[Albion] Is Potter 1 game away from being sacked?

[Simster]

Here's a fact - not an opinion. If the manager of any other premier league club had lost six games in a row he would be sacked. So why is this guy still at our club ? I'm genuinely mystified.

No, that's not a fact I'm afraid. That's an opinion. A fact is something that is unequivocally true.

And "this guy" is still at the club because it is a lot more complex than simply looking at the last six games. As I said earlier in the thread, just four weeks ago we went to Man Utd justifiably bullish of beating them away. We were the better team first half and Moder's header was kept out by an absolute world class save. If that had gone in, we may well have gone on to win the game. Instead, we didn't and we've just crumpled.

All I'm saying is that whilst Potter has plenty of questions to answer, it isn't as simple as this shambles being entirely at his door. We were having an outstanding season until four weeks ago. Even now we are level with our best ever league finish.

We have an international break. I won't say we should demand a result at home to Norwich but we do need to reset and I do expect a huge improvement in levels.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Won six at home. Just checked and we also scored 29 goals at home that season!

Sounds more entertaining than Brighton Nil rolling over and getting our bellies tickled from 20 mins as has been happened quite consistently at home since Xmas.

I'm sure the 10k average attendees at the Goldstone loved every second.

 

[The Optimist]

Pretty much this for me. The fact we are still starting March, Dunk, Duffy & Gross 5 years on is baffling.

Big overhaul needed in the summer but not sure if we have the appetite or spending power for it - nor if we have the direction now Ashworth is gone

Dunk!! It wasn't that long ago he was being linked with moves to bigger clubs and getting an England call up.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Here's a fact - not an opinion. If the manager of any other premier league club had lost six games in a row he would be sacked. So why is this guy still at our club ? I'm genuinely mystified.

Ralph Hasenhüttl lost 6 straight games last season, in fact he lost 8 from 9 with 1 draw including a 9-0 defeat. The season before 19/20, they lost 6 from 7 drawing the other game. Not sacked.

Fact.

Southampton went Jan 16th 2021 to 08 May 2021: P17 W2 D2 L13 pts 8. Not sacked.

 

[Springal]

Dunk!! It wasn't that long ago he was being linked with moves to bigger clubs and getting an England call up.

Personally I never really held that view. Yes he is a decent player and deserves to be in the Premier League - but I don't think he was ever really in the top 4-5 English CB's in my eyes any way

 

[Weststander]

I think it was Potter himself who said that you’re never as good as the compliments say when you’re winning nor as bad as the brickbats indicate when you’re losing. I suspect there’s some truth in that.

We’re a lower half PL side that happened to put together a decent half season. It’s now evening out. I expect we’ll end up in the 38-42 point range.

Whether that’s good enough for TB is another matter…

Purportedly we’re 15th in terms of wages budget, and over the 3 seasons we feel about 15th in the table.

I thought/hoped that Potter was an alchemist. Looks like I was wrong.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Ralph Hasenhüttl lost 6 straight games last season, in fact he lost 8 from 9 with 1 draw including a 9-0 defeat. The season before 19/20, they lost 6 from 7 drawing the other game. Not sacked.

Fact.

Southampton went Jan 16th 2021 to 08 May 2021: P17 W2 D2 L13 pts 8. Not sacked.

I think our feline friend has highlighted a ‘fact’ that illustrates a point which is the opposite of his point of view.

 

[zefarelly]

Oh yes, those glory days of Div 2 1995/96 at home, P23 W6 D7 L10, relegated. What fun.

home form improved.

best not mention away

 

[The Optimist]

Personally I never really held that view. Yes he is a decent player and deserves to be in the Premier League - but I don't think he was ever really in the top 4-5 English CB's in my eyes any way

That's a reasonable view. But I think he is more than good enough for us, and as such his name just didn't seem to belong on your list.

 

[Springal]

That's a reasonable view. But I think he is more than good enough for us, and as such his name just didn't seem to belong on your list.

I think so - but with better, younger ball carrying CBs around him

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

The most worrying thing for me over the past few games, has been the performances, (or total lack of them), from our two most influential players, Leandro Trossard and Yves Bissouma.

Neither of them seemingly want to bust a gut at the moment, the former being lazy, and the latter completely disinterested.

Get those two back to their early season form and things could quickly change for the better, Trossard creating chances and maybe scoring one or two goals of his own, and Bissouma giving the defence much better protection.

I never used to think that individual egos were a problem at the Albion, but perhaps one or two are appearing in the dressing room now.

 

[Is it PotG?]

He'll be kept in the seat whatever, but should we perform as we have been for some time v Norwich then doubts need to be aired.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

That's a reasonable view. But I think he is more than good enough for us, and as such his name just didn't seem to belong on your list.

I absolutely agree, he is . . . and it didn't.

 

[hart's shirt]

Ralph Hasenhüttl lost 6 straight games last season, in fact he lost 8 from 9 with 1 draw including a 9-0 defeat. The season before 19/20, they lost 6 from 7 drawing the other game. Not sacked.

Fact.

Southampton went Jan 16th 2021 to 08 May 2021: P17 W2 D2 L13 pts 8. Not sacked.

Thanks for crunching the numbers there, Bold. It helps with perspective.

GP's numbers don't quite look so bad in comparison over our last 9 and 17 league games.

9 games - P9, W1, D2, L6, pts 5.
17 games - P17, W3, D7, L7, pts 16.

I'd imagine RH is a bit of an outlier though. Plenty of teams would've pulled the trigger long before that.

Credit to Saints that they didn't and stuck with him.

Managerial continuity trumped temporary form.

 

[Seasider78]

The most worrying thing for me over the past few games, has been the performances, (or total lack of them), from our two most influential players, Leandro Trossard and Yves Bissouma.

Neither of them seemingly want to bust a gut at the moment, the former being lazy, and the latter completely disinterested.

Get those two back to their early season form and things could quickly change for the better, Trossard creating chances and maybe scoring one or two goals of his own, and Bissouma giving the defence much better protection.

I never used to think that individual egos were a problem at the Albion, but perhaps one or two are appearing in the dressing room now.

Both in the last year of their contract this summer it’s almost like they are going through the motions ahead of angling a way out in the summer.

West Ham make an enquiry about Trossard in the Jan window and Villa about Bissouma rightly rejected and since both have been rubbish.

Coincidence?

 

[trueblue]

Ralph Hasenhüttl lost 6 straight games last season, in fact he lost 8 from 9 with 1 draw including a 9-0 defeat. The season before 19/20, they lost 6 from 7 drawing the other game. Not sacked.

Fact.

Southampton went Jan 16th 2021 to 08 May 2021: P17 W2 D2 L13 pts 8. Not sacked.

Exactly the parallel I was planning to draw. Thanks for saving me the trouble of looking up the stats!

It's really not that uncommon for clubs of our ilk to have long unsuccessful patches in the Premier League. I'd actually argue it's inevitable given the standard of the competition. In 19/20 I think, Southampton were flying and then returned to roughly the level you'd expect by season end. Other than among those with the highest (unrealistic?) expectations, most people seem to accept Potter's done a decent job and chances are, given the time, will do so again. A few things don't seem right at the moment but fully expect him to solve those issues, possibly with the aid of the transfer window.

I'd like to know who this manager is that would come in and, given the same resources, massively outperform Potter in the medium to long term. What surprises me is that some people seem actively to WANT him to fail to force a change. I can see a bit of pressure mounting if we fail to beat Norwich but, even then, maybe it'd be better to look at the low intensity performances of a few key players recently rather than pin it all on the Head Coach.

 

[The Optimist]

Exactly the parallel I was planning to draw. Thanks for saving me the trouble of looking up the stats!

It's really not that uncommon for clubs of our ilk to have long unsuccessful patches in the Premier League. I'd actually argue it's inevitable given the standard of the competition. In 19/20 I think, Southampton were flying and then returned to roughly the level you'd expect by season end. Other than among those with the highest (unrealistic?) expectations, most people seem to accept Potter's done a decent job and chances are, given the time, will do so again. A few things don't seem right at the moment but fully expect him to solve those issues, possibly with the aid of the transfer window.

I'd like to know who this manager is that would come in and, given the same resources, massively outperform Potter in the medium to long term. What surprises me is that some people seem actively to WANT him to fail to force a change. I can see a bit of pressure mounting if we fail to beat Norwich but, even then, maybe it'd be better to look at the low intensity performances of a few key players recently rather than pin it all on the Head Coach.

I think Potter's biggest problem with the fans is the way we play results in our away form being more impressive than our home form, but fans are judging him on what they see - which is mainly home games (lockdowns allowing). This problem is also getting worse with this season on course to be Potter's worst home record (10 goals in 15 home games is poor), although there is time to avoid that becoming the case.

Home record under Potter

GP W D L GF GA GD Pts
19 5 7 7 20 27 -7 22 17th 2019/20
19 4 9 6 22 22 0 21 16th 2020/21
15 3 5 7 10 20 -10 14 17th 2021/22

Away record under Potter

GP W D L GF GA GD Pts
19 4 7 8 19 27 -8 19 13th
19 5 5 9 18 24 -6 20 15th
14 4 7 3 16 16 0 19 9th

 

[Psychobilly freakout]

If he was to go then bring in Felice Mazzù the USG manager - ideal replacement

Not sure he would give up the prospect of Champions League football, for the inevitable bottom half scrap and a limited budget.

 

[southstandandy]

No, but god forbid if the losing run extended to something like 10 in a row, then surely the club would have to think about it.

 

[rippleman]

We signed Deniz Undav from USG in the January window (42 goals in 56 appearances for USG). Did Potter say that he didn't want him until the summer or was he told he couldn't have him?

Did Potter approve / sanction the sale of BDB mid-season and say he didn't need a replacement or a recall from loan? Or was he told that was how it was going to be.

Did Potter request / sanction the recruitment of the two sicknotes on huge wages or were they foisted upon him?

Did Potter request / sanction the loan of Scherpen leaving no real competition for Sanchez between the sticks?

If these decisions were down to Potter he should go. But I think they were more than likely imposed on him and you really can't sack the fella if he is managing the team with his hands tied behind his back.