Well it's definitely a valid starting point, and a huge improvement on some last year's indifferent performances, but.............. Said after the first few games of the season that we needed some "flair" players to supplement Malky's overall team effort and win games that were there for the taking. I was told on here that we had plenty in Whitts, but ffs, that's nowhere near enough for a season long campaign. That seems more than ever to be the case now. I realise we can't ignore the injury situation recently, but the squad as a whole even when all are available for selection is missing some class. My own answer to the article question is that it'll be enough to keep us in this division but nowhere near enough to get us out of it. Some serious intent needs to be shown in the coming ten days by those running the club now. January could be leaving it too late - playing catch-up can be a thankless task.
Actually thought most of us agreed we need a couple of flair players. Whitts will not be enough alone. Work ethic will have us about 10th where is where I see us finishing by seasons end.
Have to agree with Sparky, working hard and running your guts out all game, makes you hard to beat, but doesn't necessarily make you winners, which leaves you mid table, a lot of us expected mid table, fair enough, but we also wanted to see signs of progress. OK I know we have had injury ptoblems, but even if we put out our first choice side, there is not really (Whitts apart) any player who gets the blood racing, to get to the promised land of the premiership we need a player/players who can turn a game and turn the draws into wins whether we dip into the loan market or spend some money in January, it needs to be done sooner............. would be better than later, but the squad needs freshening up and not with journeymen.
sorry but although last year towards the end the team didnt perform as well as they could have, last years team with 90% effort is clearly better than this team with 100% effort - the table doesnt lie last year we finished 4th, winning some games by 4 or more goals along the way, whilst this team is in 12th and every point is hard earned with no wins with more than a two goal margin. its clear there is a lack of depth and quality, and i'm not blaming MM for one minute as he had to sign about 10 players to replace the ones that left, and its clear that on the budget he was working on it wouldnt be possible to sign players of equal or similar quality to the ones that we lost after DJ left. i agree with siam and prophet, this team doesnt look good enough to get into the top 6, let alone top 2, the attack in particular is a shadow of the one last year
I am happy so far with the new look squad and attitude towards the club and its fans. For me this season I just wanted to see a bit more passion from our players and manager. If that means a mid table finish and the start of a new building process for Malky and the new coaching staff then so be it. We gave DJ 6 years and just fell short but alone the way we became a team of pre Madonna’s and big time Charlie’s. At least with Malky some of the players brought in are hard working for now some are for the future and all have the right attitude. Who ever comes in and yes we do need a bit more flair I am sure they will also fit the other attributes needed to be part of our new look team too. Malky don’t need to rush get the right players for the right price. There is always next year!!
All of you are right but ccfcrtOp is dead right. I would be happy with a mid table finish after the number of players we lost at the end of last season
Sorry lads,I also believed we would finish about tenth pre-season before a ball was kicked,but if you're happy finishing midtable then you will probably see some of our better players frustrated and snapped up by other clubs.This is what is at stake.We must strengthen now.
The passion and guts is what City used to be all about before the flair players DJ brought in.. Which proved to be ultimately fruitless. It was made me proud to be a City fan.. Boland, Brayson, Bonner, Kav, Fowler, Leggy.. All players I adored and gave 100% for the badge.. Not your finesse players but they worked their balls off and that worked! Leeds in the cup was a prime example.. It is the reason I have a complete man crush on our midfield at the moment. Kiss, Gunn-show and the man who would put Duracell out of business, Don Cowie. Even Whitts isn't shirking responsibility like he used to. Don't get me wrong it's bloody frustrating that we're losing out on points but i'm enjoying the games again rather than walking to the CCS under a choking cloud of expectancy. I do agree loanees need to brought in and the defence needs stabilising however. This season I have no hesitation that if we get beat 2-1 at the CCS that we'll be walking away from seeing the boys throw the kitchen sink at them unlike last season. 2 more points, i'd rather be in our position than Leicester fans.. lot of pressure on them this season mirroring our expectancy levels from last season. And also, workmanlike teams have had some success in playoff charges.. Hull, Blackpool, Burnley.. Why not us?
Spot on Bobby. Maybe time to stop and take a breather for some, but sometimes if you're happy to stand still, you tend to go backwards.
Personally speaking, given the fact we didn't even have a squad not so long back, I'm just happy to be playing. I have no expectations for this season. Obviously I want to finish as high as possible but I wouldn't be overly disappointed with a top half finish. People keep saying DJ did this and DJ did that but it took him 6 years to get us to 4th (albeit under different circumstances) so to expect MM to go one better in his first year with what was basically a blank canvas is a tad over ambitious IMO and to say he'll have a short tenure if he doesn't (a different thread) is quite frankly absurd. Nothing wrong with ambition of course, it's just not how I see it this season. But hey, we're all Bluebirds and we all want the best for the club. It just means if it doesn't happen this year some will be less pissed off than others.
as long as we stay in contention for a play-off position towards the end of the season I'll be happy. Sure we'll do that, whether we make them or not I'm unsure. Being a betting man I'll say just scraping into them.
for the first few years under DJ the club was under huge pressure financially, and we werent an established championship club, in his last 3 years we finished 7th, 4th and 4th, so in the past 3 seasons the average finishing place is 5th. technically it took jones 5 years to get us to 4th. and he raised expectation levels, which is a testament to his work he did. i'm not expecting MM to 'go one better', but if the board were happy with how things were then they would have kept jones who was delivering solid league finishes. no, they believed jones couldnt get us up, so ultimately thats what MM has been brought in to do, though i agree with you in that we havnt got the squad or players at the moment to get up so he should be given another year at least
Absolutely not we certainly need a few quality players to compliment the work ethic . It's great to see the youngsters performing so well also but we are a distance away in terms of depth and quality needed to get into the play offs so why not look to consolidate the season withold any of this terms transfer budget then spend it next season with next years transfer budget in the meantime the likes of Rallis,Gestade,Mason,Evans,Turner get the experience of the rigours and know how of the championship . This i am sure will pay dividends and the quality added next season to the experience of the youngsters this season and the likes of Whitts, Darcy,Macnaughton Taylor, etc would be quite a decent championship squad coupled with the fact Gypes,Twaio,Nalyor would be gone freeing up more money to assemble a squad capable of competing with our bigger budget rivals. So lets look at the bigger picture and build on what MM has began to create at our football club .
Who on Earth on here has said that Malky shouldn't be given another year! All that I understand is being said is that we require some extra flair players in the squad to get anywhere and that costs money. Over to VT and TG on that one - it's our club, but let's face it, it's their ball at the end of the day.
I love the work ethic but it certainly isn't going to be enough. I have not been inspired by Malkys purchases but am prepared to give him and them a fair crack at it. Having said that I believe we need a strong leader at the back but someone who can play a bit, an experienced midfield dynamo who can mix it up and also have a calming influence. Finally a recognised goal getter, I was slagged off for criticising the purchase of Miller as I do not believe he was the answer for getting the goals, his work rate is second to none but a prolific goal scorer he isn't. The table isn't looking too pretty at the moment but there is a long way to go and players are needed if we are o finish in the top half of the table never mind a play off place
Work ethic should be a minimum requirement for all teams at this level. Any player who does not have work ethic should be slapped with a wet fish repeatedly until they realise just how bloody lucky they are to be playing in the most exciting league in the world.
No probs Swamp. I've not read the posts for a couple of days since the Posh game and thought I might have missed someone calling for Malky's head.
