Is the golf in class between the top few & the rest now as wide in England as it is in Scotland? With Man U. beating Bolton 5-0, it would suggest that it is.
I was just thinking the same thing, Bolton were a 10-14th place team in my estimation, which is where I'd like us to be by the end of this season. Their win against us flattered them but they were better on the day and I'd say they were a solid PL team. United and City have now raised the bar to where the other top six contenders are struggling to keep pace and the rest may well become cannon-fodder. We're not quite as bad as Scotland but the progress that was made to break the monopoly of the original 'Big Four' has now possibly created an even stronger 'Big Two'. Scary eh?...
After seeing what united and city have be capable of over the past few weeks. i worry for what they will do when we meet!
We all know that we will lose a few games this season, so we must get out there and do our best to get as many points as possible.
3 leagues in one The top 6 The rest The bottom four : One team gets washed away this year I see two already Swans and Blackburn
I'd say there are 4 leagues. The top two, the next three/four, the mid table and the whipping boys. The teams that are being smashed also smashed us (well our 'old' teams anyway). Let's hope we do improve dramatically as I am worried about what they could do to us.
I think they'll be a couple of new records set against one of the promoted teams (r Blackburn) this year - most goals in a game, and most scored by one player. I think the team to set them will be Man United, because both Manchester clubs squads are about as strong as each other, and Mancini's not as good a manager as Fergie is. I just hope we're not the victims.
Golf in class HE? Am I in the wrong forum?! Seriously, new team I know but like others I'm well worr-ied about getting heavily slapped up by the Mancs... doesn't bear thinking about! There's certainly three or four competitions going on in the prem and we're in the bottom two. As for a gulf in class, possibly but position largely depends on sustained investment. Class is something enduring usually - but the quality that suggests it invariably fades when investment stops. That's what we're up against, the best that money can buy... We can't hope to match that atm but quality ain't assured. There are ways of getting passed it in one piece. Keep saying it but there's a lot to be said for adopting a 'Crazy Gang' mentality this year... tough always upsets pretties. Get in their faces (sorry, rugby chat), wreck stuff - within the rules but don't let them play. Tough in defence, midfield and attack. When you adopt that style people underate you and overlook your own quality. Ain't pretty I know but it wins lots of points. John Fashanu got a son available... ?! Looking at our squad, seems got the players to do just that. Desperados, mavericks and journeymen against the rest of the best... Can hear it now: 'don't **** with QPR!' URRRsss!!!
Sorry accidently closed thread when posting my response above. Been warned about that on the mod board... the 'close thread' button operates even when cursor's inches away from it.
You get your own board? Now you're showing off!! Any update (I know someone asked about it) on the whereabouts of my little green dots?
I agree we should have a 'crazy gang' attitude in the PL, the difference now to the 80s-90s is that the top teams are far stronger. City regularly have over a £100 million+ worth of players on the subs bench and both City and United could field a 2nd team that would easily beat more than half the teams in the PL, Chelsea almost seem average in comparison and the Arses after their 8-2 pasting are not in that league anymore. We've a long way to go to get anywhere near top six and I guess there'll be some spankings we'll have to take on the way. On the other hand I saw Barcelona threw away a 2-0 lead after 10 minutes at Real Sociedad last night so these giants do have the odd off-day...
All of the above true to some degree. The other factor that works for us is the stadium. Old and tatty but with soul and a pitch a few feet away from the fans. Not only do the players have to get in the face of the opposition but the 12th man must play his part too. We also have Warnock, wealth and the window (January!) too.Nevertheless a tad worried about some of the defeats we will suffer.
Bit nervy about all this 'crazy gang' talk - attitude fine, but I hated the way they played football and really don't want to watch a club with our tradition go down that route. Anyway, I don't think we have the personnel for the thump it and hope game. Thank god.
It's the 'us against the world' attitude that's required, not the hoofball. We saw quite a bit of that attitude last season and, with some of our additions, that could develop further. Certainly our tight little stadium will give us some additional impetus, fortress Loft...
I have green dots problem too - I think it has something to do with the page not loading properly now after alterations were made to the site - the green bar on the bottom right of my page never quite reaches the end...
