premiership teams worse then use

[BroadstairsR 0]

Pedantic I know, but I would rather the title of this thread be more along the lines of "Premiership teams we are better than," as the current title is a bit too defeatist for me. "Worse than," suggests we are a bad side. We are in one of the World''s top leagues next seasn on merit having achieved automatic promotion with a decent  degree of comfort and off the back of some excellent performances. 

 

Now, "Championship sides worse than Ips----," I could live with, but there are quite a few sensible reasons to be positive about our chances of   survival next season, not least the feeling of well-being that currently surrounds the entire institution that is NCFC and the manager who helped create it.

 

There are two factors I would like to mention in the  survival debate:

 

Firstly, more than half the teams in the Premiership are vulnerable and look towards survival before they start dreaming of a place in a  European competition. In recent seasons there often seems to be one of the "biggish" clubs like Newcastle, Birmingham or West Ham, who are, for one reason or another, sucked under. I actually thought that Villa might be that team this year, but the argument in their favour in a post above has convinced me otherwise. In sum, it may be tough for us but it will be equally so for quite a few others as well.  Possibly more than mentioned above. 

 

Secondly, I think that we are far better equipped for survival than Worthy''s team was. That team was sprinkled with super-talented individuals, Huckerby, Bentley, Francis and Ashton (belatedly) etc. but Lambert''s side has, hitherto, had  a certain something that breeds succes. A Blackpool with knobs on. Worthy''s side lost out at the last hurdle with the kind  of inept display that would not be part of the agenda of a Lambert team in a million years. The team ethic and never-say-die attitude,  that we have now gotten used to, when spread over a season is probably our main reason to be positive 

 

If yesterday''s third goal is anything to go by, we could well have a few "super-talented" individuals as before.

 

My yellow tinted glasses are firmly in place, it''s called supporting your team.  

   

[William Darby 0]

[quote user="hogesar"]Gene you''re a tit[/quote]And you''re obviously thick, so what''s your point?

[William Darby 0]

[quote user="City1st"]"our rag bag group of wannabes from the lower leagues "

ragbag, wannabes ?

a snide and cretinous dig at Lambert, the players and the club[/quote]If that''s what you think....  btw I think you''re the village idiot for thinking it.

[William Darby 0]

[quote user="grantroederdisaster"]

Gene Tierney"]Only Swansea that''s for sure FACT.  This coming season is about whether our rag bag group of wannabes from the lower leagues can perform better as a team than many individual premiership show ponies.  That''s what this season is about.

 

 

Possibly very true!

 

Like last season we aren''t being predicted to do much by pundits and even a lot of Norwich fans but games are won on the pitch not on paper and names don''t mean b ugger all. I wouldn''t swap any of our new signings for QPRs ridiculous new signing "big name" Keiron Dyer!

 

I certainly think we''re capable of finishing above 3-6 other teams in the Premiership! 

[/quote]I agree,  our lot are the underdogs, whom I''m sure will be prepared to scrap out a snotty winter''s evening game for a win.  While some of these big money names and show ponies will be thinking about gloves and snoods first and foremost.

[Yelloow Since 72 54]

I also think we should be positive. This season is already a success before it starts. It has solved the Club''s financial problems and in the worst case scenario, we have an excellent team to take on the Championship again. Beyond that, for the first time in years, we have quality competition and cover at every position - I don''t envy the choices PL is going to have to make for every match. Having retained all the players who regularly featured last year, PL has added pace and quality throughout the team so that injuries and suspensions won''t be as much of a worry. Add to that young players who are maturing well (Korey, Francomb, Rudd, Steer, Adeyemi, Dawkins and Ball) and you have 24 senior players and enough young players who take the total squad to at least 30, easily the largest squad of quality players I can remember in 40 years of following City. All this makes me optimistic.

[LeJuge 0]

In terms of talent, I don''t think we are necessarily better than any of those teams. In terms of committment, intelligience of tactics, ability for morale and belief to be maintained, we are better than most of them. We will survive because we have a fantastic management team who can get the best out of players, not because our players are necessarily any better. I reckon we will finish 15th or 16th, although I''d take 17th. The difference between 18th and 17th this year will be Lambert and Culverhouse. If any of those teams had Lambert and Culverhouse at the helm, I would put money on them surviving. Likewise, there aren''t many managers who would keep our current group happy and confident. It all goes back to McNally and Bowkett of course, but in terms of the footballing side of things at current, I don''t look at our squad as particularly strong.... I look at it as a squad capable of playing the way that Lambert wants us to play football and squad capable of scoring goals in those systems.

[pete 319]

I think we will struggle but if we get off to a good start and win early on confidence could flow.

Noone has mentioned Sunderland I feel they will struggle, scoring looks a problem area, Bruce has been recruiting like mad will take time to gel.

[? 20]

QPR, Blackburn and Wigan to go down for me. We''ll come around 15th - 16th.

I''m amazed how many of you are backing QPR to stay up...

[Syteanric 1]

Villa will be up Sh*t street if Bent gets injured...

[paul moy 235]

[quote user="jas the barclay king"]Villa will be up Sh*t street if Bent gets injured...
[/quote]

Villa may well buy Joey Barton.

[Rupethebear 0]

Not sure anybody will have to buy Mr Barton, he''s free to anybody who wants to pay him!!

That said I think Newcastle are on the brink, a few top players have left, no new signings and now Barton is off......wait till the fans get on Pardew''s back and then they will be releagtion fodder!! If you want a tip, back Newcastle to go down!!!

[Canarygeorge 0]

Agreed, Newcastle seem to be in melt down. 3 or 4 of their best players left already ( Carroll, that lad who went to west ham, Barton etc. The good players that are still there at the moment are demoralized. I think they are good for a relegation bet.

[Indy 3,300]

Well I don''t think there are any teams in the premiership any worse or any better, it depends on the day. Last time out we beat Man U, Blackpool showed that any team can be beaten last season, but still went down.

It will depend on how players teams and crowds react to each game, to where we end up, then we will know who were the teams that we out performed.

For my two pence worth, I think we will be battling relegation, but I also think Everton, Blackburn, Stoke, QPR and Swansea over the season are the teams we should be aiming to overhaul for safety.

On a side note, our squad has been assembled with some very good youngsters and should the worst happen I can see the core of this Norwich team staying here to get us back up.

If you really think any team is worse than Norwich it''s only opinion, no one thought West Ham were that bad last year, Birmingham won the League Cup and got rlegated.

What ever time is fast approaching to enjoy the football, what ever happens WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE!

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

sticking my neck out i think the relegation trio will be Newcastle [ club in cricis] QPR [club in cricis] and Wigan lost their best player and have been punching above their weight for years

[crabbycanary 2]

[quote user="Yelloow Since 72"]I also think we should be positive. This season is already a success before it starts. It has solved the Club''s financial problems and in the worst case scenario, we have an excellent team to take on the Championship again. Beyond that, for the first time in years, we have quality competition and cover at every position - I don''t envy the choices PL is going to have to make for every match. Having retained all the players who regularly featured last year, PL has added pace and quality throughout the team so that injuries and suspensions won''t be as much of a worry. Add to that young players who are maturing well (Korey, Francomb, Rudd, Steer, Adeyemi, Dawkins and Ball) and you have 24 senior players and enough young players who take the total squad to at least 30, easily the largest squad of quality players I can remember in 40 years of following City. All this makes me optimistic.[/quote]

You are right, it isn''t going to be an all round disaster if we did get relegated (unlike West Ham etc) as players and finances are in place to not put us in a dark hole. With that mindset and backing from the Board, PL can really push on and focus on the pitch.

Back to topic- I think QPR will finish bottom, and Wigan Swansea Blackburn and Wolves are going to be very close to trouble. As much as I have a soft spot for Newcastle, I think if Ashley and the odious Pardew hang around too long then the Geordies might start twitching.

[swjf50 0]

I think Villa will be better than us. N''Zogbia will suit their style of play and i feel they''ll finish mid table or above.

[Tumbleweed 106]

To me its about defences. I think we are just about OK in midfield and we have proven strikers who should not lack confidence when they get their chances, which they will.

However the big difference will be the likes of Fabregas, Torres, Rooney, Drogba, Young, Bent, Tevez (maybe), Suarez etc and how they do against our defenders. Many Prem teams have great pace down the wings, they could skin Messrs Martin and Tierney if they put a foot wrong. They will have players arriving from deep, and strikers with great ball control, strength and vision bearing down on our centre pairing. With Ward out for a bit, this could be a real wake up call at the back. We were sometimes a bit leaky last season and had to come from behind too often. Indeed that demonstrates good team spirit, but we won''t be able to do that too many times against Premiership sides. So the answer to me requires that you look at the respective defences, that is what ultimately nailed Blackpool despite the Lambert-style spirit and togetherness which Holloway created.

[Europe_93 11]

We have a good chance of finishing above:

Swansea

QPR (relegated)

Wigan

Blackburn (relegated)

Wolves

West Brom

Newcastle

Bolton (relegated)

And be in and around Stoke, Villa, Sunderland & Fulham and Everton if they have a bad season.

10-12 is my prediction