| The honesty thread 11:17 - Jul 25 with 8220 views | greyhound |
We had an unreal season last year, but I can't hide from the fact that I have some niggling worries about this season.
So in the spirit of honesty here's a thread of 3 things your worried about going into the new season. Add yours and kindly discuss... (hopefully adding this now still gives us time for things to resolve before Sunderland)
1. Strength of the league: looking left to right there seems to be no easy game. A solid friendly win against league opposition should be taken little more than on face value, there are very few games that will be bankers for points.
2. Defensive strength: we need more bodies in this area. Centre backs are a priority surely
3. Seems that pre season has brought about a few niggly injuries and it's quickly apparent that a bit more depth will be needed for a tough season back in championship. |  | | |  |
| The honesty thread on 11:25 - Jul 25 with 5238 views | J2BLUE |
1. Injuries. Our first 11 can give anyone in the league a good game but concerned an injury to Chaplin/Broadhead/Morsy/Clarke/Davis could derail us
2. McKenna getting poached. If we have a good season there will be teams looking at him. It would likely take a Premier League team so hopefully any of them in trouble would be looking to more traditional firefighters. The outside bet is Leeds/Southampton/Leicester start badly and come calling before Christmas.
3. The fans. Most are sensible but we've seen how loudly the minority can shout and there are some who turn quickly if we don't start well. Long term with this set up we are only going one way. I just hope people keep their nerve. |  |
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| The honesty thread on 11:32 - Jul 25 with 5172 views | geg1992 |
1) Defence - I actually really rate Burgess and prefer him over Edmondson, but I worry that against better players, especially those with pace, we may get into trouble. I also think that although playing out of the back and encouraging teams to push up worked well in league one, teams in this league with more quality may score from this. Preston almost did but may be down to rustiness.
2) Fans expectations - there seems to be many people expecting us to get top 6 this season which although would be amazing, I think is a bit unrealistic. The money in this league is crazy and there are so many strong teams. I mean I wouldn't be surprised, but I certainly don't expect it. I worry because we done so well in league one, people may be a bit over expectant and get on the players backs, I hope not.
3) Wide players - I worry that with injuries to our wide players, we may struggle with our strength in depth. Jackson actually looked pretty good at Preston, but I'm not sure he, Harness or maybe even Edwards are going to give us enough strength in depth. I'm hoping we recruit another body here and see Harness depart personally. Edwards certainly has the potential to terrify defences, but I'm not sure he does it enough. [Post edited 25 Jul 2023 11:34]
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| The honesty thread on 11:33 - Jul 25 with 5164 views | Keno |
1, I'm not sure we should be launching HMS P1ss the League just yet, I think we'll do ok but not sure we'll be top two
2, I expect there to be 'trading' with a couple of players leaving and maybe high profile signing such as a CB, maybe another Striker and a utility CM
3, I worry what would happen if McKenna got an offer he couldn't refuse, or a couple of 'key players' like Chappers or Morsy
The 4th irrational fear is what would my like be life if anything happens to TWTD? Just imagine if Phil and Gav got a mega bucks deal to host a forum site in Saudi!! Its the kind of real issue that keeps me awake at night [Post edited 25 Jul 2023 11:43]
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| The honesty thread on 11:40 - Jul 25 with 5102 views | the_toff |
Last season I didn't think the league was that strong from what I saw of it. There's big clubs in so much as Stoke, Cardiff, Birmingham etc who were all in the bottom half and they're of course somewhat more daunting than Cheltenham or Accrington. Undoubtedly the standard is higher, but I think there's a tendency to assume these clubs are better than they are tbh. That said I do think it's going to be tougher this season as the league lost 3 relative basket cases in Blackpool, Reading and Wigan and inherited Ipswich, Plymouth and Wednesday. At the other end switching Luton, Sheff Utd and Burnley for Leeds, Leicester and Southampton arguably makes it tougher too.
Unlike L1 there aren't any easy games, the floor is that much higher. I do think we're better and will prove better than plenty of teams though. Supporter expectation is a factor, there's a lot of positive PR, we've become very accustomed to dominating games and rarely losing (only 4 last season, and none now for over 6 months). That won't be true of this level and how fans and players react will be important.
I'm not overly worried about lack of depth. Injuries will impact any side. | | | |
| The honesty thread on 11:50 - Jul 25 with 5025 views | Herbivore |
1. We could do with another CB, lacking depth there and I also think we could upgrade on Burgess.
2. We might fall just short of 100 goals.
3. We might fall just short of 100 points. |  |
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| The honesty thread on 11:54 - Jul 25 with 4981 views | N2_Blue |
Not sure why you think the league is strong. It’s not. Also any team can pretty much beat anyone which makes a condensed league. We’ll be fine. Names of sides mean nothing. I bet people though Luton were an easy oppo and Norwich a tough oppo last season that didn’t work out like that.
Our current side is so far ahead of hurst/lamberts relegated side it’s not even worth comparing and that was a stronger league than it is this season.
Many sides splashing no cash and happy to tread water. Sure there may be a few sides a long way ahead of us, (although personally I don’t think there will be), but I’m fairly certain we are stronger than half the teams in the league.
Sides that puts runs together such as we did and get so many goals don’t tend to struggle after a promotion, especially if they keep their side together and strengthen which we are. I just can’t see much to be worried about.
Squad is well capable of covering niggly injuries. McKenna will know exactly what he wants / needs at the back. The pre season friendlies will also have helped him see what he thinks we need so have complete faith that the club will do what he wants.
Excited for the season. Heart says a play off challenge but head and realism predicts 8th - 10th for us which would be an excellent first season back at this level. [Post edited 25 Jul 2023 11:58]
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| The honesty thread on 11:55 - Jul 25 with 4978 views | Mookamoo |
1) Fan expectation early season. Chaplin is not going to score 20+ this season. When he goes 4-5 games without scoring I do worry people will start getting on his back. Hutchinson isn't Giovani dos Santos and Taylor will need time to bed in. Yes, we're probably capable of a top 6 finish, but that has to be the aspiration, not the expectation.
2) Playing out from the back. It was such an important element the latter part of last year. We're not going to have it so easy and I'm not sure my bowels will be able to cope watching Burgess and Walton trying to keep possession.
3) One of those significant 6 month out injuries to Broadhead or Davis. We pushed them both very hard at the end of last season. They need time to recover should they start picking up niggles. Leigh and Harness will need to start more and I think they are both good players, but we're so much more effective with Broadhead and Davis. |  | | |
| The wave of enthusiasm and feelgood factor..... on 11:55 - Jul 25 with 4986 views | Bloots |
....is totally understandable, but, and it's a big but:
A large element of our fanbase is totally underestimating the difference in levels of opposition between last season and this season.
We are genuinely weak in a couple of areas where we have players that looked decent against really poor opposition last season and where I genuinely think we will struggle this season.
1. As you rightly point out CB is the main concern. Wolf has practically no Championship experience, and he may well be up to the required standard, but it's really only based on a decent season in the 3rd tier and not much else. I expect he'll be fine, but it's not guaranteed.
Burgess is a different story. It's all very well dealing with 3rd Division style punts into the area and he'll clean them up all day and all night, we've seen that. But we've also seen him defending one on one with attackers (3rd Division ones!) running at him, and it isn't a pretty sight. He will (IMO) struggle next season against far better attackers.
We desperately need a CB.
2. Our right side in general looks weak to me as well, Hutch will help, but again I think we are over estimating the level of Burns, and perhaps at the moment Clarke. Clarke will improve, but I think Burns has reached his ceiling.
This will upset many, but there is also an argument that Chappers has reached his ceiling and that ceiling is somewhere above the 3rd tier, but below a high level Championship team. His previous stints in The Championship haven't been covered in goals or assists.
Does he have the attributes to step up? Ladapo and Hirst are in the same boat.
Obviously a lot of this is conjecture, but then so is just blindly saying that they will all be comfortable and productive in the Championship.
3. McKenna himself was clearly a cut above the vast majority of the managers in the 3rd Division, but even he is going to come up against far better managers, who are just as tactically astute as him next season.
All aspects of our team are going to have to improve next season, and I'm not 100% certain that they all can. [Post edited 25 Jul 2023 12:04]
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| The honesty thread on 11:55 - Jul 25 with 4967 views | jayessess |
| The honesty thread on 11:25 - Jul 25 by J2BLUE |
1. Injuries. Our first 11 can give anyone in the league a good game but concerned an injury to Chaplin/Broadhead/Morsy/Clarke/Davis could derail us
2. McKenna getting poached. If we have a good season there will be teams looking at him. It would likely take a Premier League team so hopefully any of them in trouble would be looking to more traditional firefighters. The outside bet is Leeds/Southampton/Leicester start badly and come calling before Christmas.
3. The fans. Most are sensible but we've seen how loudly the minority can shout and there are some who turn quickly if we don't start well. Long term with this set up we are only going one way. I just hope people keep their nerve. |
Think Number 3 is the big one for me. I think we've had a lot of hype from pundits in the last 3 months and a fair few have got carried away.
Make no mistake, we're in a pack of non-parachute payment teams who will need a fair wind and a decent run without injuries to have a brilliant season. If we lose a significant number of our star players it's going to be a slog and that is unavoidable. No amount of transfer activity in the next 5 weeks is going to change that significantly, we simply aren't in a position to recruit 25 players all of whom belong long term in the starting eleven of a Top 6 side.
I hope fans can come to terms with that and people aren't getting too frustrated if we're not pulling up trees as predicted. |  |
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| The honesty thread on 11:59 - Jul 25 with 4930 views | Oldsmoker |
| The honesty thread on 11:25 - Jul 25 by J2BLUE |
1. Injuries. Our first 11 can give anyone in the league a good game but concerned an injury to Chaplin/Broadhead/Morsy/Clarke/Davis could derail us
2. McKenna getting poached. If we have a good season there will be teams looking at him. It would likely take a Premier League team so hopefully any of them in trouble would be looking to more traditional firefighters. The outside bet is Leeds/Southampton/Leicester start badly and come calling before Christmas.
3. The fans. Most are sensible but we've seen how loudly the minority can shout and there are some who turn quickly if we don't start well. Long term with this set up we are only going one way. I just hope people keep their nerve. |
I don't think we should worry about McKenna getting poached.
I agree that a Premier League team in trouble isn't very appealing and they would be the one's likely to try and poach.
Another Championship side that has a bit of history/pedigree and/or parachute payments might be more appealing to McKenna.
As long as Mark Ashton doesn't upset McKenna I think he'll stay.
Ashton has a past reputation of winding people up though - eg. Bristol City. |  |
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| The honesty thread on 12:20 - Jul 25 with 4776 views | Illinoisblue |
We’ll finish around midtable which will be about right for the squad we have. The question is how patient/demanding/supportive the owners will be.
Whatever will be, will be. Just glad we’re not thrashing about in L1. COYB |  |
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| The honesty thread on 12:24 - Jul 25 with 4746 views | Dyland |
1) The bars being poorly stocked and understaffed.
2) Fans moaning.
3) McKenna's head falling off. |  |
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| The honesty thread on 12:42 - Jul 25 with 4665 views | LankHenners |
Not a lot different to what's been said already but:
1) Squad depth - think our strongest XI (which requires 1 or 2 more additions) will give pretty much every team in the league a good game but we had a taste last season of what happens when we have injuries, especially concentrated in one area.
Prefacing my next point but there's a tendency among the fanbase to overrate individual players and think they're better than they are. Obviously they can only play against the quality they're faced with, and someone like Woolf, for e.g., may well have improved enough that he can handle Championship forwards but there's a world of difference between being able to pocket Jonson Clarke-Harris and having to deal with the likes of Chuba Akpom and Elis Simms.
Burgess had a good end to the season but the period before that when he struggled with pretty average players running at him seems to have been memory-holed by quite a few. Likewise because Lee Evans picked up high ratings in WhoScored.com and was spraying passes about against utter crap like Accrington Stanley people seem to believe he's going to come back in and be a top performer in the Championship.
2) Fan expectations - I do think we're capable of having a pretty good season and the Championship can be so tight that a couple of good runs of form can see a decent finish in the table but get the feeling some are expecting the crazy run from last season's end to continue into this one and we all know how quickly the moaning can start.
I remember when the fixtures were released there were threads about it and the majority seemed to be going 'nothing worries me here' 'can see us top half no problem' etc. and I was thinking there were a few months where we'd do well to get double figures of points from the set of matches. The FA cup games last season have no relevance for me and I think it's ludicrous that some people genuinely take Vincent Kompany praising us (after being prompted to do so) as clear evidence that we'll be a really good Championship level team.
There are a lot of teams that have been drifting not doing much in the Championship but the worst ones will still be top 6 league one quality. Obviously we've batted away those teams previously but have also come out on the right side of fine margins (Walton pen save at Bolton, Derby goal ruled out in confusing circumstances), and there'll be a lot more teams that are above that standard.
To be successful (however anyone wants to measure that) we'll have to be greater than the sum of our parts. I trust McKenna to be able to do that, and it seems fairly clear the dressing room isn't going to collapse after a few losses but people need to hold the nerve and get used to us not being the better team on the pitch every week. It was nice while it lasted but we're not having a season like that again for a very long time.
3) Hype from outside sources - not that it matters and shouldn't bother us but we've been getting a lot of praise from various writers, podcasts etc. which has already been met with scepticism and some derision (and not just from the Plymouth fans who get high blood pressure every time someone dares to say a team other than them is good). You just know when we lose games there'll be a whole load of nonsense and stupid arguing going on which just gets annoying. I know it appears to be part and parcel of football 'support' these days that it's not enough just to enjoy following your team and seeing them win; you have to also act like a total dick towards other fans online and (if they're brave/stupid enough) in person when you beat them.
As I said in the grand scheme of things it's nothing that should bother anyone but for me it just adds to the general unpleasantness of football these days and the more noise there is the more intense all this additional crap is.
All that said, the unknown and genuinely high potential of the manager and club as a whole makes this season exciting and we shouldn't go into it fearing anyone or anything but think it's important to remember we're not in Kansas anymore.
Or maybe McKenna's a genuine genius and we'll blow teams away with high quality football on the way to a playoff finish and all the above worrying will look stupid in hindsight. |  |
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| The honesty thread on 14:13 - Jul 25 with 4455 views | Mullet |
1. The M6
2. Squad ins and outs being harder to do than anticipated and McKenna not getting things as he wants them soon enough
3. People forgetting how humiliating and bad being in Div 3 was. |  |
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| The honesty thread on 14:25 - Jul 25 with 4409 views | Vic |
1) Playing out from the back. Will we be good enough to do this against better opposition? Not saying we won;t but it's a worry to me until we see how we do.
2) Forwards: Hirst was great last season, but hasn't yet done it in the championship. Not saying he's not good enough, but it;s a bit of an unknown)
3) Injuries. In some areas (defence and MF) our cover is quite a downgrade on the first choice.
4) TWTD - that if we don;t start well this place will be taken over by the bedwetters and worry monsters. |  |
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| The honesty thread on 14:43 - Jul 25 with 4314 views | TRUE_BLUE123 |
I'm not sure the starting XI has been strengthened. I believe it needed to be.
We are in desperate need of a Centre back.
They didn't turn Staples in to a sports bar |  |
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| The honesty thread on 14:49 - Jul 25 with 4274 views | southnorfolkblue |
Niggling doubt that some of our stars from last season (Chaplin, Morsy, Luongo, Hirst…) will not be as effective as we hope.
Not a worry, but a niggling doubt | |
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| The honesty thread on 15:04 - Jul 25 with 4219 views | ArnieM |
By “ defence” I mean both CB’s and GK
1) defence
2) defence
3) defence
I’ll leave it at that |  |
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| The honesty thread on 15:06 - Jul 25 with 4213 views | SamWhiteUK |
| The honesty thread on 15:04 - Jul 25 by ArnieM |
By “ defence” I mean both CB’s and GK
1) defence
2) defence
3) defence
I’ll leave it at that |
You don't think Walton can cut it at Championship level? |  | | |
| The honesty thread on 15:08 - Jul 25 with 4199 views | J2BLUE |
| The honesty thread on 15:04 - Jul 25 by ArnieM |
By “ defence” I mean both CB’s and GK
1) defence
2) defence
3) defence
I’ll leave it at that |
Walton or the strength of the three as a whole? | |
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| The honesty thread on 15:37 - Jul 25 with 4117 views | Churchman |
1. Intolerance and impatience of supporters. The nonsense at the start of the year was OTT
2. Fear. I don’t see too much to worry about in the Championship. It was always ordinary and it takes little to do just fine in it. However, any player reading some comments on here will think we are about to play in the Champions League. We aren’t and I believe this lot will more than do ok. The bookies rarely get it wrong and we were so much better than the top L1 sides by the end of the season it was scary. It was he smaller clubs we struggled against, oddly. Cheltenham? Lincoln anyone? The way the team plays is tailor made to hurt a lot of the dross in this division.
3. While I’d like to see another centre half, my preference in an either/or is a top end goal scorer to add to what we have. Beyond our means even if there was one available and maybe what we have will do just fine.
Injuries? Annoying but inevitable this time of year. Defence? I think Woolfy and the gang will be alright.
I’m really looking forward to the season. The ground is improving, so much is improving. It’s all good and if there are any worries, I just have to remember 2.5 years ago. |  | | |
| The honesty thread on 15:37 - Jul 25 with 4117 views | LRB84UK |
I'm always glass half full and got £20 on us going up top two
My only worry is the way a small minority of fans panic if we don't win every game and can turn very quickly if they don't think things are going right. | | | |
| The honesty thread on 17:07 - Jul 25 with 3952 views | greyhound |
Thanks for Contributions all. Been a nice read back | | | |
| The honesty thread on 17:15 - Jul 25 with 3907 views | ArnieM |
| The honesty thread on 15:08 - Jul 25 by J2BLUE |
Walton or the strength of the three as a whole? |
Probably the strength of the three as a whole. I know I keep banging on about this, but generally I don’t think we deal with balls into our box very cleanly or well. If the CB’s flap at it if don’t clear it well though that puts pressure on the keeper. When He does come for it he has been shown to be prone to poor handling in taking the ball.
Ball in the box is our Achilles heel imho . | |
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| The honesty thread on 17:33 - Jul 25 with 3831 views | SamWhiteUK |
| The honesty thread on 17:15 - Jul 25 by ArnieM |
Probably the strength of the three as a whole. I know I keep banging on about this, but generally I don’t think we deal with balls into our box very cleanly or well. If the CB’s flap at it if don’t clear it well though that puts pressure on the keeper. When He does come for it he has been shown to be prone to poor handling in taking the ball.
Ball in the box is our Achilles heel imho . |
Walton absolutely commanded his area last year, especially compared to what we've had prior to him. Not sure what you were watching. | | | |
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