck around anywhere in England long enough the realise it.

Well, all depends on how you see it... not exactly a clear line between "successful" and "highly successful". By normal job standards I'd agree it was just successful. In the PL where the average lifespan of a manager is 18 months due to perceived failures, "just" successful is arguably a highly successful thing to be.

 

[GT49er]

I reckon Boehly's own pride is the only thing keeping Potter in a job at this point. Sack him and he admits an almighty f***-up.

Probably better to pay off Aubamyang (sp?) and admit an even bigger mistake.......

 

[GT49er]

Just managed to stay up twice which swanners has us believing is some kind of miracle. When the bookies in both seasons didn't fancy us to drop. So he made par. Yes the second season we had an amazing xg and played good football at times. But ultimately we just finished above relegation. He hardly set the world on fire.

Last season was dire at times until he brought caciedo into the team and then it clicked. Great end to season. But that's because of the team at his disposal. Brightons recruitment team had bought brilliantly, as swanners keeps telling us.

And yes this season, we had an easy start but there's no doubt we were on fire. Which has now been improved upon by zerbi.

Don't get me wrong I would have like to have kept potter at the time. He had a project. Things had turned around.

And how about that crazy star where we won 1 home game in a calendar year or something ridiculous

let's not kid ourselves he was far from highly successful.

Alright. One simple question - yes or no the only answers. Seriously, did you not feel elated, that Potter and the Albion had cracked it, with the joy at the end of that 5-2 thrashing of Leicester?
You did? Fine - so did most of us. You didn't? - you'll have to try harder at re-writing history, or you'll need to take a crash course in hypocracy.

 

[Baldseagull]

Swansea season: no one in their right mind thought Swansea could come 10th, in fact after the transfer window closed many Swansea fans thought they'd do a Sunderland and finish in the bottom and get relegated. So, minimum expectation according to who exactly?

Brighton season 1: you tell me what the team looked like in CHs final six months... GP gets the job with the mission to keep the team up, change team the style of football and make use of the academy. Plenty of pundits and people here thinks the team will get relegated: it doesn't.

Brighton season 2: ambition is to get closer to the top 10, continue developing the style of play, continue to introduce academy players. While the points tally isn't much better than in season 1, the performances certainly are on an entirely different level, and by nearly every metric - aside from putting the f***ing ball in the net - Brighton is a top 6 team performing at a level that has not been repeated before or after. Despite the miniscule improvement in regards of points, the team has taken very far steps forward

Brighton season 3: the aim is top 10, TB says before the season. Style of play is already good enough going into the season, as is the youth development. However, despite decent results, the quality of football is poor until December and it looks worrying, but additional edge is added when Alexis has bulked up by January. Some poor/very poor results follow in February/March but by the end of the season, quality of football is top notch, targeted league position is reached and development of youths keeps progressing

Four seasons in football, reaching and sometimes exceeding the aims aside from two aspects (points/position in Brighton s2, and quality of football for a number of months in s3). Perfect? No. But far better than most other managers who on average fail to reach ANY of their clubs ambitions and get sacked within 2 years.

All of this in sometimes dire/poor conditions (dire: Swansea season with like 10 proven first team players, Brighton season 1 with a slightly boosted team compared to the one that had done f*** all of use in the Pl for 6 months, poor: Brighton season 2 when covid had ripped the economy apart and prevented the club from really being able to rebuild).

I did say in terms of results at Brighton it was minimum achievement.
Brighton Season 2, I think Covid gave him a break from the sort of spell he is having right now and did him and us a favour.

 

[Swansman]

I did say in terms of results at Brighton it was minimum achievement.
Brighton Season 2, I think Covid gave him a break from the sort of spell he is having right now and did him and us a favour.

That was season 1.

Covid may have been useful - it is a possibility - but might have turned around regardless, like last season after the seven game winless streak until finally beating Arsenal.

 

[Rover In Exile]

It's me again - from Blackburn.
I look at your board occasionally because of recent connections.
I notice that Locadia is usually mentioned with a hint of sarcasm.
On one "gossip" site, I saw that he is a free agent, and that there had been a link with Rovers.
How do you think he would do as a target-man at a middling-to-decent Championship club, with a 50% chance of a play-off place?

 

[Dibdab]

It's me again - from Blackburn.
I look at your board occasionally because of recent connections.
I notice that Locadia is usually mentioned with a hint of sarcasm.
On one "gossip" site, I saw that he is a free agent, and that there had been a link with Rovers.
How do you think he would do as a target-man at a middling-to-decent Championship club, with a 50% chance of a play-off place?

Pray it doesn’t happen. He is not a footballer!

 

[BadFish]

Well, all depends on how you see it... not exactly a clear line between "successful" and "highly successful". By normal job standards I'd agree it was just successful. In the PL where the average lifespan of a manager is 18 months due to perceived failures, "just" successful is arguably a highly successful thing to be.

If your own measure of 'highly successful' is what he did in Sweden. Then what he has so far achieved in England must be seen as less so. Therefore merely 'successful' to me.

The average lifespan of 18 months may be true but he was lucky to find himself at an anomaly club in this sense. I cannot think of another club who would have stuck by him during his fallow periods. He found himself a club that could see the potential of the longer game. Not many of them about. Has he found another?

His desertion a few games into the season may give an indication of why this is.

 

[GT49er]

It's me again - from Blackburn.
I look at your board occasionally because of recent connections.
I notice that Locadia is usually mentioned with a hint of sarcasm.
On one "gossip" site, I saw that he is a free agent, and that there had been a link with Rovers.
How do you think he would do as a target-man at a middling-to-decent Championship club, with a 50% chance of a play-off place?

If you're after someone to play the pre-match music - he's your man; go for it!

You may find that all of a sudden you don't have many fans over the age of 50 or 60 though - and you could lose some of the more hip young'uns too!

 

[BadFish]

Alright. One simple question - yes or no the only answers. Seriously, did you not feel elated, that Potter and the Albion had cracked it, with the joy at the end of that 5-2 thrashing of Leicester?
You did? Fine - so did most of us. You didn't? - you'll have to try harder at re-writing history, or you'll need to take a crash course in hypocracy.

Yes at the end of the game I did.

But then the more rational concern that perhaps this was something of a false dawn and that to really feel like we have cracked it it needed to be followed up with a season of consistency.

One swallow doesn't make a summer and all that.

 

[Swansman]

It's me again - from Blackburn.
I look at your board occasionally because of recent connections.
I notice that Locadia is usually mentioned with a hint of sarcasm.
On one "gossip" site, I saw that he is a free agent, and that there had been a link with Rovers.
How do you think he would do as a target-man at a middling-to-decent Championship club, with a 50% chance of a play-off place?

I think he could be alright in the Championship but he isn't a target player, just don't have those qualities despite being fairly strong and tall. He's a poacher who is good with his both feet, not someone who should be involved in the game really.

 

[Hugo Rune]

It's me again - from Blackburn.
I look at your board occasionally because of recent connections.
I notice that Locadia is usually mentioned with a hint of sarcasm.
On one "gossip" site, I saw that he is a free agent, and that there had been a link with Rovers.
How do you think he would do as a target-man at a middling-to-decent Championship club, with a 50% chance of a play-off place?

I believe that his first game for us may have been against Coventry in the cup. He was the best player on the pitch imho but Coventry were League One. Unlike most on here, I think he could do it in the Championship. Apparently he was scoring loads earlier this season for Persepolis FC.

Not a player for the EPL if you get promoted though even though he has 3 goals in that competition. However, he does score every 163 minutes in the FA Cup, not too shabby.

 

[Easy 10]

did we come back to equalise at all?

 

[West Upper Seagull]

Swansea season: no one in their right mind thought Swansea could come 10th, in fact after the transfer window closed many Swansea fans thought they'd do a Sunderland and finish in the bottom and get relegated. So, minimum expectation according to who exactly?

Brighton season 1: you tell me what the team looked like in CHs final six months... GP gets the job with the mission to keep the team up, change team the style of football and make use of the academy. Plenty of pundits and people here thinks the team will get relegated: it doesn't.

Brighton season 2: ambition is to get closer to the top 10, continue developing the style of play, continue to introduce academy players. While the points tally isn't much better than in season 1, the performances certainly are on an entirely different level, and by nearly every metric - aside from putting the f***ing ball in the net - Brighton is a top 6 team performing at a level that has not been repeated before or after. Despite the miniscule improvement in regards of points, the team has taken very far steps forward

Brighton season 3: the aim is top 10, TB says before the season. Style of play is already good enough going into the season, as is the youth development. However, despite decent results, the quality of football is poor until December and it looks worrying, but additional edge is added when Alexis has bulked up by January. Some poor/very poor results follow in February/March but by the end of the season, quality of football is top notch, targeted league position is reached and development of youths keeps progressing

Four seasons in football, reaching and sometimes exceeding the aims aside from two aspects (points/position in Brighton s2, and quality of football for a number of months in s3). Perfect? No. But far better than most other managers who on average fail to reach ANY of their clubs ambitions and get sacked within 2 years.

All of this in sometimes dire/poor conditions (dire: Swansea season with like 10 proven first team players, Brighton season 1 with a slightly boosted team compared to the one that had done f*** all of use in the Pl for 6 months, poor: Brighton season 2 when covid had ripped the economy apart and prevented the club from really being able to rebuild).

A fair assessment of GP’s achievements over these 4 seasons however the only thing I would disagree with is that he didn’t exceed any of the aims that you’ve highlighted. In season 3 with us he had a bit of luck because we were on a downward spiral with a shocking run of results from January to March - what stopped the rot and turned it around was that game at Arsenal, and specifically his decision to give Caicedo his first start and finally drop Maupay and give Welbeck a start. Those 2 players then remained in the team for the rest of the season and that’s what rescued GP in terms of his aim of finishing top 10. And let’s not forget that at half time of the final game against West Ham we were sitting 13th in the league until we turned the game round in the second half.

This should have been the season where he could have pushed on and exceeded aims and expectations but he jumped ship at the first opportunity. As much as it was gut wrenching at the time, i don’t blame him for taking that opportunity - but I bloody well dislike him for the way he conducted himself in taking that opportunity and asset stripping us in the process, and for that reason I am very happy to watch Chelsea implode and so hope we finish above them this season. I believed this was going to completely de-rail our season, but Tony has really pulled it out the bag with his appointment of RDZ where I genuinely feel we’ve had an upgrade and a got ourselves a better manager and with some charisma thrown in too for good measure.

 

[Baldseagull]

The revisionism from some on this thread (and the others like it) is incredible.

You know we were 4th when he left, right? Average achievement? Really?

You're either on a wind-up, or really stupid.
Perhaps both?

Yes we were 4th, but you know we had only played 6 games right?
We beat Leicester 5-2, Leeds 1-0, West Ham 2-0 and on the opening day, Man Utd at old Trafford for the first time ever, 2-1. It was great. But objectively, we had some soft opposition on the days.

Leicester lost 5 of their opening 6 games, drew the other, and got beat 6-2 the following week by Tottenham.
Leeds lost 5 and drew 3 of their 8 games after our win at home against them. They have not won away all season.
West Ham lost 5 and won just one of their opening 7 games, 1-0 against Steven Gerards Villa.
Man Utd lost 4-0 to Brentford the following week, the new manager was just a bit behind schedule in readying his team for the season.
We also got a point at home to Newcastle who are hard to beat, and lost to Fulham away, no real shame in either of those results, but Fulham have not beaten any side currently higher than us in the table