[Albion] Would you have been happy with this at the beginning of the season?

[Zeberdi]

Yes. Obviously.

St Pauli with Hurz in charge never had more than three winless games in a row and our current 7 winless game streak makes it difficult to sit calmly in the "look at the league table and smile" boat. We need to win a game of football pretty soon or it could all turn into a bit of chaos, despite the great look of the league table and our points so far.

Don’t be over dramatic.

St Pauli were in the 2. Bundlesliga - not really the same level as the EPL and we have had ‘dry‘ spells before.

We had an 11th match winless run up to Boxing Day, 2021 until we beat Brentford 2:0.

One home win at the Amex in the calendar year of 2020.

3 months without scoring at home January-April 2022

( I can’t remember who our manager was at the time but we didn’t sack him or descend into ‘chaos’. )

Twelve draws last season under De Zerbi - two more than any other club in the PL - including with relegation-bound Burnley (twice) and Sheffield at home.

Where we are is fine - and if at the beginning of the season, this is the choice for where we’d be now, with a young team, a new manager to the EPL in charge and knowing we’d be hit by injuries that’s made it difficult to field a regular starting line up, well I would have taken it.

 

[Han Solo]

Don’t be over dramatic.

St Pauli were in the 2. Bundlesliga - not really the same level as the EPL and we have had ‘dry‘ spells before.

We had an 11th match winless run up to Boxing Day, 2021 until we beat Brentford 2:0.

One home win at the Amex in the calendar year of 2020.

3 months without scoring at home January-April 2022

( I can’t remember who our manager was at the time but we didn’t sack him or descend into ‘chaos’. )

Twelve draws last season under De Zerbi - two more than any other club in the PL - including with relegation-bound Burnley (twice) and Sheffield at home.

Where we are is fine - and if at the beginning of the season, this is the choice for where we’d be now, with a young team, a new manager to the EPL in charge and knowing we’d be hit by injuries that’s made it difficult to field a regular starting line up, well I would have taken it.

Yes and on several of those occasions I am sure Graham Potter was closer to getting sacked than not, that goes for any manager who goes 11 winless games in a row. That is the reality of the Premier League.

Don't remember which poor run it was but at some point just before it ended, Potter was asked if he was afraid of getting sacked and he said "The team needs a win and I need a win." Because such is reality. Some managers can survive 11 winless games in a row but no one can survive anywhere near 22. And its not necessarily about sacking: most managers would walk if their team can't win for 15 games or so.

We're far from something like that, but teams and managers need to win eventually.

 

[Weststander]

BEFORE the start of the season, my son and I make our Premier League predictions from 1st to 20th, seal it in an envelope and forget about it until the following May!

I know that I placed BHA 10th in my predictions, just thought we'd have a so/so season in comparison to others.

We’ve done exactly the same most seasons! But it’s not sealed.

 

[Deadly Danson]

As it seems tricky for people to answer a simple question - yep I'd have been delighted with 10th given some other clubs' existing strength (Man C, Arsenal, Liverpool, Villa, Newcastle, Spurs, Chelsea, Man U etc), other's seemingly good summer business (eg West Ham) and the momentum of others from last season such as Palace and also given our own new manager and all the new players. I would however have been disappointed not to be above the likes of Fulham, Bournemouth and Forest.

 

[Zeberdi]

Yes and on several of those occasions I am sure Graham Potter was closer to getting sacked than not,

You have absolutely no proof of that!

Potter may have been under pressure but the Club knows (compared to RDZ) he was very much a project manager as is Hürz and we give them time. The Club recruits for several seasons ahead, we are not like every other Premier League Club in so far as we spend low and sell big to push above our weight. But that push comes in cycles as we develop and sell. Potter was given time to progress youngsters and develop his Potter-ball - RDZ not so interested in youngsters but inherited a team from Potter that had been developing for several seasons (hence Europe qualification 2022/3).

Of course he said ‘the team needs a win and he needs a win’ because we did but we can also shoulder the dry patches.

We're far from something like that,

Exactly my point.

The hypothetical scenario asked is whether we would have taken where we are now, if we had known at the beginning of the season. I think that is actually a really good perspective to have after this first 6 months and providing we did not fcuk up the data on the summer infux of recruits and end up with a lot of duds and also don’t get relegated, I would say we were on course for pushing above our weight again next season.

but teams and managers need to win eventually.

Well um … yes

 

[el punal]

Objectively? Yes.

Subjectively? No. Underlying feeling is that the team is misfiring, underperforming and drifting down the table

Realistically? A new coach to the Premier League, a team of young promising players with eight newbies? The boys done good overall. For us fans (some of us that is) too much entitlement because we had such a good start to the season. I always thought that this season would be a bedding in period for coaches and players alike so a comfortable mid table position would be okay. The next four months will reveal our true potential.

My gut feeling is that we are overcoming our ‘blip’. Despite only drawing our last three fixtures the signs are there that we are coming back into form. We’ll see.

 

[sparkie]

It's impossible for me to take those facts out of the context that we are on a significant dire run where it is not clear where the next win is coming from.

So, in the context of current reality, the answer is "no".

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

(Try to pretend you've not seen us throw points away.)

Before the season started, would you have been happy with this at the halfway point of the season...

- 12 points above relegation
- 7 points above Palace
- 5 points off (likely) Champions League
- 2 points off (likely) European qualification

I’m happy with it. My personal marker is more maintaining top 10, Bloom’s stated long term aim. I figure if we can maintain this then we will flirt with Europe and/or a decent cup run from time to time. We’re still top 10 which means I’m fine with everything.

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Given the level of expenditure, I think a couple of places further up.

I get how you’ve presented it @Bozza but I’m not sure many of us would have predicted the competitiveness of some of our mid-table rivals, plus the struggles of Utd, City and Spurs.
(I actually fancied Palace to do better).

Nicely placed? Yes.
Satisfied? No.

 

[NorthstandRacoon]

Yes. Obviously.

St Pauli with Hurz in charge never had more than three winless games in a row and our current 7 winless game streak makes it difficult to sit calmly in the "look at the league table and smile" boat. We need to win a game of football pretty soon or it could all turn into a bit of chaos, despite the great look of the league table and our points so far.

I voted I was happy with our current position, however, do agree with this.

 

[Nicksinclair13]

Yes - if you'd have offered me this in the summer, I would have taken it 100%.

A young new manager in a new country/league, a handful of young new signings who had no PL experience and the loss of our most experienced heads on the pitch - Der Kaiser and Lallana going, Millie, Webster and Welbeck out injured was never going to have us straight in the European spots regardless of how brilliant any signings were individually. Look at the individual players at City for example who can't string a couple of draws together, let alone wins.

All I see is people saying 'Uncle Tony wants Europe' and I completely agree - but that doesn't mean he expects it this season.

As others have mentioned, I see the investment in the squad, the backroom appointments and the manager as another project for future seasons, I really struggle to believe that the Board expected it all to pay off in this season.

All the top clubs, bar Liverpool have all dropped a fair number of points this season, so with the run we have had, maybe we really could have done a Forest and 'upset the establishment' as Fab puts it.

For me, if we can get through this season in the mid table, ideally top 10 - establishing a system of play and embedding all the new starters, I think the future looks really bright (on). I think the aim needs to be building a Europe ready squad that consistently gets into Europa Conference/League each year, rather than yo-yo'ing in and out when we aren't ready. As fun as last season was, you have to say it was detrimental to our season. If we want another crack then we have to be ready for it.

If you could rewind this season and play it in reverse, even with the same results and league position, everyone would be buzzing. I think we went on such a good run in our first handful of games that this changed the expectation from most of us and now has left everyone disappointed over 'what could have been'. I do agree that it seem's that the momentum has swung out of our favour recently and the trajectory has been downward rather than upward when you look across the season.

The last couple of performances have given me a bit more confidence that we are starting to pull it back a little. I always knew looking at an 'easy run' was a potential disaster for us.

I think the appointment of Daniel Niedzkowski will give some much needed experience to the coaching team and the return of Ferdi and Hinsh will be a big boost. If we can get one of the linked defenders or two in this window then I think the second part of this season will be see us back on an upward trajectory with it all to play for next season.

Could/Should we have done better so far this season - absolutely! But I can say that AND still be pretty happy with where we are, so long as we can show signs of turning it around.

 

[Zeberdi]

Yes - if you'd have offered me this in the summer, I would have taken it 100%.

A young new manager in a new country/league, a handful of young new signings who had no PL experience and the loss of our most experienced heads on the pitch - Der Kaiser and Lallana going, Millie, Webster and Welbeck out injured was never going to have us straight in the European spots regardless of how brilliant any signings were individually. Look at the individual players at City for example who can't string a couple of draws together, let alone wins.

All I see is people saying 'Uncle Tony wants Europe' and I completely agree - but that doesn't mean he expects it this season.

As others have mentioned, I see the investment in the squad, the backroom appointments and the manager as another project for future seasons, I really struggle to believe that the Board expected it all to pay off in this season.

All the top clubs, bar Liverpool have all dropped a fair number of points this season, so with the run we have had, maybe we really could have done a Forest and 'upset the establishment' as Fab puts it.

For me, if we can get through this season in the mid table, ideally top 10 - establishing a system of play and embedding all the new starters, I think the future looks really bright (on). I think the aim needs to be building a Europe ready squad that consistently gets into Europa Conference/League each year, rather than yo-yo'ing in and out when we aren't ready. As fun as last season was, you have to say it was detrimental to our season. If we want another crack then we have to be ready for it.

If you could rewind this season and play it in reverse, even with the same results and league position, everyone would be buzzing. I think we went on such a good run in our first handful of games that this changed the expectation from most of us and now has left everyone disappointed over 'what could have been'. I do agree that it seem's that the momentum has swung out of our favour recently and the trajectory has been downward rather than upward when you look across the season.

The last couple of performances have given me a bit more confidence that we are starting to pull it back a little. I always knew looking at an 'easy run' was a potential disaster for us.

I think the appointment of Daniel Niedzkowski will give some much needed experience to the coaching team and the return of Ferdi and Hinsh will be a big boost. If we can get one of the linked defenders or two in this window then I think the second part of this season will be see us back on an upward trajectory with it all to play for next season.

Could/Should we have done better so far this season - absolutely! But I can say that AND still be pretty happy with where we are, so long as we can show signs of turning it around.

This.

All said before but a very good and objective summary.

Perspective.

 

[Sorrel]

After the first few games I thought we might be where Forest are now. Now I think we're a reasonable mid-table team, heading for 10th to 14th place.

I was hoping for more because this was the summer we spent and (I thought) got some great bargains. We'll be back to a selling club soon, so this was our chance.

 

[dazzer6666]

Your second line is answering now, though.

I'm asking if someone, on August 1st, said...

"Halfway through the season, this is where you'll be:

- 12 points above relegation
- 7 points above Palace
- 5 points off (likely) Champions League
- 2 points off (likely) European qualification"

...would you have thought "That sounds OK", or "That sounds rubbish"?

100% ok with a new manager and loads of new, young signings.

 

[Gotsmanov]

I find it hard to think of the question in any other way than "would you be happy to be in tenth place having spent £200m?".

 

[Springal]

I find it hard to think of the question in any other way than "would you be happy to be in tenth place having spent £200m?".

Yes because we should have spent a chunk of that last season

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Yes. Obviously.

St Pauli with Hurz in charge never

played in the top flight of German footballs. Fact.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Yes because we should have spent a chunk of that last season

On whom?

 

[Javeaseagull]

I voted yes from gut reaction but on reflection the bar was raised by Roberto when we reached Europe. Also spending record amount on Transfers is also going to raise expectations. i didn’t analyse back in August like some people and thought Woohoo we’ve spent 200 million we are going to smash the league! ?The start was great and if we can beat Man City we can beat anyone can’t we? When reality bites yes, with loads of newcomers to replace really good players it is obviously going to take time. So in August I expected more but in January I am happy and confident of an excellent second half of the season because of the strength of the squad after that big spend. Inconsistent? Me?

 

[el_ciddy]

New manager, lots of new players and trying to find the best starting 11. Nice position. How it’s come to happen has been a bit of a rollercoaster though.