[Albion] Tony wanted top 10 - are we there yet?

[Clive Walker]

Top 10 is the external rhetoric. Internally the goals are much higher. The club took a punt last summer in light of teams facing ffp difficulties and as it turns out 2 of those clubs (forest, nufc) had better season than us.

That is what will disappoint bloom more than anything.

 

[pigmanovich]

Top 10 is the external rhetoric. Internally the goals are much higher. The club took a punt last summer in light of teams facing fpl difficulties and as it turns out 2 of those clubs (forest, nufc) had better season than us.

That is what will disappoint bloom more than anything.

FPL difficulties

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Top 10 is the external rhetoric. Internally the goals are much higher. The club took a punt last summer in light of teams facing ffp difficulties and as it turns out 2 of those clubs (forest, nufc) had better season than us.

That is what will disappoint bloom more than anything.

I would imagine the goals for each season change game-by-game. Certainly there was no talk of CL football until there was, when Tony mentioned it at some horse-racing event.

I'm not so sure he'd be disappointed because there were lots of mitigating circumstances (new manager, young players, inexperience, injuries) from the start. If he REALLY wanted to go for it last season, then getting more experienced players in would've possibly made European football more likely, but that's not the model.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Once the season is over I always consider who is the "deadwood" that I'd like to be cut from the squad. This maybe the first time I'm struggling to see any deadwood. There's no doubt in my mind it is the best squad of players we've ever had.

This means it is going to be even tougher for those out on loan to break through. We've got c. 20 players on loan but a current squad that might shed a goalkeeper, Lamptey, Cashin, Milner, Joao Pedro, one of Mitoma / Adingra.

We've already bought in Boscagli (for Cashin?), Yalcouye will surely come in for Milner, if Verbruggen leaves we have Scherpen, maybe Tzimas will come into the squad for JP? And I don't see any of the loanees replacing Lamptey or Mitoma / Adingra.

Our 24/25 loanees included Scherpen, Barco, Yalcouye, Buonanotte, Enciso, Sarmiento, Osman, Sima, Ferguson, Tzimas. You'd fancy a side with that lot would have walked promotion from the Championship.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Once the season is over I always consider who is the "deadwood" that I'd like to be cut from the squad. This maybe the first time I'm struggling to see any deadwood. There's no doubt in my mind it is the best squad of players we've ever had.

This means it is going to be even tougher for those out on loan to break through. We've got c. 20 players on loan but a current squad that might shed a goalkeeper, Lamptey, Cashin, Milner, Joao Pedro, one of Mitoma / Adingra.

We've already bought in Boscagli (for Cashin?), Yalcouye will surely come in for Milner, if Verbruggen leaves we have Scherpen, maybe Tzimas will come into the squad for JP? And I don't see any of the loanees replacing Lamptey or Mitoma / Adingra.

Our 24/25 loanees included Scherpen, Barco, Yalcouye, Buonanotte, Enciso, Sarmiento, Osman, Sima, Ferguson, Tzimas. You'd fancy a side with that lot would have walked promotion from the Championship.

Everything I've seen and heard (including directly from Fab In the post-match chat) from the club suggests that Milner will very much be in the squad next season.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Everything I've seen and heard (including directly from Fab In the post-match chat) from the club suggests that Milner will very much be in the squad next season.

Much as I respect him as a player and for all he has achieved, if he is in the squad then someone very talented will miss out. We'll be lucky to get 10 games out of him. I don't see any difference between where he is now and where Lallana was a year ago. Leeds is calling.

 

[Greg Bobkin]

Much as I respect him as a player and for all he has achieved, if he is in the squad then someone very talented will miss out. We'll be lucky to get 10 games out of him. I don't see any difference between where he is now and where Lallana was a year ago. Leeds is calling.

OK

I guess the actual manager of the football club - who knows WAY more about the situation than any fan - sees it differently and believes Milner would be a valuable part of 25/26 squad.

 

[Flounce]

OK

I guess the actual manager of the football club - who knows WAY more about the situation than any fan - sees it differently and believes Milner would be a valuable part of 25/26 squad.

If Milner had been available as a late sub, would we have closed out the Wolves and Leicester games better? I think we may have, but who knows. Milner 100% knows about game management though. Having said that, the harsh lessons of those two games seem to have been a sharp learning curve for the young players. End of game performances certainly improved