Coventry Home First Game of the Season

[fazzyfox]

11 hours ago, Costock_Fox said:

Bargains to be had here

What was it again, a team sheet, unlimited tea and coffee, "access" to a different bar and a pre-match chat with Rustie Lee?  

 

I went for the super VIP package plus. They asked for my full name for the scoreboard, I said "oh no it's not my birthday or anything" and they replied, "I know, you're sub on Sunday mate bring yer boots". 

[VLC86]

6 minutes ago, fazzyfox said:

What was it again, a team sheet, unlimited tea and coffee, "access" to a different bar and a pre-match chat with Rustie Lee?  

 

I went for the super VIP package plus. They asked for my full name for the scoreboard, I said "oh no it's not my birthday or anything" and they replied, "I know, you're sub on Sunday mate bring yer boots". 

Yep this is a buffet, team sheet, a free glass, padded seat and access to a bar. Extortionate.

[Claridge]

£330.00😳

[Aleksz]

15 hours ago, filbertway said:

 

We should be winning given our relative massive financial advantage over Coventry. 

 

I'm predicting a loss because despite that massive advantage unless we name about 8 defenders in the starting line up, our squad is well off it.

 

Bare in mind in a game against Blackburn where we badly needed a win for confidence we got pretty much steamrollered by them.

 

• Poor pre season prep
• Almost non-existent recruitment in areas we have know we would need players
• New style of play
• Players who have an eye on the door who will have to play
• Key player (Ricardo) is very injury prone

There are barely any positives to hang onto for me.

 

Our best hope is a 0-0, but we'll likely be masters of our own downfall whilst trying to get used to our new system. I can see Simms bagging a couple and some of our fans and the media getting a massive reality check.

 

A loss might actually get the board the pull their fingers out and sack the cretin who is embarrassing us or at least encourage him to go and do his actual job.

 

Feels very much like the same complacency from last season is sitting with the board and more concerningly our fan base.

 

I'll be amazed if we're top 10 come September 1st. Fully expect us to improve as the season goes on though.

 

In terms of lowering expectations though. I want to add, that tor a club of our size and financial power relative to other clubs though, anything but top 2 for this club this season is a failure and under performance.

Posts like this make this place a pretty toxic place to be at the minute.

[James_lcfc]

2 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

Posts like this make this place a pretty toxic place to be at the minute.

Weird take.

 

I think it's a fair assessment of where we are at the moment - It's not really toxic to suggest we are going to have a tough start to the season, just realistic. The five bullet points are pretty spot on if we're being honest.

 

Doesn't mean things won't improve before the window closes though.

 

 

[Aleksz]

8 minutes ago, James_lcfc said:

Weird take.

 

I think it's a fair assessment of where we are at the moment - It's not really toxic to suggest we are going to have a tough start to the season, just realistic. The five bullet points are pretty spot on if we're being honest.

 

Doesn't mean things won't improve before the window closes though.

 

 

It’s hyperbole. Especially the “best we can hope for is 0-0” only to finish it with “anything less than 2nd is a failure”. Which one is it? Utter rubbish.

[Simmo86]

33 minutes ago, James_lcfc said:

Weird take.

 

I think it's a fair assessment of where we are at the moment - It's not really toxic to suggest we are going to have a tough start to the season, just realistic. The five bullet points are pretty spot on if we're being honest.

 

Doesn't mean things won't improve before the window closes though.

 

 

It’s not a fair assessment, it’s completely OTT

[James_lcfc]

11 minutes ago, Simmo86 said:

It’s not a fair assessment, it’s completely OTT

Nah. Which part is OTT?

[filbertway]

34 minutes ago, Aleksz said:

It’s hyperbole. Especially the “best we can hope for is 0-0” only to finish it with “anything less than 2nd is a failure”. Which one is it? Utter rubbish.

It's both...

 

Not sure what is so confusing. 

 

The target should be top 2. I don't think we're anywhere near where we need to be to achieve that yet.

 

Hardly a difficult concept

 

[Lillehamring]

11 hours ago, inckley fox said:

Yes, but if we're being sensible, anyone with any proven pedigree in any given profession is likelier to be given more faith and patience than a relative novice. They should be, as a rule. A new manager will always have more to prove than a proven manager. If Maresca, or Andy King being granted his first managerial foray, or whoever else, were to look out of their depth early on, the obvious question would be whether they had anything like the credentials to do the job. If the same happened to Parker, Benitez, Pearson or Smith, we already know that, given the right circumstances, they can be successful. The question then is 'what are we doing wrong?'

 

None of that means that Enzo is an inferior manager at all. I have a feeling that, over time, questions will be asked of Parker in the same way that they were later asked of Aidy Boothroyd, Phil Brown, Owen Coyle and many others who initially excelled at this level. And I'm also very hopeful about Enzo, if we can show reasonable patience. But to suggest that pedigree counts for nowt is wide of the mark too.

Ah, well that's different - as it goes, i don't think maresca will be out of his depth - the way he set up and had us playing against liverpool suggests he is already one step ahead of a lot of the managers at this level.

[An Sionnach]

You can bet your life some will try to project the result , whatever it is , onto the whole season. Even if we lose 0-6 , we could still be promoted. We are going to get some disappointing results but the overall trajectory is what matters.

[Lillehamring]

1 hour ago, James_lcfc said:

Weird take.

 

I think it's a fair assessment of where we are at the moment - It's not really toxic to suggest we are going to have a tough start to the season, just realistic. The five bullet points are pretty spot on if we're being honest.

 

Doesn't mean things won't improve before the window closes though.

 

 

Are they?

 

• Poor pre season prep - Based on his interpretation! Fact is, we've played different levels of teams, as many games as we usually do, had some warm weather fitness training and managed to get most players 90 minutes against a super fit liverpool side
• Almost non-existent recruitment in areas we have know we would need players - We needed players in every position - we have recruited a core of hermansen, coady & winks - plus a wide man - yes we need more but that is not 'Almost non-existent'
• New style of play - Which we have seen the club adapt to and already good enough to cause a strong liverpool team some problems.
• Players who have an eye on the door who will have to play - Maybe, maybe not - we don't know how these players feel, or how it will effect their performances
• Key player (Ricardo) is very injury prone - So?  He isn't injured so that doesn't impact on the squad as it stands.

It's not a fair assessment, it's a blinkered negative view, trying to spin things that are not bad, or can't be proven to be bad, into terrible calamitous problems.   And fails to overlook any strengths we have over our opponents, or areas where they are weak.

[James_lcfc]

6 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

Are they?

 

• Poor pre season prep - Based on his interpretation! Fact is, we've played different levels of teams, as many games as we usually do, had some warm weather fitness training and managed to get most players 90 minutes against a super fit liverpool side
• Almost non-existent recruitment in areas we have know we would need players - We needed players in every position - we have recruited a core of hermansen, coady & winks - plus a wide man - yes we need more but that is not 'Almost non-existent'
• New style of play - Which we have seen the club adapt to and already good enough to cause a strong liverpool team some problems.
• Players who have an eye on the door who will have to play - Maybe, maybe not - we don't know how these players feel, or how it will effect their performances
• Key player (Ricardo) is very injury prone - So?  He isn't injured so that doesn't impact on the squad as it stands.

It's not a fair assessment, it's a blinkered negative view, trying to spin things that are not bad, or can't be proven to be bad, into terrible calamitous problems.   And fails to overlook any strengths we have over our opponents, or areas where they are weak.

• Large amounts of travel culminating in a pretty demoralising game against Liverpool is stupid.
• We have sold all our attacking threat and replaced them with one winger six days before the start of the season. Again, I know getting players in can be difficult, but the point is fair all the same. Plus I think Coady and Winks will turn out to be very poor signings. Very happy to be wrong on that though!
• "Good enough to cause a strong liverpool team some problems" - We watched different games on Sunday, this statement is just bizarre to me.
• Fair enough, it can't be proven, but I think it's a fair assumption.
• He's not the player he once was, nor is he a very natural central midfielder - Surely you agree this is pretty fair and not a 'blinkered negative view'.

 

[filbertway]

7 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

Are they?

 

• Poor pre season prep - Based on his interpretation! Fact is, we've played different levels of teams, as many games as we usually do, had some warm weather fitness training and managed to get most players 90 minutes against a super fit liverpool side
• Almost non-existent recruitment in areas we have know we would need players - We needed players in every position - we have recruited a core of hermansen, coady & winks - plus a wide man - yes we need more but that is not 'Almost non-existent'
• New style of play - Which we have seen the club adapt to and already good enough to cause a strong liverpool team some problems.
• Players who have an eye on the door who will have to play - Maybe, maybe not - we don't know how these players feel, or how it will effect their performances
• Key player (Ricardo) is very injury prone - So?  He isn't injured so that doesn't impact on the squad as it stands.

It's not a fair assessment, it's a blinkered negative view, trying to spin things that are not bad, or can't be proven to be bad, into terrible calamitous problems.   And fails to overlook any strengths we have over our opponents, or areas where they are weak.

We've got the best defence in the league. It'll be exposed in the first few months of getting used to this new way of playing though.

 

Even Man City were taken apart with ease at times by much lesser clubs in Peps earlier days. We managed it ourselves multiple times.

 

Will happily come back and hold my hands up if we take 8+ points from the first four games.

 

I had it with my posts about Rodgers in the past, water off a ducks back to me  

 

Much rather look at things realistically than with bias and unrealistic expectations.

 

The only argument that seems to come back is "you can't prove it"...well no...i'm making an educated guess based on the evidence that's there. The same as people are doing who seem to think this league consists of village teams.

 

 

It's just odd that people who make the optimistic assumptions and guesses don't seem to get the same scrutiny  

 

 

[filbertway]

Also I would like to add that I fully expect that we will get stronger and stronger as the season goes on.

 

Just appears to me like we're going into the beginning of the campaign under-prepared. Cov are going to be well up for this and I'm not convinced that we as a collective will be ready for the intensity and fight from the very go.

 

As match fitness improves and we add to squad in August, it should only see us improving as the season progresses. We were short of creativity last season and we have lost our 3 most creative players.

 

Blackburn outplayed us last season and I don't see why plenty more teams can't do the same to us if we go into this season assuming we're superior to everyone despite being much weaker going forwards.

[Aleksz]

14 minutes ago, filbertway said:

Also I would like to add that I fully expect that we will get stronger and stronger as the season goes on.

 

Just appears to me like we're going into the beginning of the campaign under-prepared. Cov are going to be well up for this and I'm not convinced that we as a collective will be ready for the intensity and fight from the very go.

 

As match fitness improves and we add to squad in August, it should only see us improving as the season progresses. We were short of creativity last season and we have lost our 3 most creative players.

 

Blackburn outplayed us last season and I don't see why plenty more teams can't do the same to us if we go into this season assuming we're superior to everyone despite being much weaker going forwards.

Cov have played one friendly less than us by the way.

[Harry96]

Can’t wait for this now 

[Lionator]

8 minutes ago, Harry96 said:

Can’t wait for this now 

I’m sorry but we can’t be having that attitude on here. 

[Lillehamring]

56 minutes ago, James_lcfc said:

• Large amounts of travel culminating in a pretty demoralising game against Liverpool is stupid - Not ideal but doesn't invalidate the whole pre-season or define it as generally 'poor' - we have taught the squad a new system in a month, that is a hell of an achievement and should define the time as successful
• We have sold all our attacking threat and replaced them with one winger six days before the start of the season. Again, I know getting players in can be difficult, but the point is fair all the same. Plus I think Coady and Winks will turn out to be very poor signings. Very happy to be wrong on that though! - That doesn't equate to being 'almost non-existent' - there was no way we would have bought every player we needed. I don't share your fears about coady or winks, that seems unjustifiably pessimistic.
• "Good enough to cause a strong liverpool team some problems" - We watched different games on Sunday, this statement is just bizarre to me. - So you didn't see us beat their press four times in the opening half hour, and force, what, 8-10 corners?  Problems that i'm sure Kopp would be concerned about.
• Fair enough, it can't be proven, but I think it's a fair assumption. - But not necessarily one that will be detrimental - it's a detail not a reason to give up hope.
• He's not the player he once was, nor is he a very natural central midfielder - Surely you agree this is pretty fair and not a 'blinkered negative view'.  No player is ever 'the player they once were', (not that that was the OPs issue which was his injury record), regardless, that doesn't make him a bad player, he's looked really good alongside winks (in moments against liverpool, sure), but they totally dominated the other games.

As i said, these are only issues if one is trying to find issues.  And to be looking for issues, in my book, is being negative and blinkered.  We're ok - we're not great, but we're far from the disaster this poster (and others) believe us to be.

 

 

[Lillehamring]

1 hour ago, filbertway said:

We've got the best defence in the league. It'll be exposed in the first few months of getting used to this new way of playing though.

 

Even Man City were taken apart with ease at times by much lesser clubs in Peps earlier days. We managed it ourselves multiple times.

 

Will happily come back and hold my hands up if we take 8+ points from the first four games.

 

I had it with my posts about Rodgers in the past, water off a ducks back to me  

 

Much rather look at things realistically than with bias and unrealistic expectations.

 

The only argument that seems to come back is "you can't prove it"...well no...i'm making an educated guess based on the evidence that's there. The same as people are doing who seem to think this league consists of village teams.

 

 

It's just odd that people who make the optimistic assumptions and guesses don't seem to get the same scrutiny  

 

 

Ok, but i challenge what you claim to be educated guesses, they seem to veer always and so strongly towards a 'worst case scenraio' (and you're not alone, i'm not singularly criticizing you).  Sadly we have no empirical evidence to indicate what will happen ( we don't know how our defence, for example, will stand up against championship strikers - we haven't played against any this pre-season), but to assume the worst in pretty much every detail seems to be that all the Information before you is not being considered.

 

I'm not sure what you are specifically referring to in these points, so i won't question them.  And I'm not sure where i've said to anyone 'you can't prove it' - certainly as a general argument, that is not how i work - every argument i make here i will try to give an example of why i believe it.  But i won't be making assumptions without at least explaining why i believe it - so i won't be saying 'we're going to be awesome and win the league' any more than i'll say 'we're a shit show and will get relegated'.

 

Perhaps the reason that optimistic assumptions aren't scrutinised as much (and mine certainly are!) is because the negative fans struggle to find reasons to fault them, because, the reality is, there's very little to suggest things aren't going to be any worse than 'adequate', whereas the negative assumptions (and, yes, i'm generalising here) seem to be founded on at best 'what happened last year' and at worst, irrational paranoia.

[Fox92]

3 hours ago, James_lcfc said:

Weird take.

 

I think it's a fair assessment of where we are at the moment - It's not really toxic to suggest we are going to have a tough start to the season, just realistic. The five bullet points are pretty spot on if we're being honest.

 

Doesn't mean things won't improve before the window closes though.

 

 

If you think playing Huddersfield, Cardiff, Rotherham is a "tough start" then wait til the next month when we've got Norwich and Southampton back to back.

[justfoxes]

3 hours ago, Claridge said:

£330.00😳

It was that much for EPL have they forgotten we’re not in the Prem this season extortionate as Fuch !

[James_lcfc]

31 minutes ago, Lillehamring said:

No player is ever 'the player they once were', (not that that was the OPs issue which was his injury record), regardless, that doesn't make him a bad player, he's looked really good alongside winks (in moments against liverpool, sure), but they totally dominated the other games.

 

And to be looking for issues, in my book, is being negative and blinkered

 

He didn't look really good against Liverpool though did he....and you've only watched one other game! I like Ricardo, but he's hardly going to be the answer to all our problems is he.

 

You are absolutely full of blind faith - Very admirable, but you will be very disappointed on Sunday afternoon.

 

Sounds like I'm revelling in it - Not the case, just can't see it going any other way. Hopefully you can come back on this thread on Sunday and tell me how much of a c**t I am 

[ThumbsUp]

Nobody's even talking about Cov besides empty platitudes like "they'll be well up for it". Cov apparently had a good run of form towards the end of last season. I don't really know how they played during the season but both games v Middlesborough they were poor. They've lost their top scorer and assister and replaced him with a 22 year old from Everton who nobody has heard of. We've also taken their young player of the year off their hands. 

 

You've got to balance things out, and things aren't exactly looking good for Coventry. There's a reason nobody's predicting them to be in the playoffs despite being in the final last season. 

[VLC86]

3 minutes ago, ThumbsUp said:

Nobody's even talking about Cov besides empty platitudes like "they'll be well up for it". Cov apparently had a good run of form towards the end of last season. I don't really know how they played during the season but both games v Middlesborough they were poor. They've lost their top scorer and assister and replaced him with a 22 year old from Everton who nobody has heard of. We've also taken their young player of the year off their hands. 

 

You've got to balance things out, and things aren't exactly looking good for Coventry. There's a reason nobody's predicting them to be in the playoffs despite being in the final last season. 

On the flip side, they have

only lost 2 players and have a recent history of overachieving with the squad they have.

 

I don’t think they are world beaters but we look to be a long way short of having a successful summer rebuild.