Sad that you won't get to any more matches, 1950, but I'm 72 now and don't get to many matches either (living in Cornwall doesn't help!). Good to hear that you'll be posting more on here though!
Rick 72, 1950 74, JM Fan approaching 70, Dave 71 ............ no wonder this forum is so civilised PS. I'm 83
Good article by Andy Head about what we take into the PL: "We won the league because once the players had learned that system, they were often near-impossible to stop. Those players are still here. They all know the system. They’ll hit the ground running together. And while the opposition are better individually and the managers generally more experienced, a team of good players who know what they’re doing and work hard together to a plan is bloody difficult to stop." This is like our successful teams in the early 90s in the sense of being 'under the radar", except that this squad is full of international players, many of whom have played at the highest level. His comparisons with Leicester are tantalising, but that's the stuff of dreams: "Leicester won the title because they had a side that worked hard, and they had a style of football that worked for them, which all their players were comfortable with. They had no real stars, at least at the start of the season. Leicester did the simple things well, and they won a lot of games late on because they had great stamina, teamwork and a desire not to only avoid defeat, but to try and gamble and win games." We're not going to win the league, but we will surprise a few people as Farkeball hits the PL. Andy then goes on to evaluate our chances against the other PL teams and suggests that we should be aiming at somewhere around 10th place. There's more than a bit of yellow tinted glasses about his assessments, but he's not alone. Frank Lampard picked us to finish 11th. Time will tell!
From today’s MFW - 'Here’s the bottom line of Stuart Webber’s dealings. We don’t have more players than two years ago, or last summer. But we have a lot more players in genuine first-team contention. That’ll serve us well in the season ahead.' I see Martin Penney of MFW is also going to the 2 remaining friendlies!!!
That "we have a lot more players in genuine first-team contention" from this window is the key to SW's strategy. We are enhancing the team which won the Championship with 5 new 'genuine' alternatives (including Idah), who are replacing players who hardly featured last season: Marshall, Oliveira, Husband, Pinto, Wildschut, Passlack). The deadwood is also gone. The only real loss is Rhodes (so far). The result is no 'squad players', just genuine' alternatives capable of playing at a PL level and a host of young players building towards the future. That enhances DF's options for the PL without blowing the budget. Had we brought in a £20m player, it could destroy the balance created and the overall synergy of squad hungry to succeed in the PL. With Tettey's lingering injury, we could use another DM option, perhaps on loan, but other than that we're ready to go. TalkSport calls this approach 'defeatist', which just shows how far behind most pundits are, living in the past with little insight into the future. https://norwich.vitalfootball.co.uk/norwich-have-a-defeatist-attitude-according-to-talksport/
The background for the away kit version was green so I don't think we can read too much into it - I'm more tempted to be led by this from the club shop please log in to view this image
They clearly assume that Fulham last season and Villa this summer is the way forward. I wonder if they bothered looking at the final table back in May 16 Southampton 38 9 12 17 45 65 −20 39 17 Brighton & Hove Albion 38 9 9 20 35 60 −25 36 18 Cardiff City (R) 38 10 4 24 34 69 −35 34 Relegation to the EFL Championship 19 Fulham (R) 38 7 5 26 34 81 −47 26 20 Huddersfield Town (R) 38 3 7 28 22 76 −54 16
A good balanced technical assessment of our chances this season: https://statsbomb.com/2019/07/norwich-city-2019-20-season-preview/ I think this is about right (survival in the cluster just above relegation). It's possible that our players will continue to improve and we push up into lower mid-table but for me, that depends on getting another DM in (as suggested in the analysis). Injuries will be another big factor, but our squad depth and quality will help us cope with those. I'd also feel more comfortable if we signed Rhodes, just in case Drmić's injury problems return. Srbeny could then concentrate on being an AM option.
City Slicker 2010 is 72 so joins the septuagenarians on this forum. Really hoping that the lack of spend this season doesn’t mean money is being saved for relegation.
But if we go down with a whimper, they are all going to be able to smugly say they told us so. I don't believe we will, but we are not brilliant defensively, have a squad with very little PL experience as well as the manager. As an outsider, I'd strongly suspect we'll struggle. As a fan of City I think its very possible we could struggle. Even i think we have failed to signifcantly improve our starting XI, keeper and left wing being possible exceptions. And that should make us nervous. Bowen for me is a signing that would have shown real ambition. I'm sure we are ambitious, but its prudence laced with some ambition not the other way round. Not saying it's the wrong strategy, just it hardly looks good from the outside. Bah!
Oh ye of little faith. I was going to put a bet on that we'll finish in the top 10, but the best odds I can get is 10/1, so left it. I'm not expecting many points from our first 5 games, but then we bit a SLIGHTLY easier run of fixtures.