Quinn?

As I said earlier, DQPR and Villa - no chance. Both much better than us on paper. It's only Harry being a s**tc**t that stopped DQPR winning every single game last season.

I would still say Saints are better than us even if they dont sign a single player.

The others you could argue and that would still make us one of the worst squads in the league, which is precisely what i said.

Why is nobody naming Swansea?

QPR - Are you for real?
 
I would say that last season, only one team had a worse squad than ours before a premier league ball was kicked and that was Crystal Palace. It's not always about the most technically gifted squad its about having that right mix of players which on paper we probably have. Let's take the 3 promoted sides, Leicester despite all promises aren't signing world beaters and are largely still the team that got them up, it will most likely be enough but I would say our squad is better. Burnley, we beat them hands down in the squad department and QPR have signed an iffy CB and one that's past it with a squad that should've walked the Championship but instead got promoted with the only shot on target in a Play off final.

You look at our squad last season and while we didnt score buckets of goals
, the goals came from all sources. Take the Fulham game, 5 goal scorers, now I don't know about you but I would rather have goals from all over than a guy who scores a hattrick every 3 games. Without Europe our squad is probably capable of a higher mid table finish in the ranges of 11th-15th.

You say the league table doesn't lie, well when 38 games are all played you're probably right but if you can honestly tell me that Palace last season had a better squad than ours (on paper) then you would be lying. It's never about the squad on paper, it's what they do with their season that ultimately matters

I have to agree with you BCC, unlike last season I really can't see any clubs with a poorer squad than us, even the newly promoted clubs, who unlike us do have the advantage of not suffering second season syndrome.

We have strengthened from last year, but one of our great disadvantages was scoring goals, something I do not see changing without new blood, last night showed that again if nothing else. We needed to prop up the defence, but without goals a good defence is useless, you cannot really stay up with a season of 0-0 draws (even with the best defence in the world....which ours is not)

I raised this point on another thread, as I think the chase for a standout goalscorer is a bit of a fools errand. I question whether or not the coaching staff are focussing (in the right way) the attacking players on the end product - attempts at goal, which if increased would result in more goals. It is excellent that we have a range of goalscoring players, but we need more constructed play that results in goals. Do we need a specialist coach to get more from what we've got, rather than simply adding to the headcount of frustrated players?

Late thought on th OP - too much read into it IMO. I would be shocked if Quinn left, he is quality and that will shine through, it always does. Much ado about nothing. <ok>
 
The suggestion that a player might be told he's on his way, on the pitch, just before our first ever European Cup game, is utterly ridiculous.

He might be on his way, but he certainly didn't find out on the pitch on Thursday.
 
Wouldnt be a surprise if he did leave. He's a brilliant player and a top bloke but he's not going to get much game time is he? One of the very best signings of Bruce's regime and if this is happening, he'll go with everyone's blessing.

So you're saying we have a weak squad and then you are saying we should weaken the squad further....
 
And as far as whether our attacking prowess has increased or not I think it's way too early to say. We have some new players and they need to gel into the system, so I don't understand people making ridiculously early judgements.
 
Putting them on seemed an attacking move, and we still didn't concede a goal. Keep another clean sheet at home and we will probably be ok.

And I don't think this is a distraction like someone said. First the league hasn't even started yet, and second the FA Cup last year seemed the priority by the end with the league the distraction, so results can change what the main priority might be.
 
Putting them on seemed an attacking move, and we still didn't concede a goal. Keep another clean sheet at home and we will probably be ok.

And I don't think this is a distraction like someone said. First the league hasn't even started yet, and second the FA Cup last year seemed the priority by the end with the league the distraction, so results can change what the main priority might be.

The Europa isn't a distraction at the moment, in fact it's the ideal,because it's a far better way of preparing for the season than friendlies imo.

Should we qualify however, we would have ten extra games before xmas. That can only be a distraction for club looking to avoid relegation.
 
The Europa isn't a distraction at the moment, in fact it's the ideal,because it's a far better way of preparing for the season than friendlies imo.

Should we qualify however, we would have ten extra games before xmas. That can only be a distraction for club looking to avoid relegation.

Or an incentive for a team who want to achieve.
 
Or an incentive for a team who want to achieve.

Depends on how you look at it. Should we be relegated, many will point at the Europa as the cause. We qualified for this via an FA cup final, which we wouldn't swap for the world, so it's a moot point to be fair.
 
You don't appear too willing to accept the bet though, so does that mean deep down you share BCC's concerns ??

Well it's a bit of a cack bet isn't it? If it takes finishing in the top half to win the bet then it's a bit pointless isn't it? I don't think we'll struggle at all, but I don't think we'll be top half, somewhere around 13th or 14th. I think we'll be safe by April.
 
Depends on how you look at it. Should we be relegated, many will point at the Europa as the cause. We qualified for this via an FA cup final, which we wouldn't swap for the world, so it's a moot point to be fair.

If we are relegated then that is the way it is; we play this game to win and we should have the same self-belief we had when ours arses were hanging into the Conferences front room. We have got admittance, now let's rattle some ****ing cages! Shy bairns get nowt!!
 
The suggestion that a player might be told he's on his way, on the pitch, just before our first ever European Cup game, is utterly ridiculous.

He might be on his way, but he certainly didn't find out on the pitch on Thursday.

Absolutely correct, there would be no logic behind the decision as it's unlikely he would attract the interest of any other club in the Europa League & being cup tied would be the only reason to withdraw a player
 
Well it's a bit of a cack bet isn't it? If it takes finishing in the top half to win the bet then it's a bit pointless isn't it? I don't think we'll struggle at all, but I don't think we'll be top half, somewhere around 13th or 14th. I think we'll be safe by April.

I think the bet was more like that we won't be 10 points clear of the bottom 3 by Christmas
 
We have a stronger squad now than we did this time last season, I think this bumpf about 'having to have an experienced defender' is misleading, we had one last season (Faye) and he didnt play a game. Jelavic is recovering from the World Cup and we have Brady and Aluko maybe with massively untapped potential so I'm not sure I think a relegation battle is a big a concern as bumcheeks does.
 
Another point I thought of regarding us being seen as a bit short at the back is that maybe our 'having to have an experienced defender' role is actuallly taken by the manager Bruce who can wring great defensive perfomances out of the likes of his lad, no coincidence that he was a topflight defender at the highest level for himself for years and probably an ideal defensive coach as well as manager