lizard
Well-hung member
- Jul 14, 2005
- 3,343
Firstly, these are just my views, if you don't like them, don't read this.
I really wasn't sure whether to post this, i've been toying with hitting the delete button for the last couple of hours, but hell, here goes...
I decided to write my views down, just to get them off my chest after all I am a writer (With block) so it kind of seemed the right course of action. It was an after thought to post them on here but feel I’d like to share something, even if it seems to be a little on the negative side.
I don't care if any of you 'keyboard warriors' want to have a pop at me about my rant, but please try to see what I'm saying after removing the rose tinted glasses that many of us wear when analysing the Albion.
I've been feeling a little unhappy with the Albion since the start of the season, but recently I'm finding it hard to be at all positive.
Pre-season, I was optimistic and even had a little bet on us getting promoted, I was happy with the squad, albeit a little light up front, which Gus publicly declared and stated that we'd be correcting shortly.
To correct this we signed Stephen Dobbie at the death of the transfer window. FFS I saw this guy play for Queen of the South in the Scottish second division where he was at best average. But I thought, give the guy the benefit of the doubt and maybe he's improved. But no, he's still shit.
So basically we still need a striker to replace a guy that we let leave on a free before the start of last season. Poor decision and utterly ridiculous that we still need a striker. Anyway, more about this later. (Unfortunately.)
We seemed a decent side against teams that are little more than fodder and when we went top I did wonder how long we would last before we were found out. To be fair the fixture list did seem kind to us at the beginning of the season and I felt a couple of times that fortune had smiled favorably upon us.
Moving forward we descended into a run of poor form even though we still seemed a reasonably solid unit at the back.
After the away match at Leicester I began to realise that we would be needing to improve drastically if we were to have any chance in making the play-offs.
We should have been three down by half time. Second half we dominated but just simply couldn't score. Barnes had a weak penalty saved and CMS missed what seemed to be an open goal from inside the six yard box. The two short corners to Bridcutt where he lost possession and they almost hit us on the break. We were not good enough.
Surely we could work on set pieces in training?
Blackpool away was terrible. Totally out played and how we got anything out of the match is still beyond my comprehension.
Then we move on and I look at the matches where we throw points away in the last few minutes after dominating for large periods. Bolton. The fact that we get a goal up and just can't put the game to bed.
The tactically naive defence in the last 10 minutes and the lack of fire-power on the pitch which leads me on to question why Barnes get to start near enough every match.
Why does Toby the Viking never get a game? I'm certain he'd do a job.
Every time Bridcutt wins the ball, the pass is shit and either goes out of play or back to the opposition. I get that he's there getting himself in the way and helps break up play but he simply isn't playing well enough at the moment. I just think he's a shadow of the player he was for us last season. A little like how Gerrard isn't performing well enough for Liverpool but never seems to be dropped.
How does Hammond start over Crofts?
Then Bruno... Oozes class, can play killed cross field passes, crosses well and can certainly hit it. Then gets wrong footed by a second rate, second tier, run of the mill winger. The man is awesome going forward but gets caught out a little too much at times. My feeling is he'd make a better wing-back than full-back. But I'm not in any way suggesting that he should be dropped, he is one of four players that I believe are currently too good for us. The other three being Kooch, (I still can't spell his name.) Bridge and Buckley.
Buckley being the best player I've ever seen play for the Albion and I firmly believe him to be the second best player in the Championship behind Zaha. (Just being honest.)
Could we maybe practice penalties in training?
I do like the passing style of football that we have played for some of the season but it does beg the question: What is the point if there is no end product?
I like the fact that for half an hour in a match our movement is fluid and we look like world beaters but we seem to have no other options. No plan B. To get out of this division we need to have the capacity on occasion to 'win ugly'.
For the majority I'd like to see us play our passing game, at times a little faster than walking pace where we can exploit defences before they have the chance to organise and mark up while we are looking pretty playing twenty passes across our back four.
I do understand and am in full support of the style of play that Gus has brought to our club but I am growing more concerned that maybe he has reached his peak and does not have the tactical ability to take us any further than the upper-middle of this division. Please, please, please, prove me wrong.
The excuses don't wash with me any more Mr Poyet, the blame is yours for the taking. The players are who you have signed, but I feel it is the tactics that are often wrong or lacking.
This squad of players is good enough to get us promoted. I have no doubt about that.
Just a thought...
........................Kooch.........................
Bruno.......Greer...........El-Abd......Bridge
...............Hammond.....Crofts...............
Buckley.....................................Orlandi
...............Agdestein......CMS.................
Bring back JFC before he gets the skill coached out of him, playing lump-ball on bobbly pitches is hardly likely to improve one to our clubs key future assets. With JFC, Lua Lua and Hoskins on the bench we would possibly have a chance to turn matches around in the last twenty minutes.
The feeling of being 2-0 up at home to Bristol City and thinking we may need a third, is simply not right.
Today was the straw that broke the camels back so to speak.
With the exception of Zaha, Murray, Jedanek and today Bolasie (Who we laughed about when they signed him) our team on paper looks a lot better than that of the pikeys.
Dunk was silly and unfortunate, possibly not 100% match fit or maybe just a crap touch and worse desperate follow up tackle but I’m not going to make excuses, that's Gus's job. It was a red and an early shower for Lewis but the bigger question for me was, why is there no center back cover on the bench?
I clung onto the idea that maybe Barnes would come good with all my heart, maybe CMS would hit the target or Bruno would smack in a 25 yarder but as soon as I saw the ref raise the card to the sky my head knew the result was inevitable, the question was how many.
Embaressed (Again) by a player deemed unworthy to wear the stripes and pushed out the door to our rivals on a free by our great leader in his infinite wisdom. One hell of a serious lack of judgement on that call.
When the third went in I lost all hope and felt disappointed and angry.
I know a lot of people will point the finger one way or another, but the fact is today we were beaten by a better organised team.
I feel somewhat sorry for Gordon Greer, having to play with the makeshift defence and a little sorry for Kooch, conceding three, two as a result of somewhat soft penalty decisions. (The first was not a penalty, maybe the second was, at the time I felt it wasn't but I was having 'angry time')
In all honesty we were shit today.
My opinion is that we've made little to no progress on the pitch over the last year despite having superior players. I am 100% behind the team and the club is in my blood but I'm beginning to think maybe Mr Poyet needs to be answerable for some of our shortfalls instead of dodging the blame and over playing the 'mad genius' role that he does so well with his charm and charisma.
With the players we have I believe we should be looking for a minimum of a top six finish, either that or another manager that could turn our players into a team worthy of competing for the championship.
Palace aren't good enough to go up this season, but today they made us look pretty stupid.
Seems my 'writers block' may well be passing, for that I thank you, shame it took a defeat from the filth to fix me.
If you actually read this, I tip my cap to you.
Feel free to criticize, like I said, this is only my opinion and I'm sure when we win five on the bounce again this will all seem very silly and be a long forgotten memory.
Onward and upward.
Seagulls.
I really wasn't sure whether to post this, i've been toying with hitting the delete button for the last couple of hours, but hell, here goes...
I decided to write my views down, just to get them off my chest after all I am a writer (With block) so it kind of seemed the right course of action. It was an after thought to post them on here but feel I’d like to share something, even if it seems to be a little on the negative side.
I don't care if any of you 'keyboard warriors' want to have a pop at me about my rant, but please try to see what I'm saying after removing the rose tinted glasses that many of us wear when analysing the Albion.
I've been feeling a little unhappy with the Albion since the start of the season, but recently I'm finding it hard to be at all positive.
Pre-season, I was optimistic and even had a little bet on us getting promoted, I was happy with the squad, albeit a little light up front, which Gus publicly declared and stated that we'd be correcting shortly.
To correct this we signed Stephen Dobbie at the death of the transfer window. FFS I saw this guy play for Queen of the South in the Scottish second division where he was at best average. But I thought, give the guy the benefit of the doubt and maybe he's improved. But no, he's still shit.
So basically we still need a striker to replace a guy that we let leave on a free before the start of last season. Poor decision and utterly ridiculous that we still need a striker. Anyway, more about this later. (Unfortunately.)
We seemed a decent side against teams that are little more than fodder and when we went top I did wonder how long we would last before we were found out. To be fair the fixture list did seem kind to us at the beginning of the season and I felt a couple of times that fortune had smiled favorably upon us.
Moving forward we descended into a run of poor form even though we still seemed a reasonably solid unit at the back.
After the away match at Leicester I began to realise that we would be needing to improve drastically if we were to have any chance in making the play-offs.
We should have been three down by half time. Second half we dominated but just simply couldn't score. Barnes had a weak penalty saved and CMS missed what seemed to be an open goal from inside the six yard box. The two short corners to Bridcutt where he lost possession and they almost hit us on the break. We were not good enough.
Surely we could work on set pieces in training?
Blackpool away was terrible. Totally out played and how we got anything out of the match is still beyond my comprehension.
Then we move on and I look at the matches where we throw points away in the last few minutes after dominating for large periods. Bolton. The fact that we get a goal up and just can't put the game to bed.
The tactically naive defence in the last 10 minutes and the lack of fire-power on the pitch which leads me on to question why Barnes get to start near enough every match.
Why does Toby the Viking never get a game? I'm certain he'd do a job.
Every time Bridcutt wins the ball, the pass is shit and either goes out of play or back to the opposition. I get that he's there getting himself in the way and helps break up play but he simply isn't playing well enough at the moment. I just think he's a shadow of the player he was for us last season. A little like how Gerrard isn't performing well enough for Liverpool but never seems to be dropped.
How does Hammond start over Crofts?
Then Bruno... Oozes class, can play killed cross field passes, crosses well and can certainly hit it. Then gets wrong footed by a second rate, second tier, run of the mill winger. The man is awesome going forward but gets caught out a little too much at times. My feeling is he'd make a better wing-back than full-back. But I'm not in any way suggesting that he should be dropped, he is one of four players that I believe are currently too good for us. The other three being Kooch, (I still can't spell his name.) Bridge and Buckley.
Buckley being the best player I've ever seen play for the Albion and I firmly believe him to be the second best player in the Championship behind Zaha. (Just being honest.)
Could we maybe practice penalties in training?
I do like the passing style of football that we have played for some of the season but it does beg the question: What is the point if there is no end product?
I like the fact that for half an hour in a match our movement is fluid and we look like world beaters but we seem to have no other options. No plan B. To get out of this division we need to have the capacity on occasion to 'win ugly'.
For the majority I'd like to see us play our passing game, at times a little faster than walking pace where we can exploit defences before they have the chance to organise and mark up while we are looking pretty playing twenty passes across our back four.
I do understand and am in full support of the style of play that Gus has brought to our club but I am growing more concerned that maybe he has reached his peak and does not have the tactical ability to take us any further than the upper-middle of this division. Please, please, please, prove me wrong.
The excuses don't wash with me any more Mr Poyet, the blame is yours for the taking. The players are who you have signed, but I feel it is the tactics that are often wrong or lacking.
This squad of players is good enough to get us promoted. I have no doubt about that.
Just a thought...
........................Kooch.........................
Bruno.......Greer...........El-Abd......Bridge
...............Hammond.....Crofts...............
Buckley.....................................Orlandi
...............Agdestein......CMS.................
Bring back JFC before he gets the skill coached out of him, playing lump-ball on bobbly pitches is hardly likely to improve one to our clubs key future assets. With JFC, Lua Lua and Hoskins on the bench we would possibly have a chance to turn matches around in the last twenty minutes.
The feeling of being 2-0 up at home to Bristol City and thinking we may need a third, is simply not right.
Today was the straw that broke the camels back so to speak.
With the exception of Zaha, Murray, Jedanek and today Bolasie (Who we laughed about when they signed him) our team on paper looks a lot better than that of the pikeys.
Dunk was silly and unfortunate, possibly not 100% match fit or maybe just a crap touch and worse desperate follow up tackle but I’m not going to make excuses, that's Gus's job. It was a red and an early shower for Lewis but the bigger question for me was, why is there no center back cover on the bench?
I clung onto the idea that maybe Barnes would come good with all my heart, maybe CMS would hit the target or Bruno would smack in a 25 yarder but as soon as I saw the ref raise the card to the sky my head knew the result was inevitable, the question was how many.
Embaressed (Again) by a player deemed unworthy to wear the stripes and pushed out the door to our rivals on a free by our great leader in his infinite wisdom. One hell of a serious lack of judgement on that call.
When the third went in I lost all hope and felt disappointed and angry.
I know a lot of people will point the finger one way or another, but the fact is today we were beaten by a better organised team.
I feel somewhat sorry for Gordon Greer, having to play with the makeshift defence and a little sorry for Kooch, conceding three, two as a result of somewhat soft penalty decisions. (The first was not a penalty, maybe the second was, at the time I felt it wasn't but I was having 'angry time')
In all honesty we were shit today.
My opinion is that we've made little to no progress on the pitch over the last year despite having superior players. I am 100% behind the team and the club is in my blood but I'm beginning to think maybe Mr Poyet needs to be answerable for some of our shortfalls instead of dodging the blame and over playing the 'mad genius' role that he does so well with his charm and charisma.
With the players we have I believe we should be looking for a minimum of a top six finish, either that or another manager that could turn our players into a team worthy of competing for the championship.
Palace aren't good enough to go up this season, but today they made us look pretty stupid.
Seems my 'writers block' may well be passing, for that I thank you, shame it took a defeat from the filth to fix me.
If you actually read this, I tip my cap to you.
Feel free to criticize, like I said, this is only my opinion and I'm sure when we win five on the bounce again this will all seem very silly and be a long forgotten memory.
Onward and upward.
Seagulls.
