Is Our Squad Stronger Or Weaker Than Last Season

[PsychoStanleyStone]

as long as not much is expected and just dig in and nick something, we have done outstanding, could argue this is a recurring theme, ie no expectation and set up not to lose, we've been exceptional

when we have trawled loads of points and then start to go to dominate possession and territory and ultimately win like proper winners .. the fractures appear

personally i don't care how we win, i don't think anyone does, but when the winning mentality is broken ... then all we all see is blackness and gloom, especially as it is usually around December regardless of the momentum .. felt this a bit prior and even early into the Boro game when we were actually playing well

is this years squad better equipped, well it should be but doesn't feel like it

[Mad Squad]

It's not shocking it's football. It happens at every club. Some signings work out and some don't.

How about heaping a bit of praise.

13m for Burke great business.
15m or whatever it was for Assombolonga great business.
8m for Brereton great business.
Signing Samba great business.
Signing Grabban great business.
Signing Lolley great business.
Figs is looking good.
Ribero is looking good.
Ameobi on a free has been good.
Silva is doing well.
Worrall, Cash and Yates all doing really well.

There is plenty to be positive about you miserable gits.

This ^

[the jock]

Yeah great business selling brereton assombalonga Burke but didn't do much for us did it really .alot of money. Let's see where we are at the end of the year. It is clear there has been no plan . Look at all the centre halves we have had.

[Alf]

It's not shocking it's football. It happens at every club. Some signings work out and some don't.

How about heaping a bit of praise.

13m for Burke great business.
15m or whatever it was for Assombolonga great business.
8m for Brereton great business.
Signing Samba great business.
Signing Grabban great business.
Signing Lolley great business.
Figs is looking good.
Ribero is looking good.
Ameobi on a free has been good.
Silva is doing well.
Worrall, Cash and Yates all doing really well.

There is plenty to be positive about you miserable gits.

Fawaz sold Burke, and the backlash finished him off lol.

As the Jock says, we've not had any plan. Jan needs to be better.

Not being negative, just trying to make the most of the current opportunity to go up

[Alf Garnett]

So you admit that we have an opportunity to go up?

So we must be doing something right because more often than not we have been in relegation battles in recent seasons.

There is no magic wand I'm afraid. Can I just remind everyone that we have been in the play off places virtually all season.

Get a f*****g grip.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Chill lads. No need to start falling out.

We have lost a couple of games it's not the end of the world.

[Alf]

So you admit that we have an opportunity to go up?

So we must be doing something right because more often than not we have been in relegation battles in recent seasons.

There is no magic wand I'm afraid. Can I just remind everyone that we have been in the play off places virtually all season.

Get a f*****g grip.

We had an opportunity to go up for the first 3 seasons under Fawaz. Doesn't mean he was doing everything perfect.

Not asking for a magic wand, just a bit of common sense. Like don't spend 13m on someone who's only played 30 odd games.

My main point is that I'm not sure how we can credit the club for Burke's sale, when no one at the club now was involved with it.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

So you admit that we have an opportunity to go up?

So we must be doing something right because more often than not we have been in relegation battles in recent seasons.

There is no magic wand I'm afraid. Can I just remind everyone that we have been in the play off places virtually all season.

Get a f*****g grip.

We had an opportunity to go up for the first 3 seasons under Fawaz. Doesn't mean he was doing everything perfect.

Not asking for a magic wand, just a bit of common sense. Like don't spend 13m on someone who's only played 30 odd games.

My main point is that I'm not sure how we can credit the club for Burke's sale, when no one at the club now was involved with it.

I must have missed that. It's not just about where we finished in the league. The bloke almost put the club out of business for godsake.

FFS can we just wait until the end of January to see where we are squad wise before we start castigating everybody.

[PsychoStanleyStone]

So we must be doing something right

We had an opportunity to go up for the first 3 seasons under Fawaz.

FFS can we just wait until the end of January to see where we are squad wise before we start castigating everybody.

this thread is an argument, it could be called many things, but the gist has to be, season on season, are we stronger?  are we more serious this season than the previous season?   are we going to storm the league?   Do we have a genius owner who now has the dream team?  Was the run from the lake to the Hall to steep?  Basically are we going places because we have tooled up better than ever for this campaign?

Ultimately, it is really about:  Have We Learned From Our Mistakes? 

If we did get promotion it would of been an absolute masterclass in shrewd and decisive decision making

I think there is learning going on but a bit too random and sporadic for the realisations to propel us into the PL this season.

If we finish this season 8th or higher we can conclude that the squad this season was stronger than last season, also the squad size has reduced, the wage bill probably reduced and around £10m profit on player sales, though, in reality the season will feel like a failure, or at least a missed opportunity

The main problem is the preparation for this season started way too late, the manager only had 5 weeks preparation though quite a few players he hadn't even met 48 hours before the season kicked off, personally, i think the owner will get it right for next season, but who knows it could happen this time round but if it did it would be mainly down to a huge slice of luck.

I think when confidence is high prior to a season starts, manager in place, squad in place, a few flagship signings, everything oozing quality preparation, then and only then is the PL calling.

[zicorice]

It's not shocking it's football. It happens at every club. Some signings work out and some don't.

How about heaping a bit of praise.

13m for Burke great business.
15m or whatever it was for Assombolonga great business.
8m for Brereton great business.
Signing Samba great business.
Signing Grabban great business.
Signing Lolley great business.
Figs is looking good.
Ribero is looking good.
Ameobi on a free has been good.
Silva is doing well.
Worrall, Cash and Yates all doing really well.

There is plenty to be positive about you miserable gits.

Having bumped the thread to the top, I feel a bit responsible for how this is panning out. Not a miserable git (at least not in relation to Forest) and not a happy clapper either. A bit of a realist, with (like many others on here) many years of experience of false dawns and hopes demolished.

Back in the day I was chuffed when we signed Silenzi and look how that turned out!  However the question this thread posed back in August I felt was impossible to answer as we didn't know whether we had signed Silenzi types or Bohinen types.

It looked really good early on, but winter has come and it is clear we are coming up a touch short (and I think we all agree it is only a touch). Luck with injuries has once again eluded us, so to make up that shortfall we clearly could do with some more bodies through the door. Not of the Silenzi impact, but of the Bohinen variety. Injuries could still cripple us even if we do sign the "right" players, but at least we won't die wondering.

Alf has raised some questions about our recruitment, some of which is indisputably valid, some of which is somewhat emotive and open to interpretation. (That's the point of a good forum no?).

That does not make me a miserable git though does it? My blind faith disappeared at round about the same time Cloughie retired.

[Strawberry Avenger]

It's not shocking it's football. It happens at every club. Some signings work out and some don't.

How about heaping a bit of praise.

13m for Burke great business.
15m or whatever it was for Assombolonga great business.
8m for Brereton great business.
Signing Samba great business.
Signing Grabban great business.
Signing Lolley great business.
Figs is looking good.
Ribero is looking good.
Ameobi on a free has been good.
Silva is doing well.
Worrall, Cash and Yates all doing really well.

There is plenty to be positive about you miserable gits.

This ^

Yeah...but that paints a positive picture. :)

SA.

[Strawberry Avenger]

So we must be doing something right

We had an opportunity to go up for the first 3 seasons under Fawaz.

FFS can we just wait until the end of January to see where we are squad wise before we start castigating everybody.

this thread is an argument, it could be called many things, but the gist has to be, season on season, are we stronger?  are we more serious this season than the previous season?   are we going to storm the league?   Do we have a genius owner who now has the dream team?  Was the run from the lake to the Hall to steep?  Basically are we going places because we have tooled up better than ever for this campaign?

Ultimately, it is really about:  Have We Learned From Our Mistakes? 

If we did get promotion it would of been an absolute masterclass in shrewd and decisive decision making

I think there is learning going on but a bit too random and sporadic for the realisations to propel us into the PL this season.

If we finish this season 8th or higher we can conclude that the squad this season was stronger than last season, also the squad size has reduced, the wage bill probably reduced and around £10m profit on player sales, though, in reality the season will feel like a failure, or at least a missed opportunity

The main problem is the preparation for this season started way too late, the manager only had 5 weeks preparation though quite a few players he hadn't even met 48 hours before the season kicked off, personally, i think the owner will get it right for next season, but who knows it could happen this time round but if it did it would be mainly down to a huge slice of luck.

I think when confidence is high prior to a season starts, manager in place, squad in place, a few flagship signings, everything oozing quality preparation, then and only then is the PL calling.

Eloquently put.  And sums up a club who is a work in progress.

SA.