[Albion] Potter was a terrible coach at Swansea too

[jessiejames]

One problem I see with Potter is the team can't gel. We need a more settled team.

 

[Justice]

The reason I say Big Sam is because many of the Potter out people wanted him in to replace Potter. So it's not the assumption that he is the only alternative.

Did they? Don’t think that’s ever been said unless you can prove it of course.

 

[andy1980]

I don't feel comfortable thinking this way, I was just saying that as you said Fulham are on the same type of fun as us, so the chances are that they will draw the 2 games in hand. Knowing our luck though they will probably get 2 wins now.
It will be interesting to see how the Fulham fans react if they are still below us once they have played the same amount of games, they will see that as a missed opportunity.

What wE need is a couple of lucky wins.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Sheffield Utd now. Its amazing what a win does sometimes. I would take any win now lucky or not.

 

[zefarelly]

Overall I'm Potter in. But I'd agree with you .... WTF do we keep seeing useless Jahanbaksh play?

I'd refrain (unlike me I know) from naming individual players as they're all quite capable and indeed some of them rather good, when played in the right positions in the right formation against any given opposition. Regardless of opposition status. AJ is no better or worse than anyone else all things considered, over GP's tenure.

 

[zefarelly]

One problem I see with Potter is the team can't gel. We need a more settled team.

THere are only about half a dozen players who always start in the same position, one of those wears gloves. The rest seem to shuffle, I don't think its the only reason but its definitely a significant factor in the lack of understanding. Rotating a massive squad will never work long term as players come and go from clubs, as well as get permanently broken, or fail the NDP.

If the starting line up were a band they'd be shit for the first set, passable for the second, doing covers . . . . The same line up would show the potential to write their own songs but wouldn't get a gig for so long they'd lose their mojo and struggle to play wild thing.

 

[jessiejames]

Did they? Don’t think that’s ever been said unless you can prove it of course.

Yes it has been said in one of the numerous thread regarding Potter.

 

[Machiavelli]

Ings? He was playing - and even scoring - during Southampton's awful run at the beginning of last season

Needed the rest of the team to get better - and they did.

He was playing, but wasn't scoring frequently. He had a series of long-term injuries, and it often takes months of game time to get up to full match sharpness after these. That was the case with Ings. Check out his goalscoring record before November 2019, and after.
I do agree that the team has come together and they've taken on board Hassenhutl's way of playing. I'm not in the Potter out camp, but would really welcome if we played with their level of intensity and organisation of their press.

 

[Jim in the West]

There's a couple of issues here.

Tactically inflexible. Yet, Potter's barely altered our tactics this season. We're a very predictable side.

Didn't have any faith in younsters - bar Aaron Connolly, youth haven't featured that much. Alzate barely gets a start, Gross has had more starts this season. White was on loan for most of the season - talking of Connolly, questions are constantly asked about whether he should be on loan or not. Nonetheless, he was forced to use Sanchez - who was also on loan to more senior teams in the past, and rumours are we're after that United number 3 keeper. I'd be surprised if we don't take up the opportunity to get experience in goal. And that's not a dig on Potter either, I would much rather have experience between the posts than most positions. However, there's not a lot of 'youth products' in our side.

There are certainly plenty of merit in your other points. The problem, however, is that the Hughton's teams had structure and a fair amount of discipline. The spectacle is absolutely dire, horrific and I agreed with his sacking. My biggest problem with Potter is that, despite what we are persistently told - he is not that tactically adaptable, teams are changed fairly regularly and defensive vulnerabilities continue to persist.

There is a clear long term ambition on what needs to be the "Brighton way", the problem is, this ought to be evolution and not revolution. The pretty football is not yielding results, so we need to give something and i'm not suggesting a return to back-to-walls defending, but there certainly needs to be something changing in order to yield some results that can mean we move forward.

Potter hasn't shown that, which is why I'm a sceptic of him. I don't think he has the experience to adapt.

I may be missing your point, but I don't think you can accuse Potter of being "forced" to play Sanchez. He made the decision (which a lot on here thought was pretty brave). Compare to Hughton - remember the game at Fulham a couple of years ago (Ryan had been at the Asian Cup, but was picked for a game that took place just a few days after he got back - in snow! - and he promptly let in 4 against one of the worst teams in the league).

Home grown players have played nearly 30% of the time (the highest in the EPL), and we've fielded (on average) the 3rd youngest team in the Premier League this season.

Apologies if I've not understood the point you're making

 

[SimpKingpin]

Uh oh that simp account that blew in with Potter will be flapping about now

Just saw this. Cheeky bugger

 

[Stato]

Obviously I meant at the time LFC loaned Ings to Stains, as I'm sure every poster benchmarking our transfer business does.

The discussion I was having was about whether we could afford a striker who could make a difference this season. Whether or not we should have made a bid back in 2018 when Southampton loaned Ings seems irrelevant to whether we could afford someone guaranteed to be of the same calibre now.

 

[Ethelwulf]

Would rather go down with Potter at the helm then get in big Sam or a Hughes

Fingers crossed he can turn it round like I keep saying most important game for him as a manager v Fulham

 

[Weststander]

The discussion I was having was about whether we could afford a striker who could make a difference this season. Whether or not we should have made a bid back in 2018 when Southampton loaned Ings seems irrelevant to whether we could afford someone guaranteed to be of the same calibre now.

My point was that we can compete financially with Stains when situations such as at the Ings loan-to-buy opportunity arise.

We aren’t out of their league. [Whilst Everton, Leicester, West Ham and CP (god knows how), often pay wages on another level to us].

Our own big punts were with Jahanbakhsh, Trossard and Webster.

 

[Justice]

Would rather go down with Potter at the helm then get in big Sam or a Hughes

Fingers crossed he can turn it round like I keep saying most important game for him as a manager v Fulham

Unfortunately we sacked one of the best managers to get us up again if we did go down, this is how bad Potter has been with frequent talk of going down. We had a few murmurs under CH but nothing of this Calibre.

 

[Wozza]

The reason I say Big Sam is because many of the Potter out people wanted him in to replace Potter. So it's not the assumption that he is the only alternative.

Did they? Did they really?!

 

[Justice]

Did they? Did they really?!

No they didn’t suits the agenda I presume.

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

I don't see a problem
We have proven we can play great football on a smaller budget,the only difference is man city operate at the top end of the league whilst we operate at the bottom and no new manager is going to change that at this point with the resources we have currently but potter,ashworth and bloom are laying the foundations so we can progress up the table and with tau and moder and maybe a striker in January I believe we will be better placed than others around us when it comes to a relegation battle.
Liecsters team has been years in development and they have had an exceptional goalscorer in vardy.we are at the beginning of our journey under ashworth and potter.
Southampton is a club we are trying to replicate in terms of the academy but again they are far ahead of us on that one and yes they are doing fantastic this season because they chose to stand by their manager when things were not looking great,which is something we should be aware of.

I was addressing the point that was being made that Potter was modelling Brighton on what Guardiola has been doing - and that Potter was a student of Guardiola's approach - the problem is that the players currently are not good enough - and are unlikely to ever be good enough given the budget that the club has available for that 'approach' to be properly implemented.

I disagree with your view that Potter has Brighton better placed for a relegation battle than the other teams at the bottom of the table. Bloom and Ashworth can do all they want to progress up the table but you can't do that from the Championship. You say that Brighton are playing 'great football' - I would suggest that it is pretty and very inconsistent football - how many home games have Brighton won over the past twelve months? - how many games is it now without a win at home? - That is not the type of form that you need to stave off relegation.

As for Tau and Moder - I would not be expecting them to contribute a lot when t comes to battling relegation. Tau looks a decent player but he has scored 9 goals in a season and a half in Belgium and with all due respect to the Belgian league it is not approaching the standard of the PL. He wasn't exactly impressive against Newport and on a number of occasions was easily pushed off the ball by Newport defenders. There is a bigger question mark over Moder - the Polish league is weaker than the Belgian league and of the 4 goals he has scored this season - 3 were from penalties. Now Moder may develop into a good PL player over time - he is only 21 - but Tau is 26 and the only reason why he finally got his work permit was because of Brexit, not because he had finally met the previous work permit requirements. I think it is expecting a lot of two unproven players to expect them to prove to be the difference over the coming months. If Brighton manage to sign a striker who could provide 10/12 goals between now and the end of the season then that would be massive - but goalscorers like that do not grow on trees and half the teams in the PL are looking for one.

And just to point out - I am not in favour of sacking Potter - I think it would be the wrong thing to do - but Potter needs to get the team out of the funk it is in - and another draw at Newport didn't help. Many on here tout Potter's inventiveness and adaptability - I don't see it and I think his reputation is bloated - and it doesn't appear to be having any impact on the pitch. The time has come to prove himself and get some wins - because the longer the funk goes on the harder and harder it will be to get out of it.

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

I may be missing your point, but I don't think you can accuse Potter of being "forced" to play Sanchez. He made the decision (which a lot on here thought was pretty brave). Compare to Hughton - remember the game at Fulham a couple of years ago (Ryan had been at the Asian Cup, but was picked for a game that took place just a few days after he got back - in snow! - and he promptly let in 4 against one of the worst teams in the league).

That Fulham game was a weird game (and by the way - there was no snow on the pitch) - Murray could have scored 5 and Brighton also hit the bar - of the four conceded Ryan could have been considered at fault for one (with some responsibility maybe for a second). But the more important question is - was Button a better goalkeeper than Ryan?

Potter clearly has lost confidence in Ryan - but it is debatable how much better Sanchez actually is. He may well improve but he has had some dodgy moments as well - Potter has made his decision and will have to live with it.

 

[Weststander]

I was addressing the point that was being made that Potter was modelling Brighton on what Guardiola has been doing - and that Potter was a student of Guardiola's approach - the problem is that the players currently are not good enough - and are unlikely to ever be good enough given the budget that the club has available for that 'approach' to be properly implemented.

I disagree with your view that Potter has Brighton better placed for a relegation battle than the other teams at the bottom of the table. Bloom and Ashworth can do all they want to progress up the table but you can't do that from the Championship. You say that Brighton are playing 'great football' - I would suggest that it is pretty and very inconsistent football - how many home games have Brighton won over the past twelve months? - how many games is it now without a win at home? - That is not the type of form that you need to stave off relegation.

As for Tau and Moder - I would not be expecting them to contribute a lot when t comes to battling relegation. Tau looks a decent player but he has scored 9 goals in a season and a half in Belgium and with all due respect to the Belgian league it is not approaching the standard of the PL. He wasn't exactly impressive against Newport and on a number of occasions was easily pushed off the ball by Newport defenders. There is a bigger question mark over Moder - the Polish league is weaker than the Belgian league and of the 4 goals he has scored this season - 3 were from penalties. Now Moder may develop into a good PL player over time - he is only 21 - but Tau is 26 and the only reason why he finally got his work permit was because of Brexit, not because he had finally met the previous work permit requirements. I think it is expecting a lot of two unproven players to expect them to prove to be the difference over the coming months. If Brighton manage to sign a striker who could provide 10/12 goals between now and the end of the season then that would be massive - but goalscorers like that do not grow on trees and half the teams in the PL are looking for one.

And just to point out - I am not in favour of sacking Potter - I think it would be the wrong thing to do - but Potter needs to get the team out of the funk it is in - and another draw at Newport didn't help. Many on here tout Potter's inventiveness and adaptability - I don't see it and I think his reputation is bloated - and it doesn't appear to be having any impact on the pitch. The time has come to prove himself and get some wins - because the longer the funk goes on the harder and harder it will be to get out of it.

Excellent points.

Lamptey’s absence is very significant, not just for his own playing merits, but we are then more than one dimensional going forward.

 

[Jolly Red Giant]

Lamptey’s absence is very significant, not just for his own playing merits, but we are then more than one dimensional going forward.

I would agree - the kid is a star in the making and his absence really does impact on the team's ability to trouble opposing defences.

 

[Milano]

At the tail end of last season I made the prediction if the club didn’t invest in a proven EPL striker who could provide pace, power and goals then whatever happened in the rest of the pitch we would end up in a relegation battle this season. I haven’t changed my mind 1% on that and I know the vast majority of our fans share that opinion.
Welbeck is not the answer due to his fitness but on the few occasions he has been fit he has made a significant positive impact, that is what this team is missing. That player could/should have been Locadia he looked the part but sadly he’s shitehouse. I worry Bloom is burnt by Locadia and also Ali J.

If we won’t invest in the Wilsons or Ings of this world when they become available then we are on rinse/repeat of this season until we either strike it lucky with an academy striker or we are relegated.

This is why I’m holding back judgement on Potter for now, I think he’s making some small mistakes but he’s so hamstrung by that lack of real quality and threat in the opposition penalty box.