[Albion] Are We The Baddies?

[Curious Orange]

Reading this thread makes be wonder how different things would be if Foster and Heaton hadn't put in such good performances when we were creating chances for fun.

 

[symyjym]

I really dont know what people expect , we dont have the same level of backers as say Wolves & we certainly have not had their connections with a certain agent. We dont have endlessly deep pockets for TB to bring out a hundred million every season but everyone knows being in the prem is the dream ticket if you can stay there for a few seasons building up the finances & following trying to build a stronger squad season upon season.

There is what the pundits call 'second season syndrome' to contend with as well so the odds have always been stacked against any team coming up to the prem to survive with ease for one season let alone several. In the end its what as fans you prefer , defensive solidity & being hard to beat in the prem or the same in the championship but with more chances against lesser quality teams which is after all what we had just two seasons ago.

Do you want pragmatic displays against Liverpool , Man City , Arsenal & others in the prem or games against Leeds , Sheff Wed , Rotherham , Millwall , Birmingham & others.

Being solid at the back is the starting point for any good team , its the foundation onto which better things are built , it takes time but as always fans have expectations way beyond the capabilities of the club.

I am not defending CH , I am pointing out the realities of where the club is , so be careful what you wish for as I think Fulham fans might have preferred to be more pragmatic now than the naive gung ho approach & spending £100 million for the resulting relegation they have ended up with.

I think this is a fair summary and although we are solid at the back we have also created plenty of scoring opportunities that haven't been taken. Our lack of quality and decision making in the final third has cost us points not the tactics.

 

[Weststander]

Any team that has set up to play boring, negative football, ie, us, is never going to be popular with other fans, heck it is not even popular with the majority of our fans. We have, sadly become a bit of a laughing stock across the country now. 7 games without a goal is a total embarrassment. 3 wins 4 draws 13 defeats from the last 20 league games and 13 points from 60. This is solely Hughton's baby.

Has this ever happened in the history of bhafc before ? Any team that sets out to stiffle the beautiful game will be derided, even in Italy they would have tired of us by now. I feel most sorry for Ryan, Dunk and Duffy, where the hell would we be without them ?

They have to do triple shifts each game as the pressure is NEVER taken off by the midfield and attack. Those 3 will be gone like a shot to another premier league side if we go down, probably the only 3 to be honest.

There’ve been plenty of NSC posts over the years on how dull Stoke, WBA and Burnley are. Not we’re very much part of that ‘elite’.

I don’t think the top 6 are angry with us, instead (bar Mourinho’s ManU), they love the easy 6 points. On bluemoon they confidently expect a parade on the last day, in effect dismissing us as a non footballing entity. Who can disagree with them ... we’re shit at football compared to the all conquering Guardiola and their amazing squad of the greatest players around.

 

[Weststander]

At least he was not banging on about Europe like some arrogant people on here.

That was cringy.

 

[A1X]

Also worth remembering we aren't a "name". We could well be in the PL again next season but Dirty Leeds won't be. Many of the current crop of sports journos grew up in the 1980s / 1990s and as such are used to seeing teams like them, Massive, Villa, Forest etc. in the top flight but not us. Huddersfield took a lot of the brunt of that but obviously they're on their way out now. Bournemouth have got away with it but there are murmurings (particularly as they have a small ground). Teams like Reading have seen it happen before.

 

[Publius Ovidius]

Can we include Barber as one of those, his comments on talksport about how we did not need to strengthen in the January window as we did all our great business in the summer. A real egg on face comment now if I have ever heard one.

Didn't we buy players and send them out on loan.....certainly a Romanian guy. Not counting Percy the god tau.

 

[Hampster Gull]

Other fans also dislike our fans, apparently we're extremely arrogant.

Wankers

 

[fosters headband]

Didn't we buy players and send them out on loan.....certainly a Romanian guy. Not counting Percy the god tau.

Yes we did and in fact I think we have spent a lot of money strengthening the under 23's, shame the money was not put to strengthen some of our weaknesses in the front side
The management were so confident that they reduced Hughtons squad of 25 down to 24 just to handicap him a little more in that window

 

[the right footed denilson]

I don’t accept that because Fulham went down there is an inevitability that anything other than constant park the bus defending will lead to relegation. Wolves, Bournemouth, and others have attacked successfully.

Although, Fulham attacked pretty successfully against us!!

FWIW...my friends and people I speak to about football here all think we're boring. Not anti-football, just boring.

 

[SollysLeftFoot]

Does make you wonder how many of last year's Summer signings were based purely on our footballing needs and how many were based on the club's desire to raise it's global profile.

I absolutely see the Percy Tau move as such. He hasn't set Belgian League 2 alight has he..

 

[the right footed denilson]

PS

Andone is going to become a fairly hated player. What a total nutjob. LOVE him!

 

[SollysLeftFoot]

Such a crying shame that our style and execution of play is so at odds with TB's stated aim of incremental improvement. He deserves far better. Expect some fairly brutal upheavals, carried out in a gentlemanly fashion, over the Summer.

Absolutely, we took 1 foot forward then decided to turn around and leg it since January.

Of course, this will be everyone's fault other than Hughton being exposed as being out of his depth.

 

[Dolph Ins]

Last season we were lucky with injuries and suspensions. Our best offensive players were Gross and Issy. In the summer we improved our squad in case we were more unlucky with injuries/suspensions. Unfortunately we have been unlucky and our 2 most inventive players have been injured for a lot of the season. Up to Christmas we were doing just fine (no, better than that) but in 2019 we have been sh1t. Now we are having to be pragmatic and I'm all in favour if it saves us. Just chill, we can't afford Erikson or Son but we have a decent squad who lost it's way for a while but is now back on track (what exactly are we supposed to do away to top 10 teams) (Oh yes we did cheer in the pub when we had a shot on target).

 

[Newick Seagull]

From a Wolves mate of mine . .

 

[West Upper Seagull]

Trouble with playing boring negative football is it has a very limited lifespan. You can get away with it for a short while. Then you get dumped on your arse back down whence you came. And unless you reinvent the side in a major way, don't even THINK about trotting out the customary BS about bouncing right back up again. Never going to happen. Other clubs want it far more, and are far better equipped to do so.

Well said. Our defensive performance was heroic last night but I came away from that game convincing myself that these are drastic measures in drastic times and bloody hope this is short term, because if we stay up who in their right mind could stomach watching this approach week in week out next season ?

 

[Moshe Gariani]

Reading this thread makes be wonder how different things would be if Foster and Heaton hadn't put in such good performances when we were creating chances for fun.

Dangerous talk. Don't you know that boring defensive football is in Houstons' NBA...?

 

[Farehamseagull]

Yeah we’re not liked. Obviously know a lot of Saints fans but also mates who are Spurs, Arsenal, Bournemouth and obviously Palace fans who slate us. Even had Pompey and Ipswich fans I know laying in to us today which seemed a bit rich! I wouldn’t even start looking at other fans opinions on Twitter though the Dunk and Duffy appreciation was funny last night.

I still think we get an easier ride than maybe we would because the universally liked Hughton is our manager. If we had someone like Puel in charge we would be absolutely annihalated by fans and media.

 

[mxs_harrow]

Yeah we’re not liked. Obviously know a lot of Saints fans but also mates who are Spurs, Arsenal, Bournemouth and obviously Palace fans who slate us. Even had Pompey and Ipswich fans I know laying in to us today which seemed a bit rich! I wouldn’t even start looking at other fans opinions on Twitter though the Dunk and Duffy appreciation was funny last night.

I still think we get an easier ride than maybe we would because the universally liked Hughton is our manager. If we had someone like Puel in charge we would be absolutely annihalated by fans and media.

No matter what social media and other fans forums say - not to mention Talksport and cringworthy Match of the Day - just check todays quality papers reviews of the Spurs match and see how high our players ratings are, and how hard-working, brave and committed they think our team are to the fight to stay up. Three games to go and loads of points still available.

 

[Wozza]

View attachment 108242

From a Wolves mate of mine . .

Because we just denied them a win. *shrugs*

 

[AJ's magic]

Yes, you most certainly are the 'baddies'. Boring brand of football, lacking of any real standout players. As a palace fan, I would naturally enjoy seeing you lot relegated this time around but I suppose the neutrals are not to bothered as if it is not this season it'll almost certainly be next.

In many ways you are similar to Bournemouth, a lower league club (obviously you are bigger than bournemouth) who have enjoyed a 'fairytale season/seasons' in the top flight but who now everyone wants to just eff off back to league one.