With the fixtures released in a few weeks. Any fixtures you would like to see in certain parts of the season. I always thought Everton away on the 2nd game was a great draw last year as they are always slow starters. I always felt playing Man city away last game of season was a good thing as well as funny things can happen. Any thoughts?
I think i would like wigan early doors, as they seem to struggle and only kick into gear later on as well.
I just hope the first 6 fixtures are kind to us. I just feel if you have to play catch up it makes it all hard work. Would be nice to get some points on the board and see the likes of Tarbs and Cisse have the freedom to express themselves a bit. Also hope first game is a home fixture , love a home fixture first up.
Maybe if there were a bunch of London derbies around Christmas I'd actually be arsed to go to a few away matches! We could do with playing the teams that finished around the bottom - Villa, Stoke, Wigan etc early on as I think we are going to invest and improve our squad and should be more able to deal with them. Let the three teams who come up get the stuffing knocked out of them for a month or two then we can have a go and also have the return matches towards the end of the season. I don't think all three promoted teams will stay up again like we did with Norwich and Swansea. Because our survival was only confirmed on the last day of the season by the skin of Bolton's teeth we are going to be included in the list of teams favourite to drop next May but I reckon we are going to be strong enough to finish with daylight below us and about 5 or 6 teams.
The recipe (don't get excited WBA) is fairly straightforward in my opinion:- 1) Avoid teams that are in Europe early on as their pre-season is ramped up and they hit the ground flying (but start to flag around November time). 2) Play teams that are likely to struggle as early as possible - the bottom teams always start pulling incredible results out the bag when the chips are down. 3) Play the newly promoted teams around Christmas when the momentum has faded and everyone has more idea of what to expect. 4) Play teams that have nothing to play for at the end of the season (whether they be stranded 3rd of just mid table). 5) Play Everton early and Spurs late. Unfortunately, it's all a lottery (unless you boss the FA - Sir Alex is probably faxing United's fixtured through as we speak).
I wouldn't mind a similar set of fixtures to last year. Stoke, United, Sunderland, Newcastle away all early doors. Liverpool usually start seasons well so wouldn't mind avoiding them. Same with Arsenal
First 5 fixtures I would like to see. Norwich (Home) Villa (Away) Wigan (Home) Reading (Away) Swansea (Home) 15 points - Lovely!!
Blackpool away on Bank Holiday weekend, and no trips to Ipswich or bristol on wet Tuesday evenings.... no.... hang on.... I almost forgot - WE STAYED UP!!!! OK, all I really want is a kinder, far duller run in than we had this season. It's funny to think that we pretty much won all the games that we were expected to lose in that run-in. And a good job too, because had we not won against Arsenal, Spurs, and Liverpool in the last month of the season, we'd have been dead and buroed come the last day.
Wolves started well last season, I think they were tops or thereabouts for a brief spell; then rested on their laurels and we all know what happened. Never rest on your laurels, at least until you're mathematically safe!! Early safety would be good though, no matter what way the fixtures line themselves up....
Yep. 7 points from first 3 games. At least if you have problems at the beginning you can rectify it. West Ham lost 4 in a row and weren't relegated till the penultimate weekend, if they had just won even half those one they could have stayed up. In contrast Blackpool were in Champions League form for the first few months and faded. At least if you have problems at the beginning you can rectify it, much better to find your form after January than before IMO, as Spurs found out
saying that if you are bottom at christmas you are dead and buried according to history. A lot has to be said for points on the board. The form Villa were in if thaey had not done well before christmas they would have gone .
Wigan were bottom at Christmas and didn't just survive but they got over 40 points, something they didn't get enough recognition for IMO. Not nearly as much as WBA who fluked it Of course if you are bottom at Christmas you are likely to go down but it can be done. Clubs the size of Southampton and West Ham could easily splash the cash in January if they find the opening few months too challenging. If Martinez had gone I would have had Wigan nailed on for relegation along with possibly Swansea sadly. I just think the managerial distractions will be too much
My pick for the first five fixtures would be... Wigan (h) Swansea (a) Norwich (h) Man City (a) Soton (h)
