What should we expect on this eve of return To action for our City team, I´m sure much will depend on how quick to learn They are, from our brand new regime From what those who know him have said, Hughton C Will play more of a hands-on role, Which will be new, and refreshing to see If it can help achieve our goal Which again must be to stay in this tier Despite last year´s mid-table berth, That way we may again surprise those here By continually proving our worth I´m not yet fretting at all on that score But once more, each and every game, Will be monumental, as last year we saw Whether Man City or Blackburn came I have some hopes though, that this year we see An injury-free striking Vaughan, And we at last see how good he can be So dogged he´s been since his first morn Also a settled back line would be good Especially those in centre-field, The number of centre-back pairings that stood Their ground, last year, lost its appeal Also some faces, unwanted of late Could just come back into the frame, As they will all start off with a clean slate While building up for the first game Just a quick word too, on a famous name Returning here for a new start, Not THE Dave Watson of defending fame But Canary related, in part John Deehan´s daughter apparently wed Our new coach for Ruddy and Co, Such a small world really, as some have said But still I´m sure JD will glow So I´m optimistic that again we´ll see More good days than bad, overall, When the good ship ´Canary´ sets sail on her spree With a crew and her fans ´On the Ball´. OTBC
Morning RBF! I expect we're all getting the jittery jangles in the tummy as a fresh challenge approaches! I didn't know that about JD's daughter, but, as you say, yet another link to the club!
Great verse rbf , can't wait for the new season, I know whatever happens win lose or draw I will enjoy every minute at Carrow Road! Hewtuns green army!
Yep, interesting connection Dave, but then with a name like that, he was always destined to turn up here certainly shouldn´t do Ruddy´s England chances any harm and jarold, Me too, I´m raring to go now, interesting to see who, if any, CH offloads before we get under way
I was thinking of starting a similar post on our chances for the forthcoming season and I hope that we can once again not be part of the 'relegation dogfight'. I'd like to think we could even achieve the same lofty position as last season and at least most of our players will have a year's experience of playing in the top flight and not suffer 'rabbits caught in the headlights' syndrome. I'm really hoping that all of the players who joined us last summer and in Jamuary want to remain here and further their careers for at least one more season and that all this talk of Howson etc is pure media speculation (as was said on another thread, Villa couldn't afford any of our players anyway!!). Just under 6 weeks to kick off!!!
What appealed to Lambert may not necessarily appeal to Hughton JR, but it´ll certainly give ´em all plenty of incentive to impress in pre-season, can´t really see any of the latest additions wanting to leave can you? Would really love to see the Adeyemi´s and Francomb´s getting a look in, but that´s probably a bit too much to expect, we´ll see.
Great verse as per. the problem is that there is not a big difference between 12th and say 17th and the odd win last year always kept us out of trouble. I fully expect a tighter feel this year and the other point is that last year ou record against the bottom six was fantastic. 6 points off QPR and Bolton really helped as well as 4 off Wolves, we will need to do something similar again I reckon.
One of the things that stood us in such good stead last season was Lambert's tactical nous, and his ability to set the team up differently for different games. This gave us the advantage that we were never 'found out' like a lot of promoted teams are, and meant we didn't collapse in the second half of the season. With a new manager in place, we should be something of an unknown quantity again, although obviously individual players will now be more familiar. Hopefully we won't see a repeat of the penalties conceded in the first 5 games (how many did we concede in the other 33 games?), and I think Ruddy is going to be a really important figure this season, particularly if we are going to be playing with a young central defensive partnership in Bennett and Ayala.
Pretty much agree with that and it would be great to see one of the academy players at least make it onto the bench. Will be going to the Borussia Monchengladbach friendly and then taking my seat for the home league games!!
