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Dean Coneys boots

Dose of realism needed

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It is great that many people are happy with our summer transfers and are feeling really optimistic about the new season but...

...please get real. Talk of top four finishes, being top after ten games. Its crazy!

Truth is we could easily struggle. Easily continue to play negative tactics that leave us with no fire power and easily find ourselves in the bottom half even with the signings.

Not wanting to dampen the mood. But am very worried people are building up too many expectations and will then turn sour quickly should it be a tough campaign.

A little realism needed? Fer and RVW are good...but not THAT good.

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There are going to be three teams worse than us and that''s all that matters to me. Survival !!

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Its great to be optimistic, but in reality we are probably going to be mid-table, although 17th would still be acceptable imo.     I still think its possible to be near the top, but also think its possible we could find it difficult.   The truth is we don''t know.  That is the beauty of sport.  Anything can happen - and probably will.

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Dont be Complacent moy, that''s what cost your lad his Norwich career that and he was s***e

Think we still need a defender and a forward

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[quote user="refjezdavies"]Dont be Complacent moy, that''s what cost your lad his Norwich career that and he was s***e

Think we still need a defender and a forward[/quote]I think saying your going to be top ten is complacent. Wake up and smell the coffee. We are going to have to fight for every valuable point just as we did last season.   

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Dose of realism is needed. Other teams will also strengthen, so let''s work for survival and be glad of anything above that! Should the new lads gel quickly, I think 10th place is a reasonable target.

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Looking forward to next weeks games to see our new strikers start scoring as so far they are not performing

Time for some action to justify the fee.

If not then do we question our system as last season we could not score either.

Holt to be in the top three strikers next year as he will get service

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Some do seem to have too high expectations. We have strengthened (and well) but so have others round (just look at Swansea tonight). If we match our 11th place finish of last year I''ll be happy. Would rather we did it in more style this year however

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Staying up is my expectation, it is just to stay up And then look to move on. With the final run in of games we know we need to be in a good position. I am hoping that palace and hull struggle. By Xmas if these two are adrift it would be ideal for a start.

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Will the same people telling us to be realistic be the same ones kicking off if we have a poor start?

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I think the majority on here and most City supporters will certainly have a realistic view about what is or isnt achievable, LDC sums it up. Its clear that just to, shall we say "stand still" the squad required major strengthening, and that process appears almost complete and handled in a very impressive manner. So, based on that, a healthy mid table finish is certainly being realistic, but whilst also accepting that there really is a very fine line between a mid table position and battling it out in the relegation zone, but a huge gap between mid table and sustaining a place in the top six or so.

The big concern I have, is that if we do have a difficult run of results that sees us in that dreaded relegation zone, that the supporters keep calm (unlike when we dont score in a meaningless pre season friendly) and contribute positively towards the efforts to get us out of it........I fear though that as per usual the hate mob will come to the surface and only compound the problems, been there before havnt we.

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I know we''ve spent lots of money and logic does say that we''ve improved the squad. The reality is that we got rid of the keystone of the squad in Holt and I''ve seen no evidence yet to prove that we have filled that big hole he left in leadership, will to win, goalscoring etc. Lets see some evidence on the pitch and not the evidence of a depleting bank balance !!!!  QPR thought they''d improved their squad by spending and look what happened.

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I think you''ve hit the nail on the head DCB. A big dose is very much needed.

My belief is that it has very much everything to do with how we shape up this year. CH has assembled a very good squad this pre season and i think if he gives the players more freedom to express themselves i think we could finish as high as 8th to 10th.

I do think it will be a difficult job trying to blend and gel all our new players and CH will really have to earn his money. If he struggles then i would think he could fall on his own sword especially if he continues to play the same way as last season. He has assembled a too good a squad for that.

IMO anywhere between 11th down to 17th is realistic.

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[quote user="HoltsDerbyDayHattrick"]QPR filled there squad with overpaid wankers and egos[/quote]Agreed, and because of that I was one of the few that actually predicted QPR would struggle.  No apologies for predicting a struggle for us based on evidence so far and of negative tactics last season that I fear will continue. 

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[quote user="swindoncanary"]The only objective of the board and manager next season is to remain in the Premiership. It should also be the same for the fans.  [/quote]

Then why spend? If we achieved 11th last season with the squad we had why spend the money on new signings?

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Dubai Mark wrote the following post at 2013-08-02 11:49 AM:

The big concern I have, is that if we do have a difficult run of results that sees us in that dreaded relegation zone, that the supporters keep calm (unlike when we dont score in a meaningless pre season friendly) and contribute positively towards the efforts to get us out of it........

FFS what utter garbage. It does not matter one iota whether supporters keep calm or not - results on the pitch are completely under the control of coaches, their tactics and p,ayers performances, Get real!

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[quote user="paul moy"][quote user="HoltsDerbyDayHattrick"]QPR filled there squad with overpaid wankers and egos[/quote]Agreed, and because of that I was one of the few that actually predicted QPR would struggle.  No apologies for predicting a struggle for us based on evidence so far and of negative tactics last season that I fear will continue.  [/quote]

But that just isn''t true.   We do not play with negative tactics.  Hughton sets his teams up to play football.  The problem last season was that we couldn''t do that.  The midfield couldn''t deliver consistently. .  The defence was ok.  They passed the ball out to the midfielders who then seemed to freeze on the ball.   They lacked the quality to be able to take it on further.  That''s why we didn''t score enough goals. 

At times  last season we saw glimpses of what we were capable of.    The ten game unbeaten run.  Swansea away.  Sunderland first half, at home.  The difficult matches to watch were ones where the midfield stuttered and seemed to lack the confidence to take it on. 

Negative? No.  No way.  

This season, with an improved midfield including Redmond, Fer and a rejuvinated Howson  we may be able to play through the midfield with more quality. Then we have the strikers who can score, no problem.   However, a difficult season would mean that survival would still be acceptable, though reality suggests that we may be midway this season again.

But, it is possible we could do a lot, lot better than that.  

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On the face of it we have a good squad who have every reason to want to do well, this is Hughtons big chance to develop them, play to their strengths and lead them to success. I hope he has learned lessons from last season and will reward the club for the faith it has put in him.

Expectations are bound to be high after all the money we have spent, and rightly so, I just hope the manager will able to get the best out of the squad!

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I think we will be okay, and by that I think we will finish somewhere between 7th and 17th. 7th if all our players perform above their potential and we''re very lucky.

However there are a number of reasons why it is likely to be a much tougher season than that:

1. Other teams have also strengthened (and perhaps more wisely than us - from the evidence of how Swansea''s and Sunderland''s new players are gelling)

2. Slow start because new players take a long time to gel. If this happens it will be very tough to rectify given the fixture list. We simply can''t afford to go into the last few games needing points.

3. Injuries - especially to centre backs. If Bassong struggles with injuries this season I fear we''ll struggle - we need another top CB. Also if RVW or Hooper have a serious injury we will be short up front - we could do with another striker or perhaps AM who can also play up front if needed.

4. Lack of supply to forwards/creativity. No matter how good RVW and Hooper are they will struggle to score goals if they don''t get the supply, this will in-turn affect their confidence. I think we need a new improved model of Wes. Last year there were too many games there for the taking but we struggled for ideas/creativity. Wes is a genius and will be important again this year however his goal scoring ability is poor and he''s getting on a bit. A new number 10 who can slot in behind RVW/Hoops and unlock defences is what I think we need. If we don''t sign anyone Howson may be able to do this job - from his last few games and pre-season I think his time has come! Fer could also help in this area.

Despite the issues mentioned I think we''ll be okay and have the potential to do very well if we hit the ground running, play like we did in the last 2 games last season and sign another CB and number 10 - oh and get a bit of luck!

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My hope and expectation is for a decent mid table position and a points total close to fifty. Every season in this league is going to be difficult with luck and injuries playing a big part but if I had to describe my feelings now I would say, "cautiously optimistic".Nothing is certain until a ball has been kicked but with a dozen games gone we will pretty much know how things will pan out.

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[quote user="lake district canary"][quote user="paul moy"][quote user="HoltsDerbyDayHattrick"]QPR filled there squad with overpaid wankers and egos[/quote]Agreed, and because of that I was one of the few that actually predicted QPR would struggle.  No apologies for predicting a struggle for us based on evidence so far and of negative tactics last season that I fear will continue.  [/quote]

But that just isn''t true.   We do not play with negative tactics.  Hughton sets his teams up to play football.  The problem last season was that we couldn''t do that.  The midfield couldn''t deliver consistently. .  The defence was ok.  They passed the ball out to the midfielders who then seemed to freeze on the ball.   They lacked the quality to be able to take it on further.  That''s why we didn''t score enough goals. 

At times  last season we saw glimpses of what we were capable of.    The ten game unbeaten run.  Swansea away.  Sunderland first half, at home.  The difficult matches to watch were ones where the midfield stuttered and seemed to lack the confidence to take it on. 

Negative? No.  No way.  

This season, with an improved midfield including Redmond, Fer and a rejuvinated Howson  we may be able to play through the midfield with more quality. Then we have the strikers who can score, no problem.   However, a difficult season would mean that survival would still be acceptable, though reality suggests that we may be midway this season again.

But, it is possible we could do a lot, lot better than that.  

[/quote]We''re never going to agree LDC, but the number of draws last season speaks for itself. With more attacking intent we would have had more wins and more defeats.  Personally, I would prefer that and it would mean probably that we get more points. That''s why I say we were negative and also why many others do too.

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[quote user="crabbycanary"]Paul - where do you think we will finish next season? No explanation needed, just a finishing position[/quote]I have to explain as there are many potential variables: It''s a difficult one to answer as we have no evidence that we will outperform as yet and as to the manager''s game plans. With emphasis on attack and going for wins if drawing a game, I would envisage a good season, but settle for draws and I see a struggle. The other unknown is how good the strikers are. I am cautious until seeing them perform in the Prem. The only thing I''m reasonably sure of is that we will be safe as our squad is surely better than Hull, Palace and Cardiff and if we are struggling we can add to the squad in January.  Outperform and we could be up to 8th/9th but realistically based on evidence so far, just above the bottom three, so around 14th to 17th. 

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Im sorry but the tactics last season WERE negative. I dont know how anyone can say anything else. Hughton assessed his squad, felt they werent good enough, and set up against the opposition in every game to try and shut them down. The tactics became about being hard to beat and about stopping the opposition playing. We then became incapable of playing ourselves. Far too often last season Holt was on his own as the only player given licence to attack. Everyone else had their defensive responsibilities.

We went from showing the league what we can do to worrying about what the opposition could do. That is negative. The plan was to stop them scoring and hope that the ball went in at the other end somehow.

That was last season though, and Hughton has set about addressing the deficiencies - so Id be very surprised if this season the team played with that mentality. He now has players he believes in, and Im sure he''ll allow them to express themselves.

But how anyone can not call last seasons tactics negative is beyond me, you must have been watching a different team to me!

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