madruss

It does seem strange that we've had no offers for players such as Saga. I can only guess that maybe their high wages are the problem for potential buyers and as such our best course of action is to get those wages off our books

Don't you mean half-empty

Great post, it contains balance and analysis of known facts rather than hyper-pessimistic speculation... I agree that DMG is in good form and can only get better with confidence. Another attribute he brings to the side is versatility, which fits perfectly with our new system. There's no way we could ever stick Rasiak out on the wing during a game, so in that respect DMG is a much better option than GR. Fair enough if we go back to 4-4-2, perhaps Rasiak would be needed, but until then we'll be fine without him. If John were to go as well, then I'd start to worry. But why worry something that hasn't happened?

Agreed. John's hold up play is far superior to Rasiak's and he will therefore be able to contibute a lot more to the team, given the new formation. Anyone can see we can't afford both Rasiak and John, and if we can hold on to SJ we could do well this season

Agreed, the confidence thing could be a major sticking point for our success. That's where we need a bit of luck to help build that confidence. A last minute deflected winner would help on Saturday for starters!!

Despite yesterday's defeat, I find myself cautiously optimistic about the season ahead. Yes, there are worries about the size of the team and the potential to be out-muscled and out-fought, and yes the squad lacks depth and experience, but.... This is a team full of players who are going to get better, the more times they play. Llallana, Thomson, James, DMG, Scneiderlin, Gillett...etc all have very little first team experience. However, the more experience they get, the more their performances will improve and so the team will benefit. It's not like last season where we knew that players such as Idiakez, Wright, Ostlund, Viafara...etc were not going to offer us any more than we already knew. Just look at Gareth Bale, and how much he improved throughout his first full season in the starting XI - if we're lucky we'll get that level of improvement throughout the side and that can only be beneficial to our prospects. Last season, we started off on the back-foot with a disastrous capitulation to an ordinary Palace side - there was very little to build on. Our start this season has shown that there are positive glimpses throughout the side, that will hopefully become more frequent as the season goes on. IMO this improvement will happen, and if we keep the majority of the squad together our prospects look very good.

This time last season we were 4-1 down at home to Palace, so it could be worse!

First league goal for DMG! Good start to the match, but Cardiff came back into it quite strongly in the second half of the half. Very promising that we recovered and got that oft-important goal just before the break. Should be a cracking 2nd half

I know what you mean mate, the start of the season does feel pretty different. I think the fact that the differences are in key areas, i.e. formation / style of play / emphasis on youth. Those three areas have generally not changed significantly for as many pre-seasons as I can remember, whereas this season they've changed so dramatically it really feels like a total new start. It might turn out to be a pile of shi*e, but let's enjoy the optimism whilst it lasts. COYR

Great job to all involved. I probably don't often post more than three times a day, but I think the £5 a year is a bloody bargain for a forum containing so many diverse and (at times hilariously) opposing views, all in the name of the mighty SFC. Plus of course there's always the chance of a genuine ITKer popping up with a bit of 'you heard it here first' big news :rolleyes: (and to top it off, the spinny eyes of the spinny-eyed smiley seem to be going faster than they did before!)