Sky Sports preview of our chances this season. Apparently, according to this, we got £550k for 'previously undisclosed' RvW. I reckon Hughton - and Brighton owe us Lewis Dunk by way of compensation for squandering, as it turns out, over £8m http://www.skysports.com/football/n...y-sky-bet-championship-season-preview-201617?
I have to say that I totally agree - does Whittaker have some sort of secret about AN that he's threatened to make public if he's not in the team????
I do not disagree with many of your points but I do think that you are demeaning AN a bit. Yes our squad was one of the best in that Championship league but NA was making a bit of a mess of it and to claw back the deficit was no mean feat from a standing start. And that included winning at Bournemouth with 10 men. I appreciate fully the shortfalls of last term and the losses and draws where we should have won, but now with AN fully settled in I truly expect a really good season with top 6 a near given. Finally, the GK spot is a dilemma. I have maintained for a while that when Chelsea came in for him it turned his head and he has never for me regained his previous levels. Sadly young Rudd fell short quite quickly and that was a major disappointment.
Steve Evans has Newcastle, Norwich and Wednesday as the top three teams, with Derby having an outside chance. Pretty much as I see it, despite all the negativism on here.
It wouldn't surprise me if Newcastle do become the team to beat and I'd like to think we'll be at least flirting with the play off places as a minimum, but if AN insists on having Whittaker in the starting line up, then I think we'll do well to be in the top half!!!
IMO, AN simply wanted both Whittaker and Pinto to get game time so he played Whiitaker in the first half and Pinto in the second. Pinto will be starting against Blackburn. My guess is: Ruddy Pinto Bennett Klose Olsson Howson Tettey Canos Hoolahan Naismith Jerome Subs: Rudd/McGovern, Whittaker, Bassong, Dorrans, Jacob, Josh, Lafferty EDIT: Just read in the Pink'un that AN is not sure Canos has sufficient match fitness to start against Blackburn, so we could see Howson moved to WR and Dorrans come in next to Tettey in CM, with Canos on the bench.
Paul Lambert has predicted that the 3 relegated teams will be favourites for promotion. Very bold Paul!
Actually it is very slightly bold. Virtually everyone is predicting NCFC and NUFC as promotion contenders, but many fancy Villa to struggle and to call them as a favourite is slightly bold. I hope Ollie is right and not Lambert, i sense a bit of old club tinted specs for his Villa prediction but inspite of their resources they look as ready to go down again as get promoted. Bah!
Don't rule out Derby either - pretty good squad (ex NCFC) and a good manager in charge now - gonna be a tight league this although I can see the Nukes as definite champs.
Yes, it will be tight for the top 3 places and the next 3 as well, but tends to fall away below that. A good starty is vital.
With Pritchard's arrival i'm beginning to wonder how we can make use of all of our attacking talent, in their best position and keep any sort of team continuity. Add to the team above, Pritchard, Murphy, Murphy, Maddison, Jarvis (Brady for now) and several others who look even less likely to play and any hope of a stable team looks somewhat forlorn. I'm sure AN has a plan for them all Bah!
