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July Optimism Gauge


maqroll

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I'm 90% optimistic we'll do better than last season.

But we still need to replace the lost quality with quality additions of at least equal standard. Until we do that we'll not be troubling the top 8

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We still have a very very poor squad. The defence is atrocious and the midfield area is very weak. We have one good striker and not much else up top. The signing we have made and the players we have been linked with seem to be of a very mediocre quality. There are still 7-8 players that need to be moved on and replaced.

I was never convinced by Lambert and I am not really excited by Karsa and Culverhouse either.

I think about 10th-15th is a realistic target this season. While i think we will better than last season I dont think the football is going to be pretty to watch in the slightest but Im not getting very carried away for next season as the task Lambert has is very tough. He has inherited a team with no real quality and some very over paid lazy footballers. He needs to be given two years to ship out and replace all the crap.

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12th is the lowest I'll accept given he got Norwich to that

Don't you find this opinion to be ridiculously simplistic?

He spent years building a team at Norwich, all of them were either his players or loyal to him - this sort of thing doesn't happen overnight.

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Previous results would suggest that at the moment we are not better than Norwich.

We have essentially the same squad that nearly got Champions League football 3 seasons ago, now I will agree that Man City have gone from strength to strength since then but there has not been some massive paradigm shift in quality in the rest of the league. If we had MON for the last 2 seasons we wouldn't have been in the bottom half consistently not saying top 6 all the time but top 8 and that's with the squad we have now minus new signings.

We are better than Norwich, we have always been better than Norwich the issue is that for 2 seasons we've had shit managers that the players hated and didn't care to play for. Now I get the squad needed updating and freshening up but there are still several from the MON era that under quality guidance could hit their top 8, top 6 form again. The issue Lambert has to deal with is finding the balance between old school and his signings, though even without making a signing I think he could get us top 10.

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Feeling pretty good at the mo as I think PL is going about things in the right way. There's so much work to be done to the squad as a whole that I think we're better off getting a bunch of decent players in at a good price, rather than paying top dollar for one or two signings we won't be able to make the best of.

I think this season will be about steadying what was previously a sinking ship, so with that in mind I'd be happy with any finish above 12th, even more so if we can have a decent run in one of the cups.

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We have essentially the same squad that nearly got Champions League football 3 seasons ago

yeah we do. apart from...

brad friedel

luke young

wilfred bouma

steve sidwell

stewart downing

ashley young

james milner

marlon harewood

john carew

curtis davies

moustapha salifou

emile heskey

stiliyan petrov

craig gardner

nigel reo coker

nickey shorey

habib beye

carlos cuellar

isaiah osbourne

but yeah, essentially the same squad as the 2009/10 season alright

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We have essentially the same squad that nearly got Champions League football 3 seasons ago,

Oh, really?

Minus Friedel, Luke Young, Cuellar, Downing, Milner, Ashley Young, Petrov, Carew, Reo-Coker and Sidwell, yes...

That's an awful lot of quality and premier league experience to lose and it has only been replaced in a fairly erratic fashion:

Bent, Ireland, Makoun, Given, N'Zogbia, Hutton - and only Herd, Bannan Clark and Albrighton anywhere near first team level from the Youth/Reserves (might give you Lichaj and C Gardner as well).

Next season will be about Lambert working out how the - in my view very unbalanced - squad he's inherited, plus the new players he's brought in, can play together effectively and if more needs to be done to get us back to competing in the top half.

If we have seen some progress in that direction by the end of the season, and can see that Lambert knows where he is heading (and continues to have the necessary backing from Lerner & co.) I will be happy enough.

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We're not in any position to attract big names. First we have to get back to mid-table and build from there. I suspect PL knows what he's doing with his transfers in and out.

Marquee signings are not the way to go right now.

I'm optimistic, but I'm not expecting any more than top half this season.

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We have essentially the same squad that nearly got Champions League football 3 seasons ago,

Oh, really?

Minus Friedel, Luke Young, Cuellar, Downing, Milner, Ashley Young, Petrov, Carew, Reo-Coker and Sidwell, yes...

That's an awful lot of quality and premier league experience to lose and it has only been replaced in a fairly erratic fashion:

Bent, Ireland, Makoun, Given, N'Zogbia, Hutton - and only Herd, Bannan Clark and Albrighton anywhere near first team level from the Youth/Reserves (might give you Lichaj and C Gardner as well).

Next season will be about Lambert working out how the - in my view very unbalanced - squad he's inherited, plus the new players he's brought in, can play together effectively and if more needs to be done to get us back to competing in the top half.

If we have seen some progress in that direction by the end of the season, and can see that Lambert knows where he is heading (and continues to have the necessary backing from Lerner & co.) I will be happy enough.

Bannan and Allbrighton are nowhere near first team level at all

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I wouldn't say nowhere near first team level, they have shown in a few games that they don't look out of place. What they lack is consistency which isn't surprising as they've been thrown into a team on the decline. I hope Lambert will use them next season. Overall I'm fairly positive, I feel we've got the next best thing to Moyes and look forward to see him shape the club in his own way.

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