[Albion] Fab OUT

[keaton]

The comments on injuries are entirely relevant for this conversation. Had we not had them we'd be higher in the league, probably played better football and any comments suggesting Fab should be sacked would look even sillier than they do

Had we not had so few fit forwards last season I'm sure RDZ would have won more games and been less unhappy

 

[Machiavelli]

I think @Justice made a very good point. When you're playing in an athletics stadium and getting by with the likes of Dean Wilkins and Russell Slade no one has any expectations beyond a day out, a few beers and staying in the league. Even when you're in The Championship in a new stadium people understand how difficult it is to get out of that league, especially with parachute payments. But when you spend £200 million in one window, play the likes of Marseille, Ajax and Roma and finish regularly in or around the top ten then why not have heightened expectations? It's not the same club.

No, we're not a big six club rolling in money and with TV coverage to burn but we're very much in the group that are disrupting them along with Fulham, Brentford, Villa, Newcastle and Forest. Possibly Bournemouth too. Either little clubs getting by with a lot of savvy trading and coaches or former giants trying to spend their way to glory within (or sometimes without) FFP / PSR compliance. It has to be our aim to be consistently in this group and to push for Europe every season. And - guess what - that's the club's target too.

Fab's doing a great job of it, especially for an inexperienced coach BTW. But lose three big games in a row? Have Palace do the double over us? Lose 7-0? Anyone with a soul is going to have a little grizzle.

I'll allow you to grizzle ...



... but make sure it's a little one.

 

[Machiavelli]

Having watched the amazing PSG/Villa CL game last night, our 0-3 loss doesn't look so bad now. Thought Villa were genuinely excellent, defensively especially.. which may seem an odd thing to say when they lost 1-3. But it took three goals of the most exceptional quality to defeat them and watching the full game, I think the majority of the Premier Leagues' top ten clubs would have gone down 4, 5 or 6 nil to PSG last night. Enrique really has built a wonderful team there now all the big names have moved on.

Back to the point, Villa are a very strong side with a deep, experienced + youthful, athletic squad, and with each passing day our recent home defeat against them bothers me less. We are trying to punch above our weight, but we are not in that weight category at all yet - and probably never will be. In Emery, they have one of Europe's best and most decorated coaches. Sometimes, you have just have sit back, take stock and think where we've come from and where we are now. As @jackalbion said, we are perhaps in our first true years of being an established mid-table top flight team. Only 4 years ago this was a pipe dream and it's kind of a weird thing to even say.. to be consistently mixing it with the historical West Hams and Everton's of this world.

So with the narrow Forest penalty lottery defeat and the Villa match filed appropriately as 'one of those.. move on', perhaps the Palace defeat was the most harmful and irritating of the three? A comfortable home win against Leicester will be the perfect tonic and everyone will mention the 'E'' word again. Lose or draw however and the doubters surface again. So Saturday's game nicely represents so much of this season really – expectation, hope, dread, disappointment, elation, relief.. round and round we go, up and down, in this classic transition season... exhausting really!

I also watched that PSG-Villa game and it was thrilling (CL QF stage is often the best). I thought we went toe-to-toe with Villa up until the point that our 'equaliser' was ruled out. That deflated us, and we didn't respond. We weren't bad in the first half against Palace either, but we were utter turd in the second half. I blame that primarily on the players rather than the manager though. Couldn't understand why we didn't pepper their box with crosses in the hope of taking advantage of extra player/s and the absence of their three best headers of the ball (Lacroix, Guehi and Mateta).

 

[Doug-ees-evil]

I also watched that PSG-Villa game and it was thrilling (CL QF stage is often the best). I thought we went toe-to-toe with Villa up until the point that our 'equaliser' was ruled out. That deflated us, and we didn't respond. We weren't bad in the first half against Palace either, but we were utter turd in the second half. I blame that primarily on the players rather than the manager though. Couldn't understand why we didn't pepper their box with crosses in the hope of taking advantage of extra player/s and the absence of their three best headers of the ball (Lacroix, Guehi and Mateta).

Love the CL quarter finals... pinnacle of football for me.

 

[Guinness Boy]

Cashin and ?

For me Weiffer. The opposite to Cashin in that he should have been ready made. Instead perma-injured, off the pace and now the 5th or 6th option at right back.

 

[Justice]

If, that is, there's anyone left in the stadium at the final whistle to BOOOOOOOO!

We can win 5-0 and there is still hardly anyone left in the stadium at full time
Must get that first bus or train must get that first bus or train

 

[slimes]

You would of thought that after 32 games how to play against counter attacking teams...

 

[Berty23]

Our XG was 4. That means from open play it was over 2. So we created loads. We just finished like clowns. You would take an XG of 4 every single match. This was not tactical issue - it was individual errors.

 

[Justice]

Well played Fabby you f***ing helmet.

 

[Bridcutt]

Our XG was 4. That means from open play it was over 2. So we created loads. We just finished like clowns. You would take an XG of 4 every single match. This was not tactical issue - it was individual errors.

Who cares about XG anymore? We've had high XG vs the teams at the bottom of the table forever, doesn't mean anything when we never win

 

[Sarisbury Seagull]

No shape, no structure, no plan, no centre backs, no idea.

 

[GrizzlingGammon]

Well played Fabby you f***ing helmet.

You massive twat

 

[Han Solo]

Not falling into this trap.

Fab certainly could have done something better, but blaming him is being way too kind on what the players performed out there today.

 

[Justice]

Our XG was 4. That means from open play it was over 2. So we created loads. We just finished like clowns. You would take an XG of 4 every single match. This was not tactical issue - it was individual errors.

We were still on top I swear every sub this idiot makes we fall apart. Why you might ask because we don’t have any structure and haven’t really all season.

 

[Yoda]

The comments on injuries are entirely relevant for this conversation. Had we not had them we'd be higher in the league, probably played better football and any comments suggesting Fab should be sacked would look even sillier than they do

We had the same number of injuries last season with a smaller squad and competing on 4 fronts.
This season we bolstered the numbers to the squad to combat those issues so shouldn't be used as an excuse.

 

[Mustafa II]

He failed today.

He failed to make the changes required to finish Leicester off when we were the dominant team.

And he failed to make any kind of change when Leicester changed their shape with their subs, scored, began to dominate, and on another day would have won it.

He's a young manager that is still learning - his decisions are often naive and sometimes he just does not have the experience to know what to do in certain situations.

The big questions for TB are - is he learning quickly enough? Can we afford him to make these tactical errors during this crucial time in our clubs' history? Should we demand more immediate results given the amount we have invested in the team?

 

[birthofanorange]

....aaaaand here we go, with the predictable bollocks.

 

[BRIGHT ON Q]

Out the dugout would be nice, hardly moves from it

 

[stss30]

I’m far from convinced about Fab’s in game tactical nous. It’s all well and good when the tactics work from the start and things are going well, but when we need to do something different or change things when we are under pressure/not performing he seems pretty clueless.

 

[Kalimantan Gull]

You would of thought that after 32 games how to play against counter attacking teams...

Why are you bouncing this thread after today? Nothing wrong with what Fab did today, simply shocking finishing.

The only reason to bounce this thread is a pre-conceived vendetta