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Taking stock


Sheaf Saint

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We have taken 4 points out of Liverpool,Manure, Arse anal, and Chelski, all away. You would of accepted a draw at each of these fixtures, which is.........4 points. So I'm happyish at this juncture.

 

Perspective, well written. Also props (as the kids say these days) to the OP for a decent summary.

 

Some people do take all this a bit too seriously. I know some of you like the sound of your own voices but it really isn't that bad. So, we may of signed some players who, up to now, haven't been smash hits. I'm just chuffed that my club is in the market for players of this caliber. Rory Delap anyone?? It could be a lot, lot worse folks... Both Sheffield clubs, Forest, Leeds FFS would all LOVE to be living the dream like we are at the minute.

 

I've been guilty of having a whinge at times this season as well and I've got on Gaston's back at times too. No more though, I'm behind the 11 we send out come what may. Top 10 will do me just fine thank-you very much. We were never going to win the bloody league or get into the Champions League for that matter.. but it's bloody nice mixing it with the bog boys that's for sure.

 

Oh and don't bother labeling me a happy clapper either. I care, as much as the next fan. I'm just not going to spoil a brilliant season so far with my own negativity or others for that matter.

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Perspective, well written. Also props (as the kids say these days) to the OP for a decent summary.

 

Some people do take all this a bit too seriously. I know some of you like the sound of your own voices but it really isn't that bad. So, we may of signed some players who, up to now, haven't been smash hits. I'm just chuffed that my club is in the market for players of this caliber. Rory Delap anyone?? It could be a lot, lot worse folks... Both Sheffield clubs, Forest, Leeds FFS would all LOVE to be living the dream like we are at the minute.

 

I've been guilty of having a whinge at times this season as well and I've got on Gaston's back at times too. No more though, I'm behind the 11 we send out come what may. Top 10 will do me just fine thank-you very much. We were never going to win the bloody league or get into the Champions League for that matter.. but it's bloody nice mixing it with the bog boys that's for sure.

 

Oh and don't bother labeling me a happy clapper either. I care, as much as the next fan. I'm just not going to spoil a brilliant season so far with my own negativity or others for that matter.

 

What, being called happy isn't going to cause you deep offence?

 

good post btw

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Maybe, but my point remains, not every good player from every midtable club goes to the big boys. The exceptional ones might do and with Cabaye we'll see if you were right come 1st Feb, but we are not necessarily looking at a doomsday scenario of our squad being decimated in January as painted by Millbrook saint and backed up by Barry Sanchez

 

I'm not saying it will be January, but do you really think clubs like Chelsea, Arsenal etc aren't going to look at our players if we're near the top of the table and cherry pick the best ones at some point. For example Man U. are short on defenders, Lovren is having a blinding season, now if you were Man U what would you do?

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I'm not saying it will be January, but do you really think clubs like Chelsea, Arsenal etc aren't going to look at our players if we're near the top of the table and cherry pick the best ones at some point. For example Man U. are short on defenders, Lovren is having a blinding season, now if you were Man U what would you do?

 

Our players are too expensive for most sides. They're all on long term contracts and Cortese drives a hard bargain apparently so I'd expect clubs who are short in certain sectors to look elsewhere. Lovren is a good player but NC wll ask upwards of 15 million so I'd doubt that he'll be a really attractive prospect to most, not when you could get players like Mangala for half of that.. Probably not as good obviously but a third choice centre half is a third choice centre half. The only advantage for top clubs to buy from clubs like Saints is that anyone they did buy would be immediately available for the CL whereas cheaper options playing in what I'd call minor leagues won't be.

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Our players are too expensive for most sides. They're all on long term contracts and Cortese drives a hard bargain apparently so I'd expect clubs who are short in certain sectors to look elsewhere.

Agreed, and suspect this is why we saw very little speculation about the futures of the likes of Schneiderlin, Lambert, Lallana, etc during the summer. I do fully expect Shaw to eventually go to Chelsea (two reasons: firstly, he and his family are massive Chelsea fans; secondly, they're one of the very few clubs who could afford him), but with the transfer fees we're able to demand these days, I don't see anyone being prepared to pay.

 

While we are able to offer the players first team football and have the team competing at a high level which gives them international (and possibly continental club) experience, and can also ensure they are suitably well-rewarded for doing so, I think we'll be able to keep hold of the vast majority of them.

 

Also agree with what's been written about our summer transfer business - we clearly identified three areas of the pitch we wanted to strengthen, and signed players who were clearly better than other players in the existing first-team. At this level, you generally have to pay a good price for that. I'd far rather this strategy than fall into the trap of bulking up the squad with players who are no better than we already have, as that breeds complacency and a lack of competition for places. Osvaldo has come in as the marquee attacking signing, and yet Lambert and Rodriguez have (with the occasional crap game every now and then) stepped up their game and largely kept him out of the side, taking advantage of the settling-in period he probably needs. Lovren's arrival made Fonte up his game, which has resulted in Yoshida not playing a single league game this season, when many would probably have expected it to be the other way around.

 

Of course, having started from a relatively low base at the start of last season, you could argue that only signing three players at the start of this term has meant that we're a little light in terms of squad depth, which is a fair point. We were relatively fortunate last season in that I think we only had Cork (at the start of the season) and then Lallana (over Christmas) out injured for any length of time - all of a sudden we're starting to pick up a few knocks at a time when the games come thick and fast, and against superior opposition we've looked a little bit jaded. To be expected, and I don't see any reason to panic after narrow defeats to two of the title favourites. If Villa were to beat us on Wednesday without us mustering a shot on target then I'd be a bit concerned, but I see no reason for that to happen.

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Can we out the clappers who thought the Champions League was a viable goal?

Still is IMO.

 

In 03/04 mid-table obscurity seemed our best bet until a good late run meant that in early April we were within touching distance of 4th spot.

 

We were 5 points behind 4th placed Liverpool with a game in hand. We managed to lose our 'easy' game in hand at home to relegation threatened Bolton (I think), and somehow an out of sorts Liverpool won at title chasing Man United the following week and the rest is history. But we came oh so close. :(

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I do believe people got to carried away with emotion and started believing that a) - we had a chance of the title, and b) we would at least finish top 4. That has led to a wealth of bizarre opinions and posts over the last few weeks. But in reality, all we had was a good start, we had a decent fixture list and were lucky with injuries - pretty much identical to how WBA started last year. It was obvious that once we started playing the big teams and losing players through injury, we'd start to drop places. We're not a team who can compete at the top yet.

 

But we're an established and competitive premier league team now, which is all you can ask for at this stage. I don't think we're as good as Everton or Newcastle as yet in terms of squad depth, so I can't see us finishing in the top 6 or 7. I think we've got a good chance of a top 10 finish though, as long as we don't lose too many more players....

 

And a top 10 finish would represent decent progress, let's be honest. Nothing to really moan about there.

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I do believe people got to carried away with emotion and started believing that a) - we had a chance of the title, and b) we would at least finish top 4. That has led to a wealth of bizarre opinions and posts over the last few weeks. But in reality, all we had was a good start, we had a decent fixture list and were lucky with injuries - pretty much identical to how WBA started last year. It was obvious that once we started playing the big teams and losing players through injury, we'd start to drop places. We're not a team who can compete at the top yet.

 

But we're an established and competitive premier league team now, which is all you can ask for at this stage. I don't think we're as good as Everton or Newcastle as yet in terms of squad depth, so I can't see us finishing in the top 6 or 7. I think we've got a good chance of a top 10 finish though, as long as we don't lose too many more players....

 

And a top 10 finish would represent decent progress, let's be honest. Nothing to really moan about there.

 

 

I completely agree with this.

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I think we've done as well as anyone could have possibly hoped for. We've had a bit of luck with injuries (up until now) and the fixtures, and it's going to start getting tougher, especially with all the Christmas and New Year games. Personally, I can see us losing the next 4 games, which is a shame after such a good start. I still think at the end we'll be looking at 9th/10th place. As has been mentioned, Cortese might not be happy with it, but it really will take a lot more just to even get into the top 6, the last two games have shown us how far off we still are. However, this is as good a team as I have seen us have for the last 20 years, so let's be grateful for that and hope we can continue to pick up some more good results.

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I think we've done as well as anyone could have possibly hoped for. We've had a bit of luck with injuries (up until now) and the fixtures, and it's going to start getting tougher, especially with all the Christmas and New Year games. Personally, I can see us losing the next 4 games, which is a shame after such a good start. I still think at the end we'll be looking at 9th/10th place. As has been mentioned, Cortese might not be happy with it, but it really will take a lot more just to even get into the top 6, the last two games have shown us how far off we still are. However, this is as good a team as I have seen us have for the last 20 years, so let's be grateful for that and hope we can continue to pick up some more good results.

 

Good post.

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We were miles off the pace, he is not wrong.

 

What a load of bollards.

 

We were the better side in the first half Sunday, and matched arsenal only going down to a freak mistake and a soft peno right at the end. Yes, we were blown away by Chelsea second half, but that can happen to the best of teams. For somebody to post that by losing AWAY to Arsenal and Chelsea shows how "far off" we are is clearly nonsense. The fact you back up this view adds weight to my opinion that it's nonsense. Let's see how many points the Manchester clubs get from those fixtures.

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Came up a little short against the top two in their own back yards and had a bad day at Norwich, otherwise looking extremely competitive. We are starting to feel a bit of an injury pinch now but that was always going to happen.

 

Yes, I would have taken that in a heartbeat back in August. These are halcyon days and the mid-term future looks even better.

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Dont think we are in any danger whatsoever come May 2014, but here comes the reality check after a superb start.

 

We have ploughed far too much of our resources into a couple of disastrous signings who have contributed f**k-all, rather than going for across-the-board squad deepening. A far to small group of players has been propping up our start track record. And we about to feel the impact of this as the injuries set in.

 

Still a long way to go. Get rid of the two S. American parasites for a reasonable amount (we have to take the loss on the chin), and put it back into two or three players that enhance the squad.

 

Jesus Murphy!

 

:rolleyes:

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We were always going to have a good start, the fixtures dictated that.

 

I predicted 22 points for us after 11 games, however only 25 points at xmas / after 17 games

 

So far we are on par with my expectations. Only disappointment for me (so far) was the league cup exit, ramirez (expected mopo to get the best from him) & osvaldo.

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We were always going to have a good start, the fixtures dictated that.

 

I predicted 22 points for us after 11 games, however only 25 points at xmas / after 17 games

 

So far we are on par with my expectations. Only disappointment for me (so far) was the league cup exit, ramirez (expected mopo to get the best from him) & osvaldo.

 

And you had the goal difference naileld to 15-5 after those 11 games I presume?

 

And how did you not see the loss in the league cup, something wrong that day with your magic 8-ball?

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