Slow start

[sage]

With the delayed (fue to play offs) return to training, threadbare pre season, paucity of signings, injury list and tough fixtures, we look like heading for a slow start to the season. 

I hope fans (and Mel aren't going to panic if we are below halfway after 6 or 7 games.

 

[Kennington Ram]

That said... the opposite could happen. If we turn up, and get a few lucky results against 'contenders' who are undercooked themselves or having internal issues figuring out their best team, or their manager hasn't settled yet... we might end up picking up some momentum and forgetting very quickly about the PO final.

[Animal is a Ram]

I think Mel has learnt his lessons. The fans will lose patience faster than he will.

[Cam the Ram]

Wouldn't surprise me if we had a slow middle and ending too. I'm sure we'll sign a few players and at least 1 or 2 of them will improve us, but as things stand we're quite a bit weaker in so many areas of the pitch: Roos + Carson vs Roos + Mitchell, Tomori vs Davies/Evans, Johnson leaving, Mount vs Dowell, Wilson vs Jozefzoon etc. We've got some good youngsters coming through, but it's a huge ask to expect them to come in and make an instant impact. For every Jayden Bogle who managed to do it, you've got 5 or 6 Jamie Hanson types who failed.

Most of us expected Marriott to kick on this season after it took him so long to get going last season due to the problematic pre-season, but once again he's missed half of it. Similarly with Holmes, it took him a while to get going last season and it's looking the same this time around with him having this lengthy injury. 

Hopefully (and I usually am) I'm proven wrong and we once again battle for play offs, but at the minute having a defence who can't defend crosses/set pieces, a midfield that will get overrun by most Championship teams and this weird little trio of Lawrence, Bennett and Jozefzoon really doesn't fill me with much confidence at all, no matter how good a manager we may have.

[DarkFruitsRam7]

A thread talking about our slow start before we've even started?

We looked brilliant last pre-season but we didn't exactly carry that into the season.

[Ambitious]

26 minutes ago, sage said:

With the delayed (fue to play offs) return to training, threadbare pre season, paucity of signings, injury list and tough fixtures, we look like heading for a slow start to the season. 

I hope fans (and Mel aren't going to panic if we are below halfway after 6 or 7 games.

 

I'm not entirely sure I'm buying into the slow start. I know we haven't given ourselves the best chance of a great start, plus we look a little light, but 80% of the division is going through the same concerns and the rest are deluding themselves that volume of players means success. 

Huddersfield finished 20th last season with 16 points, not to mention a -54 goal difference swing:: 22 goals scored, 76 goals conceded. They were also knocked out in the first round of both cups they played in to Championship sides. They're losing Billing and they're the worst side to be relegated since we were in 2008 and only one of three teams to be relegated with less than 20 points in that time - Villa (17) and Portsmouth (19). Both of them lost on opening day and both went on to finish in the bottom half. 

Swansea have had good results this pre-season, but they've only made 1 signing this pre-season and have lost their best player in Dan James. They could also be losing McBurnie prior to us playing them. Not to mention they're in a similar boat as they've lost their manager, etc. 

Stoke have added a lot of players to their squad. They already had a big squad. It will be interesting to see how they get on, but I imagine it could be a restless season for the most part. 

Plenty of reasons to look at almost any club in the Championship this preseason and see why they could have a slow start - very much including ourselves. Cocu is very tactically minded and there's no reason why he can't get results against the three above, regardless of our situation. 

 

[Duracell]

27 minutes ago, sage said:

With the delayed (fue to play offs) return to training, threadbare pre season, paucity of signings, injury list and tough fixtures, we look like heading for a slow start to the season. 

I hope fans (and Mel aren't going to panic if we are below halfway after 6 or 7 games.

 

I’ve seen a moderator start a thread like this but better further down the page.

[JuanFloEvraTheCocu'sNesta]

There will be some fans that will be panicing at half time against Huddersfield if we aren't 0-2 up.

[Comrade 86]

31 minutes ago, sage said:

With the delayed (fue to play offs) return to training, threadbare pre season, paucity of signings, injury list and tough fixtures, we look like heading for a slow start to the season. 

I hope fans (and Mel aren't going to panic if we are below halfway after 6 or 7 games.

 

Of course they won't...

[sage]

1 hour ago, Duracell said:

I’ve seen a moderator start a thread like this but better further down the page.

You're so vain you probably think this thread is about you

[RedSox]

1 hour ago, Animal is a Ram said:

I think Mel has learnt his lessons. The fans seem to be losing patience faster than he will.

FTFY

[Millenniumram]

It certainly looks that way, especially when you add in the difficulty of teams we have to play in the first block of fixtures. We look woefully unready and unfit, partially the clubs fault for a poorly organised pre season and taking so long over transfers, and partially franks for leaving us in no mans land for so long. It’s quite concerning really as I can’t see many other teams, other than Wednesday probably, having such bad pre season issues. It’s all a recipe for disaster at the minute.

Just hope we can pull off some decent transfer business in the last couple of weeks on the window to at least give us some hope going into the season, and Mel delivers on his promise to provide cocu with a competitive squad as he hasn’t at this juncture, tho clearly there is still time. I think we’ll have a slow start regardless, but some decent transfers could see us recover better from that start and eventually put a run together, atm this side ain’t nothing but midtable. Personally, while I’ll no doubt be moaning about everything if things do inevitably start poorly, I’ll try and give cocu the time he needs to sort out the mess and poor start given this isn’t of his doing, and give him a few months before I start judging his perfomance

[Jourdan]

2013: W3 D1 L2 = 10pts from 18 (3rd)

2014: W2 D3 L1 = 9 pts from 18 (8th)

2015: W1 D4 L1 = 7pts from 18 (5th)

2016: W1 D2 L3 = 5pts from 18 (9th)

2017: W3 D1 L2 = 10pts from 18 (6th)

2018: W4 D0 L2 = 12pts from 18 (6th)

I think too much emphasis is being placed on the ‘slow start’ theory.

During our recent period of competing for promotion, we have averaged around 9 points in our first six games.

So we are hardly renowned for being fast starters. We are likely to lose 2 games or more in our opening 6. And there is hardly any evidence to suggest it will have a dramatic effect on our overall position.

So why are we panicking? Why are we doom mongering? Why are we putting so much pressure on Cocu to start well?

I would suggest there are more critical times during the season - December, February through to April - where points and prizes will be won and lost.

It’s such a long season and I think unless we do really badly in August (4-5 points or fewer), these fears of a slow start and a season of struggle will be largely unfounded.

[sage]

5 hours ago, Jourdan said:

2013: W3 D1 L2 = 10pts from 18 (3rd)

2014: W2 D3 L1 = 9 pts from 18 (8th)

2015: W1 D4 L1 = 7pts from 18 (5th)

2016: W1 D2 L3 = 5pts from 18 (9th)

2017: W3 D1 L2 = 10pts from 18 (6th)

2018: W4 D0 L2 = 12pts from 18 (6th)

I think too much emphasis is being placed on the ‘slow start’ theory.

During our recent period of competing for promotion, we have averaged around 9 points in our first six games.

So we are hardly renowned for being fast starters. We are likely to lose 2 games or more in our opening 6. And there is hardly any evidence to suggest it will have a dramatic effect on our overall position.

So why are we panicking? Why are we doom mongering? Why are we putting so much pressure on Cocu to start well?

I would suggest there are more critical times during the season - December, February through to April - where points and prizes will be won and lost.

It’s such a long season and I think unless we do really badly in August (4-5 points or fewer), these fears of a slow start and a season of struggle will be largely unfounded.

Those are all top half positions.

 

[Ambitious]

Just now, sage said:

Those are all top half positions.

 

They're our finishing positions for each season, I believe. Not where we were in the table at that point. 

[sage]

2 minutes ago, Ambitious said:

They're our finishing positions for each season, I believe. Not where we were in the table at that point. 

Doh! 

Looks for his glasses.

 

[RamNut]

no idea how we will start.

the sprogs are a bonus that allows us to release a few players and get the wage bill down, but the whole issue of the youngsters is a bit of a distraction imo. Most won't be ready this season. Excluding bogle and bennett, the only two i hope to see are knight and lowe.

the main task in the summer transfer window should be to buy better players within our financial limits.

So what are our financial limits?

We reported a loss of £8m and a profit of £15m in the last two sets of accounts. In theory that should give us some ffp leeway over the 3 year term. However that profit was skewed by the stadium sale and the associated £40m windfall. The underlying figure but for that windfall would presumably have been a quite scary £25m loss. Those accounts included wages of @£40m (up from £35m previously) and escalating costs incurred in relation to historic transfers. Whilst the wages will hopefully now show a significant reduction, it wouldn't be a surprise if the costs incurred in relation to historical transfers now peaks even higher.

Whilst money is tight, it would have been understandable to see the slightly older academy graduates - elsnik and thomas - get an opportunity to show. Elsnik looks like a potential DM. Thomas might have provided another option where we lack cutting edge.  releasing the former and flogging the latter only increases the need for new faces in positions where we have no obvious sprogstar.

overall there should surely be some scope for the selective investment in new players. But whilst we've changed managers, flown to florida and dodged lightning, we have missed - or have been blissfully unaware of - some great opportunities to buy. I doubt whether its possible now to find the necessary players at sensible fees in the last week of the transfer window and our recruitment record does not inspire confidence. 

Perhaps the strategy is indeed to grab one or two more loans. If so its looking like a missed opportunity to build. Another year of patch and repair. 

I've no idea how we are going to start, but we will need more from those mis-firing wingers. I'd love to see the centre mids piling into the box and becoming a reliable source of goals, but its getting crowded in there with wingers drifting inside like inside forwards. The width can only come from the full backs, which should surely be a bonus rather than a necessity. 

Never mind. Onwards and upwards. 

There might yet be someone who suddenly surprises us. Whether its Cocu, Knight, Marriott or whoever.

even Harry Wilson.

The window hasn't yet shut and fat lady hasn't started warbling.

UTR ?????????

 

[ck-]

1 hour ago, sage said:

Doh! 

Looks for his glasses.

 

I'm laughing because I thought exactly the same, and am just relieved that someone else said it first ?