Champagneblade
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jan 24, 2010
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I think we need to be a little realistic here and far more resilient than some of the kneejerk reactions. Chelsea hadn't conceded in 459 minutes until McGoldrick scored.
We beat Chelsea not long ago. But Chelsea's response? Spent 220m in the summer on new players. A net spend of 173m. The one who looked good today and came on a free is probably on 200k per week. I'm not a fan of the Transfermarkt valuations but they see their squad as valued at 755m. Ours at 158m. That's like comparing our current squad to Millwall's according to their valuations that's the disparity we're looking at.
We've come a very long way in a short space of time. Not long ago we were embarking on our 6th league one campaign. We hadn't touched the top flight for 13 years and we haven't had consecutive seasons in it since the early to mid nineties. What were the expectations? A continual upward trend with no setbacks? We've had no fans, mass pivotal injuries and poor officiating early on in key matches.
We can just about hold our head above water when everyone is fit and playing with confidence. The moment you start peeling away one of those then it is a very unforgiving league. Southampton are buoyant right now. Less than a year ago they lost 9-0 to Leicester, a club with nowhere near the resources of Chelsea. Leeds got some early season plaudits but got an absolute doing at Palace, a team by Premier League standards who struggled to score goals last season.
We have to ride these rough patches through.
It is a very challenging time because the team is also being forced into transition and that is difficult to manage when the margins for error are so low, picking the Manager's preferred XI isn't possible and money is not at level of many clubs and we don't have the benefit of a capital location either.
The team promoted hit it's optimum heights last season. And that was great. But it still needed to evolve. Even Fergie had leaner years when he had to rebuild the team.
We needed a keeper. No choice. Wilder took one from Bournemouth where he was very much appreciated and figured well in their player of the year. He happens to have stepped into a defence which is far more shaky than last season and today he didn't have a good game, after a few matches where he'd performed pretty well. Who should he have got? Martinez went to Villa from Arsenal having just won the FA Cup and will be on far more money. Pickford, a few years back even cost 30m, is the England keeper and he's struggling for form. As a long term investment, I think we take the rough with the smooth with Rammers and Darren Ward working alongside him.
The strike force that got us up is closer to mid thirties than early thirties. We've done well to eek what we have out of McGoldrick and Sharp, but we have to be realistic too. Chris has invested in younger, promising players like Brewster, McBurnie, who are both 1 in 2 Championship strikers, plus Burke and Mousset and transitioning out players out whose powers are diminishing whilst others learn on the job at this level is not an exact science.
I think this is where we show our mettle. We stick together and we support the team and the Manager. This is what Norwich did and they are bouncing back. They romped the Championship, struggled to get a settled defence and that was it, those are the margins. For all the talk of emulating what Dyche has done at Burnley, he also got relegated after getting them promoted.
We have to take a much more measured long term view.
Those talking about removing the manager, give your heads a wobble. And replace with whom? We haven't had a Manager this good for over 25 years. And because we get our first thumping we're up in arms?
We have a winnable set of fixtures coming up. We still are lacking key players but let's just get behind the team, enjoy the adversity and stick together. Remember when we had 4 points after 16 games under Bassett and finished about 13th in the end? There wasn't a single voice of dissent and nor should there be here.
He's not exempt from criticism but he is the best Manager we've had this century.
Let's continue to enjoy the ride. We've certainly had far more ups than downs under Chris.
UTB
We beat Chelsea not long ago. But Chelsea's response? Spent 220m in the summer on new players. A net spend of 173m. The one who looked good today and came on a free is probably on 200k per week. I'm not a fan of the Transfermarkt valuations but they see their squad as valued at 755m. Ours at 158m. That's like comparing our current squad to Millwall's according to their valuations that's the disparity we're looking at.
We've come a very long way in a short space of time. Not long ago we were embarking on our 6th league one campaign. We hadn't touched the top flight for 13 years and we haven't had consecutive seasons in it since the early to mid nineties. What were the expectations? A continual upward trend with no setbacks? We've had no fans, mass pivotal injuries and poor officiating early on in key matches.
We can just about hold our head above water when everyone is fit and playing with confidence. The moment you start peeling away one of those then it is a very unforgiving league. Southampton are buoyant right now. Less than a year ago they lost 9-0 to Leicester, a club with nowhere near the resources of Chelsea. Leeds got some early season plaudits but got an absolute doing at Palace, a team by Premier League standards who struggled to score goals last season.
We have to ride these rough patches through.
It is a very challenging time because the team is also being forced into transition and that is difficult to manage when the margins for error are so low, picking the Manager's preferred XI isn't possible and money is not at level of many clubs and we don't have the benefit of a capital location either.
The team promoted hit it's optimum heights last season. And that was great. But it still needed to evolve. Even Fergie had leaner years when he had to rebuild the team.
We needed a keeper. No choice. Wilder took one from Bournemouth where he was very much appreciated and figured well in their player of the year. He happens to have stepped into a defence which is far more shaky than last season and today he didn't have a good game, after a few matches where he'd performed pretty well. Who should he have got? Martinez went to Villa from Arsenal having just won the FA Cup and will be on far more money. Pickford, a few years back even cost 30m, is the England keeper and he's struggling for form. As a long term investment, I think we take the rough with the smooth with Rammers and Darren Ward working alongside him.
The strike force that got us up is closer to mid thirties than early thirties. We've done well to eek what we have out of McGoldrick and Sharp, but we have to be realistic too. Chris has invested in younger, promising players like Brewster, McBurnie, who are both 1 in 2 Championship strikers, plus Burke and Mousset and transitioning out players out whose powers are diminishing whilst others learn on the job at this level is not an exact science.
I think this is where we show our mettle. We stick together and we support the team and the Manager. This is what Norwich did and they are bouncing back. They romped the Championship, struggled to get a settled defence and that was it, those are the margins. For all the talk of emulating what Dyche has done at Burnley, he also got relegated after getting them promoted.
We have to take a much more measured long term view.
Those talking about removing the manager, give your heads a wobble. And replace with whom? We haven't had a Manager this good for over 25 years. And because we get our first thumping we're up in arms?
We have a winnable set of fixtures coming up. We still are lacking key players but let's just get behind the team, enjoy the adversity and stick together. Remember when we had 4 points after 16 games under Bassett and finished about 13th in the end? There wasn't a single voice of dissent and nor should there be here.
He's not exempt from criticism but he is the best Manager we've had this century.
Let's continue to enjoy the ride. We've certainly had far more ups than downs under Chris.
UTB
