I wasn't promoting any line, I was really asking if that summed up your feelings now, given that you are less worried about relegation etc. I.E are you still a glass empty man as you appeared to be before (but a little less empty) or a glass full man now (though not full to the brim). If you have joined the ranks of the half full, I'm delighted. But I'm with Superman; my glass is overflowing, which doesn't mean everything is perfect, just that the imperfections are really small beer compared to the wonderfully tasty Real Ale we are presently imbibing.
i'm 100% sure our fitness experts know more about this than any of us. we're not in league one now - we are an incredibly professional outfit.
i'm happy with the work we've done. i think there'll be something else in the coming weeks too. we've improved every area of the pitch with a good or better player (centre half and keeper excluded). i still think we'll be involved in the relegation battle - i don't think it will be an issue (i didn't think we were particularly involved last year though, despite the bed wetting of some fans - we were never less than 4 points above the bottom 3 and always had teams below us who were struggling too). i think we can have another decent season in mid table and maybe even squeeze into 10th spot but its not the end of the world if we stagnate a little at this stage. the important thing is staying up and then building on the summer we're in now. its all about constantly upgrading but we don't have the funds to do that all in one go - it could take four or five years of premier league funds before we have a ground that befits the size of our club and are really competitive on the pitch. we'll still lose to some teams down the bottom next season - we'll still upset one or two of the big clubs - that's football.
either way. obviously i'd prefer one of them to arrive but we've still improved the quality of our squad dramatically if we get neither. i think if we finish 10+ points above the drop zone we can consider that a very good season we'll definitely be one of the contenders to go down though - along with about 11 others!
Some very good points here, although I'm not sure I agree with RvW being an aerial threat, I'm yet to see anything to suggest that. I agree that on-form Hoolahan could well do the business as the CAM, and I'd love him to do so. My point was that we were using Fer there (it seemed to me at least), just so the defence had someone to lump it forwards to, and he didn't appear to suit that as well as a DM role. Hoolahan doesn't offer that out-ball, and won't have Holt ahead of him who did. Based on that, we either need to get better at playing out from the back, or find someone both tall and creative to play as a CAM. I think we'll be a far more attractive team to watch and use possession better if we can learn to join defence to attack on the ground, but I don't think that can be taught overnight, so Toivonen to me is the quickest fix. Something else I picked up on on Tuesday was we had every single player back to defend corners, leaving nobody out of our own penalty area. When did we start doing that? Surely with nobody to play the ball out to, we're inviting a more sustained period of pressure?
again, i emphasise, we had no bassong and no ruddy. these two players make a big difference to our make up. add to that the fact it was a friendly, we were still experimenting and will have been played at about 70% and you can see that you cannot read an awful lot into it. we also NEED to have the longer option available to us - there will be times when we require it even if carrabuh doesn't agree. why limit ourselves? i agree about the corner thing being annoying though - but even chelsea do it! why? never understood it
I like Fenland's term of 'balanced'. I don't think City will struggle as much this year as injuries will impact less on a larger, better squad of players, even if no more come in. Neither do I think they are likely to threaten the top seven places. Both those things are possible, but the probability is somewhere in between, say 10th or 11th again. It's far too early to judge service to RvW and Hooper based on pre-season games. IMO, though, Fer, Redmond (think of his inch-perfect cross to Howson for the goal against Brighton) and Olsson will provide new options, as well as the interplay of RvW and Hooper when they play together. Last season City started with a major makeover in defence which took time to settle. This year Olsson is the only new addition so far so greater continuity will be there. That is enough to make me feel quietly confident, even without further additions (which I think will come).
i think if we can keep ruddy fit and have bassong for at least 90% of the games, we'll have no worries. people forget we finished 11th last season with our reserve keeper for much of the season. also, we missed pilkington terribly when he was injured as he added a lovely balance to our team and always pops up with a goal here and there. we had nobody to fill in for him... we do now
Once more my friend you have overlooked the word ' if ' in my comment. I am happy to see us in the top league and will be happy if we stay up again this year as I have made clear throughout. My expectations are not too high because I realistically look at where our Club rests amongst others in the league and I will only be disappointed if we go down not if we finish 4th from bottom or above.
it's funny but you and i actually share similar views, it's just i come across a bit more chirpy... at the end of the day, if someone offered me 17th right now i'd probably take it, not because that's where i want us to finish or even because that's where i think we will, but because it means we can build again in the top league
This is what irritates me and depresses me more than anything -- I mean the lack of belief and faith in the people running the club and managing the team. Everybody claims to trust McNally and his chairman. If you trust them, you trust their judgement in appointing CH and being prepared to act on his recommendations in the transfer market to the tune of more £Ms than we ever dreamt of being able to spend. You also trust them to give CH and his staff the best support possible, which includes training facilities, scouts, physios, fitness coaches, analysts etc. Finally, if at some point it turns out that THEY lose faith in CH, one trusts them to act decisively as in the past and do what they think best for the club. That's what having trust means. It does not mean constantly going on as though the lot of them haven't a clue about what they are doing.
robbie, i think the fact becchio came in last january and was way off the pace fitness-wise despite playing 25+ games by that point suggests we will have a super-fit squad. naturally, the players probably won't be 100% when the season starts - 100% match fit i mean - they'll be fit as a fiddle but they won't be sharp straight away. the final ten or 15 minutes on opening day is usually a bit sluggish! it'll take a couple of games for everyone to play themselves match fit (except swansea who are already playing competitively - get your money on them beating man united is my top tip )
You ask a question which is constantly being asked by commentators during games, because bringing everyone back to defend corners and set pieces is a common tactic employed more and more by a lot of teams, including very good teams. Most commentators and experts are of the same opinion as yourself, that you need one player up (usually someone with pace and good ball possession skills) to provide an out-ball. In my opinion this is a classic example of where statistical analysis is the only way to get at the truth of which tactic is most effective. What appears common sense may well not be correct. YOu can't decide this sort of question by vote or general opinion. You need objective data. If very experienced and tactically astute managers of clubs in the Champions League do it, maybe it isn't as daft as it seems to the average fan and football commentator!
equally most pundits claim that 'zonal marking' at corners is an abomination and managers don't know what they are doing, yet i far prefer it - its a much better way of defending corners statistically than man marking.
I hope it was obvious that my comment wasn't aimed at you Supers. You may have faults, but that is not one of them.
Hate to disagree supers, but i hate zonal marking, whoever thought that up needs shooting! its so easy to pick up on weaknesses in the defence, All you need is decent delivery and good movement and it causes confusion amongst defenders. myself as an old defender would much prefer a good old fashioned instruction to mark that man and if he scores you get the bollocking of a lifetime!
Ha, good old thoroughly subjective viewpoint Guru. "All you need is a decent delivery and good movement". But how often do you get that combination? What if you only get it, say, 5% of the time? (That's only illustrating the point by the way; subjective impressions of effectiveness may or may not be correct. They need to be backed up by hard data about actual outcomes under the different systems. That's the point.)
