Expectation For The Season

Yeah, bet your house on it makes sense, but betting your mortgage on anything could surely only as an absolute worst case, leave your in exactly the sample place you started, with a mortgage.

 

I'm not anywhere near as confident as I was in 2015. The club was on a real high back then and recruited well.

I think we'll be very competitive, but a possible lack of quality might send us down. Xisco's replacement in Oct/Nov will be crucial - we have the tools to be a very strong counter attacking team.

 

I think we’ll be better than Norwich, but still down by about March. So sort of in between the first two options! I went with “relegated before xmas” as I felt that was less inaccurate than “go down fighting”.

 

When we first got promoted we were on an upward trajectory, I think as fans we looked at three things, the owners ability to bring in players like Abdi and FF in the championship, so we all probably wondered what miracles they could work with a premier league budget and most probably thought we’d be fine as a result. There was also the myth that the Pozzos don’t do relegation, so that probably gave us all some added confidence. There was also the idea they had a decent roadmap and Succesion plan for managers to gradually move us forward, after master strokes like Joka.

Fast forward a few years and Udinese have declined massively so their ability to provide us players has massively diminished. Their recruitment strategy has turned out to just be a scattergun approach of quantity over quality, and their Succesion plan for managers clearly started and ended at Mazzari. Every appointment since had been completely reactive based on doing the opposite of the manager they just sacked. We’ve also been relegated smashing the myth that they don’t do relegation.

 

Hard to see us not being relegated in 20th, to be honest

We have recruited ok by and large considering we have no money, but realistically we are nowhere near a premier League squad, imo.

Maybe we have a great spirit and battle to survival though, too early to say. We have had lots of ability and no desire previously, perhaps it will be the other way around now

 

Unless something drastic happens, i.e. Hughes & Chalobah stay/or we replace them with even better players & add some quality at the back, then i'm afraid we will lack the quality to stay up.

Whilst I think we could actually score more goals than I initially thought with the likes of Sarr, JP, King, Cucho & Dennis I am very worried about us not being able to keep the ball out at the other end!

We relied heavily on Capoue & Doucoure to dominate games in the midfield, with exception of teams like Citeh & Liverpool, and usually it worked, especially in the games where we should be winning or have a chance of winning. We don't have anyone in the midfield currently that is even worth mentioning in the same breath as either! I did think that Hughes, Chalobah and Etebo/Louza could do a good job for us in there, but no way are Cleverley or Gosling the answer. Neither have the legs or quality on the ball where it matters (maybe harsh on Clevs, but he's a Championship standard player now, IMO).

If we can't dominate/control games in the middle of the pitch then how are we going to stop teams attacking us? The ball is going to come straight back at us all the time unless we can replace Hughes with a genuinely good ball playing midfielder (maybe Louza will be good enough, don't know enough about him).

Defensively I am very worried. Troost & Sierralta COULD be the answer, but it's a huge gamble! Neither have played consistently at the top level. At least in 15/16 season we had Prodl & Britos who were both seasoned defenders in Europe's top leagues and they had Behrami & Capoue sat in front of them. Masina is crap, Rose is a very good player but looks very unfit/overweight, so by the time we see the best of him we could already be rooted to the bottom! Kiko was found out horribly last time in the Prem & Ngakia is inexperienced but has the potential to be very good. No depth. If Sierralta gets injured and Rose isn't ready for a couple of months then we are relying on the same defence that got us relegated, with a BTEC midfield in front of it and a gamble of a strike force to score the goals.

Our only saving grace might be the teams around us.

I would imagine Norwich, Brentford, Southampton, Brighton, Burnley, Newcastle & Palace will be down in the bottom 7 with us, so it's going to be a case of taking points off of these lot. Are we going to be good enough to do it? Not sure. Personally voted for the second option of going down due to lack of quality.

 

Pretty much agree with this apart from Brighton being in the mix to go down. But we're going to have a season of doom.

 

19th.

Xisco's fun bus filled with an unbalanced, toothless squad goes off a cliff

 

I think we have yellow tinted glasses when it comes to the standard of the 2015 team:

This is the team that started that season 0-0 v WBA.
I believe we are stronger now all over the pitch and will stay up. Of course it will be a fight but we have the skill and speed and I would say we have the defensive dogedness to keep teams out.
Higher than 14th would be amazing but I'll plump for 15th with positivity!

 

Not sure it was a myth about them not doing relegation to be fair and in fairness Udinese have not really given us Premier League quality players so don’t think Udineses massive decline, not sure they have, has made any difference. Even in the championship they gave us The Bloke from Chile who was my player of the season

 

In 2015 I thought we'd get relegated at the start of the season. Then I saw the Everton game and thought "hang on a sec, we've a competitive team here!".

I've voted down with a fighting chance as I feel the same now as then. Close but not enough. But come 5pm on 14th I'm hoping for another "hang on a sec" moment.

 

The division was pretty poor as well by comparison. Leicester won the league!

 

I agree with a lot of this, with concerns over the midfield and defence, however, I feel a couple of good signings would change all that.

I like a lot of the business we’ve done so far. I like the fact we’ve improved the forward line and other areas for peanuts. We’ve kept Sarr (hopefully) and the only big surprise for me is losing Hughes.

Midfield is now Louza, Etebo, Kucka, Chalobah with Gosling and Cleverley as squad backups. Still think we need one more and Yokuslu would be excellent.

Central defence is still a big problem. Only 4 senior players is not enough. We need one more player here as a priority.

Apart from that we seem to have good balance, signed some promising youngsters and the forward line is quite exciting.

Personally I think we’ll do a lot better than many think but I admit we could well be a car crash. A lot depends on additional signings and how the new team knits together quickly as a unit.

Clubs like Watford, Brighton, Burnley & Palace have no natural right to be in the Premier League and wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for their owners.

I know the way Gino runs the club grinds fan’s gears at times, but we’ve been very successful under his ownership. This is the benchmark. They’ve turned Watford into a Premier League club and if we do go down we’re a big fish in the Championship.

It’s tough trying to achieve this. Look at bigger clubs who are struggling. Derby, Sheff Wed, Forest, Birmingham, Portsmouth, Sunderland etc. We punch well above our weight.

Fans like big signings and statements of intent, but we find ourselves in a bit of financial mess right now, but careful navigation could well steer us clear of this.

I see this season as one which could well save our bacon if we get it right. Whether we get it right is to be seen but if we do go down we’d have a strong team
to bounce straight back without the financial strain of last season’s relegation.

 

But it became a self full filling prophecy, we got relegated because they had the attitude that it wasn’t possible, irrespective of the decisions they made. Why are they now frantically trying to get 50% relegation clauses into players contacts after we’ve been relegated not before? Because prior to being relegated they never contemplated it could happen so never worried about the financial implications. That speaks volumes about the arrogance and recklessness of some of their decisions.

 

This genuinely happened to us enough last season in the Championship, and we had to ride our luck on it then. Back up in the Prem it's a huge concern - we barely have anyone who we know can 'take care of the ball' so to speak, or control the tempo for any period of time, and, as ever, our centre backs are further counter-productive to that.

 

This saeson let's go for some records.

2 previous managers hired and fired in one season.
One of which being Flores for his 3rd and shortest stint 8 games.

 

Capoue and Watson/Behrami was a decent shield, we had an ultra defensive coach and a striker in the form of his life who couldn't miss for half a season.

I think we'll be more enterprising this time around but will be exposed more and don't have much confidence in our midfield being able to stop people playing through us. Think we'll play better football but have worse results.

 

Clearly I would love us to stay up, but I think it will be a real struggle. Each year there is one team that falls away early and usually stays there (perhaps with a little short lived burst to give a false hope). I would think the first task is to avoid that scenario. If we survive relegation, it will not be by a comfortable margin.

 

I never have expectations. I have no real information on which to base expectations. I may have views on the team but I have little knowledge on other teams whether it is top half teams last season or bottom half teams this season.
This is not a criticism of people on here who are certain of what will happen. They may have more knowledge than me. However I can't base my opinion on their views because I don't know who amongst them has greater knowledge and who hasn't. All this means is that I have more genuine hope. Hope is wonderful.

My prediction: We will finish in the bottom six.

 

Yeah agree. Even if we aren’t successful I really hope it’s not one of those horror seasons where we are detached by January.

 

I always look for year on year improvement. Surviving relegation this year is the goal and it doesn’t matter how we do it. This is the hangover from COVID with many clubs struggling to find the cash to strengthen their squads adequately. I don’t think it will be as clear cut a season as we all think I truly believe this year will be one of the most open PL in history. Not saying the tops teams won’t be winning the league but I think there will be a few surprises along the way and I expect a big hitter to finish bottom half

 

Why? Covid Impact just exacerbates differentials. Hence the lack of challengers to us and Norwich last year. Our hangover is Covid plus the vast amount of debt accumulated by our owners which is a double whammy.

 

I think this is about right. However, I’m always optimistic about unknown quantities and in Dennis, Cucho and Louza we have three tasty ones. We also have three new players in King, Rose and Kucka, who have without question been of the standard and maybe can be again if the coach can get a tune out of them. Sarr remains a potent threat by any standard and Sierralta and WTE were genuine improvements last year.

So I agree, the key concern for us is teams playing through us like a hot knife through butter. Prevent that and we have a hope of staying up.

 

Bachmann
Kiko WTE Sierralta Masina/Rose
Kucka Etebo
Sarr Louza JP/Dennis
Cucho/King

... is imo good enough for 40 points

 

I can’t say I’m hugely confident. I think I would have been much more so if Hughes and Chalobah were still being included . That would have given us sone decent quality in the middle and continuity . I’m not overly confident about our goal scoring options either.

It definitely feels like we recruited better in 2015 , with the likes of Capoue, Berhami , prodl and Ake who added some real quality.

However I’m still excited for the season ahead . I can’t wait to get back to the vic as it’s been so long , I think it will be a battle but we might surprise a few . Just looking forward to celebrating sone goals again ( hopefully we will score some!)

There’s also time for additional recruitment and possibly for chalobah /Hughes to do a u turn.


Also , I would probably be a bit more accepting of resignation this season as my expectations are lower.
The pozzos/Duxbury continue to do a brilliant job running this club and keeping us competitive under extremely difficult conditions . Clearly they are more aware of what they need to do to ensure if we were to get relegated we will still be able to compete next season and won’t have a financial disaster on our hands .

 

"Wretched".

 

Absolutely no idea, similar to when we first promoted, can't wait!

 

Not a lot

 

I agree, but the issue is Cleverley, Gosling and Deeney will start the majority

 

God I hope not. Why do you think this is? Does Xisco not have full say over who plays? Or is he just a bit clueless?

 

Hang on a sec!

 

My estimation has just gone up, we might just survive if we can keep performing like we did today

 

37 points to go

 

*32

(more likely)

 

Split the difference? 34.5?