Can We Push For The League Next Season?

[Vhero]

I would say 3rd with that team we are stronger and more experienced than Arsenal who will come 4th and the top 2 will be the usual.

[Burt]

That squad will need to be trimmed I'm sure we are only allowed to use 25 players?? Is this correct??

Fu, I think it's 25 and then 7 or 8 "home growns" e.g. SWP, Nervous Neddy, M Johnson, Hart, Boyata etc.

Appreciate if one o you folks can clarify this.

[Ted Hughes]

I agree to some extent with KTK's sentiments about team building but if we keep the nucleus of last season's team, then that is in effect what we'll be doing. Then it's down to the new players settling in & improving it.

I still don't know who's coming in & who's going out yet though so I can't give what I'd consider to be a fully valid opinion that I'd stick to, on our chances until we have a better Idea. If we make too many big changes though, KTK's 5th place finish would be a fair shout unless we're lucky & the replacements gel very quickly & continue to perform rather than it going pear shaped. The draws last season were mainly down to that.

If we keep the nucleus of the team & add Toure & a world class, in form goalscorer, then chances are we finish top 4. How far up the top 4 & whether we have a shot at the title depends on not just us & our form but Chelsea, Arsenal & rags etc too.

Can the rags get away with it again without investing? Will more teams have the balls to go for them this season? If you look at their aging squad, it shouldn't be in top 4, yet people like Giggs do their jobs better than SWP etc. It can't go on for ever though. Will Arsenal be better or worse? I'm not convinced by them. Chelsea will be thereabouts. Liverpool/Villa ? Can't see it.

I expect Harry to cause some kind of shite at Spurs either by leaving or finding some other controversial way of fucking it up, so didn't include them. If he doesn't then they'll be right in there too.

Therefore, we certainly have a fair chance of a title challenge but we also have a fair chance of finishing 5th. Let's see who we sign though & whatever we predict at the start, we won't really know 'til well after Christmas anyway.

[london blue 2]

with that squad we could easily have a cup team and a league team lol.

Cup

------------Hart
Richards Boateng Kolo Garrido
SWP Dejong Ireland Bellamy
--------Robson Santa


League

-----------Given
Zab Kompany Lescott Bridge
Johnson Yaya Milner Silva
---------Tevez Ade

[kinkylola]

That squad will need to be trimmed I'm sure we are only allowed to use 25 players?? Is this correct??

Fu, I think it's 25 and then 7 or 8 "home growns" e.g. SWP, Nervous Neddy, M Johnson, Hart, Boyata etc.

Appreciate if one o you folks can clarify this.

the 25 man squad must include 4 specifically grown at the club at 8 total who have been trained in england. the 4 specifically from the club also count towards the 8 trained in england.

players under the age of 21 do not need to be registered, they can play regardless and will not take up any slots.

[sandman]

It will be a much harder task next season than last. We will have the extra Euro games we didn't have last season, which takes away that advantage over our nearest rivals.
We have a decent enoufgh squad but with the possibility of almost 60 games, we will need a lot of strength in depth to allow for injuries, suspensions and tiredness.
Still too early to say until we have finished recruiting and know our final line up.

Exactly my thoughts except I dont think we can judge ourselves against other squads until we face them, our squad is so new its still bedding in and too unpredictable to make predictions.

[Crossie]

No

[john68]

Eoin,
You make a valid point about transition but I think if you look at it a bit deeper, then it is nowhere near a negative factor as you suppose.
All teams are in some ways transitory, they have to be to survive and compete. What is critical in this argument is not only the amount of change but the starting and finishing points of that change.
To deal with the latter 1st. Our position last season was just outside CL qualification. That is a very high level to start to look to improve from. We are aiming to move higher.
I would be tempted to call this evolution or progression rather than transition. For me, transition is what happened under the early Hughes reign when there were large changes of players. Adding the odd few individuals in order to improve is an easier task than building a team from a low base.
We have a pretty stable nucleus of players, capable of great results. Last season transition saw us ultimately suffer some adverse results. We don't yet know our full roster of players and when we do, we will be better able to judge. The Silva, Boateng, Yaya signings lead me to believe we do have the squad to push onwards and upwards....but how far?????

[Slim]

Given
Boateng--Kompany--Lescott--Bridge
Silva--Toure--Barry--Johnson
Tevez--Adebayor

Hart
Zabaleta--Toure--Onuoha--Garrido
SWP--de Jong--Ireland--Weiss
RSC--Bellamy

This doesn't even include Richards, Vieira, Neilsen, Johnno, a bunch of talented kids and a slew of players out on loan.

Now it was 3 years, 1 month and 17 days ago we lined up like this...

Isaksson
Onuoha--Dunne--Distin--Jordan
Sun--Ireland--Johnson--Beasley
Vassell--Mpenza

I think our first and second string could spank this side.

[john@staustell]

Given
Boateng--Kompany--Lescott--Bridge
Silva--Toure--Barry--Johnson
Tevez--Adebayor

Hart
Zabaleta--Toure--Onuoha--Garrido
SWP--de Jong--Ireland--Weiss
RSC--Bellamy

This doesn't even include Richards, Vieira, Neilsen, Johnno, a bunch of talented kids and a slew of players out on loan.

Now it was 3 years, 1 month and 17 days ago we lined up like this...

Isaksson
Onuoha--Dunne--Distin--Jordan
Sun--Ireland--Johnson--Beasley
Vassell--Mpenza

I think our first and second string could spank this side.

That is horrifying. How I ever got my 3 (now grown-up) kids to follow the faith I'll never know. I must've been some bullshitter. 'Good times are just around the corner' you know, I just didn't tell them it might be 20 years or so!

How about a team from the Frank Clarke era just to really cheer us up?

[Slim]

His last game in charge was the 14th February 1998 in a 0-1 loss to Bury, awful awful stuff.

12 years, 4 months and 16 days ago.

Wright
Brightwell--Tskhadadze--Shelia--Symons
Jim Whitley--Jeff Whitley--Russell--Beardsley
Kinkladze
Rosler

[john@staustell]

His last game in charge was the 14th February 1998 in a 0-1 loss to Bury, awful awful stuff.

12 years, 4 months and 16 days ago.

Wright
Brightwell--Tskhadadze--Shelia--Symons
Jim Whitley--Jeff Whitley--Russell--Beardsley
Kinkladze
Rosler

Funny thing is, on paper that is a half-decent side. Unfortunately they played on grass!

[Slim]

His last game in charge was the 14th February 1998 in a 0-1 loss to Bury, awful awful stuff.

12 years, 4 months and 16 days ago.

Wright
Brightwell--Tskhadadze--Shelia--Symons
Jim Whitley--Jeff Whitley--Russell--Beardsley
Kinkladze
Rosler

Funny thing is, on paper that is a half-decent side. Unfortunately they played on grass!

Trying to think of the worst squad we've had, this wasn't it until Clark got ahold of them.

[bernabias_right_boot]

4th is still the new 1st.
5th however, is not the new 2nd.
3rd should be our target.

This. This will do nicely, thank you.

[King Kev]

Given
Boateng--Kompany--Lescott--Bridge
Silva--Toure--Barry--Johnson
Tevez--Adebayor

Hart
Zabaleta--Toure--Onuoha--Garrido
SWP--de Jong--Ireland--Weiss
RSC--Bellamy

This doesn't even include Richards, Vieira, Neilsen, Johnno, a bunch of talented kids and a slew of players out on loan.

Now it was 3 years, 1 month and 17 days ago we lined up like this...

Isaksson
Onuoha--Dunne--Distin--Jordan
Sun--Ireland--Johnson--Beasley
Vassell--Mpenza

I think our first and second string could spank this side.

I wouldn't mind having the three that I have highlighted back.

Dunne and Distin were the best central defensive partnership we had at the club for a long time, we haven't come close to replacing them.

Ireland on form was a brilliant player and thoroughly deserved his nickname.

I can't remember if Johnson was still a footballer then or if he'd found other ways to occupy his time.

The rest of the team were pretty poor though.

[irblinx]

I honestly don't see why not, all the new players from last season should be settled now which should also make it easier for the new guys. We have a much stronger squad to compensate for injuries plus no ACN to disrupt us. By no means a shoe in and I'd be happy with 4th but we should be pushing the top two all the way

[ScapeGoat]

5th would be a failure, obviously. If we don't win the title then 2nd, 3rd or 4th are all pretty much the same.

[Blue Blood]

Given
Boateng--Kompany--Lescott--Bridge
Silva--Toure--Barry--Johnson
Tevez--Adebayor

Hart
Zabaleta--Toure--Onuoha--Garrido
SWP--de Jong--Ireland--Weiss
RSC--Bellamy

This doesn't even include Richards, Vieira, Neilsen, Johnno, a bunch of talented kids and a slew of players out on loan.

Now it was 3 years, 1 month and 17 days ago we lined up like this...

Isaksson
Onuoha--Dunne--Distin--Jordan
Sun--Ireland--Johnson--Beasley
Vassell--Mpenza

I think our first and second string could spank this side.

Wow, we watched that 3 years ago.. unbelievable how times have changed.

If it wasn't for the quality of the 2 CB's i'm pretty certain we would've gone down that year.

[avoidconfusion]

I will be happy with a Top 4 finish and maybe a Cup Final, hopefully winning the Carling Cup or FA Cup...

[The Man In Blue]

yeah, we can. whether we will do is a different matter. i'm just looking forward to the mayhem right now.