Wow I really seem to have struck a chord, but that's a good thing as that's what forums are all about
Sheffsteel Yes we were far better than Bristol City, but something no-one has mentioned is that the quality of the league this year has been extremely poor. There's an pattern that the teams who have managed to cope with the step up are the same ones who went up when the quality of the league was much better, so much so that we weren't able to go up ourselves back then xd We played very well as a team for sure, but the reason championship clubs didn't go in for Freeman for example was because of the skepticism whether he'd be able to cope in the league above.
I too of course do look forward to this season very much, I just think we should be wary and manage expectations. Doing that seems to get you accused of not watching us play or not being a 'proper' fan for some reason.
finlaytheblade Where am I being negative and fearful? I'm just being cautious and there is good reason to be for the reasons I've given
hello As it happens I don't think we will be in a relegation fight but wouldn't be surprised, some people are getting ahead of themselves
MobileBlade Moore hardly played, Basham didn't cut it, Freeman and Lafferty only appeared sporadically, Coutts was mostly injured, Evans was a very long time ago and can't rely on him for obvious reasons, Sharp I'll give you so that's one player.
Grizzly blade Fact is this season we haven't faced a single player who has the quality of Helder Costa, and we will face them week in week out next season, Abrahams, Hernandez etc. We will concede a fair few amount of goals that good management and team spirit can't litigate against and there's no telling how we'll react to that. Sharp's goal against the mighty Shrewsbury was the only one outside the box he scored, and I made a whole thread about Lafferty's goal against the titans of Rochdale.
EddieColquhoun Almost all those players you've listed were deemed surplus to requirements at championship clubs, or have been relegated with them
Maidenhead We have a great team spirit and gel really well, no-one is disputing that, but there is an undisputed step in quality and there's evidence to suggest that this season COULD be a struggle. I'm not talking us down or into trouble, just trying to be realistic
Pinchy I've watched this team just over a dozen times over this past year, granted not as much as most, yet my concerns remain. I have never stated that we don't have a good team or that the championship is full of giants
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man When was the last time a team in the championship scored a goal with 17 passes beforehand? You simply don't get the time and space like that the higher you go in football.
Gimli That's a good example, but there's also MK Dons, I'm just saying we should be confident but wary, cautiously optimistic.
Booker4 Fair enough, I was under more of the impression that he was an attacking winger, whether he'd adapt to that role we'll have to wait and see. We already have Duffy and Carruthers there however, so is he really an improvement of what we already have?
Norderner Its funny whilst I was in 'the other place' I was accused of being a clapper xd its more of an aghast reaction to some on here thinking we could get promoted again, expectations are soaring and whilst I don't want to be a downer just want to ground things a bit
UTB as always, would be delighted to be proved wrong in what I've said