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Originally posted by Willo
With respect I disagree. My belief is that of the teams currently below us in the table, W.Ham, Everton,Wolves, A.Villa and Leicester will all finish above us in the table and perhaps even Nottm Forest. Probably means we will stay up, you have been saying we will get relegated for last few seasons
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This site should come with a health warning. Misery all over the place.
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Originally posted by Spiderman
Probably means we will stay up, you have been saying we will get relegated for last few seasons I had a degree of optimism about our prospects this season, believing that whilst we might not better last season's league placing there was only slender chance we would suffer the dreaded drop, however for the reasons I have documented in this Thread my opinion has changed.
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9th to 12th, easy
“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn |
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Originally posted by EddieMac
This site should come with a health warning. Misery all over the place. Some gentleman once said to me after a defeat "Misery has attached to you like fungus to a dead tree".
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Originally posted by Willo
With respect I disagree. My belief is that of the teams currently below us in the table, W.Ham, Everton,Wolves, A.Villa and Leicester will all finish above us in the table and perhaps even Nottm Forest. I tend to agree with these comments, the lack of investment in this window is very disappointing, especially when most realise we are missing at least a combative box to box midfielder, striker who anticipates and gets in to the box and most importantly is capable of scoring and of course our defence is prone to errors and cannot deal effectively with balls coming in to the box. I'm concerned that this season is more like the second season syndrome that most promoted clubs who survive the first year face when they often come a cropper in the second year, I know this is our 10th season but this is virtually new team from Roy's time and lacks a lot of players with EPL proven experience and performance, as does the manage (in a coaching role). Very worrying times, especially with owners who are more interested in buying in to bigger clubs than investing in this club (Parish excepted).
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Originally posted by Den1923
I tend to agree with these comments, the lack of investment in this window is very disappointing, especially when most realise we are missing at least a combative box to box midfielder, striker who anticipates and gets in to the box and most importantly is capable of scoring and of course our defence is prone to errors and cannot deal effectively with balls coming in to the box. I'm concerned that this season is more like the second season syndrome that most promoted clubs who survive the first year face when they often come a cropper in the second year, I know this is our 10th season but this is virtually new team from Roy's time and lacks a lot of players with EPL proven experience and performance, as does the manage (in a coaching role). Very worrying times, especially with owners who are more interested in buying in to bigger clubs than investing in this club (Parish excepted). An excellent contribution to the debate.
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The most important thing to realise is that the PL is even tougher than last year. You are always going to be up against wallet crunching greed and all that goes with it, including the running of the PL itself. We still have a good squad if we stay clear of injuries and sending offs and play consistently to our strengths we can have a good season but we may not be able to rely on 3 worse teams all the time. What goes on behind the scenes a lot of errors imo. 'Not the bright-y-est' COYP
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Of course we'll stay up! We may not have signed anyone, but we also still have Zaha. We can reassess in January. Key targets such as AWB and Gallagher will both have more clearly defined values to their squad. Our interest in both came too soon for both Ten Hag and Tuchel to make a first-hand impression on these players. I don't think we will go down, but failure to strengthen will still undermine our potential, which is frustrating. We have genuine assets in our squad in Guéhi, Olise, Vieira and especially Zaha. All would have value at other clubs with greater stature, and if we do not prove our ability to develop Crystal Palace Football Club, then they have no obligation to show loyalty. If they decide that it's time for the next step in their career, then we really will go backwards. We are on the precipice of the greatest era in the history of our football club - and yet thus far we have achieved nothing. There is a constant balance to be maintained in terms of investment. I certainly don't want us to buy players for the sake of appeasing fans, we need to sign the right players at the right price, and I trust the judgement of the recruitment team if they have decided that there simply wasn't value there. Let's use Conor Gallagher as an example. Chelsea seemed reluctant sellers. But for all we know, perhaps there was a value where they'd have been willing to let him go. Perhaps it was money we could have put together. It takes a show of strength from Dougie and co to not panic and just give them what they want. If the deal is not right, then it's not right. If AWB and CG were genuine targets, it feels like we have slightly misdirected our targets. Yes, they're (relatively) young, but I feel they're both too expensive in either fee or wages. It's like a return to the days when we went big on Benteke and Sahko. Once players have had their big contract at another club, I feel they're no longer of any benefit to us in terms of profile. We need to find players BEFORE they get the big move, which we have done really well in recent years with Eze, Guéhi, Olise. People keep saying that if we have injuries then we are screwed. Well, we had really bad luck with injuries under Hodgson. Had it not been for Kouyaté's versatility that season, things could have ended badly. We shouldn't have let him go, and we haven't replaced him. Eze's return to fitness and Doucouré are not a replacement for Gallagher & Kouyaté. You need at least 3 players for 2 positions, and it seems none of Hughes, Milivojević or MacArthur are of the genuine first 11 standard. Maybe I'm under-valuing Schlupp. Hopefully I am. On a side note, seeing Billy Gilmour go for under £10m is frustrating. It proves there is value out there. But I guess he's not quite the type of player we need.
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Originally posted by EddieMac
This site should come with a health warning. Misery all over the place.
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In terms of squads - I'd say we have the second worst squad in the league. Worst in the league is Bournemouth. However, not a great marker as Leicester and Liverpool don't have large, good squads either. However, clearly far better than ours. My own consideration is we will be no higher than 14tb. We will probably just about survive. Just about is not great - I'd say 60% stay up/ 40% get relegated. Fine margins. I'll give our owners one caveat. A lot of this could have been Wilf related. I can, frankly, just imagine him pushing to leave and that taking a lot of time to sort out - with all the permutations. Our pursuit of Gallagher was embarrassing. Once we were getting mucked around, we should have said no and let them come back to us. There's no similar midfielder in Europe we could have loaned? Everyone can think of one or two who went elsewhere, that would have helped us. Sh1t and frankly demoralising transfer window. And Willo - you forecast relegation every year so I'm not going to worry too much about that.
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Originally posted by steeleye20
The most important thing to realise is that the PL is even tougher than last year. You are always going to be up against wallet crunching greed and all that goes with it, including the running of the PL itself. We still have a good squad if we stay clear of injuries and sending offs and play consistently to our strengths we can have a good season but we may not be able to rely on 3 worse teams all the time. What goes on behind the scenes a lot of errors imo. 'Not the bright-y-est' COYP Every club has it's injury woes and we are ill-equipped to be able to cope with multiple players being injured concurrently.
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