[Albion] Fulham gone

[NooBHA]

Their summer signings were INSANE

Seri - 27m
Anguissa £22m
Mitrovic £22m
Mawson £20m?
Loans
Schurle
Vietto

Others
Joe Bryan (I really thought he would be a hit)
Sessegnon (I know he was already there but many considered him a prem player in the making)

Their relegation in such a pathetic manner is ridiculous.

From that lot, the only one I would look at would be would be Schurle...................................Mitrovic possibly. He is similar to Murray but younger

 

[Stat Brother]

You're not alone I see. Makes perfect sense to me, but perhaps I'll just have to carry on in my own little world.

Worryingly for you, I'm with you.

I don't see G/D as a positive 'point' and certainly nothing to be grateful for, as Mr Naylor frequently is.
Having even half an eye on accruing that 'point' seems to have cost the Albion plenty more.


Bournemouth have NEVER played for goal difference and as a result have never had to sit through the dirge we have watched in 2019.

 

[Machiavelli]

This made my head hurt a bit.

Apologies
Never mind, it'll be a breeze in comparison to Hazard and Hudson-Odoi accelerating through our amassed back line tonight.

 

[Machiavelli]

Worryingly for you, I'm with you.

I don't see G/D as a positive 'point' and certainly nothing to be grateful for, as Mr Naylor frequently is.
Having even half an eye on accruing that 'point' seems to have cost the Albion plenty more.


Bournemouth have NEVER played for goal difference and as a result have never had to sit through the dirge we have watched in 2019.

Jeesh. Contraries of the world Unite!

 

[mejonaNO12 aka riskit]

From that lot, the only one I would look at would be would be Schurle...................................Mitrovic possibly. He is similar to Murray but younger

Somehow Fulham have Schurle on a two year loan.

SCHURLE that'll be cancelled. He is 28. Can't be playing in the championship

 

[GJN1]

Man Utd losing too - I might be proved wrong but I think the Solskjaer appointment could do a 180 and go tits up.

I said the very same thing last night. He'll be gone by Xmas.

 

[Joey Jo Jo Jr. Shabadoo]

But results leading up to that and after it were hardly yielding many points. All I am saying is that it seems very coincidental that they yielded those two victories around that incident. It's easy for a manager to inspire the players in and around such an incident.

I mean. Look at that goal Sidwell scored when Knockeart was away at his dad's funeral.

I still wouldn't call them shocks, they are exactly the sort of wins you want your team to pick up when at the wrong end of the table. I'm not saying the players weren't lifted in some way by the feeling they needed to put in a performance for a team mate. If they'd beaten Arsenal a few days after Sala went missing you could certainly have called that a shock.

And there is no comparison to the Sidwell goal against Bristol City in this situation. It was a spectacular strike but scored for a team who were brushing most sides away that season (the game was in the middle of a 17 game unbeaten run). The side were not just lifted to perform because of what happened to Knocky, they continued their brilliant form in the pursuit of promotion. They were however inspired to dedicate any goal scored that day to Knockaert and his family and the celebration would have been the same even if the goal had been a tap in from 3 yards out.

 

[Surf's Up]

I wholeheartedly agree.

I'd like to see us sign up and coming youngsters who can't get a game in the big top sixes of Europe - that, or proven PL players who've succeeded at making genuine progress in this division. Naturally the money required regardless, will be significant.

A couple of points worth noting: someone mentioned Rondon - if serious? well he's hardly set the world on fire with Newcastle, who themselves are probably faring worse than they did last season. He's a sub 10 goal a season striker (he may make double figures just this time around) and for the most part, a bottom six player at best.

Mitrovic is a fat loose cannon and the sort of bent out of shape character Hughton wouldn't touch with a barge pole - so a none starter. He was famous in Newcastle for being too 'mad' for the Geordie's... Frankly Matty Ryan would lay him out for being an A grade 'dick head', nah; he wouldn't get through the door at the Amex. That and with that risk comes HUGE wages and a lack of genuine proven ability at this level. I'd take Andone (yes, another relegated player) over him regardless.

Cairney: is an outside possibility in the 'new Dale Stephens' mould... however can he help us push for 10thish?!? What has he done this season to prove he's got what it takes at this level? The table does not lie. Gross, even in a poor relegated team, backed up his potential with staggering stats - can Cairney hold a candle to him in that regard? Errrmmm no. He'd cost loads too and I'm not so sure he's any better than someone like Oliver Norwood to be honest.

Ryan Sessegnon: hype, more hype and even more hype... left be unimpressed this season tbh... If he's as good as he and his suitors think, well he's top six bound for sure.

Therein lies the rub, the examples of players leaving PL make-weights for pastures new and succeeding seems to follow a pattern... absolute rarefied gems, who go to BIG clubs, leaving us picking up players who will more than likely merely maintain our current levels for huge sums of cash. Utterly inspiring stuff, eh?

Question time:

What is our aim in this league? Why bother if we're here just to milk the PL cash cow and struggle every season? If indeed this is the will of our supporters, well... then so be it. By signing mediocre failures we can hope for little more than mediocre failure, narrowly avoiding relegation, which doubtless Tom Cairney would see as a HUGE success - I however see it as uninspiring repetitive drivel. If we survive this year, I'd like to see us give it a real go. It's time to target some genuine quality, not seen since Vicente rocked up and shocked the whole Championship. Alas, akin to CH and his tactics, we're all staring in the myopic void of staying well within ourselves. FFS we're like an apology of a PL outfit, ooohhh let's sign players no one else wants... let's breed success from failure... Best not disrupt the plans of the proper PL teams.. sigh. Come on Albion, believe we belong... then we will.

It's time to strut out on stage with a bank of Marshall amps and show the world we've arrived and what's more belong, much like Deep Purple at the Cal Jam in '74.

Rock and roll.

I agree with your assessment of Fulham's headline assets and with your plea for Brighton to re-calibrate their approach to the PL. But I'm not sure CH would be able to change his tactical conservatism sufficiently to accommodate the new approach.

 

[Kosh]

I agree with your assessment of Fulham's headline assets and with your plea for Brighton to re-calibrate their approach to the PL. But I'm not sure CH would be able to change his tactical conservatism sufficiently to accommodate the new approach.

Ah; yes, that is indeed a significant worry. The club hierarchy need, this summer, to assess the issue of the 'manager' in the forward plan. If, as it would appear, we're following an even more tentative approach than the Stoke or West Brom models, well Chris Hughton is the man for the job - he would doubtless be the best man to bring us back up should the worst happen. I actually believe however, that we're aiming for the Southampton model, of bringing on talent from the development group and possibly holding on to these assets much like Dunk to challenge the top 10. This approach has to an extent worked at Southampton, but again they're still flirting with relegation on an annual basis.

It's important to note that Chris, given our recruitment, has done an unreal job and thus I'm not canvassing for a change just yet. The problem is, with Chris at the helm and his seeming PL inferiority complex we're almost becoming a self fulfilling prophecy. I can only see continued struggle if we continue to mine the very hit and miss seam of relegated players... Arguably our best PL signing has proven to be Matty Ryan, from a superb league where he gained a winning mentality and valuable confidence from sensible and progressive loan moves. He is the model we should be aspiring to. If we don't act promptly how long is he going to be with us for? Likewise Lewis Dunk?

We have undoubtedly gone backwards this season, although Gross and Izzy have barely featured... We've made two very questionable signings from Dutch football for (for us) big money. The lesson has to be that for every decent Davy P, you're going to get royally shafted by trying to repeat the same trick again and again.

The alternative of buying in relative failures, well I return to my original point, building a squad of players with a losing habit is not a smart move, especially when just surviving would be considered (by them) to be progress!

We have to be realistic, but eventually I see a change of guard in the dugout as CH moves upstairs and we aim to tangibly progress on the pitch. In the meantime, we're running the massive risk of slipping out of the PL before our long term strategy bears fruit. Whatever that may be. If it is one of blooding the U23 starlets, well we're hardly doing that at the moment! thus I have to accept that we'll continue to try to shoehorn a relegated player and make them a contender in this division, when all the evidence suggests they are unable to make the grade.

 

[Guy Fawkes]

It’s all about the money, money. Gets you brilliant attacking and creative players.

Is it?
Riyad Mahrez - Le Harve to Leicester £400k

or

Fernando Torres - Liverpool to Chelsea £50m
Andy Carroll - Newcastle to Liverpool £35m

 

[RandyWanger]

Mate walked into work this morning singing Bees up, Fulham down. Even though Brentford lost 3-0 last night and have as much chance of going up this season as we do winning the league he was happy.

Can't believe we only took 1 point from Fulham. Shocking.

 

[sydney]

Is it?
Riyad Mahrez - Le Harve to Leicester £400k

or

Fernando Torres - Liverpool to Chelsea £50m
Andy Carroll - Newcastle to Liverpool £35m

le harve ....tsk our old pre season friendly appointment for god knows how long ....how did we get gazzumped for him .....Leicester have found some gems to be fair ....kante , slimani....!!??

 

[Munkfish]

I said the very same thing last night. He'll be gone by Xmas.

Going to have a tenner that he is gone in the summer.

 

[brightn'ove]

From that lot, the only one I would look at would be would be Schurle...................................Mitrovic possibly. He is similar to Murray but younger

He is similar to Murray only in his method of putting himself about (shithousery). Murray is an infinitely better finisher.

 

[Simster]

Worryingly for you, I'm with you.

I don't see G/D as a positive 'point' and certainly nothing to be grateful for, as Mr Naylor frequently is.
Having even half an eye on accruing that 'point' seems to have cost the Albion plenty more.


Bournemouth have NEVER played for goal difference and as a result have never had to sit through the dirge we have watched in 2019.

Me too. A better GD is worth half a point in my eyes too because it is not enough for Cardiff to merely match our points total, as they would be below us by default.

 

[TSB]

Schurrle not.The cultists are gone!

Waste of a place.

 

[MattBackHome]

I'm also in team HALF POINT - and this is the best NSC debate in ages.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

le harve ....tsk our old pre season friendly appointment for god knows how long ....how did we get gazzumped for him .....Leicester have found some gems to be fair ....kante , slimani....!!??

We were twinned with them under some sort of EU/UEFA arrangement (which meant money for our youngsters) but that was only for a few years. We don't have any more rights than any other team now.

 

[Weststander]

I'm aware he's only on loan at Fulham but Calum Chambers strikes me as the type of player we may have a look at in the coming weeks. He'd be good competition for Montoya plus he's home grown, has premiership experience and has versatility as can also play at centre back and as a defensive midfielder. The likelihood is that Arsenal will make him available, and he's rumoured to be on 35k a week so is in our wage structure.

We’ve got more than enough defenders.

Our priority has to be CM and strikers.

 

[sydney]

We were twinned with them under some sort of EU/UEFA arrangement (which meant money for our youngsters) but that was only for a few years. We don't have any more rights than any other team now.

yes...but mahrez has been here for 5 0r 6 years now ....?? we would have no doubt had come in contact with him pre season ....no..?? didn't fit the agenda...??

no doubting his quality...!!