[Albion] When Did It All Go So Wrong?

[darkwolf666]

Home to Bristol City on 29th April 2017, attitude was wrong from there in!

 

[Guy Fawkes]

I’ve been wracking my brains for when we went from a safe, conservative, uninspiring team to a disastrous car crash outfit struggling to put anything together apart from some desperate backs to the wall performances in the last few games.

My feeling was that it was the second half showing at Fulham. 2-0 up and absolutely cruising at halftime. Second half starts and the whole team collapsed like a soggy soufflé. I don’t think we ever really recovered from that despite fortuitous wins against Huddersfield and Palace.

The we're winning away' song getting aired at West Ham and then Fulham? (the 'how shit must you be - we're winning away' a great demotivator to our team and motivation to the opposition) 2-0 up in both prior to that being sung and ending 2-2 against West Ham and 4-2 to Fulham. (A bit like signing 1-0 to Liverpool when we were playing Man City in the last game, only ever going to motivate the opposition to try harder against us)

So 2 poor results from strong positions, our fans taking the mickey out of our side, etc.... could not have helped, especially in a league that's as mentally tough to compete in as the division we are in now, no wonder our players started to become more defensive minded and more risk adverse (especially going forward)

Decisions going against us (numerous dodgy goals given against us and we don't get decisions going for us (like the double hand ball by the Burnley player moments before they won a penalty themselves) will also have taken a toll - Does make you wonder, if those decisions had been made correctly / in our favour, would CH still be in the job?

 

[Kinky Gerbil]

Granted the results and performances where not there towards the end of the season, but he kept Brighton up so I don’t think it did go wrong.

I think it was time for a fresh start for everyone.

 

[moggy]

West Ham away

 

[Captain Sensible]

The we're winning away' song getting aired at West Ham and then Fulham? (the 'how shit must you be - we're winning away' a great demotivator to our team and motivation to the opposition) 2-0 up in both prior to that being sung and ending 2-2 against West Ham and 4-2 to Fulham. (A bit like signing 1-0 to Liverpool when we were playing Man City in the last game, only ever going to motivate the opposition to try harder against us)

So 2 poor results from strong positions, our fans taking the mickey out of our side, etc.... could not have helped, especially in a league that's as mentally tough to compete in as the division we are in now, no wonder our players started to become more defensive minded and more risk adverse (especially going forward)

Decisions going against us (numerous dodgy goals given against us and we don't get decisions going for us (like the double hand ball by the Burnley player moments before they won a penalty themselves) will also have taken a toll - Does make you wonder, if those decisions had been made correctly / in our favour, would CH still be in the job?

Probably not. The mental strength and belief to win, were missing. Regardless of the odd decision here and there.

 

[graz126]

Aside from the Man U (H) game early on, any exciting and classy performances that stand out last season? Arsenal (H) perhaps?

Palace at home

 

[Arkwright]

I'm not so sure it was a specific game though throwing away leads against West Ham and Fulham are obvious candidates. For me it was the January window, I feel that we either got complacent or arrogant and felt the job was done and survival was guaranteed, we desperately needed a striker or a No.10 and we signed no one to freshen up the squad and create a bit more competition for places.
The squad was two players short after the close of the window and CH was just shuffling the pack trying to find his best team which I feel this season he never knew.
You could argue that this is the fault of the board or recruitment staff and yet it was the manager's head that rolled.

 

[goldstone]

Our massive dip in form coincided with players returning from that Asian Cup tournament. Clearly not a good idea to sign players who might be involved in that. Also the cup run did us no favours as far as league form was concerned.

 

[Mtoto]

I admire your loyalty to Hughton.

The truth is that this season we ended up with almost identical stats with his Norwich side who were relegated. He did exactly the same things that Norwich fans told us to expect and they were quickly told to eff off, this time Hughton has learned from that season, blah blah blah. He clearly didn't learn anything from that season because he repeated it and we nearly went down.

Explain to me what worked? Getting our asses kicked at home by relegation rivals and out of form clubs? We got our asses kicked by Millwall but fluked a win. It wasn't working. It really wasn't.

He is a decent man but his time had come to leave.

Sent from my LYA-L09 using Tapatalk

We didn't nearly go down. Never shorter than 9-4 and even that for only a day or two.

That was mainly thanks to a pretty strong start to the season which included a win against Manchester United and a sequence of three wins in a row at one point. We were not in the relegation zone at any stage so those that were were always chasing.

Constantly looking to start and play on the front foot worked in the Championship and got us promoted. You need lots of wins to go up. You don't need many wins to stay up, though, and that style of play was never going to work in our first seasons in the Premier League when survival is all that counts (and all that he's been asked to secure).

There are 38 matches in a season and you get 38 points - enough for safety - just for turning up. It makes a lot of sense, as a basic strategy, to place considerable emphasis on defending those points when the whistle blows. It's not always pretty, or attacking enough to satisfy the more entitled/demanding fans, but effective all the same. And when we hit the awful three-match run from Southampton on, it made sense to emphasise it even more to get us over the line. Again, not pretty, but necessary. He did what was needed in the circumstances. The idea that some are putting about that it's the *only* way his teams can play is ridiculous, unless memories are so short these days that two seasons ago doesn't count?

 

[Guy Fawkes]

Probably not. The mental strength and belief to win, were missing. Regardless of the odd decision here and there.

If results aren't going for you, and poor decisions by the officials add to your poor results, isn't that going to affect your levels of belief and your mental strength?

Had we got the decisions in our favour, and as a result, more points on the board (ie not had the 'Brighton haven't won in 2019' thing being banded about for several games) - then who knows, that mental strength may never have evaporated to the extent it did and we would have played more positively on the pitch as a result. Confidence can be a fragile thing and when things are going badly, it can be hard to snap out of it.

 

[portslade seagull]

Aside from the Man U (H) game early on, any exciting and classy performances that stand out last season? Arsenal (H) perhaps?

Loads according to some CH lovers apparently.

 

[Captain Sensible]

If results aren't going for you, and poor decisions by the officials add to your poor results, isn't that going to affect your levels of belief and your mental strength?

Had we got the decisions in our favour, and as a result, more points on the board (ie not had the 'Brighton haven't won in 2019' thing being banded about for several games) - then who knows, that mental strength may never have evaporated to the extent it did and we would have played more positively on the pitch as a result. Confidence can be a fragile thing and when things are going badly, it can be hard to snap out of it.

I understand your point. However, if our mental strength was that frail, that a handball or offside could decide weather we ship 9 goals in 3 matches without reply, then Hughton wouldn’t have lasted long anyway.

 

[ac gull]

I thought we looked PL class at Man Utd away in second half

To me defence had just got used to Button - Ryan came straight back in and we let in four at Fulham - had a big mental impact to me

 

[tigertim68]

I thought we looked PL class at Man Utd away in second half

To me defence had just got used to Button - Ryan came straight back in and we let in four at Fulham - had a big mental impact to me

I agree about Ryan , should never gone straight back in the team , he has been crap since he came back

 

[Mtoto]

Probably not. The mental strength and belief to win, were missing. Regardless of the odd decision here and there.

The game before Burnley was a win. The game after Burnley was a win, and so were two of the three games after that, including our first win at Palace for decades.

Your point was?

 

[Mtoto]

Loads according to some CH lovers apparently.

Palace at home? Palace away? Bournemouth away in the Cup? Everton 1-0 at home? Wolves 1-0 at home? Or don't those count because it wasn't 4-0 and therefore not "classy" enough for you?

Fascinating, btw, that you've turned it into "lovers" and, presumably, "haters". Are you proud to be a hater?

 

[Invicta]

West Brom cup game was dire. Needed replay and & extra time to squeeze through. Lot of wasted effort from winning at 1st time of asking.

 

[chaileyjem]

At 9am on Monday morning in Lancing when Bloom called in Chris for a chat...

 

[Captain Sensible]

The game before Burnley was a win. The game after Burnley was a win, and so were two of the three games after that, including our first win at Palace for decades.

Your point was?

You can dress up the turd all you like. At times we have showed a belief to win and strength, just not enough and not enough when under pressure and in danger of relegation.

 

[TottonSeagull]

We didn't nearly go down. Never shorter than 9-4 and even that for only a day or two.

That was mainly thanks to a pretty strong start to the season which included a win against Manchester United and a sequence of three wins in a row at one point. We were not in the relegation zone at any stage so those that were were always chasing.

Constantly looking to start and play on the front foot worked in the Championship and got us promoted. You need lots of wins to go up. You don't need many wins to stay up, though, and that style of play was never going to work in our first seasons in the Premier League when survival is all that counts (and all that he's been asked to secure).

There are 38 matches in a season and you get 38 points - enough for safety - just for turning up. It makes a lot of sense, as a basic strategy, to place considerable emphasis on defending those points when the whistle blows. It's not always pretty, or attacking enough to satisfy the more entitled/demanding fans, but effective all the same. And when we hit the awful three-match run from Southampton on, it made sense to emphasise it even more to get us over the line. Again, not pretty, but necessary. He did what was needed in the circumstances. The idea that some are putting about that it's the *only* way his teams can play is ridiculous, unless memories are so short these days that two seasons ago doesn't count?

We didn't nearly go down??

Well I must have been watching in a parallel universe then!!!

What a delusional fella you are!