Fine margins

[Dean Coneys boots 1,531]

It’s fine margins at this level. Right now, with no signings or major upgrades, I feel we will not just struggle but be sunk before a ball is kicked. But add skipp on loan, Tzolis and a serious CB- and suddenly I am confident of mid table…which is to say we are so very close to being competitive it has to be worth a push to make it happen 

[A Load of Squit 6,260]

I thought we were signing another French player called Fine Margins.

 

[Bill 1,788]

5 hours ago, Dean Coneys boots said:

It’s fine margins at this level. Right now, with no signings or major upgrades, I feel we will not just struggle but be sunk before a ball is kicked. But add skipp on loan, Tzolis and a serious CB- and suddenly I am confident of mid table…which is to say we are so very close to being competitive it has to be worth a push to make it happen 

If only Webber/Farke had thought of such an action

you should contact them and outline your thoughts

especially the bit about

" a push to make it happen"

[TheGoogler 604]

6 hours ago, Dean Coneys boots said:

It’s fine margins at this level. Right now, with no signings or major upgrades, I feel we will not just struggle but be sunk before a ball is kicked. But add skipp on loan, Tzolis and a serious CB- and suddenly I am confident of mid table…which is to say we are so very close to being competitive it has to be worth a push to make it happen 

I like Olly Skipp and would have him back in a heart beat. But he's (and Tzolis) not the difference between us being relegated and mid table. We will still struggle, even with those signings.

Edited July 30, 2021 by TheGoogler

[KiwiScot 1,684]

Finer margins would be a team that has a bit of fight in it

[AJ 1,359]

Although clearly better, even without Buendia, in Squad depth then we were last time but we still look so light in quality. If any one of Pukki, Raschica, Gilmour, Gibson, Hanley, Cantwell or Dimi get injured or suspended, then what? We have very limited plan B options, definitely not Premier League quality ones

[Dean Coneys boots 1,531]

Agree AJ- I also don’t see any real improvements to the starting XI which we were promised. Rather one step forward in Rashica and two back in Buendia and Skipp. Hopefully that will all change as there is still time… but if it doesn’t come off there could be egg on faces. I do have a horrid feeling selling Emi will come back to haunt us

[KeiranShikari 1,524]

I think the better comparasson to make is from our last Premier League season instead of last year.

I don't know enough about most of the signings to judge but purely based on how we play now I'm almost certain that we're better than we were last time around.

 

 

[Taylor324 36]

Lots of doom and gloom

I"m happy to wager £500 with anyone here that we will do better than the last Prem season

[chicken 3,086]

9 minutes ago, KeiranShikari said:

I think the better comparasson to make is from our last Premier League season instead of last year.

I don't know enough about most of the signings to judge but purely based on how we play now I'm almost certain that we're better than we were last time around.

I agree with you, but sadly, it'll trigger DCB's boots to pop off in anger.

There have been endless conversations involving DCB, and this has to be the third or fourth stating exactly the same thing again. People point out flaws in his views and we end up at the same result. Overwhelming majority disagreeing with DCB's views, thread dies down, a couple of days later he creates another thread and away we go again.

Case in point - the op in this thread and:

"It is happening again"

Quote

Whenever we go up we struggle to land our targets and this becomes our undoing…we then get left with the bargain bin signings and I fear it is happening again. Gazzumped by Brentford for Ajer and now Billing saying he would rather stay at Bournemouth. one senses the window isn’t going as envisaged. 

here is hoping things improve and the purse strings are opened or it’s going to be a long season again. Come on board- get them over the line - less than three weeks to Liverpool. 

Anyone else getting twitchy or am I just being too negative again?  

"Little Old Norwich"

Quote

Was really hoping we would finally see some real ambition to establish ourselves this window - but as things stand it all seems so eerily familiar:

sold our best player to a rival 

lost out to direct rival for our targeted CB

haven’t recruited position we need -  CDM

Appear to be struggling to land top targets 

a couple of decent signings for sure - but hardly looking better than last year as it stands. Certainly not looking significantly stronger. Might yet change but beginning to feel like a premiership groundhog window to me…

And there are others in similar vein, criticising the self funding approach the club has. As said, all have glaring flaws, fail to see the bigger picture and are often poorly informed. But you know. DCB clearly needs the attention quite badly and I guess I am guilty of giving it to him... 

[KeiranShikari 1,524]

If you just want to make a direct comparason between players this seaspm and last then I think it's still all up in the air.

We've lost a player in Buendia who could probably go and play in the Champions League and a player who Spurs seemingly think can play a part in their squad. Whilst not direct replacements we've signed Lees-Melou, a player with 151 top flight French games and Rashica with 80 odd in both Germany and Holland. Then there's Gilmour who a lot of Chelsea fans wanted to keep hold of. We're probably not doing too badly.

That being said I do hope Zimmerman is our 5th choice CB come the end of the window.

[1902 1,167]

I honestly think we could end up with worse players and do better. 

We were a good footballing side last time round, hence all the 'best playing team to get relegated' stuff that came out. It was just ineffective because of inexperience, an unbalanced side, a lack of physicality and injuries. None of that made the individual players that bad, just as a group, not capable of keeping us up.

This side will likey be more physical and with more experience, that might count in the dog fight to come.

As to plan Bs, not sure many promoted sides can ever really afford them. The reality is when we have gone up, it's been plan A that's kept us there whenever we have managed it, we have never had the resources or depth to change mid season. This is fairly common I suspect for sides in their first year back in the premier League.

Theres going to be an element of luck to next season, we can stay up, but not if we have a year like the last time we were promoted.

Edited July 30, 2021 by 1902

[hogesar 10,763]

1 hour ago, Taylor324 said:

Lots of doom and gloom

I"m happy to wager £500 with anyone here that we will do better than the last Prem season

Let's see who takes you up, I presume @Dean Coneys boots will grab the opportunity with both hands since he's practically started three threads in the past week or so basically saying the same thing.

[Bill 1,788]

1 hour ago, KeiranShikari said:

I think the better comparasson to make is from our last Premier League season instead of last year.

I don't know enough about most of the signings to judge but purely based on how we play now I'm almost certain that we're better than we were last time around.

agree

last time around I suspect there was an air of "oh fck, we weren't expecting this" when we found ourselves in the PL

However the guiding thought was how the previous relegation had left us with a hefty wage bll, and staged transfer payments almost bankrupting us with only the sale of Maddison saving us.  There wasn't thought then that we had the players that would later generate income (Lewis/Godfrey). So the club wisely took the decision that it would spend what it could afford were we to be relegated.

Lack of ambition, or the recognition that following in the footsteps of Bolton Blackburn, Wigan, Sunderland etc was not perhaps the most sensible idea, nor fell within their remit as directors.

So we go into this season in a far healthy financial state. This time there are players we can sell should the worst happen - Rashica. Giannoulis, Lees-Melou and not forgetting Cantwell and Aarons. Players like Gibson, Dowell and McLean are not the 'newbies, as were so many of the 19/20 squad.

This is not so much a reply to the **** the troll DCB spews out, but a reassurance to our lot that two years down the line is two years down the line further in building a strong club, both on and off the pitch.  The developing side continues to improve more established players while still producing players like Mumba and Omobamidele.

And I have no doubt that we will see further additions to the squad in the coming months. So much to look forward to.

Not least Liverpool, rather than Morecombe ..... what say you DCB 😛 ?

[Midlands Yellow 4,682]

56 minutes ago, hogesar said:

Let's see who takes you up, I presume @Dean Coneys boots will grab the opportunity with both hands since he's practically started three threads in the past week or so basically saying the same thing.

A fair bet would just be relegation or stay up. Both odds roughly around 5/6 so let’s see who wants to be a bookie. 

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 4,616]

9 hours ago, Taylor324 said:

Lots of doom and gloom

I"m happy to wager £500 with anyone here that we will do better than the last Prem season

That's a pretty safe bet there to be fair; it couldn't really go much worse!