Scumberland or Shitefield ? (7 Viewers)

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
Watford, Norwich, West Brom have all lost their parachute money and Luton have gone down, not all of the 4 teams will finish above us. We really need to hold on to our better players, start well and we could suprise a few

We could do it and expecting to do it are two different things.
 

HJones23

Well-Known Member
Will be interesting to see what happens with Sheff United next year. Invested heavily in Jan with little return and likely to loose a few big names this summer. Feel like they are a club stuck in limbo, not selling out yesterday and the semis shows the fans aren’t fully behind them at the minute. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have a slow start next season & Wilder is gone by Christmas
 

quinn1971

Well-Known Member
They'll be 4 teams with parachute payments in the league next year. I'm not sure we'll finish comfortably above any of them.

Even if Leicester get the hefty deduction they deserve that still leaves 3.
one Good thing about Sunderland going up, it shows anyone can do it, if you ignore their last bit of form, they were way ahead of us for most the season, but we still took 4 points off them, we just need to get better agains teams we should be beating, that’s where we’ve struggled, we need a team that’s can do it consistently over a season like Sunderland did, it’s 6 games against the top 3 technically you could lose all of them and still get more than enough points to finish comfortably 3rd or 4th.
 

TomRad85

Well-Known Member
Will be interesting to see what happens with Sheff United next year. Invested heavily in Jan with little return and likely to loose a few big names this summer. Feel like they are a club stuck in limbo, not selling out yesterday and the semis shows the fans aren’t fully behind them at the minute. It wouldn’t surprise me if they have a slow start next season & Wilder is gone by Christmas
They have a lot of players on loan from teams just relegated from the Prem too.
I expected Hamer and Ahmedhodzic to leave last summer, would be very surprised if they stuck about for another season at this level.
 

OffenhamSkyBlue

Well-Known Member
A fantastic season? We lost 17 games and bottled the play offs. It's been a good season and promising signs are there but it's a pivotal summer for us. Keeping Lampard is an absolute must. I agree with alot of your points, but those are based on Lampard staying. For him to stay means most of our top.players need to be retained unless he himself is happy for them to go. As an example I cannot see him reacting well if Rudoni is sold no matter how big a bid comes in for him.
Not saying you are wrong , but think the next 4-6 weeks are crucial.
I think FL will stay unless someone like West Ham come in for him after a disastrous start to their season, but he does still have something to prove. The last 8 games (not including play-offs) were precisely the same form for us as the 8 games leading up to Robins getting sacked. If it wasn't for that "purple patch" between January and March, when Dovin had grown into the number 1 shirt, and Torp, Grimes and Rudoni were bossing the midfield, our season would have been VERY ordinary.
He had some bad luck with injuries, particularly Dovin, but some of his decision-making (especially the blinkered continued selection of Collins, and Robins-esque substitutions - too late and lacking a plan B) was questionable, in my view.
Our drop in form also coincided with the return of Sheaf, who has lost the spark he once had.

Sorting out the front line and the back line is absolutely crucial - many are champ standard but not top-end-champ we need to be challenging for automatics.
 

Sky Blue Pete

Well-Known Member
We‘ll never be a top 2 team, never said we would, the expectation every season is now top 6, we’ve done it twice in 3 seasons but we need to be better, you need to be comfortably finishing 3rd or 4th, not scraping in last game of the season, if Torp and dovin come back to the level they were at and we’ve kept Wright, Rudoni and MVE then wer‘e probably 3 quality signings of being a very good side.
Every season we feel like that's the reality however I believe we were a left back and a striker away this season
 

OffenhamSkyBlue

Well-Known Member
Personally think u will do what Villa have done and become a force in the PL as your model seems Brightonesque but you are a bigger club than Brighton and Brentford and will attract better players I'd think. For football I think at least 2 of the promoted sides need to stay up next season. If you all get relegated like the clubs who came down this season did then not much point the rest of us getting that excited about going up in the future is there.
I think i need a drink - i find myself agreeing with you? ;)
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
one Good thing about Sunderland going up, it shows anyone can do it, if you ignore their last bit of form, they were way ahead of us for most the season, but we still took 4 points off them, we just need to get better agains teams we should be beating, that’s where we’ve struggled, we need a team that’s can do it consistently over a season like Sunderland did, it’s 6 games against the top 3 technically you could lose all of them and still get more than enough points to finish comfortably 3rd or 4th.

But Sunderland were still miles off 3rd, though yes, they were comfortably 4th.

Which just hilights, you get to the play offs and take it from there, even if the odds are stacked against you.

But I think 3rd is a big ask. Not impossible, but a big ask
 

OffenhamSkyBlue

Well-Known Member
But saying top 6 is the minimum suggest that realistically we should do more.
And closing a 31 point gap on the parachute payment teams isn't realistic in my opinion, not for Lampard, not for Robins, not for anyone managing City.
Caveat to that ... unless we get a billionaire or Middle East state to buy us to the Prem, and frankly, i would rather not see that. I don't like it in other teams, so why should i want it for us. I would rather see us be competitive year after year in the Champ than see us getting spanked week in, week out, in the Prem in front of a half-empty CBS.
 

pusbccfc

Well-Known Member
They also produce of lot of their own talent which helps. We produce fuck all.

Good point. They spend a lot on the academy but it pays off.

We spend a reasonable amount and produce very little.

Something for Doug to ponder over.
 

quinn1971

Well-Known Member
But Sunderland were still miles off 3rd, though yes, they were comfortably 4th.

Which just hilights, you get to the play offs and take it from there, even if the odds are stacked against you.

But I think 3rd is a big ask. Not impossible, but a big ask
Think that’s the plan, finish top 6 and hope you get that bit of luck to go all the way, Sunderland def had a bit of that, keep knocking on the door and it’ll happen
 

HJones23

Well-Known Member
They have a lot of players on loan from teams just relegated from the Prem too.
I expected Hamer and Ahmedhodzic to leave last summer, would be very surprised if they stuck about for another season at this level.
Wouldn’t be surprised if someone came in for their keeper aswell. I’m struggling to think of better performance from an opposition keeper at the CBS this year
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
Good point. They spend a lot on the academy but it pays off.

We spend a reasonable amount and produce very little.

Something for Doug to ponder over.

Could geography play a part in this as well?

There's not that many teams in their region and only one EPL team.
The west Mids/Midlands provides a lot more competition for talent.
 

chickentikkamasala

Well-Known Member
Sunderland probably the weakest team I’ve ever seen promoted.
They finished 7 points above us, beat us over 2 legs in play off’s and beat the team that finished 14 points above them in the final, I would hardly call it weak 🙄

they are there on merit, with the right amount of investment and they have a huge support, I don’t see them any weaker than the other teams promoted, in fact they have as good a chance of staying up as the rest of them.
 

clint van damme

Well-Known Member
That was Dougs plan wasn't it. 3 play offs out of 5. Hopefully the next one will come good

Yeah, that's why the Lampard will be expected to make the play offs minimum line just isn't right.

There's no minimum about it, that's our realistical aim.
To get autos really would require something special, I hope for it, but don't expect it.
 

pusbccfc

Well-Known Member
Could geography play a part in this as well?

There's not that many teams in their region and only one EPL team.
The west Mids/Midlands provides a lot more competition for talent.

Massively yeah. Other Midland's clubs around us are Cat 1. academies. Leicester, Stoke, Wolves, Villa, West Brom and now Birmingham are Cat 1.

Realistically, we've got no chance. Either put money in and strive for Cat 1 or consider getting rid.
 

SkyBlueStallion_89

Well-Known Member
I don't think Sunderland are a great team to be honest, we outplayed them over two legs and it was a mistake by MVE that gifted them a winner, Moore gifted them a winner yesterday.

Some pundits like Darren Bent think they will survive, they won't and will be relegated next year, Ipswich spent so much money to try and survive in the Premier league, ok they pretty much brought a championship dream team but that, in my view, was with an eye on if they got relegated then they'd have a squad assembled win the league.

If we got through and played Sheffield I think we would of won it, as they just seem to bottle the playoffs and we proved we're a better team then Sunderland over two legs
 

alexccfc99

Well-Known Member
Make me laugh that lot, they were calling the lad who scored every name under the sun in January because he signed for Brighton and were demanding he rot in their reserves before he leaves and Jordan Henderson was persona non grata because he went to Saudi before he appeared on the big screen yesterday

Fickle Fuckers
 

torchomatic

Well-Known Member
Sunderland probably the weakest team I’ve ever seen promoted.

Nonsense. As far as I'm concerned very team that gets promoted deserves to get promoted.

Who cares how? Combination of skill and luck. We wouldn't be complaining if we'd done the same as them.

Staying up there will be a hell of a challenge, but good luck to them.
 

Saddlebrains

Well-Known Member
'We were the better team over 2 legs' doesnt ring true for me

We had loads of the ball yes. But did fuck all with it

I know people on here struggle to face reality, but Sunderland did a job on us and executed it perfectly. Yes they got lucky with a 132 minute winner, but we didnt do enough
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top