Some positivity
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Management Poll: Who do you want most as our next manager?
- Thread starter ClosedAccount10263
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There are a finite number of clearly great managers. If you can’t get one, you need to settle for an ok one, or hire a guy who is not yet considered great. We managed the latter with Poche, and the benefits were considerable. Potter looks like he might be one of those as well.
Rafa gives me a bit of a strokey chin, dont think we should blank him.. hes won things at pretty much every club hes been to. Got a few Toon mates who thought he was decent..
Oh i dunno, apparently according to talksport, Levy has “done a deal” with someone already. We wont know who that is yet.
Oh i dunno, apparently according to talksport, Levy has “done a deal” with someone already. We wont know who that is yet.
Only thing is that he seems like a man who is serious is about his craft. Can't see him wanting to work with the 2 idiots Levy and Hitchen.
Seems strange no one has ever mentioned Löw? Not that I want him, nor perhaps he us, but he is stepping down from Germany in the summer.
He’s not really ever shown it at club level
Perhaps I sound like a simpleton, but I feel like national team coaches are often not so great at club level. Completely different dynamic picking the best of a certain nationality and only rarely meeting up for training etc.
I know a lot of phenomenal club coaches have made the jump to international but it often seems like the last hurrah before retirement. I wouldn't want one going the other way around.
Interesting piece tbf. But it is bigging up a 0-0, after which they went on to lose to Sheffield United...Are they a tough team in any way to play against? Not really you say
They are an absolute nightmare to play against and in most of the games they have been beaten it’s by a single goal
How Graham Potter's Brighton did what Liverpool & Man City couldn't vs Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea
Brighton went toe to toe with Chelsea's far more expensive side at Stamford Bridge this week and nearly returned home with all three points - here's how they did it
Graham Potter, Manager of Brighton & Hove Albion (Image: Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
If Chelsea were Goliath and Brighton were David, the latter nearly slew the giant London outfit at Stamford Bridge this week.
The Blues spent £222m in the summer, whereas Albion spent 10 times less than that.
Chelsea sit fourth in the Premier League, 21 points and 12 places better off than the Seagulls, have just qualified for the Champions League semi-final, and are one game away from winning the FA Cup.
And yet such is the beauty of football and the Premier League, on their day, any side can beat another, no matter how much one team's side dwarfs the other in terms of its depth and quality.
There was little to choose between Chelsea and Brighton when the two drew 0-0 at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday.
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Rich Mills reflects on Brighton's draw at Chelsea
Brighton could, and perhaps should, have taken all three points as they dominated the last quarter of the game, as Adam Lallana missed a glorious chance and Danny Welbeck hit the post.
According to tactical and player analyst, Uddhav Chauhan, head coach Graham Potter surprised Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel with his tactics and to an extent outsmarted the German.
Chelsea managed to beat Manchester City at the weekend and defending Premier League Champions Liverpool last month, but not Brighton.
The west London side did have a short turnaround from that Saturday victory over Pep Guardiola's men, but their squad has huge strength in depth and they have more than enough quality players to beat most sides in the league.
So, here's how Potter matched and nearly bettered Chelsea's star-studded side. Chauhan put together a Twitter thread on Brighton's man-orientated pressing game against Tuchel's side.
Brighton players (in yellow) pressing Chelsea players (in blue) (Image: Uddhav Chauhan)
As this graphic above shows, Brighton (in yellow) went man-to-man against most of Chelsea's players (in blue) except their most central defender, Kurt Zouma.
The imposing defender was sometimes left free but other times one of Brighton's midfielders, such as Alexis Mac Allister, would rush out to close him down.
According to Albion Analytics (AA), the 22-year-old Argentine recorded the most pressures (38), successful pressures (eight), successful take-ons (two from two), and second-most ball recoveries (11) of any Brighton player against the Blues - and he only played 73 minutes.
Other times Yves Bissouma would push out to holding midfielder Jorginho or Zouma, but Leandro Trossard and much of their teammates pressed Chelsea consistently across the park, stopping attacks from building, stifling forays into their own half, and keeping them honest.
With Bissouma, he too had an impressive game at Stamford Bridge, with AA stating the 24-year-old was the best among his teammates for progressive passes and dribbles (eight), successful pressures on opposition players (eight), and for shots on goal (four).
The Mali international was in the top three for making tackles and interceptions (seven) and ball recoveries (nine).
Another example Chauhan cites is when Brighton forced Zouma to fire long balls forward, something that played into their hands as Albion had 6ft 7in Dan Burn, 6ft 4in Lewis Dunk, and 6ft 3in Adam Webster in their backline.
AA added that Burn won six out of seven aerial duels, made four tackles and interceptions, and had eight successful pressures, Webster made three interceptions, four clearances, and had a 100% aerial duel win rate, and not much got by skipper Dunk either.
Chauhan said Zouma's teammates were marked by a host of Brighton players and if he carried the ball forward he would immediately be counter-pressed. He adds that Zouma was often closed down by Mac Allister, Bissouma went for Jorginho, and the Blues are forced wide where Brighton's instant press allows them to win a throw-in.
As the second graphic states, White allows Christian Pulisic space in the centre circle, allowing the defender to stay behind and control the space at the back.
But when the ball is played back to Zouma, Bissouma presses him, and then White marks Pulisic, eventually leading to regaining possession due to their fast closing down.
When the aggressive man-marking is beaten, White did a "tactical" foul on Pulisic in the middle of the pitch, with his team well set defensively, where he was not yellow carded and he stops Chelsea's attacking momentum.
Incidentally, Webster, who returned to the side after more than two months out with an ankle injury, gave Brighton another string to their bow as according to Five Yards, the 26-year-old is the only man in the division to attempt more than 10 dribbles with a success rate of 100% this season (15).
That extra go-ahead from the back is something that Brighton have missed and Webster is exceptionally good at. But I digress ever so slightly.
The graphic above shows just how high Brighton pressed and how effectively they did it. This repeatedly forced Chelsea to go long and as the game wore on, Albion grew and grew in confidence.
Chauhan finishes his thread by saying: "Potter's plan surely worked well but the draw was a fair result, in my opinion, when we take into account the number of chances missed by both sides."
Indeed, Chelsea nearly went ahead early on but Kai Havertz's first-time shot from 12 yards was straight at keeper Rob Sanchez, and they had four shots on target to Brighton's two, along with 64% possession.
However, Albion had 11 shots to Chelsea's seven and got stronger as the game wore on.
Chauhan added: "Chelsea were too static. Not many rotations, plus Brighton's counter-press was fantastic too."
So, does Potter think he won the tactical duel with Tuchel?
"I wouldn't say that. Every game you play it is always about how the team functions and the better the understanding of the team, the more it enables the players within the team to play well," he told Sussex Live.
"That is a key part of the job. Ultimately it is about players making decisions out on the pitch and being able to execute that out on the pitch. I thought the players did that really well.
"When you win it is always down to them. They have got the courage to play, make decisions and be brave, when to press, when not to press, when to play and when not to play, when to go long or short. All we can do is really try to give us a collective idea about what we are trying to do and leave it to them.
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"We've got a really good group, that is developing all the time, improving its understanding of each other and about what we are trying to do. I thought the game against Chelsea demonstrated that with discipline, knowing when to press or not, and we managed to get a point against a top team."
Either way, Brighton showed their worth, and Potter his tactical nous. Next up is a very different prospect in Premier League basement side Sheffield United.
That will probably require a different approach for Brighton and that is a fascinating prospect.
I don’t know, I can see he obviously has something about him. Not convinced he’s the manager to take us forward though...
I’d love to be proven wrong of course.
My biggest fear about Potter is that he'd get here and the players wouldn't listen to him. A lot of this crop have gotten two managers sacked now, so I think someone exuding more authority than Potter may be needed (but hey, I've never been a fly on the wall at Brighton, perhaps he's commanding as fuck and puts that social sciences degree to good use). Fuck knows if Ten Hag is any better, but I could see our squad taking the former Ajax manager more seriously than the former Brighton manager, if you see what I mean.
Whoever it is, I hope they identify the useless cunts and exodus them.
I've been banging his drum for some time now, he'd probably be my number one choice
I’d love to have a successful English manager and would be happy to give Potter or Parker a go. Trouble is, I can’t see our squad and their over inflated egos* buying into it. So I’ve gone for Ten Hag. He’s also built a proper system and philosophy around the club, bringing youth through and developing players.
*I also wouldn’t mind a complete overhaul of the squad based on youth with very view of the current lot retained!
*I also wouldn’t mind a complete overhaul of the squad based on youth with very view of the current lot retained!
Don't even joke about it!!
I’m traumatised by his job at Porto.
JFC... I’m American and even I hate thisAnother name. Jesse Marsch, American managing RB Salzburg.
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That was the reason I voted for Scott.
With regard to your second point, do you think we are an attractive proposition for a 'top' manager? Serious question.
Yes. As crazy as it sounds, put results to one side. If Kane and Son were there, they would be top4Is it really superb though? I mean really?
West Ham have Antonio as their striker and are pushing for Champions League
Some positivity
Why don’t he mention that Chelsea is also better at 8 or 9 starting positions?
Ånge, Åre? I worked in Östersund a couple of years ago and after that have lots of friends there. So I have watched them live 5-6 times, in Östersund and here in Sundsvalls. And if course on TV lots of times. I really like how Potter improves players and changes styles during the games.