[Albion] Weakest link

[TottonSeagull]

It was banded about in the summer that failing to invest in a window was equivalent to moving backwards, as all the teams around us would strengthen. Then we sign nobody in January, it doesn't take a prophet to foresee a relegation scrap as we hit free-fall in the new year. This was avoidable.

We have the league's most defensive manager and it seems we're losing the ability to defend. The worst (Sorry Maty) starting keeper in the league and a distinct lack of creative players every week.
FFS we rely on a 47 year old for our goals every week, or hope a CB can nut in a corner then hold onto a single goal lead until the final whistle.

Coaching and management take the brunt of the blame. Our wingers can't cross, out strikers look scared to shoot and out midfielders find it hard to pass to a fellow teammate.

Although an unpopular view, IMHO Hughton, Ryan, Propper, Knockers and AJ would be little missed come next season. That said, what worries me the most is replacing GM.

Do have to agree most of this.

What has happened to Maty Ryan? Has anyone told him he is allowed to make a save? As soon as anyone of the oppo runs in on goal I assume they will score as Maty has to be the worst one on one keeper I have seen (Stocko, for all his faults, was one of the best at this). Also if anyone lifts to ball into to top area of the net it will go in!

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

The manager.

And then central midfield - the most important position in a team.

 

[Kneon Light]

Recruitment, or lack of the right quality
Pröpper - has no pace, he can’t defend, and one assist from 27 PL games by our ‘creative’ CM’ is hopeless.

Stephens is fine as our sitter, but we need two true PL CM’ers in front of him.

Strikers - other than a 35 year old, the others have simply not risen to the PL challenge.

Agree 100%

 

[aolstudios]

Maybe not a popular opinion right now but back 4

 

[Weststander]

Maybe not a popular opinion right now but back 4

As a layman, I’ve always maintained that FB’s number one duty is to defend. Yes, modern FB’s attack, push forward at times, and Montoya/Bernardo are loved for their eye catching attacking.

But they aren’t defending.

Recently I closely watched Montoya getting ripped to shreds by Redmond and Fraser, similarly Bernardo on the other wing. Caught 25 yards upfield from the first minute, part of an inept ‘attacking’ move. Not even very good at that, they couldn’t lace Bruno’s boots on the creative side.

Back to their non-defending, it leaves Duffy and Dunk overloaded.

 

[Daddies_Sauce]

Anyone else think Dunk sells himself far to easily stay on your feet man.

Was far to easily beaten today and to often, maybe he is believing all the England Hype

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Honestly, I can’t put my finger on anything specific. The worst thing is when we bring Murray on and he has no one around him.

Part of our success last year was Gross supporting and we just haven’t tried anyone in that role since Gross has been injured.

I do fear we now have average, big wage players that English teams won’t want, and their previous leagues won’t be able to afford. If we do go down we better hope they can step it back up

The problem is that we’ve completely abandoned the formation that brought us our moderate success last season. I know AJ hasn’t pulled up any trees yet but I feel he’d do well in the Groß role, just behind the striker.

 

[Springal]

The problem is that we’ve completely abandoned the formation that brought us our moderate success last season. I know AJ hasn’t pulled up any trees yet but I feel he’d do well in the Groß role, just behind the striker.

I agree and said exactly the same before the game. Even March there I think would be a big boost

 

[DarrenFreemansPerm]

Was far to easily beaten today and to often, maybe he is believing all the England Hype

He was terrified of Wilson today, time and time again he made awful decisions.

 

[Weststander]

He was terrified of Wilson today, time and time again he made awful decisions.

Southgate rightly forgot about him. Tarkowski and Keane, unfortunately, have forged ahead to be far better defenders.

 

[BensGrandad]

The back 4 seem to have lost the ability to defend as a unit which they did well early season. Also our wide men do not supply enough balls into the box to give the strikers a chance.

 

[Sue1983]

CH and negative tactics. Stephen's not PL, Propper's head turned with Ajax links. Drop one of them and play Kayal

I think after that performance they should both be dropped.

 

[Mayonaise]

Stop recruiting from the Dutch league!

 

[Muzzy]

I regard our current situation being due to a little bit of everything not working well. We have some decent players that are capable of playing well at times. However, we are ponderous in possession, defend too deep (leaving our striker/s isolated), lack guile and pace and are playing with very little confidence.
This situation can only be repaired by the coaching staff that must surely see all these cracks appearing that we can see. It’s their jobs to get the best out of the players and to keep us in this league. Too many things are becoming ingrained in the players minds and therefore performances for this situation to improve anytime soon.
I just hope we can stay up and take stock come the end of this season of mostly dreadful performances.
I fully appreciate that we are only on our 2nd season at the top table and don’t expect to win every game. It’s the level of performances and lack of ambition in possession that is so very frustrating. It is horrible to witness and I think we could and should do better with these players.

Would love to be a fly on Tony’s office wall right now. He surely must be considering some big changes.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Perkino]

There are several managers who get called upon to recover a sinking ship...Pulis, Allerdyce, Pardew. All of them play a formation containing 4 defenders, 4 midfielders and 2 others. Then whenever they don't have possession they make two solid lines of 4 making it very difficult for teams to get behind them and score.

We haven't looked solid defensively for a long time and we need to go back to a formation that worked very well for us for a season and a half in the premier league

 

[wolfie]

My first real qualm about CH was when he stated that he was happy with the squad he had towards the end of the last transfer window.
Having said that, the "buy on the cheap from foreign leagues" strategy has only worked up to a point and is now being found out, as we lack players with experience in English football.

 

[BN9 BHA]

Stop recruiting from the Dutch league!

This.
Go back 20 years yes, but not now.

 

[whosthedaddy]

You succeed as a team, you fail as a team, sadly Hughton is not wanted as a member of team Albion any more, nor is Trollope, go now

 

[Weststander]

You succeed as a team, you fail as a team, sadly Hughton is not wanted as a member of team Albion any more, nor is Trollope, go now

Inside info?

 

[Wellesley]

Stephens. Excellent Championship player, has undoubted qualities that his supporters can point to, but I feel an upgrade is paramount. Think this whole team needs fresh ideas from a new manager now though.