[Albion] List of players that have gone backwards under the current coach

[Guinness Boy]

Dunk is ageing and has ben hampered by injuries and Verbruggen is just going through the ups and downs of development for a young player…….

Statistically Verbruggen has the worst xGOT in the league conceding over 5 more than he should have.

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So seemingly a lot more downs than ups.

Though having a defence that concede 3.64 shots on target per game probably doesn't help him. City have only had 72 shots on target against them in the same number of games.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Is normal service the richest clubs in the PL getting champions league, winning the league and getting into Europe ?
(like this year ? )

Forest are certainly not the richest and nor are Palace, should they do the unthinkable.

We, on the other hand, were able to spend £200 million on players in the summer - unlike the 'rich' clubs who were hamstrung by PSR. That, by the way, is a testimony to the way we're run and to Tony Bloom's ever present sporting nous. But it makes the argument about rich clubs slightly less relevant.

I can confidently predict there will be more sides spending more this summer than us than there were last summer.

 

[Balders]

To put a different spin on this £200m that is quoted everywhere by people expecting immediate success, purely based on the spend amount, buying 4 PL ready, established players for £200m would come with a pretty hefty wage bill, that in all probability would blow our wage structure (unfortunately we can't compete with the "bigger" clubs in this respect)

That's why the £200m the Club spent was an investment, rather than buying for immediate success, on a number of young players with potential that aren't established, which by definition gives a lower wage bill and fits with our structure and our model.

Two very different ways of spending £200m imho......

 

[dazzer6666]

To put a different spin on this £200m that is quoted everywhere by people expecting immediate success, purely based on the spend amount, buying 4 PL ready, established players for £200m would come with a pretty hefty wage bill, that in all probability would blow our wage structure (unfortunately we can't compete with the "bigger" clubs in this respect)

That's why the £200m the Club spent was an investment, rather than buying for immediate success, on a number of young players with potential that aren't established, which by definition gives a lower wage bill and fits with our structure and our model.

Two very different ways of spending £200m imho......

…and most of that spend has been intermittently injured for much of the season anyway

 

[American Seagle]

Estupinian
Estupinian
Estupinian
Adingra
Dunk
Verbruggen
Estupinian
Estupinian
Verbruggen

Dumbest post on here for quite some time

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

You don't sit 9th in the premier league with the youngest squad in the league and a crippling injury crisis if your play is poor, unstructured, complete chaos, no defensive structure, not reacting........

You just don't. So either we're not 9th or our play is not how you see it....

You do if the PL standard is at its lowest for a long time. We should be higher.

Arguably, we are 9th in spite of not because of.

Edit - amended for clarity, with thanks to @Balders

 

[Balders]

You do if the standard is at its lowest for a long time. We should be higher.

Arguably, we are 9th in spite of not because of.

I'm not sure you can state that our standard is at it's lowest for a long time when we've just achieved our joint second highest points total in the PL in our history with a further four games remaining

Whether we should be higher is purely down to expectations based on a number of factors - unfortunately if fans expectations don't marry up with the Club's Board, then there is going to be a disconnect!

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

I'm not sure you can state that our standard is at it's lowest for a long time when we've just achieved our joint second highest points total in the PL in our history with a further four games remaining

Whether we should be higher is purely down to expectations based on a number of factors - unfortunately if fans expectations don't marry up with the Club's Board, then there is going to be a disconnect!

PL standard.

 

[Change at Barnham]

To put a different spin on this £200m that is quoted everywhere by people expecting immediate success, purely based on the spend amount, buying 4 PL ready, established players for £200m would come with a pretty hefty wage bill, that in all probability would blow our wage structure (unfortunately we can't compete with the "bigger" clubs in this respect)

That's why the £200m the Club spent was an investment, rather than buying for immediate success, on a number of young players with potential that aren't established, which by definition gives a lower wage bill and fits with our structure and our model.

Two very different ways of spending £200m imho......

Good post.
Many people when quoting our £200m spend don't mention the net spend.
i.e. they don't include the previous season and a bit when the club raised more than £200m selling some high quality players.

Our net spend remains much lower than many clubs. And we still have a mid-table wage bill.

 

[Balders]

PL standard.

Ok then - Joint second highest points total with 4 games to go in our 7 seasons in the PL

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Ok then - Joint second highest points total with 4 games to go in our 7 seasons in the PL

In a lower/poor standard PL.
We should probably have another dozen, and probably would with a more experienced manager.

 

[Guinness Boy]

In a lower/poor standard PL.
We should have another dozen, and probably would with a more experienced manager.

Yes, exactly the point. There are some truly bad sides in the league this season in addition to a few high spend sides massively underperforming

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

Yes, exactly the point. There are some truly bad sides in the league this season in addition to a few high spend sides massively underperforming

Quite.
It is unusual for Man Utd, Spurs and even to a certain extent West Ham to be quite so poor.
Then there are the ‘promoted’ teams who were shocking, but we seemed to struggle against at home….
Palace turned up for half a season, Villa have put a late season run together.
Even City have been below par.

IMO, this was an opportunity missed, but I would still be delighted if we can get a conference league place.

 

[Balders]

In a lower/poor standard PL.
We should probably have another dozen, and probably would with a more experienced manager.

"in a lower/poor standard PL".......

........where the sides currently residing in 14th and 16th place respectively, are both in the Semi Finals of the Europa League!

The standard right across Europe must be dropping alarmingly

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

"in a lower/poor standard PL".......

........where the sides currently residing in 14th and 16th place respectively, are both in the Semi Finals of the Europa League!

The standard right across Europe must be dropping alarmingly

Are you really comparing cup games with the league?

West Ham were champions of Europe two years ago, I must be wrong…. Their fans still think they are….

 

[Doug-ees-evil]

"in a lower/poor standard PL".......

........where the sides currently residing in 14th and 16th place respectively, are both in the Semi Finals of the Europa League!

The standard right across Europe must be dropping alarmingly

If we'd have had the good fortune to be in the latter stages of Europa this season, I genuinely would have fancied our chances of winning it.
Noticeably weaker than our last 16 line-up (which was more Champions League than Europa).

 

[Greg Bobkin]

One check of the table shows me the current squad of DROSS isn't doing too badly...

…and most of that spend has been intermittently injured for much of the season anyway

And some aren't even the country/at the football club right now!

 

[Balders]

I'm not disagreeing with the fact that we have missed an opportunity, it's more that the arguments to substantiate why, just don't add up imho. Granted the Europa League is below standard of previous seasons due to the changes in the Champions League, but still, clubs who are having a far worse season than ourselves are in the Semi Finals.

I suspect other teams will have similar arguments, if this, if that, if my Auntie had balls she'd be my Uncle etc.... that's the nature of the PL!

 

[One Teddy Maybank]

I'm not disagreeing with the fact that we have missed an opportunity, it's more that the arguments to substantiate why, just don't add up imho. Granted the Europa League is below standard of previous seasons due to the changes in the Champions League, but still, clubs who are having a far worse season than ourselves are in the Semi Finals.

I suspect other teams will have similar arguments, if this, if that, if my Auntie had balls she'd be my Uncle etc.... that's the nature of the PL!

But, and is it all opinions, we IMO, HAVE missed an opportunity because, unfortunately our manager is not quite ready.

I get the counter argument, about points total, league position, injuries, etc. but I maintain, if we had any resemblance of a decent structure out of possession we would have been a lot better. Alternatively, if FH wants to play differently, as minimum he should look at his squad and understand what their capabilities and weaknesses are and adjust accordingly. In the main, he hasn’t.

Will have to disagree

 

[Balders]

It's fine to disagree, but what's the alternative? Unfortunately FH is measured on actuals (points, league position etc.) rather than subjective views, such as the PL being a lower standard this season as an example, where plenty of people will have different opinions.

If FH is still here next season (my view is he will, but not because I think he's doing a fantastic job, he's doing ok imho) if we finish Top 6 then plenty on here will need to eat humble pie. If we finish Top 10, that's how he's measured, like it or not.