Papa Lazarou
Living in a De Zerbi wonderland
Anyone got a clip of that attempted sliding tackle he put in 2nd half? If you watched the game, you know the one.
[Albion] List of players that have gone backwards under the current coach
- Thread starter Guinness Boy
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- Thread starter
- #142
Enciso, barely played and loaned out to relegation certainties. Will probably be off in the summer and not for what Tony's data might have planned for originally either. Won't matter too much though as we have more than enough strength to cover that position. Estupinian has continued to get worse this season, Saturday was comical.
I can always rely on you to take my flippant comments out of context and reply dead seriously. I'm aware of all the above and have made the point a thousand times on here that injuries have killed our defence this season, it's more that we have actively tried to sign CBs in the summer (Boscagli, Cashin and the lad who went to City) and didn't.
1066familyman
Radio User
- Jan 15, 2008
- 15,595
Ok, so now you've added a fifth player to the list.
Another player that wasn't firing on all cylinders when FH arrived, due to long term injury previously, and God knows what else if the NSC thread on him is to be believed
I have said it before.... Fab is a bit weird and like Potter (but less so) he brings out the bully in some of us.
If he was a 'man's man' in the manner of Terry Venables nobody would be carping.
Last season, with RDZ starting mad line-ups and tanking the season, the criticism was:
"not getting transfer backing; he's more ambitious than the club; he will quit" - it being we who were not worthy of the great man.
There was some criticism of him, but nothing like the absolute rogering given by quite a few to Fab.
I am a sucker for an alpha male leader so I also 'feel' a sneer coming on when I see Fab's squirrel, and hear his 'process with the guys' chat.
But......I can accept that I'm being a tit, letting my brainstem exercise its survival prejudices,
which are based on backing the ruthless option.
If the cavemen from the next village were to raid, and whisk Fab off into the night, I would probably just tut.
1066familyman
Radio User
- Jan 15, 2008
- 15,595
A shit haircut and being German can't be helping much either, that's for sure.I have said it before.... Fab is a bit weird and like Potter (but less so) he brings out the bully in some of us.
If he was a 'man's man' in the manner of Terry Venables nobody would be carping.
Last season, with RDZ starting mad line-ups and tanking the season, the criticism was:
"not getting transfer backing; he's more ambitious than the club; he will quit" - it being we who were not worthy of the great man.
There was some criticism of him, but nothing like the absolute rogering given by quite a few to Fab.
I am a sucker for an alpha male leader so I also 'feel' a sneer coming on when I see Fab's squirrel, and hear his 'process with the guys' chat.
But......I can accept that I'm being a tit, letting my brainstem exercise its survival prejudices,
which are based on backing the ruthless option.
If the cavemen from the next village were to raid, and whisk Fab off into the night, I would probably just tut.
It's almost as if being ginger, Welsh and filmed falling over on a beach can lose you a general election.
Would never happen in Germany, surely?
Could it be in here?
00:30 lazy, ball watching
1:14 comatose
1:35 wtf at the touchline, then lazy
Doug-ees-evil
Well-known member
- Nov 18, 2011
- 316
All valid points. Such a strange season for the league in general and a glaring opportunity to fill the void usually occupied by the traditional big clubs (also a year with three of the worst promoted sides in PL history). On the flipside, it's been great for ourselves, Fulham, Bournemouth and Brentford to be those stubborn, mid-table decent teams who are fighting for Europe (the battle for 8th! ...Dun... dun... daaaarrghh).
Next season will be so much tougher. I think you can also add a very fiesty and decent, dirty Leeds into the mix for mid/upper-mid table. Burnley might have a nice bounce and Everton may also be more resurgent in their new home. Surely Spuds and ManU will improve?
The PL doesn't get any easier, but yes, this year was a freak year. Despite what is looking like a historically excellent final, top flight points tally for us, there is still that nagging feeling it is a huge opportunity missed – through of a combo of shooting ourselves in the foot (tactical naivety), bad luck (injuries) and daft game management – plus of a cocktail of inexperience. I just hope the freak year doesn't end with that lot up the road winning the FA Cup – because then they, not us, would have taken advantage of it.
*Note. I realise my post has absolutely nothing to do with the original thread question.
- Jun 27, 2012
- 15,420
is it a unique , freak year ?
We've now been 9th, 6th, 11th and likely 11-8th in the last four seasons. Seems like a normal year .
Forest are the outliers but even with them - their wage bill is 20% higher than us and no surprise whatsoever we're behind Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Villa, Newcastle and Man City given their wage bills, squads etc.
And even Forest look likely to finish 6th or perhaps 7th - and have a FA Cup semi final. Sound familiar ?
(Its annoying Palace are in a cup final again - but we would have had City in the semi final if we'd not missed those pens v Forest. )
We've now been 9th, 6th, 11th and likely 11-8th in the last four seasons. Seems like a normal year .
Forest are the outliers but even with them - their wage bill is 20% higher than us and no surprise whatsoever we're behind Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal, Villa, Newcastle and Man City given their wage bills, squads etc.
And even Forest look likely to finish 6th or perhaps 7th - and have a FA Cup semi final. Sound familiar ?
(Its annoying Palace are in a cup final again - but we would have had City in the semi final if we'd not missed those pens v Forest. )
Nobby Cybergoat
Well-known member
- Jul 19, 2021
- 10,077
I sort of agree with you
There are a few teams who have unperformed. A few who have overperformed.
I'm not convinced Man Utd and Spurs are straight back to the European places next season. I'm even less convinced there won't be another couple of surprising underperformers, who's place we can be taking aim at
boik
Well-known member
It's the old "ambition" vs "expectation " again. There's a crucial difference.
That's from the Club's Official Accounts filed with Companies House early in March this year. Depends how you define "stretch goal"
Doug-ees-evil
Well-known member
- Nov 18, 2011
- 316
Yes. I'd say it was a very freakish year to have the title and relegation race kind of sorted by January/early Feb. The original comment was more about the league in general, not our league position – which as you say is looking quite comfortably consistent over the past four years. The bottom three this year (apart from when we've played them haha) have not really punched above their weight and nicked many points off those above. If there'd been a couple of plucky newcomers this season then we may have seen both West Ham and Spurs go down this year.. which would have been fun. That's quite an unusual scenario we haven't seen for a while.
London Irish
Well-known member
Spending a quarter of a billion pounds is definitely not a normal year for the Albion
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…….
- Thread starter
- #156
Yep, relegation and title decided ages ago. The fine margins are in the battle for Europe with 2 points between 3rd and 6th and one point between 10th and 8th. Man U and Spurs having history defining (as in bad) PL seasons. City have lost the same number of games as us. FA Cup semi-finalists of Villa, Palace, Forest and City. Newcastle winning their first trophy for so long that the entire city turned out to celebrate a League Cup.
It's those seasons where leaving a point or two on the table or having a bad 15 mins in a cup game can make a huge amount of difference. Next season will see normal service resuming with stronger sides coming up from the Championship, City rebuilding (although at risk of a massive points deduction), Spurs likely to get rid of Ange and Man U will have a massive clear out.
- Jun 27, 2012
- 15,420
Is normal service the richest clubs in the PL getting champions league, winning the league and getting into Europe ?
(like this year ? )
- Thread starter
- #158
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.
- Thread starter
- #159
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.
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......
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......