Realistic expectations for this season.

[Ian Buxton's Bat]

Is this a hopes or expectations thread?

Expectation if we make no further signings and play as we have in the last three matches is almost certain relegation.

The hope is we sign a few and sort out a way of playing that suits the squad - then the expectation would be a successful relegation scrap.

Anything better is an absolute bonus.

One thing I think we're lacking is a leader / talker on the pitch. I know a lot of posters on here didn't rate Hourihane. I thought he was very good for us overall - and, to a large extent, for what he did off the ball. Organising, cajoling and getting in the ref's ear.

Clearly he wouldn't have been a great option in the Champ as we need more legs/grunt but someone like Morsy, who probably won't play much in the Prem, would be good.

[jimtastic56]

34 minutes ago, Tamworthram said:

Neither.

Simply sobering up and reality kicking in for some (were there really “lots of fans” talking about automatic?) after the euphoria of promotion in May.

There were 20,000 of us fans on the PP pitch after the Carlisle game singing to Florists - “We’re coming for you”. Players held aloft and euphoric. Of course we never put a timeline on that, but progress seems very steady at the moment.

[Ravanelli]

Expectations are somewhat tempered by the pre season friendlies.

No outfield goal since Matlock reinforces the thought that we are light upfront.
 

Sign a proven goal scorer we can avoid relegation, don’t and we will be in a fight. 
 

I find it hard to believe that after all of the hard work recovering from administration and getting out of league one, backed by 30K attendances that Clowes won’t support PW and do what it takes in the transfer market even if it’s the January window. 
 

[IlsonDerby]

I just look through the fixture list and can’t see anything that looks like a ‘should be winning that’ sort of game. 
 

The division is so much stronger than last time we were here. 
 

My expectation though as per always is par for our budget. If it’s a top 16 budget then need to be 16th or higher. If it’s a bottom 5 budget then anything above the dashed line. 

[jono]

9 hours ago, Simmoram2024Ramsrontheup said:

I think a slow start , maybe 1-2 points from the first 3-4 games , usual Warne Out stuff , pick up in October have a little purple patch from November-January = as high at 12th slip up a bit before a steady end to the season finish 18-19th.

That’s a realistic suggestion. I kind of agree but for me it is right to “expect” something on the front foot so my take is as yours but the as high might see us in single figure positions and then a drop back to 12/14th

[trappatoni]

As the squad stands I wouldn't be surprised if we get relegated but the same could be said for maybe 5 other clubs.   Slight worry that a few of those clubs went on very good runs under new managers in the second part of last season - if they carry that on the relegation mini league might be pretty small. 

Ps - I think relegation would be so much more disappointing than last time. There'd be no sense of renewal, no coming together of everyone, no novelty in being in league 1 - I'd expect a lot of rancour and crowds to dwindle to the 20k mark.

 

 

Edited July 30 by trappatoni

[England Ram]

Realistic depending on how the rest of the transfer window goes. - Avoid relegation by more than a few points if we get the defense sorted throughout pre season and sign a few more players able to score goals at a reasonable tic.

Also expect the fan base to not be as charitable toward Paul Warne if the performances remain the same workmanlike ones from last year, even if it leads to not being relegated.

 

If things stay as they are and we don't bring anyone else in - Relegation.

[Alty_Ram]

Hopes: Avoid relegation reasonably comfortably and have a decent platform for next year as everyone can see the size of the task ahead

Fears: Slow start, fretful fans and players. Team gets in a losing rut, followed by a rough, season-long battle to try and be better than 3 other teams but coming up short.

I don't think we are anywhere near where we need to be to avoid a struggle. Hard to read too much into pre-season games but even things we were doing well look well below par. Last year was based on rock solid defence and pre-season looks anything but solid and we've also been shipping goals. We also look like we'll really struggle for goals. Not a good combo.

Really hoping that further signings give us a bit of quality and I'd like to see us have a bit more of an obvious midfield foothold in games. I'm not looking for death by a thousand passes but I don't think that just running around chasing shadows is going to get us many points because the opposition will be much more comfortable on the ball and won't be harried into mistakes as easily. Our defence will need a breather and a chance to step upfield, but I'm just not convinced that we'll see enough of the ball to allow that to happen. We really don't look like any kind of unit yet. Still time if we can get the players that we need of course.

Edited July 30 by Alty_Ram

[tomsdubs]

Pure survival, so many league predictions i'm seeing on other sites and twitter have us getting relegated. Feel like our window has stagnated a bit when I was hoping for a couple more quality permanent signings potentially a good striker, pacey CB and really we need more creativity. I'm fully geared up for a gruelling grind of a season, probably be some bad defeats.

Feel like injuries could be a big factor for us, lose a key player and we'll slide bad.

[MadAmster]

48 minutes ago, Alty_Ram said:

Hopes: Avoid relegation reasonably comfortably and have a decent platform for next year as everyone can see the size of the task ahead

Fears: Slow start, fretful fans and players. Team gets in a losing rut, followed by a rough, season-long battle to try and be better than 3 other teams but coming up short.

I don't think we are anywhere near where we need to be to avoid a struggle. Hard to read too much into pre-season games but even things we were doing well look well below par. Last year was based on rock solid defence and pre-season looks anything but solid and we've also been shipping goals. We also look like we'll really struggle for goals. Not a good combo.

Really hoping that further signings give us a bit of quality and I'd like to see us have a bit more of an obvious midfield foothold in games. I'm not looking for death by a thousand passes but I don't think that just running around chasing shadows is going to get us many points because the opposition will be much more comfortable on the ball and won't be harried into mistakes as easily. Our defence will need a breather and a chance to step upfield, but I'm just not convinced that we'll see enough of the ball to allow that to happen. We really don't look like any kind of unit yet. Still time if we can get the players that we need of course.

Shipped 4 v Chesterfield but they hadn't had 2 full on training sessions that day. We had. At Shrewsbury we had players out of position because it was their turn to get minutes in their legs, something PW said in a prior interview. Had we also had one or more training sessions that day as well? 

Many fans seem to be displaying what I call "scoreboard journalism". Unable to look dispassionately at a game, especially a pre season friendly, and take circumstances into account. If you simply take the scores from those 2 games, yes, it was crap. Look into the background of the game, look at what the staff said pre game and then you should be able to understand the why of the matter. At Barnsley, according to the staff, we can expect, barring injury, PWs current first choice first XI in the formation he sees it in. Further signings in this window will probably see a couple drop to the bench and maybe a change of system as well. Barnsley should be the best team we have faced so far. A positive result would be nice but a positive performance is, IMO, more important as it will show that the squad is closer to where it should be than fans have so far thought. Further improvement against Valladolid and we're set for the season opener against Blackburn. Whatever happens, I'll be supporting DCFC.

[Simmo’s left foot]

DC has already stated it is a season of consolidation, so for me its 1. avoid getting sucked into the bottom 5, then 2. play some decent football and take a few scalps on the way. I'd hope we can be mid table with aspirations to be pushing towards play off spots next season.

[Wistaston Ram]

Be interesting to see what people were saying at the beginning of last season.  If I call recall correctly, many people were saying they would be happy to get into the play-offs.  Really hard to predict how it will go this season, but I expect there will be those moaning if we don't get into the top six should be get off to a decent start.  Nice steady mid-table position would do me, but who knows?

[tomsdubs]

2 minutes ago, Wistaston Ram said:

Be interesting to see what people were saying at the beginning of last season.  If I call recall correctly, many people were saying they would be happy to get into the play-offs.  Really hard to predict how it will go this season, but I expect there will be those moaning if we don't get into the top six should be get off to a decent start.  Nice steady mid-table position would do me, but who knows?

For me watching the L1 games it felt like a lot of games we were lucky the teams didn't have the quality to punish us, the quality in the Champ is a massive step and we won't be getting any favours.

[The Scarlet Pimpernel]

My expectations are always for the club to be successful. That means top six for me this season. Is it realistic? Probably not but who wants to be realistic? If I'm not happy with how the sesons going I will perhaps have a moan but thats it...on to the next game and potential victory!

[TuffLuff]

At this point I have no expectations and won’t until Aug 31st.

The factors for me:

We don’t have many players that we even know what position they will start 

Our transfer/loans are very likely to go to the last day 

Warne and his staff remain unproven and this is going to a huge test on whether they can make the step up

the championship is different to what it was two years ago and I think it’ll take some time to get up to speed in terms of standards needed

Outside predictions indicate no one expects us to do well and puts us in a position to surprise a few people so I’d rather put less pressure on the club at the minute until we look something like established.

[maxjam]

Realistic expectations from me are that we are in for a tough season. 

If however the next 5 or 6 players that PW wants are as good/better than the first 6, then I see no reason why we can't finish midtable - a good first season back in the Championship.

Given the squad could take time to gel my hopes are that we're not really involved in a relegation battle from January onwards, we cruise to a respectable finish and use that as a springboard for next season. 

[MACKWORTHRAM]

The next month is absolutely key for me and where my expectations will be. Because we are probably 5-6 players short in my opinion.

As it stands now, I think we would be lucky to stay up. We simply do not have enough goals in this team at the moment. 

I actually think with the right service Yates can get you 10-15 goals. Which is a good return. My worry is the service. 

So many times our players make the wrong decision in the final third, where one ball will create a chance, but we mess it up, so no chance created. 

The last friendly is a prime example (Do not care about the result) but NML came on, first touch was a simple pass out wide to set Wilson away and he passed it straight out of play. Then Shrewsbury gave the ball away to us, we had 2 players in the box unmarked. NML hits his cross into the defender. I remember Barkhuizen crossing a ball straight over the top of everyone and out of play. Doesn't matter what number 9 we sign, if we aren't putting crosses into the right area. 

The Swedish keeper will clearly sign.

Then as Warne said. A number 9, a number 10 and a centre back with pace. If we can get these in, I think we can push up towards mid table, sort of 11th-15th. 

Ideally on top of those we can bring in a left back and an attacking midfielder. Then we really will be ok.

But the 9, 10 and centre back are really important.

I will reserve judgement until the window shuts.

[Ram1988]

I will settle for automatic promotion 

[Thierry Ennui]

We're going down, I think. Warne sacked in November. New manager bounce but not enough.

[Marriot Ram99]

Atleast would be nice to try and finish above Oxford and Plymouth 🤣 and win a few games at home. Expecting us to be dross tbh if we dont sign new attackers, they will be effort but not the quality needed and the new keeper will be busy.

Edited July 30 by Marriot Ram99