Concerned for next season?

[winteriscoming]

23 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

To have a squad good enough for top 6 is impossible - man City and Chelsea apart.  Even Liverpool.

 

Liverpool have 14 or 15 top class players. The rest are fairly ordinary. Origi. Oxlade. Curtis Jones. That Japanese clown (tho is he at southanow now?)

 

Our best 13 are 4th/5th/6th level. But apart from.Man City ams Chelsea, nobody could cope with up to 12 injuries as we had last season. 

 

 

Did we have 12 injuries at 1 time? Yes we had injuries but not that many at 1 time. You have to cope even if we did. 

[Paninistickers]

10 minutes ago, winteriscoming said:

Did we have 12 injuries at 1 time? Yes we had injuries but not that many at 1 time. You have to cope even if we did. 

At a rough guess, I think at one stage we had ricardo, Castagne,  fofana, Evans, wilf, Vardy all out from the first choice team with perez, Bertrand (ok OK, I know), JJ out from the bench  plus kels, big Dan away for afcon. So, 11 players.  

[winteriscoming]

1 minute ago, Paninistickers said:

At a rough guess, I think at one stage we had ricardo, Castagne,  fofana, Evans, wilf, Vardy all out from the first choice team with perez, Bertrand (ok OK, I know), JJ out from the bench  plus kels, big Dan away for afcon. So, 11 players.  

Ok thanks for that Brendan. 

[Paninistickers]

3 minutes ago, winteriscoming said:

Ok thanks for that Brendan. 

Well, I'm just making the pont to an earlier thread that our squad isn't 'top 6'

 

even top 6 clubs don't have top 6 squads. That was why I bothered to post. Had Liverpool been missing:

 

TAA, Robertson, VVD, Martin, Fabinho and Salah for between 15 and 30 games each, it would have hurt them too. Squads aren't meant to be like for like. Squads have a top 14 or so and then 10 or so understudies. Even big clubs.

 

[winteriscoming]

10 minutes ago, Paninistickers said:

Well, I'm just making the pont to an earlier thread that our squad isn't 'top 6'

 

even top 6 clubs don't have top 6 squads. That was why I bothered to post. Had Liverpool been missing:

 

TAA, Robertson, VVD, Martin, Fabinho and Salah for between 15 and 30 games each, it would have hurt them too. Squads aren't meant to be like for like. Squads have a top 14 or so and then 10 or so understudies. Even big clubs.

 

I agree with what you’re saying but even Liverpool managed to finish top 4 with most of their back 4 out a couple of seasons ago. My point is you have to cope. Majority on here take the piss when spurs or anyone in the top 6 make excuses but when we do it it’s acceptable. I know there’s massive differences financially but other clubs round us seem to get on with it. 

[Paninistickers]

2 minutes ago, winteriscoming said:

I agree with what you’re saying but even Liverpool managed to finish top 4 with most of their back 4 out a couple of seasons ago. My point is you have to cope. Majority on here take the piss when spurs or anyone in the top 6 make excuses but when we do it it’s acceptable. I know there’s massive differences financially but other clubs round us seem to get on with it. 

You kinda prove both my and your point. Liverpool had major injury problems 2 seasons ago and scrambled to 4th. We had major injury problems and scrambled to 8th.

 

Both of us therefore finished more give or take  2 positions down from our natural position with full strength teams. 

[Guy]

16 hours ago, The whole world smiles said:

Obviously I can't predict the future and who can legislate for some bellend snapping your best players leg a week before the season starts but Reasons I think they might. 

 

No Europe, minus 14 games compared to last leason including trips to Russia and Denmark. 

 

Proper preseason due to covid and the euros the players had a shorter break and a condensed pre season campaign. 

 

Hopefully a Clean bill of health staring the season last season we started the season minus Fofana, Evans, Justin who were all on the long term injury list. 

Yes, we're good enough with our current squad to possibly finish close to where we did last season although it was a really poor league last year I thought. Man Utd were terrible and yet still finished in 6th! No way will we be in any relegation troube though and no way do I think we'll be in the bottom half (unless our injuries get beyond catastrophic again like they did last season). Hopefully Madders, a rejuvanated Tielemans and KDH, Justin, Fofana, Barnes and co. can kick on and have a clean bill of health for a full season this time and hopefully we can still get over three quarters of the season starts for Vardy!  

[Gamble92]

7 hours ago, fuchsntf said:

I have every Faith in Rodgers, because our Owners do....

I Trust their descision, more than misconstrued, made up opinions from the darkside of  FT...

 

There's a light side?

[fuchsntf]

8 hours ago, Gamble92 said:

There's a light side?

Sunspot bright my friend...Sunspot bright..

[fuchsntf]

14 hours ago, filbertway said:

Evans and Vardy are fair concerns, I think its vital that we see Parsons step up a level this season as Vards legs seem shot to bits when he's asked to play regular.

 

Evans similar again, not sure if he's still struggling with his foot inury or not. Youd like to think either Soy stays and hits his best form again or that we sell him and can bring in Colwill.

 

The manager is a concern for me, im hoping the break has allowed him to shake off his over cautious ways. His cautious nature definitely has a negative effect on us, especially when performing well with a narrow lead. His changes tend to bring confusion and fear to a group that are looking comfortable 

 

The majority of the side is older but also it was a young side, so if anything the extra experience should be a benefit rather than a hindrance

 

Theres plenty of room for optimism for me, my concern as always is if the manager will embrace the opportunity and take some risks with playing personnell or whether he will play it safe and drain any enjoyment out of watching us.

 

some fans are a concern for me, I worry about their mental state,& whether they Need a father-figure through the closed season....

[UniFox21]

Weekends have felt slightly Empty without football and FPL, looking forward to their return 

[Pliskin]

Nope. I’m more optimistic about this season than I was the last. 
 

I was listening to Talk Shite the other day and someone suggested that we will go down, but these are just ridiculous statements. If we can finish 8th, and have a “poor” season a few points behind West Ham who had a “fantastic” season, then what’s to worry about?

 

As a squad we don’t need much. We need to iron out some defensive issues, hopefully sell a few players and bring in a right winger at the very least. The squad we have is full of quality, there’s some room for improvement. 
 

We will prove all the doubters wrong and finish in the top 8, if we can get the players we need then I’m bold enough to say we will push for the top 6 again. 
 

People need to start believing in this club, and this squad a bit more. Last year was an apparent regression, and we still made a ECL semi final and a top ten finish. 

[SouthStandUpperTier]

We'll be fine this season if we can avoid injuries. It's still a very decent squad as it stands. It's the 2023/24 season we should be worried about as the squad will look very different and recruitment next summer will have to be pretty much bang-on perfect.

[foxfanazer]

14 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

Nope. I’m more optimistic about this season than I was the last. 
 

I was listening to Talk Shite the other day and someone suggested that we will go down, but these are just ridiculous statements. If we can finish 8th, and have a “poor” season a few points behind West Ham who had a “fantastic” season, then what’s to worry about?

 

As a squad we don’t need much. We need to iron out some defensive issues, hopefully sell a few players and bring in a right winger at the very least. The squad we have is full of quality, there’s some room for improvement. 
 

We will prove all the doubters wrong and finish in the top 8, if we can get the players we need then I’m bold enough to say we will push for the top 6 again. 
 

People need to start believing in this club, and this squad a bit more. Last year was an apparent regression, and we still made a ECL semi final and a top ten finish. 

We didn’t even start in that tournament so i don't see that as an achievement personally. We were there because we flopped I  the group.stage of the Europa that we were joint favourites to win. It was a poor season however people wanna dress it up

Edited 23 July 2022 by foxfanazer

[Frank Large's Black Book]

Let's face it we're over a barrel and every team/player/agent knows it. 

No-one knows outside the club what the real situation is but IF the finances are balanced and IF the team  performs well this season it will allow the rebuild (?) to take place in 12 months time.  A fail in either will be dangerous 

[Pliskin]

6 minutes ago, foxfanazer said:

We didn’t even start in that tournament so i don't see that as an achievement personally. We were there because we flopped I  the group.stage of the Europa that we were joint favourites to win. It was a poor season however people wanna dress it up

We hardly flopped…. Yes it was a disappointing performance V Roma…. But you’ve got to look at the bigger picture. The only major issue last season was injuries. We had moments where we couldn’t even field a full defence…. So how we can sit here and suggest it was a poor season when you consider that is a bit daft. 

It wasn’t a poor season, we didn’t achieve what we wanted but we still progressed as a club. And still managed to finish in the top ten. I think some fans have a habit of only searching for the negatives and then see them as the “facts”. 
 

The facts were despite a very difficult season we still managed to hold our own, and I will constantly reiterate that we finished only a few points behind the “fantastic” West Ham.

[foxfanazer]

1 minute ago, Pliskin said:

We hardly flopped…. Yes it was a disappointing performance V Roma…. But you’ve got to look at the bigger picture. The only major issue last season was injuries. We had moments where we couldn’t even field a full defence…. So how we can sit here and suggest it was a poor season when you consider that is a bit daft. 

It wasn’t a poor season, we didn’t achieve what we wanted but we still progressed as a club. And still managed to finish in the top ten. I think some fans have a habit of only searching for the negatives and then see them as the “facts”. 
 

The facts were despite a very difficult season we still managed to hold our own, and I will constantly reiterate that we finished only a few points behind the “fantastic” West Ham.

I meant we flopped in the Europa League. Surely you can agree with that?

 

I take your point about the league and yeah the final position was satisfactory but performances we well below where they need to be. Again I can take the point about injuries too but I don't think it tells the whole story. I just want to see a bit of a mentality shift from Brendan and the players this season. At the moment they don't have my full trust

[Pliskin]

1 hour ago, foxfanazer said:

I meant we flopped in the Europa League. Surely you can agree with that?

 

I take your point about the league and yeah the final position was satisfactory but performances we well below where they need to be. Again I can take the point about injuries too but I don't think it tells the whole story. I just want to see a bit of a mentality shift from Brendan and the players this season. At the moment they don't have my full trust

The EL was a disappointment, but it’s also a very difficult competition. I think it’s one of those where you can easily get complacent and end up in a mess. 
 

The performances by and large were not great, but that in itself is a positive, because if we can get to a ECL semi final and finish 8th without really playing well, it just goes to show we do have quality in this side. 
 

It is very much touch and go for Brendan, but we’ve seen that he is capable of getting this side to play some pretty good football. Perhaps he did tinker with tactics last season and it didn’t work, but he will know that now and probably will know he can’t really do it again. A back to basics approach is required I think, and I’m certain that we will have a better campaign this season because of it. 

[Lionator]

Seen enough today and Wednesday to know we’ll be absolutely fine. The only issue will be keeping our first XI fit. 

[Trav Le Bleu]

Having watched a lot of our preseason there's something that stands out to me.

 

Teamwork.

 

Could it be that with no new signings and everyone (barring those who have been on loan) having played and trained together for at least one season, there's that familiarity that means everyone knows their job, other people's jobs, where they should be, where they can expect others to be or to be moving to? 

 

Maybe there's a benefit to having no new signings. Whilst new signings done well improve a team, no doubt, a signing that is even just a little out can be very disruptive.

 

Not saying that you shouldn't risk signing new players, just that it's not the end of the world.

[Lambert09]

I think this is the sharpest we’ve looked in pre-season in years! We’ve got something right with our fitness prep this time around. 

 

 

[majaco]

59 minutes ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Having watched a lot of our preseason there's something that stands out to me.

 

Teamwork.

 

Could it be that with no new signings and everyone (barring those who have been on loan) having played and trained together for at least one season, there's that familiarity that means everyone knows their job, other people's jobs, where they should be, where they can expect others to be or to be moving to? 

 

Maybe there's a benefit to having no new signings. Whilst new signings done well improve a team, no doubt, a signing that is even just a little out can be very disruptive.

 

Not saying that you shouldn't risk signing new players, just that it's not the end of the world.

Yes.  Too many signings would be a concern.   We would be okay with our current squad but we could do with a cb and rw

[Fazzer 7]

How long has Madders got left on his contract?

[Paninistickers]

58 minutes ago, Lambert09 said:

I think this is the sharpest we’ve looked in pre-season in years! We’ve got something right with our fitness prep this time around. 

 

 

I agree. And didn't Evans say over the summer that he could go hard having had so little football last year and knowing a breaknis coming in November? 

 

Potentially be an interesting season of we come out of the blocks fast and run hard for 15 games or so til the break

[smudger63]

5 hours ago, Pliskin said:

Nope. I’m more optimistic about this season than I was the last. 
 

I was listening to Talk Shite the other day and someone suggested that we will go down, but these are just ridiculous statements. If we can finish 8th, and have a “poor” season a few points behind West Ham who had a “fantastic” season, then what’s to worry about?

 

As a squad we don’t need much. We need to iron out some defensive issues, hopefully sell a few players and bring in a right winger at the very least. The squad we have is full of quality, there’s some room for improvement. 
 

We will prove all the doubters wrong and finish in the top 8, if we can get the players we need then I’m bold enough to say we will push for the top 6 again. 
 

People need to start believing in this club, and this squad a bit more. Last year was an apparent regression, and we still made a ECL semi final and a top ten finish. 

That was Danny Mills, the guy who in the run in to us winning the league, said it would be a poor advert for the premier league if the following seasons Charity Shield was between Leicester and Watford, who were in the semi Final of the FA Cup at the time.  The bloke is a clown, i don`t think ive ever heard him say a good thing about us.  His opinions are not worth listening too.

Edited 23 July 2022 by smudger63