5 hours ago, axman2526 said:

Like ETH it took Brightons new gagga some time to get his ideas across but, so far, to me it looks Brighton are upgraded quite a bit with him and colwill and without Potter and Cucurella.

Looks like Potter was holding them back imo.

Think Brighton are just a well run club that kept making good signings and improving their squad, much like Brentford. I think that was the main reason for their success, rather than Potter being a tactial genius.

8 hours ago, Gol15 said:

Could have just added the 20m spent on Felix and we would have had Enzo Fernandez already.

the genius that is the Chelsea transfer recruitment committee 

15 hours ago, OriginalS said:

Today they beat City with Rashford, Shaw, Wan Bissaka as some of their best players. And all three of them got an endless amount of sh*t just last season. Varane too was really poor last season so he's had a massive impact on the players who's previously struggled at that club.

Is there even one player who's improved for us under Potter?

Small sample size but James, he's looked a fullback/wingback version of Mbappe pretty much every time he's played under Potter.

As for Ten Hag, he's had a massive impact on 'some' of the players because their total lost causes are now at worst squad players which gives them a solid base to build on. 

We saw what happened early on in the season when he was relying on the likes of Maguire, McFred and 37 year old Ronaldo, he got his pants pulled down by a certain Mr Potter in his own back yard before winding up 4-0 down inside half an hour the following week.

Casemiro has been the big difference, just like how James is when fit for us.

Edited January 15, 20233 yr by Argo

2 minutes ago, Argo said:

Small sample size but James, he's looked a fullback/wingback version of Mbappe pretty much every time he's played under Potter.

As for Ten Hag, he's had a massive impact on 'some' of the players because their total lost causes are now at worst squad players which gives them a solid base to build on. 

We saw what happened early on in the season when he was relying on the likes of Maguire, McFred and 37 year old Ronaldo, he got his pants pulled down by a certain Mr Potter in his own back yard before winding up 4-0 down inside half an hour the following week.

Casemiro has been the big difference, just like how James is when fit for us.

But isn't that what managers are supposed to do? Rectifying a problem even if it's his own making. Potter has pretty much cart blanche on anything he wants right now and he still comes up with strange game plans. 

It’s interesting that Potter has gone on 10+ game winless runs in each of his last 3 seasons. He can’t do that here. With the expectations and things at stake, that will lose you top 4/title/knocked out of cups etc. He’s got find a way to stop the rot. 

17 hours ago, OriginalS said:

Today they beat City with Rashford, Shaw, Wan Bissaka as some of their best players. And all three of them got an endless amount of sh*t just last season. Varane too was really poor last season so he's had a massive impact on the players who's previously struggled at that club.

Is there even one player who's improved for us under Potter?

Hmm, I don't think it is apple to apple. Ole record against city was actually very good until last year. Evryon pretty much underperformed for united last year for obvious reason. 

He has to find a way to stop the rot! This game today has to produce 3 points. I am resigned to not getting top 4, but if the current form continues we will be in a relegation battle. In our last 10 games domestically we have managed 1 win, 1 draw and 8 losses. That is bottom of the table stuff. 

Potter needs to produce or get out before it is too late. 

A wins a win, but the performance was still not great. Kepa motm says it all. Great debut for Badiashile though, and Thiago Silva class as always.

28 points now, 4 more wins and we're safe from the drop 🙏

We can do this!!! 

Definitely better, slightly worrying we had to resort to playing 4 natural cbs in a back 4 at one point, but who knows that could be the way forward. 

Credit to Potter, I've been one of his critics but he stuck with Trev for example after a bad game last time out and Trev responded to that trust well. New CB Benoit I liked what I heard about him prior and I like what I saw today. 

Hopefully Potter learned a few things from today and we don't go back to the lack of fight shown in previous games.

He's got a long way to convince a decent sized percentage of the fan base he's the right man for the job. Games like this however scrappy show the intent to at least fight. The pretty football can wait no one's asking for that we just want heart and I saw plenty of it today. 

Edit: have to mention I liked the midfield trio he picked today, might not work against every team but we got to see the best of Gallagher for the first time in a while.

Edited January 15, 20233 yr by LongtimerLurker

Remember it was Crystal Palace. Lets not get to excited guys.

Edited January 15, 20233 yr by Ibby_786

31 minutes ago, Ibby_786 said:

Remember it was Crystal Palace. Lets not get to excited guys.

It's the same Palace who have won multiple games away to top six sides in recent years.

Just pleased to know my ol' Graham is going to sleep a few hours tonight. He sure looks like he hasn't done that in a while.

Still not convinced he's the right coach for the long-term. The best coaches in the league are struggling atm (Klopp, Conte,  Pep to an extent, TT when he was here). If they're struggling then there's no surprise GP is too. 

The attack still isn't really working and a goal difference of +1 at the half way mark is poor. We're literally the 10th best team in the league every team above us has better goal difference every team below us has worse it's not rocket science but it's very telling.

The commentator (I think before Havertz scored so probably 5 now) mentioned our top league goal scorers are Sterling on 4 and Havert on 4 (maybe 5 now?). Sterling had 3 league goals before TT was sacked he was the leading goal scorer in all comps (may still be) and his form took a nosedive after being played out of position by GP.

He's earnt himself a slight reprise from the mounting pressure, but I remain unconvinced in the long-term. He could still prove a lot of people wrong and some right.

Edit: I suspect the team will look quite different by the end of January and I suppose it will be interesting to see how he does with new recruits especially considering the amount being spent this window too.

Edited January 15, 20233 yr by LongtimerLurker

It was very dull and boring. Hardly any attacking or incisive play. But he got the win which was important.

Hes now got a free week off with the players before Liverpool. 

A good much needed win.

We have a nice run of fixtures coming so hopefully we can climb the table.

 

Team looked better even at Fulham without the red card I think we win that game also.

everyone looked like they wanted it even Ziyech look good, I guess when you now see that two starting place upfront is set with the new boys you better start fighting for your spot.

1 swallow doesn’t make a spring & all that.

A win was needed, a win we got.

1 hour ago, El regreso said:

Team looked better even at Fulham without the red card I think we win that game also.

everyone looked like they wanted it even Ziyech look good, I guess when you now see that two starting place upfront is set with the new boys you better start fighting for your spot.

We were better this game in comparison to the previous Fulham match, we could have scored more goals today and no luck was needed for a win.

Much prefer a unconvincing will than having another go at Potter. The energy level was better with Gallagher, Hall etc on the field. At times we were running out like headless chickens, but at least the effort was there to been seen and applauded by fans. I couldn't really figure out what formations we were playing with that many defenders on, but can't blame him to plan a bit safe. If we sneak a 1:0 against Liverpool with 6 defenders, so be it.

15 hours ago, JM7 said:

It’s interesting that Potter has gone on 10+ game winless runs in each of his last 3 seasons. He can’t do that here. With the expectations and things at stake, that will lose you top 4/title/knocked out of cups etc. He’s got find a way to stop the rot. 

You can't give what you don't have. There's no magic to this thing. Football has passed the stage where there is a huge gulf in class amongst top professionals especially the last few seasons in the Premiership where any side in the bottom 10 could probably achieve the type of spending Roman did when he bought Chelsea and put us firmly in the conversation. 

Now the difference is about who makes more mistakes or capitalises on the other team's mistakes and even though they may not get enough credit that's where the technical nous of the manager comes to play. 

How many managers in the league is GP better than? Generally you can't magically just do better than managers better than you no matter what team you're given. Of course there will be the odd exception every now and then because that's just generally how all facets of life are. I'd expect in this league, a team generally will come +/-3 in relation to their managers ranking in the league. 

 

 

Players look motivated to fight for him today

9 hours ago, Argo said:

It's the same Palace who have won multiple games away to top six sides in recent years.

We have an amazing record against them. 

Even Ziyech turned up but as I said in the match thread when you see young players coming in to take your position even if you want to leave you need to perform to put yourself in the shop window.