[Albion] When Did It All Go So Wrong?

[dangull]

Its interesting that in our first season in the premier league, the general consensus was survival by any means was a huge success. 2nd season we have achieved that aim again, but a lot of people are not impressed and about half the people got their wish as far as CH is concerned.

I know that this season wasn't quite as good as last season, the famous 2nd season syndrome and all that, but the bottom line is the club has retained its status and another 100M richer, with a chance to improve next year. We will never know if CH may have learned some lessons from this season to take the club forward.

 

[Shoreham Beach Seagull]

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?

Interesting that you quote the Xg stats for us against Burnley and Watford as unlucky, yet when you look at the same Xg stat against Newcastle (a), Wolves (h), West Ham (h) Palace (a) we would have been classed as lucky to have gained a point let alone three.

You may see this as small margins, but performances over a season will usual catch up with you, perfect example being Huddersfield last season. Their Xg in the first Prem season was 9 times out of 10 lower than their opponents, but the small margins were always in their favour. Over time this will usual catch up with a team as seen this year. I feel if we had followed this same approach next season we were doomed for relegation.

In regards to Hughton, I almost feel like he has a mental block of not believing he is good enough for the league. This started with the way he set the team up away from home last season and crept into how we set up at home this year. I think if we are all honest, even those that really don't like Hughton, at Home last season we looked a really good side that belonged in the Premier League. This year we haven't been even close to those standards (United and Palace at home aside)

I respect when you are coming from in terms of a point a game is enough to stay in the league and that's all we should be aiming for. But I personally could not think of anything worse than knowing our team is setting up to not get beat, I think that's where our differing opinions probably are.

 

[rocker959]

One note from all of this was the constant talking up the opposition fair enough to a degree but it was every game who ever it was and it felt like we were only good to try and stop the opposition from scoring not impose our game on them we have some quality players too

Exactly

 

[the right footed denilson]

Exactly

Also that quote a few weeks back, something like 'we don't have the players to attack so we're just going to defend "

 

[Captain Sensible]

Also that quote a few weeks back, something like 'we don't have the players to attack so we're just going to defend "

He says that again in his last press conference. Saying we are not good enough to attack Man City. The thing is for half an hour we did!
Also he contradicts himself, saying that he never goes into a game believing he can’t win, but then saying we are not good enough to cause City a problem in attacking transition.

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

Mid January.

There was a noticable complacency about Chris, the club and fans about this time encapsulated by the defeat away to Man Utd. So many people were congratulating ourselves on only losing by 1 goal away to the mighty Man Utd. But they were really poor and we should have got something out of that game but were happy with a narrow defeat.

In my opinion we’d been quite poor all season up to this point and as I pointed out at this time, our tactics were not sustainable. We’d picked up some lucky points due to backs to the wall defending and Murray nicking goals but there was no way that could continue. Add in complacency and as I stated then, I was really fearful we might sleep walk to relegation.

 

[OzMike]

After Christmas.

 

[Justice]

He says that again in his last press conference. Saying we are not good enough to attack Man City. The thing is for half an hour we did!
Also he contradicts himself, saying that he never goes into a game believing he can’t win, but then saying we are not good enough to cause City a problem in attacking transition.

Heard that last interview was the the final straw for TB.

 

[Rugrat]

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

In hindsight Man U have hardly looked PL class

 

[el punal]

When did it all go wrong ?

Just after we sacked Pat Seward imo.

Was he before or after Pat Saward?

 

[Tokyohands]

Watford away!

 

[el punal]

Mid January.

There was a noticable complacency about Chris, the club and fans about this time encapsulated by the defeat away to Man Utd. So many people were congratulating ourselves on only losing by 1 goal away to the mighty Man Utd. But they were really poor and we should have got something out of that game but were happy with a narrow defeat.

In my opinion we’d been quite poor all season up to this point and as I pointed out at this time, our tactics were not sustainable. We’d picked up some lucky points due to backs to the wall defending and Murray nicking goals but there was no way that could continue. Add in complacency and as I stated then, I was really fearful we might sleep walk to relegation.

Some pertinent points there. I can think of the matches against Man.Utd (A), Chelsea (H), Spurs (H), when once we went behind we showed true attacking intent but always too late to rectify the situation. There are probably countless others with the same outcome.

I just wonder that at some point in the season the key players in the team had lost interest in the safety first tactics. From then on they lacked motivation, became sloppy and, as you say, we sleep walked to almost relegation disaster. If that were the case I would imagine Tony Bloom would have come to his decision some weeks, if not some months, back.

 

[West Upper Seagull]

I agree that the West Ham and Fulham away games were noticeably the turning points, but I honestly think that we were very lucky to be in the mid table position we were in at Christmas. We got the three fortunate 1-0 wins on the bounce against West Ham, Newcastle & Wolves but if we’re brutally honest the opposition bossed all 3 of those games and it was down to the resolve of Ryan, Dunk & Duffy that somehow managed to protect our bombarded goal in those games. We got complacent after that highlighted by the fact we didn’t strengthen the team in the January transfer window with the club claiming our squad was strong enough even though we were 1 short in our 25 man squad once we loaned out Schellotto & Suttner. Our performances early on in the season away at Watford & Southampton we’re also very poor. So in my mind those 3 wins on the bounce followed by the home win against Palace seriously papered over the cracks, then the West Ham & Fulham games made the cracks irreparable and it became damage limitation football after that !

 

[Lifelong Supporter]

When you are a poor team (by PL standards) you are not going to boss games but have to hang in there and look to take your chance to grab a goal and then hold on. This we did in the early part of the season. The three wins we had on the trot led to some complacency and change of attitude. It led to a belief that we were better than we actually were and players staff and fans looked for us to move forward with my expansive football. This led to losses, sometimes unfortunate losses and a lack of confidence. Further the new recruits may have skill but do not have the never say die attitude needed with struggling teams.
We are a bottom three to six side and will be next season. I expect us to be in the relegation zone for much of it, but hopefully not at the end of it. This will be a bit of a change for all.


Let's see what the new guy brings to the table. It has not really gone too wrong. I just take the view that we have become a bit too greedy. We have survived in the PL for two years but now we want to do it with some style.!!

 

[Mtoto]

I agree that the West Ham and Fulham away games were noticeably the turning points, but I honestly think that we were very lucky to be in the mid table position we were in at Christmas. We got the three fortunate 1-0 wins on the bounce against West Ham, Newcastle & Wolves but if we’re brutally honest the opposition bossed all 3 of those games and it was down to the resolve of Ryan, Dunk & Duffy that somehow managed to protect our bombarded goal in those games. We got complacent after that highlighted by the fact we didn’t strengthen the team in the January transfer window with the club claiming our squad was strong enough even though we were 1 short in our 25 man squad once we loaned out Schellotto & Suttner. Our performances early on in the season away at Watford & Southampton we’re also very poor. So in my mind those 3 wins on the bounce followed by the home win against Palace seriously papered over the cracks, then the West Ham & Fulham games made the cracks irreparable and it became damage limitation football after that !

Out of interest, do you think were there any points gained during the season that were down to something other than luck, or any that were lost that weren't all the fault of Hughton & his tactics?

 

[Questions]

Was he before or after Pat Saward?

Yeah ok.... but I'm saying it with a Scottish accent.

 

[Tubby-McFat-Fuc]

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.

Completely agree with that. Personally I would have sacked him after that game.

He stood there with zero input as we went from 2-0 up to 3-2 down, and only then reacted.

He is a Brighton legend. I will think of him as one of our greatest managers. But a Premier League manager he is not.

 

[B.W.]

When you are a poor team (by PL standards) you are not going to boss games but have to hang in there and look to take your chance to grab a goal and then hold on. This we did in the early part of the season. The three wins we had on the trot led to some complacency and change of attitude. It led to a belief that we were better than we actually were and players staff and fans looked for us to move forward with my expansive football. This led to losses, sometimes unfortunate losses and a lack of confidence. Further the new recruits may have skill but do not have the never say die attitude needed with struggling teams.
We are a bottom three to six side and will be next season. I expect us to be in the relegation zone for much of it, but hopefully not at the end of it. This will be a bit of a change for all.


Let's see what the new guy brings to the table. It has not really gone too wrong. I just take the view that we have become a bit too greedy. We have survived in the PL for two years but now we want to do it with some style.!!

You cannot say we will be a bottom 6 side until (a) we know who the new manager is; and; (b) we know the player's that we recruit and/or lose... so, totally disagree...

 

[Seagull73]

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?

1-0 at home to Wolves? Really? You mean the game where we got utterly pulverised for 85 minutes and only sneaked a win because their midfielders / forwards couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo?

And Palace Away? Really? It was a cracking result and one that will live in the memory for a long time, but let's not kid ourselves that it was a "great" performance.

Both of those games were the epitome of exactly what most people have been saying - for most of the season - we have played not-to-lose, hoping to sneak a win here and there. And that is even against the sides around us. Most of the bottom-half of the Premier League is not much better than the top half of the Championship, and yet we played, particular since mid-December, like we are frightened of our own shadows.

If you are going to use those games as examples of "classy" performances, I'm afraid your opinion lacks a severe amount of credibility.

 

[Seagull73]

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

Christ, we already know that's factually incorrect.
Unless you are referring to the future, in which case, can I have a look in your crystal ball?