Yes I think the last three seasons have made us softies....we must grow our protective shells again so that we can shrug off bad results and revel in the successes. It's not just us, the team have to learn to deal with defeats as well and come back strong for the next match. Nigel will need all his bounce this season.
How do we want the fixtures to pan out i.e when do we want the hard run of games? Should we start off with the best teams and if we take some points shows our intent or do we want a bedding in period which would probably see us having to play the top teams at the end of the season. I would not like to have the end of season fixtures QPR or Wigan had last season (even though they both stayed up). So I wouldn't be adverse to a difficult start and hope the likes of City and Utd don't hit their straps straight away, if that meant an easier run in at the end of the season.
That's pretty much my thinking. Surely anybody who isn't okay with us losing, wouldn't have wanted promotion in the first place? I personally can't wait... chance to see so many other players in the flesh, see the mighty Southampton put themselves back on the global radar. Yes please!
Im a bit worried about losing more, i normally didnt watch the football league show if we lost, hope i dont carry this habit on into match of the day, or i will miss a lot of games haha
You know what I meant. They are all going to be hard, I was talking about the likes of City, Utd, Arsenal etc.
Neither did I, but that was because I was annoyed because it was pretty much always a game we were expected to when. But, for example, coming back from West Ham away I wasn't at all disappointed in not winning because I didn't expect one before the game, I expect the Prem to be much the same.
Harder games a late in the season as possible. Hit the ground running and get points on the board. We showed last season what can be done with taking momentum into a new season. With that in mind, we could conceivably win, say, four or five of our first seven games with a nice start. Kick-off against the big boys though, and we can wave goodbye to being able to take advantage of that momentum. And even worse, I could then see us losing to the Norwich's and the Swansea's after those early season defeats. Look at Bolton, they never recovered from either their FA Cup semi-final hammering nor their horrid start which stemmed from having the hardest set of fixtures imaginable. As Swansea and Norwich both shpwed last season, it doesn't matter what your end of the season run-in is like, if you're already safe by then.
I think after the fixtures are released everyone will be begin to panic as to where we are going to pick up points. My main preference would be to have all the big teams matches consecutively rather than spread out across the season so we can get a bit of form going rather than win-lose-win-lose
Newcastle done that very well last season and never dropped out of the top 6 even when they did have a very hard run of games, we did the same ourselves so when we did hit a hard run of games (Derby, Reading, West Ham, Boro, Birmingham) all in one month we had the momentum to a) still be up there should we lose and b) have the confidence to get a result in those games. I think you are probably right about having some of the weaker sides first up. Only problem will be if we don't take those points and then have the bigger clubs to face. Taking momentum from last season into some of the fancied teams early can give us unexpected results which in itself breeds more confidence and momentum. I am thinking about the 3-1 against Leeds and the 5-2 against Ipswich who at the time were peoples tips for promotion. So I guess it can work all ways. Maybe this season it is going to be more important to use those Adkinism's of taking one game at a time and then drawing a line under it. Either way I can't bloody wait!!
I remember that from last season! Leeds, Millwall, Ipswich and Barnsley as our first 4 games, people were worrying then! I can accept losing the games, as long as there's no sense of injustice! Anyway, as long as we don't lose enough to send us down I don't mind. Rather be there than not as FLT said.
Rangers will be left off SPL fixture lists released tomorrow. Interesting...though I expect they will play in SPL next season.
Perhaps it's just me but I fancy us against anyone at home. Bar last seasons top 6 away I'm not looking at games thinking a draw would be a hell of an achievement
I'm just going ( try ) to enjoy it . Doubt many people expect us to stay up , but if we can emulate Norwich / Swansea in our first season back , BRILLIANT ! If we go back down , oh well try again 2013-2014
Apparently 'team 12' has been assigned games, but SPL won't be able to have a meeting about Rangers until early July. I think Rangers will be allowed back in (morally reprehensible as that is), but if not will someone be promoted from league below?
