Comparisons with last time

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The only real difference is that this year we have a strong number 3 team.

Hopefully we can go on a run like we did at the end of the last promotion push.

 

We most certainly can. We have better players. It's up to Rafa really.

 

It definitely feels harder this time round. Whether that's because we're not as good or the teams around us are better I can't decide.

Perhaps a mixture of both but for sure it will/would be a huge sigh of a relief once promotion is official.

 

I think the overall standard is poorer. However I think there are more top end teams who are closer to us.

I think we are making it look harder than it is. Away has been a breeze. Huddersfield didn't cause masses of problems and we outplayed Brighton fairly comfortably.

We have the players. There isn't a lot of difference in performance - just stellar at home last time and stellar away this time. We spent a lot more relatively speaking this time obviously.

 

Everything for me is about Huddersfield and their results.
We have to hope they don't go on a winning streak.
Honestly cannot see them doing 9 wins on the bounce. Few teams do.
When we play at home, we have to hope they drop points too.

 

As long as Huddersfield And Brighton don't go on a great run, we should be OK.

 

This shows you have to credit Huddersfield rather than criticising our team

 

Aye but Huddersfield didn't lose our home games captain.

 

Yeah but the other teams did

 

No Rafa did

 

If we don't win this league, let alone get automatic promotion we only have ourselves to blame. There have been 2 or 3 results this season where the other team has deserved the win, but in reality, he points we've dropped at home have been our own fault. Dropping those 2 points vs QPR was a crime, as was the first half display against Bristol.

The Wolves game sticks out for me - they came up here and were the better side but then we went on a decent run. I hope it serves as a wake up call.

 

We've spent something over £6 million less this time. Last time we had a relegation team from which we stripped something under £24 million of assets [severla of the incoming transfer fees were undisclosed so its hard to get a precise figure. If all the undisclosed tranfers were frees, our net profit was £24 million but it was almost certainly less] This time we had a relegation team from which we have stripped just over £30 million of assets. It isn't a case that Rafa has been handed the cash to buy the league. He also hasn't had an Andy Carroll appear from the academy.

Similar results. Somewhat fewer resources. More losses at home, which seems to cause more annoyance than away victories cause satisfaction.

 

Not interested in net. The club on paper will certainly show as you say. I'm talking about what we have outlaid on a team to get us promoted. How we achieve that is down to the player sales etc. Whichever way it is dressed up, we spent 57m to get promoted out of the championship. The manager this time has zero excuses. To be fair I don't think Hughton did either because we retained good players last time too. Plus Carroll emerged. To suggest Rafa hasn't been afforded a massive war chest is daft in my opinion.

The club has managed it well - Rafa could have managed it slightly better. He has done ok though, hardly a disaster. Personally I think you have to commend the club for the way they have handled things. They have got it about right and I think they were correct to say in January - er no you've had enough.

 

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I'm not complaining, far from it, but from an entertainment perspective, I'd put the current team behind the promotion teams of Arthur Cox, Keegan and Hughton.

 

This

 

The team Houghton got us out the championship with ****s on Benitez's in my opinion. I'd take Barton and Nolan over shelves and colback, lovenkrands over the whole strike force, Simpson over Yedders, etc. I'd argue Benitez had to turn around a team, systematically used to losing most games for the last 3 or so years, into winners. Had to work around players like mitro, Perez and a few others staying on that don't have the mental mettle for being effective in this league bloating our striker quota and also had to create a non-existant defence. The league is harder as we're hitting a few teams that have been building for promotion for a while. I think it's been way harder for Benitez, remember ameobi looked fukin ace in this league the last time we were in it. Tells you everything really.
To me the team that played under McLaren last year is the worst I've ever seen (yes I'm a premier league kid) and the fact Benitez turned this around is amazing cos 2 games in i thought we might free-fall. Love Houghton but i think the comparison is deceptive, when can we just go loan a Marlon Harewood type now?

 

Just thought, with butt, Smith, Nolan and Barton in that dressing room you wouldn't dare **** up

 

The craic at the time was that the senior players were the ones who pulled the team around, starting with an almighty row after the pre-season thrashing by Leyton Orient with some of the non-committed players. Harper, Smith, Butt, Nolan, Barton. Not to take anything away from Hughton, but he couldn't have done it without those players.

To be honest I'm not interested in comparing one season with another. The circumstances are totally different and it serves no purpose.