on being underestimated

Over the last week I've been reading some reviews of the coming season and also looking at some other teams forums on here. It's interesting to me that we are being underestimated and written off again. Their thinking seems to revolve around a bunch of dodgy assumptions and downright ignorance. Just looking at a few of the ideas they put forward.

Most punters seem to think we will struggle this year because of the extra European games, which I'm sure would be the case if we try and play the senior players too many times. However,Pardew has said he won't do that so I think it will make us stronger allowing our youngsters more game time to bring their game on. Stoke last season is often used as an example here, although surely we have more quality than that ?

Several times I've seen them say we will suffer from second season syndrome despite the fact that this is our third season back in the premiership. How bad are these guys -how much do they get paid for this tripe.

Many of them put Liverpool above us. Why ? They are looking decidedly dodgy to me and I think they will do even worse than last year.

Other teams will have found us out and worked out our style of play ? Our players etc. By this reasoning no players would be any use after their first season.


Anyway you get the picture. I am looking forward to proving them wrong yet again !

 

In a way it's actually good...There's less pressure on our players, and they will want to strive to prove them wrong.

 

If the top teams want to rest players against relegation fodder like us then fine by me!

 

Completely agree with this. Much prefer us to sit under the radar and prove people wrong than to be in the situation Liverpool were in last season where there was a lot of criticism about underachieving. Realistically Liverpool could find themselves in the same place this season as the media are behind them and Suarez - as someone else on this forum said the other day - can't hit a barn door at the moment (or last season ....).

It winds me up that people write us off sometimes as a team that won't achieve anything but sometimes it's nice to just sit here and be smug when Lawro and Merson get it wrong ....

 

If we won the title next year, we'd be relegation candidates the year after mate. Just forget it.

 

The bit about Europe is an interesting one for me because, like you've said, Stoke is used as an example. Stoke, who qualified for Europe by being a losing finalist in the FA Cup. There team that year may have finisshed in the Top 10 also but finishing Top 5 and qualifying for Europe via a genuine league position is a totally different kettle of fish. The reason Stoke struggled to juggle the league and europe was because their squad wasn't strong enough to qualify for europe legitimately anyway!!

 

It's funny ain't it... You think about it Mateja Kezman came from the Dutch league as a proven goalscorer, and then he ends as a true flop. Then you have Suarez coming from the Dutch league, and granted, he's an irritating player, but he's great, just can't seem to score even though he has a great record for Uruguay and Ajax...

The only one who really did well is probably Ruud Van Nistelrooy...

 

I agree, generally teams who qualify via league position do better than those who qualify through a cup. Stoke, Brum, Pompey are all examples of the cup, but Everton and Spurs have stayed in the top half of the league consistently for a few years now.

As for underestimation, last year was different. They had the first 10 games where they could claim we hadn't played anyone yet, (though they seemed to forget Arsenal and Spurs), but this year our first two games are Chelsea and Spurs. A result against Chelsea after beating spurs would surely make other teams start to take notice of us?

 

Kuyt and RVP did well enough too, and Huntelaar if you look at other leagues. I do think though foreign strikers who make it big in the Dutch league struggle to adapt, Dutch ones do ok though.

Bryan Ruiz didn't do much last year, and the more said about Alfonso Alves the better

 

It's annoys me that people refer to Fulham and Stoke as evidence for our proposed slide down the table.

We have a much better starting 11 than Stoke had at the time, and a significantly better one than Fulham. If we can just add a centerback, then we'll have a significantly stronger squad.

We're better than they were.

Plus, remember, their failure also came from having to go through about 5-6 qualifiers before even getting to the group stages, we have one qualifier, against a side we should be able to beat without any of our A team players.

 

second or third season back from relegation, I have my own thoughts on this ...

when a team that has been in the top division most of it's history,is relegated by one goal, keeps all its best players, then returns having been at the top of the Championship for the entire season with a points total that was nearly a record this is not quite the same as the usual teams who are mentioned as suffering form 'second season syndrome' - Blackpool; Swansea; Hull ...

it's so short sighted to put us in with teams like having just looked at the fact that two summers ago we went from Championship to Premiership and not looking at even the slightest detail beyond this.

it's a bit like writing off our players cos the top four weren't in for them too

 

Why are we the only team that will get "figured out" we have players that can play in a number of positions, we can change formations during a game (see vs spurs at half time) , we have Benny who at times cant be stopped by a brick wall, Cisse who needs 1 touch to score, Ba who, when on form, is the APEX striker! I dont understand how you can figure out that foward line with 3 different types of forwards! And with Yohan Hopefully having a more advanced role this season he can really shine! Infact im going to the bookies to bet my parents house on the toon to win the world cup

 

Funny enough, I was watching those idiots on Soccer Saturday last weekend, and Merson picked us to do well this season. He actually said, he thought we would challenge for the top four, and that Spurs would struggle this season. Not sure what he's been drinking (!!!), but he's either decided we're a half decent outfit that should not be underestimated, or he's just a drunk that can barely speak and isn't sure what he's talking about.

I had to rewind it, to confirm my mind wasn't playing games with me.

 

Maybe it's reverse psychology, saying we'll do well when he's hoping we won't.

 

You may be right there. Though, I'd be surprised if Merson even knew of such a thing!

 

There is that to it.