Pre Season - 2020/21

Any idea on the line up?

 

Not playing in the new kit then?

 

1-1 pen.

 

I've put the players I recognise in the Academy/U23 thread/fred.

 

Good to see Sema back in action. I think he'll be a very good player for us next season.

 

That simply means they will leave closer to the deadline, for less £££s, and with less time to arrange replacements. Much prefer we got business done earlier like Muff so it's clear who is staying, where replacements are needed and gives the squad and manager a chance to gel.

 

I agree with the others who are concerned re the lack of pre season friendlies. We cannot allow the mistakes of last season to be repeated.

 

I'm starting to feel pretty down about next season. We could've made a real effort to be proactive and get the squad ready early on and go in all guns blazing. We basically just did nothing hoping players would stay. Feels like lessons aren't being learned. Lose Sarr and we'll be closer to the bottom than top.

 

Anyone who hasn’t had an insurance bet on us going down again this season, has a real risk of missing the boat.

One thing’s for sure. We are going to be no where near promotion this season. Welcome back to the second tier grind everyone.

 

why soo much negativity on here. Let's be positive and expect that the whole team will pull together and perform.

 

Yeah! Just like last season! Come on guys!

...

 

ITK

 

We were safe after Newcastle and will piss this league - just look how easy all those fixtures are!

 

We didn't hope they'd stay, we are just waiting for them to decide where to go when they leave. We can't replace players until we know they are off the books.

 

No but they’ve not played a match yet. We look to have some new players back from loan. A successful new coach. At least try and be positive for a few weeks until we see what pans out

 

I would imagine we have a couple of friendlies lined up before the Spurs game. Most games aren't being announced due to security reasons, so no real need to panic just yet. Hopefully 3 games is enough given the quicker turnaround.

 

I just spoke to someone ITK, apparently we have a pre season first team match on Saturday but it's not been publicised for whatever reason, he also didn't know who it is against. Secondly, despite the lack of photos on social media sites, all players apart from Deulofeu (obviously) have been at training.

 

And Hughes, surely?

 

Maybe they're keeping it secret and behind closed doors because otherwise questions will be asked as to why they're not bothering to bring Pervis and Suarez on?

From a transfer negotiations and PR point of view perhaps they might not want to advertise which players do and don't seem to be at the forefront of the clubs' plans for the season.

 

Plus loads of teams didn't publicise their pre-restart games, I get that it's grating for us as fans of a club who are very bad at communication, but in and of itself, this is nothing to worry about

 

It's not going to be easy for Warnock to plan for the Watford game when no one really knows who will be playing.

 

Difficult for Vlad, too, unless he has a meeting planned with Giraldi.

 

I don't think we were ever going to be able to do this. I think this season clubs will do a lot of their business late because of the situation. I'm sure the club wanted to as well, but it's probably finding it hard to find buyers for players & clubs are probably reluctant to sell yet.

I think if you look at as, as it stands, we'll have Wilmot, Estupinan, Ngakia, Sema & Suarez as 'new' players, who on paper should be too good for the championship. We've also got Pedro and Quina who we've seen a bit of, but should be a cut above given minutes in the championship. We will also bring in other signings - i'm still confident.

 

I hope so, I think it's more that I feel resigned to losing Sarr after seeing how happy we are to do business for Capoue. That would be a crushing blow.

 

Also bear in mind that the EFL have now introduced a 25-man squad so we would need to sell before we buy anyway.

 

Sorry what?!

Wilmot has so far shown himself to be nothing more than "good for the Championship".

 

Currently unavailable too by all accounts.

 

Probably being lined up for sale or loan like Hughes.

 

Has he gone?

 

I mean that's clearly not what I am saying. But if were happy to loan out our best player with no obligation to buy, I don't hold much hope of us bothering to keep a potentially £40 mil plus sale.

 

I'm as excited as anyone about those 'new' players, but steady on, I don't think they'll be 'too good' for the Championship in a Mitrovic sense (definitely won't be expecting 25 goals from Suarez given Ivic's style of play, but if the wingers chip in as planned and he gets a tune out of the defence, he won't need to)

 

come on yellowkicks be a bit more optimistic about things. the whole sarr to liverpool thing has gone silent for now. the player himself isnt actively pushing for a move. we hold all the cards with his contract. if he goes it will be because we got good money for him.

capoue is a different issue. if he goes (and for me its still a big if as valencia cant even afford to pay their own players at the moment) then i dont think we can really hold it against the club or the player. he has been a loyal player for us throughout our premier league stint. he came to us when he could have gone elsewhere and for five years has been one of our standout players. if he were to leave then it is with my blessing.

we have more than enough quality in this squad to go back up this year, but the mentality has to be right.

 

But I'm not sure if we are happy to do that. If it goes through like that then questions clearly would need to be asked but as it stands nothing seems to be happening