As you all know we are 5 points behind the play-offs with 2 games to go (max 6 points) i was just wondering if everybody is confident with our chances of making it next year (if we can turn our home record around). Also has anybody heard of any signings for the summer? Btw haha Leeds have f****d up as well
I think we will be in the play-offs at least next year, there's no way we will be off to a slow start again and we have the impetus of 17 away games undefeated now aswell behind us, can't wait for 2011-2012 to start!
I think we'll cruise the league next year when we have a new left back in the same mould as Rosenior and another forward thinking midfielder with Danns. Lets face it, NP has cracked it away from home and there is no reason that will change providing we get off to a good confident start next season.
I am looking forward to next season. A young, enthusiastic & skilfull team in place from the beginning: we should be challenging for promotion or playoffs.
Can somebody tell me who is going to put the ball in the back of the net? Matty Fryatt can hold his own at this level but Simpson, Cullen and McLean are a league below. Matt Duke is a good back-up at this level but we have yet to secure an established goalkeeper. Our 'supply' from midfield is way below average for this league. Currently, the three teams who miss out on the play-offs, plus the three that come down from the EPL are better equipped than we are and we will have the League 1 adrenalin-fueled promotion teams to contend with too. Not going to be as easy as some think as we have found in the past that 'quality' players do not wish to join us. I can see another season of consolidation in the Championship where we will be entrenched in the second quarter occasionally sticking our noses into the play-off positions. To get any higher we will need another Fraizer Campbell loaned from an EPL Club or a 'major' signing of a striker who is proven at this level; a midfield general, two speedy attacking midfielders and a couple of versatile defenders (not forgetting a regular established goalkeeper). This is a pretty big ask but I am sure Nigel and the Management have ear-marked players as future signings. Strikers are our biggest requirement and I will be very interested to see who we bring in and who we 'get rid of' during the close season as the (so-called) strikers I mentioned at the beginning of this post are about as handy as I am - and I'm 72.
Wow. As I've said on another thread (didn't mean for that to rhyme ) Simpson is very capable at this level and if in form he could get a return of 15 goals, maybe more, next season. Fryatt around the same. McLean will probably score 7 or 8. Then you've got the likes of Garcia, Evans, Cairney, Stewart, possibly Belaid who will get a few each. Then there's the full backs who may only get 1 each, with centre halves scoring a few from corners. Plus new signings who of course I can't predict goal tallies for. They all add up. We've got 51 goals so for this season despite only scoring 11 in our first 15. Like I said above, I can see Simpson and Fryatt alone getting 25-30 next season, so there's a starting point. The only concern should be our home form.
We'll have half a new starting XI next season, it looks like several of them have already had deals agreed and I don't expect Duke to be with us.
I am being neither pessimistic nor optimistic but just realistic. I agree with Nigel when he said we have overachieved a little this season and he seems confident in the unnamed close season signings so I am hopeful of a more consistent line-up next season. I will go out on a limb here and predict that if Simpson scores fifteen goals for us next season I will strip naked near the taxi-ramp at Paragon Station, stick a didgeridoo up my arse and fart "Falling in Love with You"! Not that he isn't a trier but he would stand a much better chance ****ting through the eye of a needle without splashing the sides. We are sadly lacking up front (and have been for the past three seasons) but I am sure that Nigel knows this and will have made some sort of inroads into the problem.
I don't think the problem of "Quality" players not wanting to sign is in fact a problem anymore. I think there is enough quality out there that want to play under a manager like NP. I also think that the strikers we have will be able to get the goals we need if given good service. The midfield needs some serious tweeking and we perhaps we require a left back and we certainly need to get a quality goalkeeper. I would have said try and get Mannone but that said he has seemed to be prone to injury, but still a better option than Duke.
Yes, we need Myhill, Turner and Ricketts who, as EPL players, would be classed as 'quality' at this level but what do you think the chances are of them joining us. Zilch! There are some 'twilight' players looking for a swansong but they want a "Jimmy Bullard Deal" and that ain't gonna happen either. Our ship is at least on a level keel and Management will want to keep it this way before hoisting more sail and they will surely make sure that it is in good working condition before they do - not like Jimmy. Steady as she goes I think.
I'll remember that. In fact, that will be my signature on here from now on You should probably start storing your farts now
You know this is the same Jay Simpson who scored 13 goals for a lower midtable Championship side last season?
I'd keep Simpson for back up. But we need to big man up front who'll win things in the air and hold it up. Most infuriating thing is seeing Gerrard, Hobbs, or the keeper hit it long just for the ball to go over Mclean's, Fryatt's or Barmby's head.
If he was like that all year round he'd be number one easy. He was fantastic yesterday and he's been a great servant to the club, especially with all that he's been through.
Unless next season, this league makes a massive improvement in quality, It really is there to grabbed, if we can keep our away form as it is now, and even a small improvement in our home form, I believe it really is a reality to go up automatic next season......
We need to go at it from the off. We had a cracking second part of the season, but from August to mid November we were useless home and away. We came close this season but we were always playing catch up to the likes of Forest, Norwich, Swansea and Leeds.
