Expectations now for the new season?

[Leeds Fox]

22 minutes ago, Nick said:

I've honestly no idea what to think as yet. If we keep Barnes and get a RW then we have a squad with the potential to regain automatic promotion (sounds familiar that) but potential is all it is... Where are the goals going to come from? Vardy? Maybe. Daka? Nacho? hmm, maybe.

 

For me:

 

We need a striker.

 

We need a right winger.

 

We need a centrally creative rather than defensive minded player.

 

 

We don’t need a striker at present do we?

[coolhandfox]

To early to say.

 

I have no idea what to expect.

[Daggers]

My expectations:

 

 

[VLC86]

1000 points minimum 

[Wasyls Pec Deck]

I’d like to see more draining of the swamp of those who downed tools, have an attitude problem or want to leave, and see them replaced with young and hungry talent with a point to prove.

 

Likes of Vestergaard, Praet, Castagne… etc. 

 

I’d also like to know who the club are intending to keep, perhaps risking keeping them for a year - likes of Barnes, Iheanacho…?

 

But I’m optimistic now. The new signings have been criticised, but I think they are shrewd and quality. Winks will have a point to prove, and Coady is the leader we’ve been crying out for in recent seasons.

 

Anything but being in the mix for automatics will be failure. It’s a lot of pressure, and hopefully we’ll find a backbone from somewhere.

Edited 2 July 2023 by Wasyls Pec Deck

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, chapero82 said:

I actually didn’t getting a new season ticket.. I thought it’s best to Let somebody else enjoy it. 

...at this moment, expanding the stadium to accommodate 40k should still be seen as one of our priorities.!!!

 

[Guppys Love Child]

2 hours ago, Spudulike said:

The opposition might be inferior but it's a different style to what these players/management have been used to. They probably won't know most of the the opposition players unlike in the cosy Premier League where they all rub shoulders on international duty and become besties whoever they play for. There's going to be some readjustment required and understanding of what we are up against. Some fans also need to be aware that we won't win every week. 

Good points..and I agree.

 

There are just so many new variables to consider.

From the end of last season to to he start of this one a LOT has changed already, and more change is on the cards.

We have a new, untested and relatively inexperienced manager and backroom staff.

Some of our major, quality players have gone and more could go and will need replacing with ideally "Championship Plus" / Lower PL quality if finances permit.

A new playing style for all to adapt to and get up to speed with ASAP..

The list of change whilst not endless is at pretty big.

The final point,(in bold)  of not winning every week is the most important remark and 100% correct.  Fans should not expect miracles from the get go.  We are going to be up against teams who are more experienced and established in this league, where we in turn are going to be playing catch up.

[FoyleFox]

2 hours ago, Spudulike said:

The opposition might be inferior but it's a different style to what these players/management have been used to. They probably won't know most of the the opposition players unlike in the cosy Premier League where they all rub shoulders on international duty and become besties whoever they play for. There's going to be some readjustment required and understanding of what we are up against. Some fans also need to be aware that we won't win every week. 

We won't win every week, but if we could at least look like we are trying to win. That would be a massive improvement from last season.

 

I can take defeat if we play well, but the opposition is better on the day - the Arsenal 5-2 in the title winning season is a prime example.

Or you just have a sublime piece of skill or a moment of bad luck - Kompany's stunner.

 

Defeat after absolutely no fuching effort is not acceptable - see most of this season's matches!

[Guest Bilo]

The first thing to consider is that we will probably go through a bad patch of form where we look crap for five games or so. What's most important is how we react to it; does it become something from which we recover quickly or do we go into a slump. 

 

Even in our last Championship season where we spanked the division, we lost back-to-back games at Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton before looking fairly fortunate to grab a point against Burnley. Next game was a tricky one at QPR that looked like a nasty one before we won to spark off a winning run that barely stopped. 

 

Same thing happened in League One where a winless run ended with us blowing a two goal lead at Brighton to lose 3-2, squeaked past Bristol Rovers in our next game and set off a 23 game unbeaten run.

 

Mentality will be massive in a league where talented but mentally fragile teams get chewed up and spat out. That's why players like Coady will matter and Vardy will be an important presence even if he doesn't play much.

[Spudulike]

Trying to think of the players that have previous Championship experience... 

 

Vardy

Justin

KDH (on loan) 

Coady

Barnes (likely to be gone) 

Iverson (on loan) 

Souttar

 

Probably more so it won't be a complete shock to some. 

[Andy W]

I was quite negative before the signings, I thought we'd be relegated.

However I am bit more upbeat, might get top half of table if we are lucky

 

[Sausages]

100 points.

[phoneticerror]

19 minutes ago, Andy W said:

I was quite negative before the signings, I thought we'd be relegated.

However I am bit more upbeat, might get top half of table if we are lucky

 

That’s you being upbeat? 😂

[Dan]

Promotion.

[jerry]

1 hour ago, Bilo said:

The first thing to consider is that we will probably go through a bad patch of form where we look crap for five games or so. What's most important is how we react to it; does it become something from which we recover quickly or do we go into a slump. 

 

Even in our last Championship season where we spanked the division, we lost back-to-back games at Sheffield Wednesday and Brighton before looking fairly fortunate to grab a point against Burnley. Next game was a tricky one at QPR that looked like a nasty one before we won to spark off a winning run that barely stopped. 

 

Same thing happened in League One where a winless run ended with us blowing a two goal lead at Brighton to lose 3-2, squeaked past Bristol Rovers in our next game and set off a 23 game unbeaten run.

 

Mentality will be massive in a league where talented but mentally fragile teams get chewed up and spat out. That's why players like Coady will matter and Vardy will be an important presence even if he doesn't play much.

All the newly found optimism from some who predicted we were in danger of falling into Div one. Watch this Forum implode if we lose two of the first five fixtures .

[Long Eaton Fox]

After seeing blackburn at ours  last season, this will be a difficult season because they were good yet didn't get promoted.

[Stuntman_Mike]

Expect us to be pushing for promotion or if we fall short to atleast have the foundations to go again next year without falling apart. I'm very much in the League one mindset where we will come back up straight away and won't be happy with anything less. Not saying that will happen though..

[Lillehamring]

Personally, and since as far back as march or april, i've been of the opinion that the best thing that could happen to the club was to drop back to the championship - which, i'm sure many will think idiotic, but there are two reasons why i believed this:

 

1. Because of the scale of rebuild required - to replace that many players at PL level just wouldn't have been possible so we'd have ended up getting deeper in debt with a squad likely to be in another relegation battle.

2. To put a stop to the sense of entitlement and arrogance of so many of our fans, and maybe even the club itself; to bring everybody back down to earth.

 

After an initial period of terror at the though of Scott Parker taking charge, it's become apparent that all the right noises and moves are being made by the  club.  The thing with football - as we saw last season in the prem with the amount of bang average squads in the top half - is that so much good happens when a team is confident.  From what we have seen this week there is a real chance that we will enter the season full of confidence.

 

As far as expectations are concerned, i think it all comes down to how quickly the team gels and clicks with Maresca's style and tactics - obviously the longer it takes the lower we'll probably finish, If we click straight away or within the first month i think they'll be no looking back; if it takes a few months then we might have to be satisfied with a push at the playoffs; if we don't click but are heading in the right direction, i can see us being around mid-table.  But i think there's every reason to believe that things should click given the players we seem to be attracting - all signs suggest that Maresca is going to have a really good standard of squad, capable of playing the football he wants.

[Hamilton Fox]

Win every game

[Ian S]

1 hour ago, jerry said:

All the newly found optimism from some who predicted we were in danger of falling into Div one. Watch this Forum implode if we lose two of the first five fixtures .

People need to remember Burnley failed to win any of their first 4 games last season as their new side bedded in, it’s quite conceivable it will take us a while to get going and we have a banana skin of an opening game.

[Bluearmyfox28]

Too soon to say for me. Recruitment will be key, not just the ability of the player but how suited to the style/system they will be. 
 

Definitely have high hopes though.

[Lambert09]

definitely more optimistic but because of the manager not the signings so far. 

 

Based on the quality of teams in the league I think it’s going to be a very close run race… can’t see any team getting a big points haul. 

 

We will have to be patient and accept a few set backs but i must admit the fixtures couldn’t have been kinder to us. 

 

A slightly easier start means that we might be able to get our game plan fully functioning before the real tests start to come. 

 

The extra subs rule should also work massively in our favour. You’d imagine our depth will be much better than a lot of sides. 

 

We could be in a place to bring on someone like hamza as a late sub whereas he was a starter for watford and arguably their best performer. 

 

 

[FoxesWalk]

I’m waiting see what our squad looks like before passing judgement, but cautiously optimistic. We need wingers, multiple wingers, with or without Barnes. More midfielders, and a ball playing keeper, as a minimum.
 

We were a shambles last year yet on paper we could have one of the strongest ever championship squads come the start of the season, if we play our cards right. 

Edited 2 July 2023 by FoxesWalk

[Guest Bilo]

2 hours ago, jerry said:

All the newly found optimism from some who predicted we were in danger of falling into Div one. Watch this Forum implode if we lose two of the first five fixtures .

Even Burnley drew a lot with 100 points last season. The grumbles after Rotherham battle to a 1-1 draw or we struggle to break down Huddersfield won't be much quieter than the moans after getting outplayed by Sunderland.

 

The only way we're going to avoid this negativity altogether is by pulling Wrexham in the NL numbers of 110 plus points, and I can safely assure everyone that won't happen.

Edited 2 July 2023 by Bilo

[jerry]

1 hour ago, Lillehamring said:

Personally, and since as far back as march or april, i've been of the opinion that the best thing that could happen to the club was to drop back to the championship - which, i'm sure many will think idiotic, but there are two reasons why i believed this:

 

1. Because of the scale of rebuild required - to replace that many players at PL level just wouldn't have been possible so we'd have ended up getting deeper in debt with a squad likely to be in another relegation battle.

2. To put a stop to the sense of entitlement and arrogance of so many of our fans, and maybe even the club itself; to bring everybody back down to earth.

 

After an initial period of terror at the though of Scott Parker taking charge, it's become apparent that all the right noises and moves are being made by the  club.  The thing with football - as we saw last season in the prem with the amount of bang average squads in the top half - is that so much good happens when a team is confident.  From what we have seen this week there is a real chance that we will enter the season full of confidence.

 

As far as expectations are concerned, i think it all comes down to how quickly the team gels and clicks with Maresca's style and tactics - obviously the longer it takes the lower we'll probably finish, If we click straight away or within the first month i think they'll be no looking back; if it takes a few months then we might have to be satisfied with a push at the playoffs; if we don't click but are heading in the right direction, i can see us being around mid-table.  But i think there's every reason to believe that things should click given the players we seem to be attracting - all signs suggest that Maresca is going to have a really good standard of squad, capable of playing the football he wants.

Agree totally with points one and two. Maresca ,unknown how this will turn out but surely preferable to recycling managerial failures from elsewhere. Disregarding his short stay at Palma.