Discussion
teeceeee said:
Gargamel said:
Oh dear I have forgotten who that was, can any one remind me of the name of the club with the lowest points total in Premier League History ?
i know that it's not the same team who have been relegated the most times as the bottom team... who on earth is that? :-)
Another lazy performance this afternoon then.
Man of the match for me would have been Darlow who I thought worked hard. The rest looked sloppy. Nice to see Tyler Walker come on - he looked quick and, like Osborne not afraid to get stuck in. I think Antonio is carrying an injury, Lansbury has lost his way again as has Lichaj.
Here's to next season and despite my grumbles, I'll still renew my season ticket.
Man of the match for me would have been Darlow who I thought worked hard. The rest looked sloppy. Nice to see Tyler Walker come on - he looked quick and, like Osborne not afraid to get stuck in. I think Antonio is carrying an injury, Lansbury has lost his way again as has Lichaj.
Here's to next season and despite my grumbles, I'll still renew my season ticket.
So with the fixture list being released today, what are your expectations for the new season?
I personally think we will struggle again this season, especially if we keep the same bunch of players & don't add (the right players) to the squad. I also think that Mackie should have been given another season with us, considering how well he did at Reading & any team with in the Championship would benifit from having him in their squad so well done QPR for signing him & tut tut NFFC for releasing him as I think you have missed a trick with that one.
I personally think we will struggle again this season, especially if we keep the same bunch of players & don't add (the right players) to the squad. I also think that Mackie should have been given another season with us, considering how well he did at Reading & any team with in the Championship would benifit from having him in their squad so well done QPR for signing him & tut tut NFFC for releasing him as I think you have missed a trick with that one.
Thoughts on the coming season?
Fairly optimistic, unlike some of the more deluded "promotion or death" fans I've always been realistic, I think. Last season was a tremendous opportunity for us to succeed albeit with a fantastic first choice 11 but not enough quality outside of that fairly fragile bunch.
Most clubs who have delivered success have done it through long term plans and building a group of players (Burnley, Swansea, Bournemouth, Leicester) where team mentality has come above stars.
That being said last season's big signings do seem to be team players (Britt, Antonio) and I don't think their work ethic can be questioned.
We need to build consistency throughout but particularly in defence where (enforced) changes really cost us. I believe the longest run we had with the same back four was only 3 games. Burnley used 5 defenders in their promotion season.
Going back to the consistency over talent argument I'd prefer to commit to a back four of Lichaj, Hobbs, Mancienne, Fox for the duration.
Wilson is unreliable both mentally and through injury and for my money would be no loss. Mills coming in could be a replacement for Hobbs or Manc though.
The players leaving?
I believe there could have been a place in the team (at least squad) for Jamie Mackie but getting his wages off the books is clearly the big motivator there.
Tesche would be a big loss for me as he can do a great job in the centre (BCFC certainly think so) and played very well with Vaughan last season. And what of Vaughan? Well, we've missed the John McGovern, Paul McKenna mold: busy, always ready to receive the ball and give a simple pass.
Vaughan is that type of player but due to injury hasn't quite fulfilled his promise.
Obviously if Cohen and Reid are fit do you need that player, or Tesche etc. Given their injury history the answer is obviously, yes. Playing Cohen and Reid together in every game would be the ideal, consistency, as I said. But even when fit I think the games they play have to be managed. Partly to protect them but partly so we don't rely 100% on them and go into freefall when they can't play which is exactly what happened last season. The team seemed lost and bereft without them which became a story of forgetting how to win and completely lost confidence.
DF has already said he doesn't want to play Antonio every game so he gets the best of him which is right.
We also have Osborne, Lansbury and Burke (x2). So I'd try to retain all of the players currently on the books.
Then, up front. With Britt out for so long it looks like we'll need to bring in a striker. Could Mackie have deputised? For me Walker should not be given the lone responsibility. Maybe playing him and Fryatt could work and take the pressure off.
I think Lars should be given a season on loan, preferably in the UK so he can adapt on the pitch rather than on the training ground. Brentford would be a good move.
Paterson... sell.
Goalkeeper? Make DeVries no.1, bring in another good keeper to challenge him by all means, but give him the boost he deserves by naming him no.1 in the summer.
And that's without mentioning Riera and McLaughlin. If any of the other midfielders go we should 100% keep Macca, I'd retain him anyway, but I expect he'll be punted on to Southend.
Finally, if we're 12th in November, December or May don't sack the manager. We should be building for promotion in 2016/17. I know that sounds like a long way off but planning for promotion this coming season is not planning at all. It's s
t or bust and for too many seasons we've had st.
Pearce lasted longer than other managers would have, he was sacked as we started to flirt with relegation, but many chairmen but especially Fawaz would have sacked when we dropped out of the top 8 or 10. That's no way to run a club. We had a fantastic start and that almost did for Pearce. If we'd been more average we'd still have been in the same position at Christmas but we'd have been heading upwards on a long term plan not roller-coastering.
Anyway, my season ticket's renewed, I have a new Junior Red in the house, I'll be buying the 150th shirt next week and booking a ticket to Brighton for the season opener.
YOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU REDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fairly optimistic, unlike some of the more deluded "promotion or death" fans I've always been realistic, I think. Last season was a tremendous opportunity for us to succeed albeit with a fantastic first choice 11 but not enough quality outside of that fairly fragile bunch.
Most clubs who have delivered success have done it through long term plans and building a group of players (Burnley, Swansea, Bournemouth, Leicester) where team mentality has come above stars.
That being said last season's big signings do seem to be team players (Britt, Antonio) and I don't think their work ethic can be questioned.
We need to build consistency throughout but particularly in defence where (enforced) changes really cost us. I believe the longest run we had with the same back four was only 3 games. Burnley used 5 defenders in their promotion season.
Going back to the consistency over talent argument I'd prefer to commit to a back four of Lichaj, Hobbs, Mancienne, Fox for the duration.
Wilson is unreliable both mentally and through injury and for my money would be no loss. Mills coming in could be a replacement for Hobbs or Manc though.
The players leaving?
I believe there could have been a place in the team (at least squad) for Jamie Mackie but getting his wages off the books is clearly the big motivator there.
Tesche would be a big loss for me as he can do a great job in the centre (BCFC certainly think so) and played very well with Vaughan last season. And what of Vaughan? Well, we've missed the John McGovern, Paul McKenna mold: busy, always ready to receive the ball and give a simple pass.
Vaughan is that type of player but due to injury hasn't quite fulfilled his promise.
Obviously if Cohen and Reid are fit do you need that player, or Tesche etc. Given their injury history the answer is obviously, yes. Playing Cohen and Reid together in every game would be the ideal, consistency, as I said. But even when fit I think the games they play have to be managed. Partly to protect them but partly so we don't rely 100% on them and go into freefall when they can't play which is exactly what happened last season. The team seemed lost and bereft without them which became a story of forgetting how to win and completely lost confidence.
DF has already said he doesn't want to play Antonio every game so he gets the best of him which is right.
We also have Osborne, Lansbury and Burke (x2). So I'd try to retain all of the players currently on the books.
Then, up front. With Britt out for so long it looks like we'll need to bring in a striker. Could Mackie have deputised? For me Walker should not be given the lone responsibility. Maybe playing him and Fryatt could work and take the pressure off.
I think Lars should be given a season on loan, preferably in the UK so he can adapt on the pitch rather than on the training ground. Brentford would be a good move.
Paterson... sell.
Goalkeeper? Make DeVries no.1, bring in another good keeper to challenge him by all means, but give him the boost he deserves by naming him no.1 in the summer.
And that's without mentioning Riera and McLaughlin. If any of the other midfielders go we should 100% keep Macca, I'd retain him anyway, but I expect he'll be punted on to Southend.
Finally, if we're 12th in November, December or May don't sack the manager. We should be building for promotion in 2016/17. I know that sounds like a long way off but planning for promotion this coming season is not planning at all. It's s
t or bust and for too many seasons we've had st.Pearce lasted longer than other managers would have, he was sacked as we started to flirt with relegation, but many chairmen but especially Fawaz would have sacked when we dropped out of the top 8 or 10. That's no way to run a club. We had a fantastic start and that almost did for Pearce. If we'd been more average we'd still have been in the same position at Christmas but we'd have been heading upwards on a long term plan not roller-coastering.
Anyway, my season ticket's renewed, I have a new Junior Red in the house, I'll be buying the 150th shirt next week and booking a ticket to Brighton for the season opener.
YOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUU REDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gassing Station | Football | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff