[Albion] Is the Prem even worth staying in?

Guinness Boy said:

I think I've spent a lot of time on this thread replying to individual points made by you and [MENTION=16159]Bold Seagull[/MENTION] that you're starting to infer stuff I don't mean. Let's be clear:

- Being us now is better than being Sunderland
- Of COURSE the Amex is WAY better than Withdean and many (but not all) of my favourite Albion matches have been there.
- Last season was my favourite ever watching Brighton (and there the problem starts)
- I'm grateful for everything Tony has put in and continues to. I've done a 180 on Paul Barber. I think CH is one of the most impressive human beings on the planet.
- I have (like [MENTION=21158]Weststander[/MENTION]) enjoyed our home wins but not so much the Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea games. In fact not at all
- Nevertheless I can appreciate good players - Gross is FANTASTIC. Ryan is much better than I thought he would be. Propper is about what I was expecting. Schelotto is my new Albion cult hero. I LOVE him. Izquierdo has disappointed though.
- On the field by far the most disappointing thing has been the shackling of last season's flair stars, Knockaert and March in to a defensive formation that frankly doesn't work.

So, all that said, the issues to pull out are:

- I'm always going to prefer winning to losing
- I don't want us to be the next Arsenal
- I don't want us to be the next West Brom either
- I probably have no choice that we're going to be one of the two middle things if we are to survive financially - and frankly I HATE that prospect.

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Tom Hark said:

So if we just sort of shuffle out of the PL not with a bang but with a whimper, as seems increasingly likely, what's the end game after that?.

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kjgood said:

Like to stay in the Premier League if just to give our benefactor some of his money back. He deserves it.

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Bold Seagull said:

Fair enough with your summary there.The underlined is a debate in its own right though. You say shackling, I say neither has been up to the task. They've been playing in a 4-4-1-1 most of the season, but they have not troubled the opponents full backs enough, opposition can go 1 on 1 with them and feel fairly comfortable. A wide player in the PL has to be able to take on and beat their man to be effective, to pull centre halves out of position. Its down to their mindset, performance and quality. Gross has been able to deliver ball after ball into the box from a variety of positions often creating panic or a chance, just not seen anywhere near that quality from Knocky or March sadly, and I don't think its to do with formation or shackling.

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Guinness Boy said:

I wish I could find the stats - someone else posted them on another thread - but Knockaert has had far more defensive touches this season and far fewer attacking ones. March we're going to have to go from memory on but certainly against Man City he was pretty much playing as a second wing back. They do both have issues going forward admittedly. Knockaert's cut back on to the left is picked all the time. March doesn't have the pace for the Premier League. I can't think of a single full back that he's skinned. All the more reason to play Izqueirdo though for my money.

Another point that's been done to death in the pub is inverse wingers playing with their strong foot away from the touchline. I think Izquierdo would be far better on the right going outside players and if Knocky was on the left teams would have to "re-learn" him at least. My theory is that, with a choice of one from two slow main strikers and Gross in the hole they'd arrive at the byline with no one to cross to - in other words we cut inside to allow the team to catch up. It will be interesting to see if we try this once Locadia is fit.

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Guinness Boy said:

I wish I could find the stats - someone else posted them on another thread - but Knockaert has had far more defensive touches this season and far fewer attacking ones. March we're going to have to go from memory on but certainly against Man City he was pretty much playing as a second wing back. They do both have issues going forward admittedly. Knockaert's cut back on to the left is picked all the time. March doesn't have the pace for the Premier League. I can't think of a single full back that he's skinned. All the more reason to play Izqueirdo though for my money.

Another point that's been done to death in the pub is inverse wingers playing with their strong foot away from the touchline. I think Izquierdo would be far better on the right going outside players and if Knocky was on the left teams would have to "re-learn" him at least. My theory is that, with a choice of one from two slow main strikers and Gross in the hole they'd arrive at the byline with no one to cross to - in other words we cut inside to allow the team to catch up. It will be interesting to see if we try this once Locadia is fit.

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dangull said:

You could say the same thing for some of the smaller clubs in the championship, Burton for example who's only target is to avoid relegation.

Since Falmer was built, the clubs size is about between high part of the championship and lower 12 of the premier league. Whether a continued run in the premier league for a few years changes that is another question.

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Weststander said:

In every way, as the club and its support stands these days (not history), is every bit the size of Bmuff, Stains, Palace, Swansea, WBA and Stoke in my opinion. They all feel very at home in PL and stay up season after season.

Any of those 6 clubs in the Championship would not be huge, with the mass support of say a Newcastle or Villa.

My point is that we can very much feel at home in the PL, IF the Board can get a decent PL squad together.

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dangull said:

My point though is Sunderland, Wigan ect were just surviving for a number of years until they finally got relegated. Despite all the revenue they received, those clubs don't seem any better off now than say Forest who have not been in the top flight for ages.

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