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25overpar

Last time you felt this positive

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There probably are more additions to the squad to come, but based on what we have right now, how many of you are feeling more positive about the forthcoming season than ever before? I know we have nearly always looked at the next season and felt renewed optimism and usually only to be sadly disappointed, but I for one just feel all the pieces of the jigsaw are now in place. I remember when we had our best season in the Premiership under Mike Walker, but before the season started there wasn''t that strong feeling something as special as that was going to happen.

On a scale of 1 to 10 (1) Bottom three and (10) Top two, what do you feel?

I''m going for a 9.5.

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I''m on a 7.5 but to be fair I was on a 7.5 this time last year too..........

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Are we being honest here about how we felt at the time or allowing hindsight to colour our memories?   If I am honest then, I felt as positive a year ago as we had some apparently good signings and we had consolidated well.   We had Holt , Hughes and Askou who turned out well and don''t forget that before we kicked off, we thought we had done well signing Theo, Gill, OTJ and Maric.

Even my doubts about Gunn were quietened by the strength of the squad and I hoped that the management team was just that.

This year I feel as positive but I also feel more confident that the positivism is based on substance and not illusion.   I think for many of us the disaster of Colchester was made even worse by the positivism we took into that much.

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I''m with you Salahuddin, cannot help but feel optimistic in the summer and as we saw last year all can change in 45 mins of the first game!

I really like the squad Lambo is assembling and think Surman is a quality signing. A couple more like this and might be hitting an 8, but think we will struggle to do better than playoffs as there are still some big strong teams like Cardiff and Boro to contend with.

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Postitive but not confident! Very very excited though.

I cant wait to get the World Cup over with and get to Glandford Park!

 

 

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Seems I''m the most pessimistic/realistic so far. I''m only on a 5 maybe 5.5. Mid table for us I feel I still think we''re a gk and a striker away.

Davo

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Whilst I am happy we appear to making good solid Championship signings I and I am getting excited for the start of the season, I am simply not letting myself get carried away.

We have had good teams that havn''t performed before and although we have a fantastic manager you never can tell how long it will take some players to gel together and settle in.

At the moment I think we need another striker with some level of proven quality. At the moment if we had an injury to any of our main four strikers we could struggle - lack of form in another, suspension etc. I also worry that MacDonald and Johnson are still aclimatising to professional football and out of the two Johnson has more to his game. I think MacDonald needs to go on loan and get games to develop or we allow him to move on to fulfill what potential he has elsewhere.

That and a keeper and I will be satisfied that we have enough to at least make an assault on the play-off places. But to be honest I would be happy with top half of the table. May sound a little underestimating but I don''t think this league is a walk in the park even without big teams dropping down from the premiership.

I would say look out for Cardiff, Burnley (if they can hang on to or replace the players they loose), Leicester - who could all do well.

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I''m certainly positive about the coming season, but I think top 2 is probably out of reach. And without trying to be negative, if we did finish in the promotion places next year, what the hell would we do in the prem the following year?? The team we''re building now is good championship material - the players we have got or brought in have played no more than a few prem games between them and some haven''t really got any championship experience. I don''t think that''s a problem now and two seasons in the championship, with further strengthening next summer plus weeding out of those (and there will inevitably be at least a couple) that can''t make the step up, will give us a much more solid team with the potential to raise the bar again.  If we''re worried about our back up strikers for next season, what will we be saying next summer? Those annual posts about where we need strengthening in the close season would probably just be a list of every position on the pitch.The consequences of going up again next season could be horrible - get thrashed around in the prem in 2011/12 and have to rebuild again the following season. No manager does well out of being relegated, and Lambert would probably see the writing on the wall way before that even happened, so would almost certainly be tempted to jump ship if an offer came in from a club with more resources and a more experienced squad. Even if he didn''t there would be idiots clammering for his head, saying that he was good in the lower leagues but out of his depth in the prem. Result would be either he goes anyway, or at minimum we lose the togetherness and unity we have at the moment. That could leave us looking for a new manager for a championship season in 2012/13, with morale low and lots of uncertainty.Call me unambitious, but I''d like to see us play well next season, grab a few great wins, be solid defensively with some flair going forward and finish in the play offs (but lose out on promotion) or 7th, 8th, 9th, something like that. Then really push on the following season, building on a team that''s confident in the championship and hungry for more, but with a bit of experience in how to make the step up. That''s not to say that Lambert and the players should be thinking like that - they need to aim to win the league - that''s just how I think we will end up doing best in the long term.Of course it could all turn out fantastically - go up again, get serious investment into the club, bring in quality premiership level players and surprise everyone the following season. I just think it''s more likely that things might go a bit tits up if we do exceed expectations next season.Back to the question - I''ve very positive - I think that a top half of the table finish is absolutely achievable and that the players have the belief in each other and the coaching staff to do well. As we''ve seen in the world cup, individual flair gets you some way, but teams with good organisation, belief and that play for each other will always do better than those that don''t, and sometimes much better than teams that have more quality ''on paper''. I think we have that togetherness, even with the new players who have a full pre-season to gel and are clearly inspired by Lambert, and that makes me confident that we''ll do ok.

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One of the most sensible, well constructed posts I have read on this board. Sadly, as a result I think I''ve just suffered a reality check and am not so confident of a top 2 finish as I was before I read it. Notwithstanding, I take your point regarding the too-much-too-soon theory and agree, but we must also remember that even if we came straight down we would, over a four year period be somewhere in the region of £90m better off. That injection of money enables team strenthening, debt clearance and ground capacity increase. So, although I agree with your prediction if we were to achieve promotion, I would take it for the reasons I have just mentioned.

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[quote user="steakbearnaise"]I''m certainly positive about the coming season, but I think top 2 is probably out of reach. And without trying to be negative, if we did finish in the promotion places next year, what the hell would we do in the prem the following year?? The team we''re building now is good championship material - the players we have got or brought in have played no more than a few prem games between them and some haven''t really got any championship experience. I don''t think that''s a problem now and two seasons in the championship, with further strengthening next summer plus weeding out of those (and there will inevitably be at least a couple) that can''t make the step up, will give us a much more solid team with the potential to raise the bar again.  If we''re worried about our back up strikers for next season, what will we be saying next summer? Those annual posts about where we need strengthening in the close season would probably just be a list of every position on the pitch.

The consequences of going up again next season could be horrible - get thrashed around in the prem in 2011/12 and have to rebuild again the following season. No manager does well out of being relegated, and Lambert would probably see the writing on the wall way before that even happened, so would almost certainly be tempted to jump ship if an offer came in from a club with more resources and a more experienced squad. Even if he didn''t there would be idiots clammering for his head, saying that he was good in the lower leagues but out of his depth in the prem. Result would be either he goes anyway, or at minimum we lose the togetherness and unity we have at the moment. That could leave us looking for a new manager for a championship season in 2012/13, with morale low and lots of uncertainty.

Call me unambitious, but I''d like to see us play well next season, grab a few great wins, be solid defensively with some flair going forward and finish in the play offs (but lose out on promotion) or 7th, 8th, 9th, something like that. Then really push on the following season, building on a team that''s confident in the championship and hungry for more, but with a bit of experience in how to make the step up. That''s not to say that Lambert and the players should be thinking like that - they need to aim to win the league - that''s just how I think we will end up doing best in the long term.

Of course it could all turn out fantastically - go up again, get serious investment into the club, bring in quality premiership level players and surprise everyone the following season. I just think it''s more likely that things might go a bit tits up if we do exceed expectations next season.

Back to the question - I''ve very positive - I think that a top half of the table finish is absolutely achievable and that the players have the belief in each other and the coaching staff to do well. As we''ve seen in the world cup, individual flair gets you some way, but teams with good organisation, belief and that play for each other will always do better than those that don''t, and sometimes much better than teams that have more quality ''on paper''. I think we have that togetherness, even with the new players who have a full pre-season to gel and are clearly inspired by Lambert, and that makes me confident that we''ll do ok.



[/quote]

What, so if we got to the Play off''s, you would go to the games hoping we lose? surely the aim for Norwich is to be the best it can be, and if we did get to the play offs (or even top 2!) this would be fantastic for the club. take it one season at a time, but if we did get to the premier league, this is a guaranteed £90 million with parachute payments. Look at Burnley, they go up, get beat on a fairly regular basis, come back down and are now a lot better off financially, and are the/one of the favourites to go straight back up.

As for the OP''s question, im on a 7/7.5! With the signing of players such as smith and Surman, i really do feel the play offs are a very realistic target, but may be difficult to win them as i feel we could end up playing teams such as forest, Cardiff and possibly even Leeds. But, still, time will tell!

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[quote user="ryan1992"]

What, so if we got to the Play off''s, you would go to the games hoping we lose? surely the aim for Norwich is to be the best it can be, and if we did get to the play offs (or even top 2!) this would be fantastic for the club. take it one season at a time,[/quote]

No of course not - I want us to do as well as we possibly can, and if we get to the play offs I''d be desperate for us to win. I just think that in the long term two seasons in the champ might not do us any harm and allow for incremental improvements to the squad. If we go up again, the pressure here from everyone - and presumably the pressure on the board of the club - will be to invest heavily in the team to ensure we''re competitive and to a certain extent we would have to do that. But it''s hard to transform a team as Lambert has done over the past year, then bring in new faces over this summer, and then once more suddenly change the whole team again next summer - however good he is the chances are that Lambert cannot get it right every time and if you make a lot of changes at once it''s easy to mess things up. Someone else posted about prospects for the new season and said that momentum was important - a good start and we can do alright - how easy would that be in the prem in 2011/12. Of course that''s not always true - Colchester last season being a great example. But we had to change the manager to do that and bring in even more new players after Gunny had already signed a shed load. Do that with prem quality players on prem wages (imagine having bought 2 midfielders like OTJ and Gill for the prem, only to see them basically sit on the sidelines for a 3 yr contract and draw prem wages) and that windfall money will quickly be spunked away. And Lambert would be gone, of course.As I said orginally, it doesn''t necessarily have to happen that way, so if there''s a chance of going up I''d sell my grandmother to achieve it, but I wouldn''t be disappointed with a slightly slower improvement in the team that keeps Lambert with us and steady investment into new players that fit with the best we already have (whilst giving those best ones time to adjust and improve). But - as you say - one season at a time...

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I''m on 11 at the moment, but then again, unlike some on here, I trust Lambert![img]http://www.acidtrax.net/smileys/hide.gif[/img]

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[quote user="steakbearnaise"][quote user="ryan1992"]


What, so if we got to the Play off''s, you would go to the games hoping we lose? surely the aim for Norwich is to be the best it can be, and if we did get to the play offs (or even top 2!) this would be fantastic for the club. take it one season at a time,[/quote]

No of course not - I want us to do as well as we possibly can, and if we get to the play offs I''d be desperate for us to win.

I just think that in the long term two seasons in the champ might not do us any harm and allow for incremental improvements to the squad. If we go up again, the pressure here from everyone - and presumably the pressure on the board of the club - will be to invest heavily in the team to ensure we''re competitive and to a certain extent we would have to do that. But it''s hard to transform a team as Lambert has done over the past year, then bring in new faces over this summer, and then once more suddenly change the whole team again next summer - however good he is the chances are that Lambert cannot get it right every time and if you make a lot of changes at once it''s easy to mess things up. Someone else posted about prospects for the new season and said that momentum was important - a good start and we can do alright - how easy would that be in the prem in 2011/12. Of course that''s not always true - Colchester last season being a great example. But we had to change the manager to do that and bring in even more new players after Gunny had already signed a shed load. Do that with prem quality players on prem wages (imagine having bought 2 midfielders like OTJ and Gill for the prem, only to see them basically sit on the sidelines for a 3 yr contract and draw prem wages) and that windfall money will quickly be spunked away. And Lambert would be gone, of course.

As I said orginally, it doesn''t necessarily have to happen that way, so if there''s a chance of going up I''d sell my grandmother to achieve it, but I wouldn''t be disappointed with a slightly slower improvement in the team that keeps Lambert with us and steady investment into new players that fit with the best we already have (whilst giving those best ones time to adjust and improve). But - as you say - one season at a time...


[/quote]

Could someone please explain this phrase?[:S]

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[quote user="First Wizard"]I''m 11 at the moment,[/quote]Idon''t think that will surprise many Wiz! [;)][:D]

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4-6 at the min with a new right back and keeper would be 5-7 with a right winger and a proven striker aswell 7-8........thats if the players signed, are as good as they are built upto be and we don''t get any injuries.

injury to holt and hoolahan with our current squad we will find ourselves in a bit of a dog fight at the bottom.

Also if ward gets injured am worried about our defence... Am hopeing witbread will be much better with a pre season behind him because Nelson and Askou are not good enough for the championship..

With more additions and a packed carrow road of 27000 fans roaring the team on week in week out. Anything is still possible!

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[quote user="lappinitup"][quote user="First Wizard"]I''m 11 at the moment,[/quote]Idon''t think that will surprise many Wiz! [;)][:D][/quote]

If we lose the 1st game that will soon become a 3[:#]

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i''m a 9, maybe a 9.5.

if we can get a good goalkeeper - preferably forster - and a decent striker then it''ll be a 10

full faith in lambert tho and it looks like the minimum aim this season is top 6 - i''ve heard that we spent at least 1mill on Surman.. which is serious money for norwich considerin we arent that great financially - i know we''re not bad either - but it just looks like the top quality players are comin in to give us a chance of that top 6/top 2 challenge

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