Premiership clubs with early season supporter concerns

[Yorkshire Canary 118]

I know this game can quickly come back and bite  you but by and large most Norwich supporters will be very happy indeed with our progress, signings and direction of travel. This led me to think what clubs have supporters who are thinking very differently and possibly linked to fear as to what next season will have in store.

1] The 3 promoted clubs. All 3 are bookies favourites to go down and to date all 3 put together have not made any signings that I would want for us or are likely to significantly help their survival prospects albeit Gayle for Palace may be a bit of a wild card.

2] Stoke must be concerned about what Hughes will be like. The have an aging squad of high earners and need lots of changes, does not seem to be happening for them at the moment and where are the goals coming from.

3]Newcastle  Lots of problems in the background with Kinnear/Pardew. already quite a few departures from last season and not many if any arrivals yet. They will probably bring a few in in the end such as Bent but they look to have another difficult season ahead.

4]Fulham The sale of the club does not seem to have helped transfer activity. another aging squad that badly needs investment which has not been forthcoming yet. The new owners record in the USA isn''t much to inspire confidence and they need reinforcements badly

[crabbycanary 2]

Those 6 Clubs would be my bottom 6, come the end of the season. None of them have had inspiring pre seasons, signing wise. I would perhaps put Cardiff to finish the highest of those.

[Morisons Prozac 0]

Maybe not bottom 6 but west Brom could be one to struggle having failed to replace Lukaku. Villa also haven''t really strengthened their squad and Benteke may not find goals as easy to come by now teams know what he''s like.

[Lets be aving you! 0]

I agree about West Brom and can see them really struggling.

 

I think they had 5 forwards last year, of which Lukaku and Fortune have both left, Odemwengie is never likely to play for them again, and Rosenberg has been pilloried by some of the club''s own fans.

 

This leaves only Shane Long, who can be a bit injury prone, and he''s now joined by a 34-year-old Anelka with possible strops ahead.

 

 

[Mr Brownstone 0]

Sunderland and Di Canio are a disaster waiting to happen.

I also wonder if Swansea have a deep enough squad to cope with the demands of the Europa League?

[Karl Pilkington 0]

Newcastle I thought should have been better. Last season the issues were the extra games caused by the UEFA cup. There is no money in this competition so it does not allow clubs to get squads to deal with the extra matches. But due to the dodgy off field issues regarding Joe Kinnear and Cissee this will means they will struggle.

Stoke, they are going to go through a big transition regarding style of play, Pullis to Hughes is like chalk and cheese, and players may struggle to deal with the new style. Fans will also get restlesss if they struggle early on.

Sunderland, when things are going well I think they''ll do okay, but when the inevitable sticky patch arrives, and every club goes through it, I do wonder who Di Canio will dela with it. If he has the man management skills to pull premiership players through it. He can''t bully them like a League one club players based on his reputation.

[Colourful Canary 0]

West Brom have signed Anelka.

Steve Clarke is too canny a manager for them to struggle. Sunderland, with De Canio in charge on the other hand, are an accident waiting to happen. Too many foreign signings who won''t necessarily gel quicly enough.

[Morisons Prozac 0]

To be fair CC we''ve made a lot of foreign signings. And Suderland''s by and large are pretty decent.

[Splendid Rush 2]

I echo Brownstone''s sentiments. I feel it''s only a matter if time before Sunderland implode. Di Canio is a nut job and I think he will really get on the wrong side of the players. That''s all fine at Swindon where he is a much bigger fish than any of them will ever be, but I don''t think it will wash with Premier League egos for too long.

[Yelloow Since 72 54]

I think it''s amazing that CH has managed to bring in 6 quality outfield players without losing any players who featured heavily last season, except for Holt, and to a lesser extent, Jackson. No upheaval, no big egos, just quiet and competent evolution of an already good squad of players.

[mrs miggins 0]

west broms form at the end of the season was woeful. we scored 4 against them...they just rolled over.

Has odemthingy gone yet?

[Al 0]

[quote user="mrs miggins"]west broms form at the end of the season was woeful. we scored 4 against them...they just rolled over.

Has odemthingy gone yet?[/quote]Bizarely their poor results in the 2nd half of the season coincided with Lukaku starting games. Their champions league form before christmas was when Lukaku was a bit part substitute. So replacing him with Anelka could well make them even better next season. Anelka coming off the bench with 20 minutes to go is quite frightening and will win them a lot of points i think

[Jonzey 0]

1. Stoke. Mark Hughes is trying to turn the current squad into a ball playing team. Considering they were predominately brought in to play direct football and focus on set pieces with their height and strength I can''t help but feel they will struggle early on. Especially given Mark Hughes is a terrible manager.

 

2. Sunderland. If anyone other than the three newboys goes down my money is on Sunderland. Di Canio is a walking time bomb hungry for the limelight. He will leave the club by October in spectacular style and his new signings will sink.

 

3. Newcastle. The joke club continues to survive. They''ve been through more ridiculous times, so given their relatively strong squad they should be ok. But it depends on Cisse, and who replaces him. Will it be Bent, does he remember how to put a shift in?

 

4. Fulham & West Brom. They''ll be ok. I''d still bet the Baggies will finish above us. Anelka to be the dark horse this year with a suprising amount of goals.