Your thoughts on the upcoming season

[Jourdan]

I'm quietly confident about a top six finish. We still finished 9th last season during a campaign where we went through three managers, let's not forget.

The sales of Ince and Hughes, on the face of it, seem incredibly detrimental to our hopes and you can see that this has punctured the optimism of the fan base. But in fact, I think it's possible that this could be a blessing in disguise. Now by going into a season without the crippling pressure and expectation, we might actually fare better. In the last three seasons, we have been amongst the favourites and I don't think the players, or the managers, have dealt well with that pressure.

We are not the complete package, but there is enough quality within the squad to be competitive and quietly optimistic. Much of it will depend on Rowett and how well he manages this group of players. Can he get an extra 10% out of some of our potentially key players like Bryson, Johnson, Russell, Blackman, and of course, Vydra?

We have a strong defence, only enhanced by the arrivals of Davies and Wisdom. We have some tantalising options in attack with Martin, Nugent and Vydra, all three capable of scoring 10-15 goals a season at this level. 

But the real problem area is midfield. Can Rowett get the balance right? Can he add some extra quality? Huddlestone is a boost. But there is a nagging feeling that we could do with another midfielder and another winger.

So if we can do that, confidence will only grow.

[BuckoBeast]

I think the back 6 picks itself, Carson Wisdom, Keogh, Davies, Fozzy and Tom. Also I think Chrissy has to start, but I am slightly concerned about the quality of our wingers or wide forwards. Think we need two new ones IMO. I like Russell but I think that is just down to his willingness to give his best for the team. Don't particularly rate Weimann or Anya. So I would like us to get two more wingers and possibly another CM because Butters, Johnson and Brys can't seem to cement a place in the team or play consistently well

[plymouthram]

57 minutes ago, BuckoBeast said:

I think the back 6 picks itself, Carson Wisdom, Keogh, Davies, Fozzy and Tom. Also I think Chrissy has to start, but I am slightly concerned about the quality of our wingers or wide forwards. Think we need two new ones IMO. I like Russell but I think that is just down to his willingness to give his best for the team. Don't particularly rate Weimann or Anya. So I would like us to get two more wingers and possibly another CM because Butters, Johnson and Brys can't seem to cement a place in the team or play consistently well

Why would you want another CM in, when we have Huddlestone, Thorne, Hanson and Baird all capable of filling that slot. Agree the midfield needs to be better. What we need is an attacking midfielder who is going to get a dozen goals or so.

Getting back to the title of this blog, well my thoughts for this season are the same as the last 4 seasons. We will be in with a chance, the pressure is off the Players, Manager and fans because we are not rated by the bookies as high as previous seasons. So I feel we will be in the mix, lets just hope we are in it going into the last 2 to 3 games.

[Inglorius]

53 minutes ago, plymouthram said:

Why would you want another CM in, when we have Huddlestone, Thorne, Hanson and Baird all capable of filling that slot. 

Thorne = perpetually injured 

Hanson = still hasn't proven he can operate consistently at this level, reference recent performance against Northampton Town 

Baird = knocking on a bit 

[BuckoBeast]

1 hour ago, plymouthram said:

Why would you want another CM in, when we have Huddlestone, Thorne, Hanson and Baird all capable of filling that slot. Agree the midfield needs to be better. What we need is an attacking midfielder who is going to get a dozen goals or so.

Getting back to the title of this blog, well my thoughts for this season are the same as the last 4 seasons. We will be in with a chance, the pressure is off the Players, Manager and fans because we are not rated by the bookies as high as previous seasons. So I feel we will be in the mix, lets just hope we are in it going into the last 2 to 3 games.

I'd want another CM because you cannot rely on Thorne, also don't think the others are consistently good enough

[gazram80]

I am looking forward to the upcoming season, not because I think it will be hugely successful but hopefully it will be one of stabilisation, restructuring and unpredictability.  

I think the departure of arguably our 2 best players ( Ince & Hughes) at the present time will have a massive impact on our forward play and creativity however it will be very interesting to see if we bring in a player or 2 to spark our front line. 

So I predict a few 0-0 this season with a top 10 finish any higher than that for me would be a bonus with our current players. 

COYRs

[superzak]

At the end of the day whether we go up in the top 2,win the play offs, or just finish in mid table, as long as we are all entertained and have something to argue about come 5pm on a Saturday I will be happy. Its just a circus , an endless round of players and managers lining their own pockets while claiming to care. What will be will be. The press will supply endless speculation. We will supply endless belief. What a waste of money lol still cant wait for Friday though. COYR

[Ambitious]

If I had to put a substantial amount on where we would finish in the league, I would definitely err on the side of caution and go for somewhere between 8th and 14th as we currently are. I don't think our shortcomings are any secret, nor do I think our strengths.

We are going to be a hard team to face this season, because we have real depth and quality in our defensive side of the game. I don't mean just the defenders either. We have a lot of players that will work hard to win the ball and get to the second and third balls first. It's going to be hard for any team in this division to really craft clear cut chances and I think that will see us at least achieve a mid-table finish. 

The biggest worry I have is that we truly lack any kind of creativity. Martin certainly helps, Huddlestone too, but once the ball goes out wide, for me, it just seems like an inevitability that the opposition regains possession in one form or another. I don't think our 'advanced' central midfielders are very creative either. Hughes was by far and wide the pick of the bunch in that particular category, yet he still lacked consistency at producing clear cut opportunities. 

We've also lost Ince's goals, which is what we will miss the most. We have a lot of 'wingers' that aren't wingers that are forced to play there because we play a system that caters to one upfront. It's just not ideal. I know it's a drum I keep banging, but two new wingers that are of a high standard and a central midfielder, who, again, is better than what we have is the very least we need to keep up a sustained promotion push this season - in my opinion. 

I'm not optimistic about us making such improvements between now and the end of the window, so I would be shocked if I'm a million miles out with my predicition. I suppose what we've sincerely lacked in the past few seasons - consistency - will be much improved, though. I don't see us going on a 6/7 game streak of poor results, however, I don't see us winning 6/7 on the bounce either. 

[RamsFan10]

At the moment, think we're roughly looking at 8th, ish. A signing or two and we could be top 6. Perhaps finishing 8th wouldn't be too bad for us overall, gives Rowett a year and a couple of transfer windows to ship out dead wood and get some quality business done. 

[DesertRam]

I still think we make top 6, we probably won't score as many as some, but we are

going to concede a lot less as well - but I'd be happy with one goal wins.

If we can get a couple of the 4 names mentioned in the transfer threads it could be 

even better.

[Kingston]

I'm a part time Derby member and supporter. I have a Hull season ticket, but I've stopped going to away games as I've done most grounds now, and Derby are effectively my second team. For me it's about the football, not tribalism and trust me the football has always been more attractive at Derby in recent years even taking promotions into account. Steve Bruce is effective, but the football is like watching paint dry. When Davies and Huddlestone joined, I thought, this is it. This is the season Derby will finally do it. However, being a bit of a part timer, I hadn't realised who had gone. Having seen the players who have left, it's all gone a bit flat for me. Unless Slutsky performs miracles, the one thing I do think is that Derby will finish above Hull, but as I think Hull will be somewhere around mid table, that's not necessarily saying much. For me Derby as they stand at the moment will finish 6th or below. Villa, Fulham, Middlebrough look like being in the top three with both the Sheffield teams pushing them hard with Derby there or there abouts. At the bottom end, I'm not so sure, but I wouldn't want to be a Forest supporter. Well I wouldn't want to be a Forest supporter at any time, but you know what I mean. I think it's them and any two others, possibly Sunderland for the drop.