[Albion] Potter In or Out?

[KeegansHairPiece]

You really think TB sits back in his chair and thinks everything’s cool I’m happy with one home win and three points off relegation after four seasons in the PL because as a club I can’t expect much more? Deluded if you do.

He’ll be gutted with the points haul as I’m sure everyone is, but as a stats and metrics man he’ll see beyond just the points as evidence of progress.

 

[Guinness Boy]

What a strange thread. 80% vote 'Potter in' and yet the noisy outers just can't shut up. Bombadier Beaumonts, the lot of you

The noise is coming from both sides Harry. Also a fair few of us hoping these threads disappear until the end of the season at least.

I take that as a huge plus, of a largely analytical, cerebral fanbase, who understand that Potter’s having to work with a squad with a major flaw (strikers).

Other than SheffU fans who similarly are staying loyal to Wilder, I think this ‘seeing the big picture’ understanding is fairly unique.

I think it's been a good and fair debate in the main, given how bad most of us were feeling at 5pm on Saturday.

I would agree with NB above. Do we really need these threads posted immediately after the game with no "fence" option? I voted out in the heat of the moment. On reflection I should have stuck with "in" given the two options as there wasn't a whole lot Potter could have done. Perhaps not start Connelly and put Karbownik in the first team squad but even then Swanny and I both thought we'd get some advantage from a back 4 before the game and it wasn't Burn missing two penalties.

However, the idea of shutting debate down on fans' message board is odd. We are in a relegation scrap now. Those devoted to the cult of "in" must either see something in Potter and a relegation scrap that others don't, because he's never been in one before (had months to plan last season because of Covid) or they must be quite happy with relegation as part of the big plan.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

He’ll be gutted with the points haul as I’m sure everyone is, but as a stats and metrics man he’ll see beyond just the points as evidence of progress.

I agree, but will he also accept that to make progress we have to improve the quality of our strikers?
Or as [MENTION=38333]Swansman[/MENTION] has mentioned several times the overall goal scoring ability of the midfielders?

our xg performance vindicates the tactics of the manager, but is also quite damning on the ability of the players.

 

[Icy Gull]

Those devoted to the cult of "in" must either see something in Potter and a relegation scrap that others don't, because he's never been in one before (had months to plan last season because of Covid) or they must be quite happy with relegation as part of the big plan.

If I am going to carry the mantle of being divisive with these threads, you are going to have to come and sit on that fence wink with me. This little dig at 80% of those who voted hasn’t passed me by!,

Maybe change “happy” with relegation to “reluctantly accept” ? Not that it is going to happen though it might and I daresay some of the “In” would move to “out” if we get relegated, maybe lots

 

[BN9 BHA]

Those devoted to the cult of "in" must either see something in Potter and a relegation scrap that others don't, because he's never been in one before (had months to plan last season because of Covid) or they must be quite happy with relegation as part of the big plan.

I don’t usually bother voting in these threads, think I voted fence once when I wasn’t happy.
This time I have voted ‘in’ though because I genuinely think he’s a good coach but working with some clueless players, some that are starting to really piss me off.
When the camera showed him sit down and drop/throw his water bottle after the Palace winner, I really felt for him.
Hopefully his luck will change soon.

 

[Guinness Boy]

If I am going to carry the mantle of being divisive with these threads, you are going to have to come and sit on that fence wink with me. This little dig at 80% of those who voted hasn’t passed me by!,

Maybe change “happy” with relegation to “reluctantly accept” ? Not that it is going to happen though it might and I daresay some of the “In” would move to “out” if we get relegated, maybe lots

As I said, I would have gone "fence" on Saturday night had it been there and in the cold light of a Monday morning I feel I voted wrongly.

But, yes, we are now deeply in the shit so those who have never, ever changed their vote must feel like Potter is exactly the man to get us out of relegation trouble and on the other side, that he is too inexperienced in them to turn us around.

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

As I said, I would have gone "fence" on Saturday night had it been there and in the cold light of a Monday morning I feel I voted wrongly.

But, yes, we are now deeply in the shit so those who have never, ever changed their vote must feel like Potter is exactly the man to get us out of relegation trouble and on the other side, that he is too inexperienced in them to turn us around.

We aren’t ‘deeply’ in the shit - Sheff Utd & West Brom are deeply in the shit, arguably with less goals and 3 less points than those above them, Fulham are also fairly deep into it. We are in a relegation fight, no doubt about that, but until we’re in the bottom 3, not sure you can describe it as ‘deeply’.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

We aren’t ‘deeply’ in the shit - Sheff Utd & West Brom are deeply in the shit, arguably with less goals and 3 less points than those above them, Fulham are also fairly deep into it. We are in a relegation fight, no doubt about that, but until we’re in the bottom 3, not sure you can describe it as ‘deeply’.

This is the big difference between the optimists and pessimists.

For the pessimists it's all about how we are performing. For the optimists, it's about how we are performing in comparison to the rest of the league.

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

This is the big difference between the optimists and pessimists.

For the pessimists it's all about how we are performing. For the optimists, it's about how we are performing in comparison to the rest of the league.

Well, the bookies across the board all seem to have Sheff Utd, West Brom, Fulham, Newcastle, Burnley ahead of us to go down. Best price for Fulham is 5/6, best price for us is 8/1. That is a huge difference.

That is probably because while frustrating for us, we have more points than all of them in 2021, we score as many or more goals (believe it or not), we concede less (we're 1 of just 8 teams without a negative GD for 2021). Performances have been more consistent, we create more chances etc. etc.

It's all very well putting it down to optimists and pessimists, but actually it's probably those that can be objective and pragmatic vs those that are subjective and go off emotion.

 

[disgruntled h blocker]

We aren’t ‘deeply’ in the shit - Sheff Utd & West Brom are deeply in the shit, arguably with less goals and 3 less points than those above them, Fulham are also fairly deep into it. We are in a relegation fight, no doubt about that, but until we’re in the bottom 3, not sure you can describe it as ‘deeply’.

Yes, but you need to put it into the context that the upsurge in positivism was related to us beating Spurs and Liverpool, who were both going through very bad patches at that point. If we hadn't won those games but continued to lose against Palace and West Brom (where we seemed unable to score) and get 0-0 or 1-1 draws from other teams would you still be thinking the same way?

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Yes, but you need to put it into the context that the upsurge in positivism was related to us beating Spurs and Liverpool, who were both going through very bad patches at that point. If we hadn't won those games but continued to lose against Palace and West Brom (where we seemed unable to score) and get 0-0 or 1-1 draws from other teams would you still be thinking the same way?

Oh yeah that's the other difference, our good results are due to the opposition playing badly.

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

I think it's been a good and fair debate in the main, given how bad most of us were feeling at 5pm on Saturday.

I would agree with NB above. Do we really need these threads posted immediately after the game with no "fence" option? I voted out in the heat of the moment. On reflection I should have stuck with "in" given the two options as there wasn't a whole lot Potter could have done. Perhaps not start Connelly and put Karbownik in the first team squad but even then Swanny and I both thought we'd get some advantage from a back 4 before the game and it wasn't Burn missing two penalties.

However, the idea of shutting debate down on fans' message board is odd. We are in a relegation scrap now. Those devoted to the cult of "in" must either see something in Potter and a relegation scrap that others don't, because he's never been in one before (had months to plan last season because of Covid) or they must be quite happy with relegation as part of the big plan.

I don't think anyone wants to shut down debate. [MENTION=34242]Neville's Breakfast[/MENTION] is simply hoping that new versions of the same thread don't keep appearing. For me, I looked at the latest poll when it started and it was about 50 votes in and 50 out. A couple of hours later it was 50 out and 250 in. I find it intriguing that there is a minority who seem to have all the composure of a team of Italian hairdressers during a Brylcream shortage.

 

[disgruntled h blocker]

Oh yeah that's the other difference, our good results are due to the opposition playing badly.

To stay in the league we need to be playing well against teams around us, not picking lucky points off the bigger clubs.

 

[KeegansHairPiece]

Yes, but you need to put it into the context that the upsurge in positivism was related to us beating Spurs and Liverpool, who were both going through very bad patches at that point. If we hadn't won those games but continued to lose against Palace and West Brom (where we seemed unable to score) and get 0-0 or 1-1 draws from other teams would you still be thinking the same way?

We are where we are. If a referee doesn't have a blonde moment and we score 1 of 2 pens, we're on 29 points and probably not having this discussion. If we don't faff around like a bunch of 8 year olds in and around the penalty box against Palace, we're probably on 30, if not 32. So your if's and but's are everywhere. Not a single neutral in football is watching our last 2 games and not thinking we shouldn't have had 6 instead of 0 points.

And talk about re-writing history. Liverpool had just beaten Spurs and West Ham both 3-1 ahead of our game at Anfield - we triggered a bad run of form, they were feeling pretty good about themselves with 2 very good wins.

Spurs had only lost to Liverpool in 9 fixtures in the lead up to ours, had beaten Sheff Utd and Leeds comfortably too. Funny how people want to re-write great wins as they other teams being in a bad patch.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

To stay in the league we need to be playing well against teams around us, not picking lucky points off the bigger clubs.

Really? is that guaranteed?

i.e. we can get 0 points from the top 10 as long as we "play well" against the bottom 10?

IMO we have failed to play well in 2 games and 2 halves this season. (Everton/Leicester/West Brom (H) / Wolves)
So we will definitely stay up? Yes?

Glad you're on board.

 

[Guinness Boy]

I don't think anyone wants to shut down debate. [MENTION=34242]Neville's Breakfast[/MENTION] is simply hoping that new versions of the same thread don't keep appearing. For me, I looked at the latest poll when it started and it was about 50 votes in and 50 out. A couple of hours later it was 50 out and 250 in. I find it intriguing that there is a minority who seem to have all the composure of a team of Italian hairdressers during a Brylcream shortage.

If you were composed at 10pm on Monday night or 5pm on Saturday then I'd respectfully suggest you are enjoying something a bit more mellow with your game than beer

 

[disgruntled h blocker]

We are where we are. If a referee doesn't have a blonde moment and we score 1 of 2 pens, we're on 29 points and probably not having this discussion. If we don't faff around like a bunch of 8 year olds in and around the penalty box against Palace, we're probably on 30, if not 32. So your if's and but's are everywhere. Not a single neutral in football is watching our last 2 games and not thinking we shouldn't have had 6 instead of 0 points.

And talk about re-writing history. Liverpool had just beaten Spurs and West Ham both 3-1 ahead of our game at Anfield - we triggered a bad run of form, they were feeling pretty good about themselves with 2 very good wins.

Spurs had only lost to Liverpool in 9 fixtures in the lead up to ours, had beaten Sheff Utd and Leeds comfortably too. Funny how people want to re-write great wins as they other teams being in a bad patch.

Sorry, that is a triple negative, can you explain please?

 

[disgruntled h blocker]

Really? is that guaranteed?

i.e. we can get 0 points from the top 10 as long as we "play well" against the bottom 10?

IMO we have failed to play well in 2 games and 2 halves this season. (Everton/Leicester/West Brom (H) / Wolves)
So we will definitely stay up? Yes?

Glad you're on board.

Sure as hell that if we look dreadful against the teams around us and pick up points randomly, that isn't looking terribly good.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

Sure as hell that if we look dreadful against the teams around us and pick up points randomly, that isn't looking terribly good.

Not sure if you're agreeing with me or not....

When have we looked awful, playing teams around us?

 

[Weststander]

I think it's been a good and fair debate in the main, given how bad most of us were feeling at 5pm on Saturday.

I would agree with NB above. Do we really need these threads posted immediately after the game with no "fence" option? I voted out in the heat of the moment. On reflection I should have stuck with "in" given the two options as there wasn't a whole lot Potter could have done. Perhaps not start Connelly and put Karbownik in the first team squad but even then Swanny and I both thought we'd get some advantage from a back 4 before the game and it wasn't Burn missing two penalties.

However, the idea of shutting debate down on fans' message board is odd. We are in a relegation scrap now. Those devoted to the cult of "in" must either see something in Potter and a relegation scrap that others don't, because he's never been in one before (had months to plan last season because of Covid) or they must be quite happy with relegation as part of the big plan.

Personally, I’ll always want these debates and venting of emotions. On all sides.

Sometimes some posters give the impression that it should be taboo to criticise individual players. Exemplified on player ratings threads where apparently there’s a floor of 6, bizarrely starters can never get a score of 0 to 5. Low ratings jumped on.

We don’t post in a Stasi forum, free speech wins.