[Albion] Our 2nd Half of the Season .....

[worthingseagull]

We all know some of the reasons why etc, but seeing it represented like this is a bit

 

[A1X]

Interestingly the direct opposite of Palace

 

[worthingseagull]

yep - West Ham & us fell apart and Chelsea and Palace improved massively ..... great

 

[worthingseagull]

Also just realised that Man city accrued enough points from just the 2nd half of the season that they would still have finished 9th

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

RDZ really struggled to motivate the team in the latter half of the season. I do believe his constant talking to the press about whether he would stay or not, how the squad was not good enough etc undermined the players somewhat. I appreciate we had injuries but I believe the teams we put out could have got better results had the man-management of the team been better.

 

[nicko31]

yep - West Ham & us fell apart and Chelsea and Palace improved massively ..... great

that makes me feel ill

 

[Forster's Armband]

RDZ really struggled to motivate the team in the latter half of the season. I do believe his constant talking to the press about whether he would stay or not, how the squad was not good enough etc undermined the players somewhat. I appreciate we had injuries but I believe the teams we put out could have got better results had the man-management of the team been better.

Totally agree. Of course injuries didn't help but the players we had were better than getting pumped by Bournemouth and Fulham, drawing with Burnley etc.

 

[Peteinblack]

Even allowing for extensive injuries to key players, our extraordinary slump in form in the second half is the main reason why I am not too upset at RDZ's departure.

His egotism, petulance and self-promotion seemed to increase in tandem with our collapse in performance.

He reminds of Gus Poyet; some great flair football, and initially a great character and inspiring personality, but increasingly seemed to believe the hype and plaudits which he attracted, and started to give the impression that he thought he was bigger and better than the club.

 

[Bridcutt]

Yeah we were pretty terrible and many of those games we didn't even get unlucky/fail to finish chances we just flat out didn't create anything. Losing 4-0 to Luton in Jan was a low

 

[HeaviestTed]

yep - West Ham & us fell apart and Chelsea and Palace improved massively ..... great

It’s almost like hodgson went from palace to Brighton, we aren’t in some weird 80’s film where the spirit of hodgson and de zerbi switched bodies are we?

 

[Hotchilidog]

The injuries and Roma Away broke us. We were a busted flush and to be honest I do wonder if Roberto was subconsciously halfway out the door and this transmitted itself to the players.

 

[kevo]

Not strengthening in January really cost us and I think it's one of the key reasons RDZ left. He knew we would struggle with the injuries we had.

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

Even allowing for extensive injuries to key players, our extraordinary slump in form in the second half is the main reason why I am not too upset at RDZ's departure.

His egotism, petulance and self-promotion seemed to increase in tandem with our collapse in performance.

He reminds of Gus Poyet; some great flair football, and initially a great character and inspiring personality, but increasingly seemed to believe the hype and plaudits which he attracted, and started to give the impression that he thought he was bigger and better than the club.

I just don't see it like that. I don't think he displayed any particular egotism etc with us.

I just think it's pure and simple we ran out of players to play. I actually think we had the biggest and deepest squad we've had in the PL (apart from Centre Midfield), but the steady drip drip of key players out for months on end, just killed us.

I think he was right to point out in we needed more players. We did. If we hit a couple of our transfer targets in January, when we had a position of strength, then we don't have to flog the remaining fit players half to death, we get fewer injuries, that season would have been very different

 

[Thunder Bolt]

yep - West Ham & us fell apart and Chelsea and Palace improved massively ..... great

The first two involved in Europe, and the latter not. Is getting into Europe a two edged sword?

 

[Nobby Cybergoat]

The first two involved in Europe, and the latter not. Is getting into Europe a two edged sword?

The thing is, we played the great majority of our European games in Autumn, when we were also getting great results in the league. We only played two Euro matches in 2024

 

[El Turi]

Hopefully a massive wake up call for the club that the squad needs seriously strengthening in the summer. Otherwise I can see us in a relegation battle next season.

 

[GJN1]

RDZ really struggled to motivate the team in the latter half of the season. I do believe his constant talking to the press about whether he would stay or not, how the squad was not good enough etc undermined the players somewhat. I appreciate we had injuries but I believe the teams we put out could have got better results had the man-management of the team been better.

See that infamous Adam Lallana post-match interview!

 

[GJN1]

The injuries and Roma Away broke us. We were a busted flush and to be honest I do wonder if Roberto was subconsciously halfway out the door and this transmitted itself to the players.

Yes, the result was bobbins against Roma over there but Welbeck could, maybe should have had a hat-trick.

 

[nwgull]

The thing is, we played the great majority of our European games in Autumn, when we were also getting great results in the league. We only played two Euro matches in 2024

Not sure I agree with this as I thought we got really mediocre results in the league once Europe started. In the 11 league games between AEK and Marseille at home, we only won 3 and drew 5, and it was a kind run of fictures against a load of lower-table teams as well.

 

[kevo]

Hopefully a massive wake up call for the club that the squad needs seriously strengthening in the summer. Otherwise I can see us in a relegation battle next season.

The form of teams in the second half of a season is often a good indicator of how they perform the following season. Whoever replaces RDZ, I hope they are not going to take a long time to bed in, otherwise we could really struggle. That's why personally I'd be happy to have Potter back (yes, I know what happened at Chelsea, but I do think he could hit the ground running next season, still knowing some of the squad and how we play). McKenna would be much more of a gamble.