[Albion] De Zerbi: 'We deserved to lose...I understood the problem in January!"

[phoenix]

If you can't count Biss, how about taking into account the notional value of Mwepu?

Yes don't forget Codner that must come into it as well.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Did @El Presidente once post how much we’d make from the EL, to various stages?

I hope Fati comes good. I never thought he would stay next season, but there were signs in the autumn of a quality player slowly regaining confidence, it would lovely to see that again for him and us.

If RDZ wants to coach the best then coaching Fati back up to something approaching his best should be one of RDZ's personal targets for the rest of the season.

 

[drew]

I've never coached soccer/football, I'm just a slightly more than casual fan. And I don't recall any NSCer suggesting how RDZ and the players could break down bus parking.

The Senators have been bouncing between last (32nd) and 20th place because a) they haven't had a reliable goaltender since they let 39-year-old Craig Anderson go at the end of his contract; b) the head coach and his assistants refused to teach team defence, relying instead on the old adage that the best defence is a good offense. Well, guess what -- when your goalkeeping is poor, and your defencemen are left to fend for themselves because your forwards refuse to skate back more than a few feet inside the D-zone blue line, you're gonna get outnumbered and outscored.

Anyway, I sense hostility on your part. Is it because you find my comments just more ignorant than everyone else's? Just block me if that's the case.

.

It's not hostility but you keep talking about RDZ changing tactics without making any suggestions. It's an easy thing to say but unless you're suggesting we abandon the possession based football that the club have relied on for the last 4 seasons, I'm not sure what you mean.

 

[phoenix]

Did you not read the bit in my original post you quoted about how good our midfield was in Potter’s last full season- so it obviously includes Biss who played for Potter that season, and whose transfer fee still counts towards our FFP headroom.

I don’t think comprehension is your strong point (or, indeed, maths).

I am sorry no i don't read every post Just to let you know i'm very good at maths. But sadly i do struggle with comprehension i think that means understanding I thank you for pointing that out to the whole of nsc if indeed i was mentally unstable this would indeed push me close to the egge, i thankyou for making that clear to me in no uncertain terms.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I am sorry no i don't read every post

You quoted it!

 

[crookie]

All of us, fans, Tony, RDZ are frustrated because we are well aware if what might have been thus season. RDZ rotated massively in the early months because of what was to be a punishable schedule of games. Much more than other teams facing a similar number of fixtures. He did this I guess, in order not to burn players out, and keep them fresh. How was he rewarded for this strategy ? The worst injury crisis this club had ever known. March, playing out of his skin, out for the season in injury time at City after covering at LB because we had noone else fit to play there. His 'partner in crime' on the other wing Mitoma, one of the most potent attackers in the league injured as well, then goes to the Asian Cup, plays one game, then out for the rest of the season. Enciso, one of the revelations of last season, out for 6 months. Fatigue, an expensive loan, out for 3 months. All at the same time. This seasons revelation, Hinshelwood, out for the season too. Then our top scorer gets injured too, out for several weeks. I know other teams suffer injuries, but ours have been on a different level. I believe we could easily have been challenging for top 4, and still in the FA Cup with any semblance of a normal level of injuries. We could have had another historical season. It's not looking likely now, and whilst I agree RDZ could and should have been more flexible he has had to do his job with one hand tied behind his back. I have witnessed the most entertaining football I have ever watched the last couple of seasons and he has delivered something no other manager has. I hope he stays for a lot longer. I hope he also thinks what might have been, and therefore what could be next season, with hopefully no sales and some squad strengthening too

 

[crookie]

Fati, not fatigue obviously, didn't proofread !!

 

[phoenix]

You quoted it!

View attachment 177918

Stop picking on me please!! I'm not your problem i've never been a problem to anyone in my whole life. I'm on here because i love ny boys since 1968 and i love this forum i respect Bozza and the lafds but you seem to have a agenda when challenged .I have no problem with you whatsoever.

 

[BadFish]

Stop picking on me please!! I'm not your problem i've never been a problem to anyone in my whole life. I'm on here because i love ny boys since 1968 and i love this forum i respect Bozza and the lafds but you seem to have a agenda when challenged .I have no problem with you whatsoever.

I agree that the picking on you should stop but perhaps it is going to take you owning your mistake and acknowledging that it has undermined your argument somewhat.

the point GB is making about FFP headroom is surely solid?

 

[Weststander]

Yep, not to mention going on strike. It would be nice if some moved on from Caicedo. We sold him for value. That’s all that matters. If people think they can run the club better then stick your money on the table.

Are realistic fans p@ssed off with the club letting Caicedo leave? In the real world the move was unstoppable, because the two agents and the Chavs conspired to make his stay untenable.

Separate to that aspect, many folk including myself were and are disappointed that the CB’s were left without quality DM cover. No one is saying they need to be world class in the role. Just a player with pace, power, experience in the role. The PL has plenty of examples such as Endo at £16m.

Last season we conceded 1.39 goals per PL game, this 1.63. That’s 9 goals over 38 games.

The remarkable stat is 12 clean sheets last season, 3 this season so far.

Hinshelwood did a fantastic job replacing Veltman. I’d argue that LB and DM have been our achilles heel.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

Yep, not to mention going on strike. It would be nice if some moved on from Caicedo. We sold him for value. That’s all that matters. If people think they can run the club better then stick your money on the table.

This.

Still.....if your natural instinct is to look for conspiracy, and imagine you have The Gift and can glean the root of weakness in the running of the club, the fundamental shit-ness that reflects, yes, your very own inner shit-ness, then this, simple, fact-based narrative will not be enough. Not by a long chalk. No sir.

Edit: when I say 'your' I don't mean your, as in of you. I mean the abstract imaginary person. But you new that, being educated.

 

[BadFish]

Yep, not to mention going on strike. It would be nice if some moved on from Caicedo. We sold him for value. That’s all that matters. If people think they can run the club better then stick your money on the table.

This, I think the problem with the Caicedo transfer was that the money offered was so ridiculous that he was sold sooner than planned. The succession plan ended up a little out of whack and we have a bit of a hole.

But anyone who thinks we should have turned down the bid is out of their minds.

 

[Wardy's twin]

I've never coached soccer/football, I'm just a slightly more than casual fan. And I don't recall any NSCer suggesting how RDZ and the players could break down other teams' bus parking.

The Senators have been bouncing between last (32nd) and 20th place because a) they haven't had a reliable goaltender since they let 39-year-old Craig Anderson go at the end of his contract in 2020; b) the head coach and his assistants refused to teach team defence, relying instead on the old adage that the best defence is a good offense. Well, guess what -- when your goalkeeping is poor, and your defencemen are left to fend for themselves because your stats-happy forwards refuse to skate back more than a few feet inside the D-zone blue line, you're gonna get outnumbered and outscored.

Anyway, I sense hostility on your part. Is it because you find my comments just more ignorant than everyone else's? Just block me, mate, if that's the case.

.

Too many people obsessed with possession football. It great to see the passing but ultimately the game is about scoring more goals than you conceded so when you're not scoring you need to tighten the defence. We seem unable to think that way and that has cost us. Sure we have had a major injury problem but that means we need to adjust our style to accommodate it e.g. against spurs we needed to shut up shop. More generally we are too slow getting the ball forward.


All about opinions..

 

[Guinness Boy]

I agree that the picking on you should stop but perhaps it is going to take you owning your mistake and acknowledging that it has undermined your argument somewhat.

the point GB is making about FFP headroom is surely solid?

Well, yes. But also I’m being mis quoted and mis represented and his last post was a blatant lie.

@phoenix I bear you no ill will at all, but you can’t just post stuff you think happened- it undermines your whole point.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Are realistic fans p@ssed off with the club letting Caicedo leave? In the real world the move was unstoppable, because the two agents and the Chavs conspired to make his stay untenable.

Separate to that aspect, many folk including myself were and are disappointed that the CB’s were left without quality DM cover. No one is saying they need to be world class in the role. Just a player with pace, power, experience in the role. The PL has plenty of examples such as Endo at £16m.

Last season we conceded 1.39 goals per PL game, this 1.63. That’s 9 goals over 38 games.

The remarkable stat is 12 clean sheets last season, 3 this season so far.

Hinshelwood did a fantastic job replacing Veltman. I’d argue that LB and DM have been our achilles heel.

I guess the club believed that in Baleba, Dahoud and Gilmour they had enough cover. It’s their call. Your stats are also a bit one sided because we don’t know how many goals would have been conceded if Caicedo had stayed.

 

[Quebec Seagull]

It's not hostility but you keep talking about RDZ changing tactics without making any suggestions. It's an easy thing to say but unless you're suggesting we abandon the possession based football that the club have relied on for the last 4 seasons, I'm not sure what you mean.

That's just it -- if you don't have the players to play possession-based football that results in actual goals, I suppose you turn back the clock and play more conservatively. Concentrate on defence, pound a long ball or counterattack on a good tackle or bad pass from the other team. It's not pretty, but a few 1-0 wins are better than a hatful of draws and spankings.

RDZ doesn't just throw darts at a board when choosing a starting XI with a depleted squad. He tries out a plethora of combos in training, and by game day, he has an idea of which players have the best chance to succeed in this position or that. But if the players' skill set just does not allow for a high press with more presence, guile and decisiveness in the box, or for greater defensive awareness, then you get what we've seen for the past 5 months.

Potter and RDZ -- 2 ball possession gurus. Where Potter constantly played it too safe and wouldn't let the team's best players express their creativity, RDZ asks too much of our lesser or unproven lights -- perhaps in the erroneous assumption that the way he's taught the boys to play will overcome any individual deficiencies.

... Or maybe we're all overthinking this, and the fact is that the healthy players we've been left with since October wouldn't have fared any better no matter what approach was taken.

 

[Zeberdi]

I don't think there is any ire for selling Caicedo. He had to go. Even RDZ agreed he had to go (I paraphrase: "I have forgotten him already. I do not want players here who do not want to be at the club" etc). If there is any ire it is that he has not been adequately replaced - Dahoud was quickly discarded by RDZ and Baleba is a work in progress who, under our normal model, would probably be out on loan now instead of being thrown into the deep end.
I do agree that finding a replacement would be very difficult and expensive - expensive is not really what our club does and it always causes friction amongst fans. We went for several transfer windows without splashing the cash on a striker for example, when fans were crying out for one.

Oh - there certainly was and still is from fans - but yes, I think deep down most football fans understand that you can lead horses to water etc. and that our policy has always been ‘if the price is right we will not stand in a player’s way’.

As much as I respect fans, and many have played, do play football, act as officials in ’little league’ etc, with the exception of a minority, I think there is a fairly crude understanding of the complicated systematic order behind the play they see from the stands or armchair. That is one point. I also think not many Brighton fans (if any) have the experience of running a Premier league football club in a very complicated industry that has even more complicated processes of financial regulation and characterised by heavy losses and massive operation costs. I certainly haven’t so am not going to second guess PB/TB’s executive decisions or imagine I know better than them how to run the Club..

There may be some fans (on NSC) who are in the know when it comes to what goes on behind closed doors of the Club, particularly working relations between coaches, players, executive board members. However, they can not divulge that to a public audience- the very vast majority of us rely on gossip, innuendo, a bit of common sense and some creative flourish to form our own narratives. “ RDZ has fallen out with Bloom!” Has he? Or is he naturally just feeling like the stuffing’s being knocked out of him because of our unrelenting injury problem with his best players this season ffs? We need a striker!” Do we? Or do we need an attacking midfield that can start producing goals? “We need to send Baleba on loan!” Do we? Or does RDZ want him here to work on getting him bedded in to his double pivot system because the sooner we close up the vulnerability left after losing Moises, we will concede less goals? Just saying, fans know an awful lot but sometimes the information we are not privy to is more important than the sum of the information we have.

 

[Wozza]

I’d argue that LB and DM have been our achilles heel.

I mean, is this even an argument?

And we saw this coming in the summer!

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

I agree that the picking on you should stop but perhaps it is going to take you owning your mistake and acknowledging that it has undermined your argument somewhat.

the point GB is making about FFP headroom is surely solid?

I think it should just stop. No conditions for Phoenix to follow.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I agree that the picking on you should stop but perhaps it is going to take you owning your mistake and acknowledging that it has undermined your argument somewhat.

the point GB is making about FFP headroom is surely solid?

Does it matter? @phoenix made a mistake and by the sounds of it didn't follow the critical (of him) narrative.

Time to let it go.