Expectations

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mank!

Guest
The new season is nearly upon us and our respective teams should have made their signings by now... if not, hurry the fuck up! So how do you think your team will do?

Personally I was riding the wave of optimism a few weeks ago, lots of new faces, general excitement and some good performances in pre-season but recently I've come to realise what an utter idiot our manager is. He doesn't understand what 'squad rotation' is and seems to have signed players for cover but is complaining that he hasn't got any. One of the supposed two first choice strikers we have is injured and he's saying he'll have to look at getting a player in on loan as he has no other option. This is despite the fact we signed a young striker from Leicester called Jon Stevenson who has played in the first team on a few occasions and has scored plenty of times too. He's completely oblivious to this however, and has extended the luxury to our goalkeeper. We have signed ex-Chelsea and current U21 'keeper Rhys Evans and coming upto the start of the season King has come out and said Griemink will start against Sheff Wed because they've been equal in pre-season. Once again Andy King has forgotten that Griemink let in two awful goals he should have been able to prevent against Man Utd last week whereas the little we've seen of Evans he's been solid, has commanded the box and is comfortable with crosses. The mind boggles.

It also looks as if he's insisting on playing that useless twat Hewlett again, once again in spite of the fact we've bought in plenty of midfielders who could quite easily put in a much better performance than Hewlett, who evidently has some skill that isn't apparent to any fans at all but is blindingly obvious to King. Not to mention the fact that he still wants to play Duke on the left, despite the fact he's a right footed wingback who is infinitely better and much more comfortable on the right. We've even got an abundance of left-footed players, so there's no reason for Duke to have to play on the left wing this year because there's no lack of left-footed players! The mind boggles.

So, with all that in mind I doubt we'll even challenge for promotion. Another season of mid-table obscurity, with the threat of possible relegation thrown in somewhere during the season, probably before Christmas. A disappointing FA Cup exit to Oxford/Cheltenham/Bristol City or some non-league minnows such as Smallvillageinthemiddleofnowhereyou'veneverheardof FC.

Business as usual, then.
 
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Anasyn

Guest
Unfortunately, I can't tell which team that is mank!, (had a busy summer myself)

As for my guys, well.. I expect the same as last season, fighting relegation. We did incredibly well last season, much better than most newly promoted teams have a right to.
With the permanant aquisition of Dugarry, well, provided he can replicate his form from the end of last season, I think he'll be our creative talisman, despite the recent aquisition of Dunn. one thing that worries me, whilst Dunn is capable of a right-wing position, according to statements, he'll be playing centre at times too, with Cisse not in the fans best books at the moment, I wonder whether he really will be let go (our fans are notoriously picky about prima-donnas).

I also fear about the future of Bryan Hughes, who really did show some inspirational form in the last 4-5 games when he got to play, weighing in with a couple of very good goals too to prove that he is good enough to perform at the top level, if only his consitancy could be sorted, but he hasn't been given a chance to prove that lately, which may just leave him to seek out a future away from the club, which is a pity as he is a fan favorite, where we've recognised (as have so many others) just how much ability he has. A natural who, maybe given the chance, could have ended up as big as Paul Scholes.

Robbie Savage will again be our inspiration, leading the team with his hard work, and inspiring the fans to replicate the kind of atmospheres that some teams even feared last season and were very much the subject of comment both good (the likes of Glenn Hoddle and even Bobby Robson) and bad (the incidents at both games against Aston Villa).

In the defence, with the year-long loan signing of <> from Monaco and the £2.5m capture of Luciano Figueroa from Argentina, a good deal of young strength is added in defence and up-front. My only real concern now is in goal, although the loan deal for Maik Taylor should go some way to calming that, to be honest we do have a good defence in front of the keeper anyway. Cunningham and Upson were both magnificent last season, and I think they'll both manage to keep that up with Purse always pushing them to go better, Clapham will always be getting pushed by Grainger for his place, and Kenna is a very consistent performer anyway, doing incredibly well last season despite his age, never panicking and always using his experience to the best.

I'm personally hoping for another 11th-14th place finish this season, hopefully with a better disciplinary and goalscoring record.
 
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mank!

Guest
Originally posted by Anasyn
Unfortunately, I can't tell which team that is mank!, (had a busy summer myself)

Swindon Town

Originally posted by Anasyn
I'm personally hoping for another 11th-14th place finish this season, hopefully with a better disciplinary and goalscoring record.

I actually think you'll do better than that. You proved perfectly capable of staying up and have made some good signings, so why not? I like Steve Bruce as well, top chap in my book. I imagine you'll be in the top half easily.
 
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mr.Blacky

Guest
New Castle united is going to rule!!!1







I hope :(
 
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Scooba Da Bass

Guest
The traditional Millwall strong start to the season, going well and raising expectations till Christmas Day when all our players get drunk anbd don't stop drinking till our inevitable midtable finish, hurrah!
 
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Embattle

Guest
Well we are buying every player under the sun....but we will still loose ;)
 
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Anasyn

Guest
Originally posted by mank!
I actually think you'll do better than that. You proved perfectly capable of staying up and have made some good signings, so why not? I like Steve Bruce as well, top chap in my book. I imagine you'll be in the top half easily.

We should do, certainly at the end of the season we played with plenty of flair, but we're not the unknown quantity we were last season, teams will know what to expect (whether they'll know how to cope is another thing, but they're top class managers and should be able to find a way).

It also depends on Dunny, IF he'll manage to fit his defensive duties in with his attacking leanings (something that he lacked at Blackburn) then maybe blues will be able to boast two England internationals (why we'd want two internationals for a two-bit team like that I don't know ;)).

One thing is for sure though, Brucey will stand for no rubbish from him, and blues fans will expect absolutely NOTHING less than 100% effort, we're used to players who wouldn't just bleed for the cause, but die for it (Hence Martin Graingers hero status after he played 25 minutes with a broken leg, and Martin O'Connor [now at Walsall] who, knowing we had know subs left at the Play-Off Final, carried on played with a damaged knee (despite only walking around the pitch, so we had 10 1/2 men instead of 10 lol).
 
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Memphis2K

Guest
i'm predicting the same position as last season. We still haven't properly solved our lack of width in midfield and we are still missing at least one top class striker.
Oh and we've also managed to buy 2 unknown French attacking midfielders/strikers who according to our manager could both be the next Zinedine Zidane. He said the same last year and it turns out that one couldn't kick a ball straight :(

Name my team
 
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Ch3tan

Guest
Man u will win the season again, Beckham will be missed as a consistant midfielder on the right, but Fergie has bought several midfielders now,, so he can experiment with the current and new midfielders till he gets it right. Pre-season form would suggest that he has, but we will see what happenes on sunday against Arsenal.

As for the other teams at the top, Arsenal for me have'nt done much apart from hold onto Viera. I think they will have a worst defensive crisis than man u in previous seasons. I have no idea what Chelsea will do -depends who else they manage to buy I suppose. Liverpool and Newcastle will be fighting for the top spot alongside Man u and Arsenal, but I still think Man U will win it.

/edit. BBC news are reporting that Man U have accepted a £15 million bid from Chelsea for Veron, the move is just awaiting personal terms and a medical. This is a very bad move on uniteds part IMO, and will strengthen Chelsea greatly.
 
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Sir Frizz

Guest
Originally posted by Miles_Binck

Name my team

Liverpool.

Isn't LeTallec supposed to be a bit "ultra" though? Played for the World Eleven twice apparently, at the age of 18.
 
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doh_boy

Guest
Originally posted by Ch3tan

/edit. BBC news are reporting that Man U have accepted a £15 million bid from Chelsea for Veron, the move is just awaiting personal terms and a medical. This is a very bad move on uniteds part IMO, and will strengthen Chelsea greatly.

The thing I hate about this is the fact that we get veron for two seasons while he's still getting used to the country and as soon as he looks like he's got used to it (playing better) we sell him for half-price. :(

I only hope he plays shite for chelsea and we buy someone good with the money (someone in addition to kleberson).
 
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Deadmanwalking

Guest
A shite tiny stadium. Sold our best asset, an england under 21 striker. And with less cash than most of us. Relegated last season after being promoted the season before. After clawing our way from the bottom of the 3rd division to reach the dizzy heights of division 1, only for the man behind it all to move club leaving us with a capable but slightly .. "thick" manager.

Guess my team :rolleyes:
 
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mank!

Guest
good old Brighton. We'll thrash you this season, probably. I hope.

maybe.
























or not ;(
 
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Memphis2K

Guest
Originally posted by Sir Frizz
Liverpool.

Isn't LeTallec supposed to be a bit "ultra" though? Played for the World Eleven twice apparently, at the age of 18.

I saw him play a couple of times in the Far East friendlies he played well. He didn't play too bad in the Amsterdam Tournament (the whole team played shite) I suppose I could give him the benefit of the doubt for a few more matches :)
 
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Sar

Guest
Man U for the title again.

Looking forward to seeing that nutjob Tim "fucking cocksucker bastard" Howard playing.

:D
 

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