All this confidence about how well we will do...

[stainrodisalegend]

Thanks for some interesting responses fellas. I half agree with the cheerful souls amongst you and think the all-round professionalism will be a lot higher which will improve our finishing position. But a lot of responses rest on us having a good manager. I would just add that Sunderland for instance have a manager in Martin O'Neil who is widely regarded as the equal to Hughes. Some would say his superior. Martinez always seems to pull it out of the bag. Villa now have a manager who performed miracles at Norwich. Alardyce might not be pretty (in any sense) but he sure knows how to scrap for points in the Prem. And so on. Also we always look back on the points that got away last season but dont forget the points that didnt get away. We got three points off a nine man Chelsea who are getting their cheque book out again, massively. Will we repeat that? Will Liverpool gift us three points again in the 93rd minute? Will Everton be so easy to beat at home? Or Stoke? Will there be another team like Blackburn who are such a circus that they effectively guarantee their own relegation?

All I'm saying is while wild optimism is great I have observed over the last couple of years on here it seems to very, very quickly swing to wild pessimism after a few defeats (often from the very same fans). Suddenly the player who was hailed as the best striker since Ferdinand or the new Viera "has been found out". I can almost hear the "I told you so"s now when Andy Johnson blazes one over, say, or Nelson is exposed for lack of pace. As some have said far better to regard anything above 17th and perhaps a cup run as a solid improvement.

[MattyRangers]

Proper management team, pre-season and behind the scenes stability will all go towards helping the team improve on the pitch.

No disrespect intended to any player, but I would compare our potential squad with what appeared on the first day of last season:

Kenny
Dyer - Hall - Gabbidon - Hill
Taarabt - Faurlin - Derry -Smith
Bothroyd - Campbell

Subs: Murphy, Orr, Helguson, Buszacky, Agyemang, Ephraim, Connolly

I'd say we have greatly improved the personnel and it's not necessarily finished yet.

Personally think top 10 is possible but would also be a fantastic achievement. Be nice if we were thereabouts all season wouldn't it, with just the number of hoops to moan about.

Bl00dy hell. Looking at that line up in comparison to 1 we could field for the first game of the coming season, even without any more additions, really does show how far we have come!

Green
Onouoha Anton Hill Fabio
Adel Diakite Faurlin Traore
Zamora Cisse

Subs: Cerny, Nelson, Dyer, Mackie, Derry, AJ, Helguson.

[paulmason]

No disrespect intended to any player, but I would compare our potential squad with what appeared on the first day of last season:

Kenny
Dyer - Hall - Gabbidon - Hill
Taarabt - Faurlin - Derry -Smith
Bothroyd - Campbell

Yep, I can only see hill starting, if we dont sign another CB.

----------------- Green ------------------
- Onahura - Ferdinand - Hill ? - Fabio -
----------- Faurlin ---- Diakite -----------
- Mackie -------- Zamora -------- Traore -
----------------- Cisse ------------------

or

----------------- Green ------------------
- Onahura - Ferdinand - Hill ? - Fabio -
- Mackie -- Faurlin -- Diakite -- Traore -
-------- Zamora -------------------------
--------------------- Cisse ----------------

or

----------------- Green ------------------
- Onahura - Ferdinand - Hill ? - Fabio -
------------------ Faurlin -----------------
- Mackie -------- Diakite -------- Traore -
-------- Zamora -------------------------
--------------------- Cisse ----------------

or

----------------- Green ------------------
- Onahura - Ferdinand - Hill ? - Fabio -
------------------ Faurlin -----------------
- Mackie -------- Diakite ------- Traore -
--------- Zamora --------- Cisse ---------

[MyWord]

To be fair to that starting team last season, they played well for 60mins and then the heads dropped which was the wake up call they needed.Did we not go on and hold our own for a few games after that ?.

[Pal]

There are a lot of things that happened last season that I can't see happening this season.

I don't think for a minute that we will get as many red cards as we did last term, and without checking I think we lost every game where we had someone dismissed apart from Spurs, so there will be points to be had there..
I can't see us having as much bad luck and bad refereeing decisions go against us, Hill's goal that wasn't SWP's offside goal, to name but two.
We had to buy desperatley in January, and I reckon this time, we will not buy anyone in the new year.
That led to an unsettled squad, that we won't have this year.
Arguably our two best buys of last season didn't come until towards the end of the term, this time we will have them for the whole season.
We had appaling luck with injuries to key people, Faurlin, Helguson and Dyer amongst others.

There are teams who have strengthened, but also some who are arguably weaker, Fulham have lost key personnel and others have had to sell players they relied on last term.

All in all we survived all that that and stayed up, the law of averages says we won't have as much go wrong for us this time around. I think we will survive comfortably, and maybe even scape a top half finish.

[paulmason]

Bl00dy hell. Looking at that line up in comparison to 1 we could field for the first game of the coming season, even without any more additions, really does show how far we have come!

Green
Onouoha Anton Hill Fabio
Adel Diakite Faurlin Traore
Zamora Cisse

Subs: Cerny, Nelson, Dyer, Mackie, Derry, AJ, Helguson.

Matty, are you just shoehorning Adel in your line up, or do you really think Adel will shift Mackie on the right, if so why ?

[MattyRangers]

Matty, do you really think Adel will shift Mackie on the right ?

Im not sure tbh, I wouldnt rule it out though. Sparkie knows Adel's talent and will, no doubt, be working on him over the summer to mould him into the sort of team player he wants him to be. He played Adel wide left last year so we know he has no qualms over playing him wide.

Only thing is that Adel offers a totally different game to Mackie, not the same work rate but alot more skill. Saying that, having seen Adel's tracking back with Walker vs Spuds at home, I reckon this is an element of his game he will be improving on all the time. I dont think we can afford not to have Adel's finesse in the side, he's 1 of the few players we have that can unlock a defence. Granted, he might not have done so as much as we anticipated last year, but I think he will be a huge player for us this year, he seems to have finally got his head screwed on and wants to progress in his career and got rid of the "I should be playing for Barcelona" ideas his agents no doubt put in his head.

In summary; I dont necessarily expect him to take Mackies place RM at all (as Mackie has well earned his spot after last season), but its an option I wouldnt be too suprised to see as I dont think Sparkie will be dropping Adel. I expect to either see him RM in place of Mackie, or LM at the expense of Traore. The team I put above was just ane xample of the sort of team we could play and how much its improved from the Bolton game last year. Incredible progression.

[brightonr]

Yep, I can only see hill starting, if we dont sign another CB.

----------------- Green ------------------
- Onahura - Ferdinand - Hill ? - Fabio -
----------- Faurlin ---- Diakite -----------
- Mackie -------- Zamora -------- Traore -
----------------- Cisse ------------------

or

----------------- Green ------------------
- Onahura - Ferdinand - Hill ? - Fabio -
- Mackie -- Faurlin -- Diakite -- Traore -
-------- Zamora -------------------------
--------------------- Cisse ----------------

or

----------------- Green ------------------
- Onahura - Ferdinand - Hill ? - Fabio -
------------------ Faurlin -----------------
- Mackie -------- Diakite -------- Traore -
-------- Zamora -------------------------
--------------------- Cisse ----------------

or

----------------- Green ------------------
- Onahura - Ferdinand - Hill ? - Fabio -
------------------ Faurlin -----------------
- Mackie -------- Diakite ------- Traore -
--------- Zamora --------- Cisse ---------

Rather than be a tease and ask how much we sold Adel for this time...



What you have above shows how adaptable we can be with the players we now have.

Regarding Adel though, I think he could be a very important player for us this season. Which sort of adds to the optimism, as I cannot remember a time when one so talented, could by no means be regarded as an automatic choice.

[paulmason]

Rather than be a tease and ask how much we sold Adel for this time...



What you have above shows how adaptable we can be with the players we now have.

Regarding Adel though, I think he could be a very important player for us this season. Which sort of adds to the optimism, as I cannot remember a time when one so talented, could by no means be regarded as an automatic choice.

Brighton, as I said yesterday, what someone does in the Championship, unfortunately means FA in the PL if they cant/dont do it there, as everyone has their level (eg: Wayne Routledge), so its about time people focused on what he done last season which was not a lot and not what he did the year before when he was brilliant, but in an easier league.

[paulmason]

Brighton, as I said yesterday, what someone does in the Championship, unfortunately means FA in the PL if they cant/dont do it there, as everyone has their level (eg: Wayne Routledge), so its about time people focused on what he done last season which was not a lot and not what he did the year before when he was brilliant, but in an easier league.

Playing behind the striker no problem, as that is his most effective position and does not ruin the shape and balance of the team when he wanders, but I cant see MH dropping AJ or Zamora for him.

[Snaxo]

I think we should also remember that Diakite played only 9 times, and you have to say for at least 4 of those (conservative estimate!) he was 'adjusting'. By the end of that season, we all could see what a find we had on our hands - and now we have him pretty much fully adjusted and ready for the full season.

Then there's Cisse, I think he played, what, 8 games for us ? And he scored 6. I don't think the red cards will happen again (they were the first 2 he'd received in his professional career, apparently!)- lets hope not. I really expect him to hit 20+ goals - there's no reason why he shouldn't be able to.

Without Ali (and Samba) we seemed to have to no ideas at times on how to unlock defences, leaving it all up to Adel. Now Ali's back as well - let's hope he returns in the same form he left.

Just these players alone over a full season could really make a massive difference to us. Of course, as with any club, it's hugely important we keep these key players fit - long term injuries / absences for any of them could impact us heavily.
But just having these players available for the whole season, with the additional signing of Green and some seasoned professionals that should provide better squad players than we had already, do give me hope that we should finish around 14th spot at least.

[kron-1664]

What is it based on? Of course the new season is before us and if you cannot look ahead with optimism no one would be a football fan. I also agree the club is in the best hands (owners, manager, off field staff) with the best players it has had for years. I'm loving it.

BUT I keep reading on here that we are going to be a mid-table team this season. The general assumption seems to be that within a few years we might even be competing for a place in Europe.

Yet I think it is worth countering that with a few points of realism. We avoided relegation by the skin of our teeth last season. SO FAR in the transfer window we have objectively improved in the goal-keeping department significantly with the arrival of Green, who most would agree is better than Kenny. There are certainly other very useful arrivals. Nelson is a good experienced pro, but assuming he replaces Clint Hill is that a game-changing improvement? If Fabio replaces Taiwo, is he a massive step up? Is Andy Johnston coming off the bench going to get us the goals that Helguson or DJ couldnt? Yes we have signed Diakite on a permanent move, but he was with us for a significant number of games in the second half of the season anyway. And to counter that good news we have lost Barton for the first three months already.

My view is these could all look like very solid squad additions if a couple of really good players now come in (priority a top centre half, and ideally another midfield player). Then I fully accept we will have stepped up a significant level. But did you notice how Fernandez described Diakite's arrival as a seminal moment? That suggests to me that he might be our biggest signing this summer. The fan assumption is the board have got the bread and butter players in but will now splash some serious cash, yet in truth no one knows. Its possible that the board think they have already spent significant funds in the last two transfer windows and now it is down to Hughes to do something with what he has got. I couldnt really blame them because football is a bottomless pit. Maybe Fernandes isnt the head of a Malaysian consortiumbut instead a very charismatic guy with £300m who has already shot his bolt? Im not saying he is BTW, just saying it is possible.

If we are to be guaranteed survival - let alone make mid-table - my personal opinion is that we still need significant improvement. Southampton and West Ham will spend. Reading and Norwich may struggle but I don't see any really obvious whipping boys, and certainly not ten odd teams that we are significantly better than.

I say all this not to be negative and my optimism index would shoot up with two more really good signings. But I just think until then we should keep our feet on the ground because otherwise it is just building up false expectation which is going to lead to a lot of posters throwing their toys out of the pram when we lose a few games and we are reminded that this Premier League lark is far from easy...

im confident because if we can manage to stay up after the complete and utter disaster that was last season from start to finish then with a good pre season, stable management, new signings and a good manager we should be fine.