The "do they mean us?" thread pt 4

[Lillehamring]

20 minutes ago, brucey said:

Southampton play an even more possession dominant style than us, I feel their style would struggle in the PL for many of the reasons we might, and they have an inferior manager.

Ipswich's style I think is more suited to the PL, and after significant squad upgrades with PL money, could do better than us.

Ideally I'd like Southampton to come up with us in autos, and some random team through the playoffs (not Leeds or Ipswich).

From what i've seen of ipswich (which isn't a great deal) - they seem to be very limited.  Good at what they do, but that's it - and i suppose some momentum and confidence. But their fast breaking gung-ho style of play is likely to be doomed without a massive upgrade in quality.

And if they started games as they did against us (nervy and sloppy in possession), PL teams will destroy them.  

[Paninistickers]

32 minutes ago, brucey said:

Ipswich's style I think is more suited to the PL, and after significant squad upgrades with PL money, could do better than us.

I'd suggest that Ipswich would have to replace all eleven players - and us none  - if they were to even have a chance to overtake us in the PL, style suited or not 

[Chelmofox]

38 minutes ago, brucey said:

Southampton play an even more possession dominant style than us, I feel their style would struggle in the PL for many of the reasons we might, and they have an inferior manager.

Ipswich's style I think is more suited to the PL, and after significant squad upgrades with PL money, could do better than us.

Ideally I'd like Southampton to come up with us in autos, and some random team through the playoffs (not Leeds or Ipswich).

Thats a brave call. I think Ipswich would get absolutely mullered in the PL. You would need a squad the quality of Spurs to try that high intensity style, and they will be a mile off that.

[coolhandfox]

53 minutes ago, brucey said:

Southampton play an even more possession dominant style than us, I feel their style would struggle in the PL for many of the reasons we might, and they have an inferior manager.

Ipswich's style I think is more suited to the PL, and after significant squad upgrades with PL money, could do better than us.

Ideally I'd like Southampton to come up with us in autos, and some random team through the playoffs (not Leeds or Ipswich).

Can't defended in the Championship, which will be worse in the PL.

 

Out scoring Championship teams is one thing, out scoring PL is another.

[brucey]

53 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

Thats a brave call. I think Ipswich would get absolutely mullered in the PL. You would need a squad the quality of Spurs to try that high intensity style, and they will be a mile off that.

Perhaps I rate Ipswich and McKenna too highly/more highly than most on here. I was impressed with how they played against us and they were much better than I expected (after watching them being shite against Leeds, maybe a one off). 

 

I don't know a great deal about their recruitment, but if McKenna can identify cheap outcasts who have failed elsewhere such as Hirst, Davis etc and improve them significantly, I figure with PL money he can buy near enough a full squad with sufficient quality to stay up. Their lack of defence is certainly an issue, but I feel like trying to outscore the opposition will still work often enough. 

[Swarles Barkley]

3 hours ago, Bilo said:

https://theanalyst.com/eu/2023/12/championship-predictions-season-december-2023-24/

Forever being the pessimist this fills me with less confidence  

[Jobyfox]

39 minutes ago, brucey said:

Perhaps I rate Ipswich and McKenna too highly/more highly than most on here. I was impressed with how they played against us and they were much better than I expected (after watching them being shite against Leeds, maybe a one off). 

 

I don't know a great deal about their recruitment, but if McKenna can identify cheap outcasts who have failed elsewhere such as Hirst, Davis etc and improve them significantly, I figure with PL money he can buy near enough a full squad with sufficient quality to stay up. Their lack of defence is certainly an issue, but I feel like trying to outscore the opposition will still work often enough. 

Staying up first season in the Premier League is a massive challenge for any club no matter their quality or resources.

 

I never understand the argument that a team “needs another year” as you need to grab the opportunity when it presents itself. If Ipswich fail this year there will be 3 more teams with parachute payments to contend with next year. 
 

The worst that can happen is that you’re instantly relegated, but with Premier League revenues that give you a massive advantage back in the Championship 

[Ian Nacho]

I think the statement is intended to praise Ipswich rather than diminish what we've done. 

[kushiro]

Tom Jenkins' Photos of the Year is always a highlight of the Xmas period. These are better than ever. One photo from Goodison Park doesn't bring back such good memories though:

 

Tom Jenkins’s best sport photographs of 2023 | Sport | The Guardian

 

But then I thought there might be a photo from another Everton game a few years earlier, and he didn't let me down:

 

Tom Jenkins’ best sports photos of 2016 | Sport | The Guardian

[Gwyn]

https://youtu.be/xmib-o-d148?si=ple4XCzORbX1kMTY

[Chelmofox]

For the first time in ages we were talked about on the 5 Live morning football preview - when they predominantly talk about Premier League teams. They discussed how Palace, Brentford and Forest are all in relegation trouble as Luton seem to be the one who could survive. Then we were talked about as being 'on fire', 'miles ahead' and shouldn't be 'where we are'. 

[Daggers]

On 28/12/2023 at 20:50, Bilo said:

https://theanalyst.com/eu/2023/12/championship-predictions-season-december-2023-24/

I’m not buying Ipswich going up. They’ve struggled over Xmas and the season to date was fundamentally running on promotion self belief. This is petering out, especially once hammered by Leeds and only grabbing a point from us due to a lucky deflection. With players being recalled, banned and injured, they need to spend big in the hope it pays off in promotion - a massive gamble given their lack of resources atm. 
 

I have Southampton firmly in second place, with Leeds and Ipswich having to settle for the playoff crap shoot. 

[Koke]

[BenTheFox]

28 minutes ago, Koke said:

Although it's nice to see how highly other fans rate us, I think they are wrong that they put in a decent performance. They're one of the only teams that we've played this season  that looked completely beaten from the first whistle. They're not far outside the playoffs and in the first-half inparticular, they looked completely in awe of us. We are a side that can be got at and the first-half of that game looked like a training exercise for us. 

[The Doctor]

On 28/12/2023 at 22:23, CosbehFox said:

?

It's a joke about the COVID season, behind closed doors although the numbers are wrong. They had a total of 12,000 in attendance that season (2,000 in two home games when lockdowns were lifted regionally, and 8000 in their final game of the season), 19 league games and 3 home cup games. That's an average of 632 in the league or 545 in league and cup 

[TheStig]

On 27/12/2023 at 17:49, Koke said:

 

Boring. 

 

Get us out of this league asap.

......we are on our way

[ARM1968]

Winning is not boring. Being mullered every week is boring. Having nothing but mid table mediocrity to look forward to is boring. Doffing our caps again to the teams we’re briefly disrupted is boring. 
 

I actually like sailing in HMS Piss The League. 

[Out Foxed]

4 hours ago, BenTheFox said:

Although it's nice to see how highly other fans rate us, I think they are wrong that they put in a decent performance. They're one of the only teams that we've played this season  that looked completely beaten from the first whistle. They're not far outside the playoffs and in the first-half inparticular, they looked completely in awe of us. We are a side that can be got at and the first-half of that game looked like a training exercise for us. 

people seem to be mistaking us taking the foot off the gas and/or not being lethal and putting games to bed at 3 or 4 nil up as them putting in a good performance. 

[Jimbo]

2 hours ago, ARM1968 said:

Winning is not boring. Being mullered every week is boring. Having nothing but mid table mediocrity to look forward to is boring. Doffing our caps again to the teams we’re briefly disrupted is boring. 
 

I actually like sailing in HMS Piss The League. 

Quite agree. Although I've been a Leicester fan for far too long now, so I'm still waiting for us to cock this up somehow 😂

 

If people think this season is boring then I'd suggest they're reasonably young/newer fans who see the Premier League as this false promise land where only the super wealthy compete, everyone else is just there to make up the numbers. 

 

Don't get me wrong, we obviously had a great run, but we've been easily replaced by Brighton and Villa as the new faces to upset the big 6, and in time they'll be replaced by someone else (hopefully us again) but it's very difficult to sustain and the cycle will continue until this new Champions League format inevitably becomes the European super League in a decade or 2. 

 

I love the Premier League as a spectacle and the glitz and glam, but nothing beats the championship for drama. Sure, the football isn't as great or as clinical, but it's a more pure form of the game. For starters no VAR, proper fans who don't just go just to say they've been day trippers. Just over half way through the season and any team down to 14th are a win or 2 away from a shot at promotion still, knowing that historically someone down in 18th or 19th can and may well do make a late run at getting into the playoffs.

 

Having a winning feeling helps of course, breaking records along the way but we know what we're getting down here. At least half of the teams in the Premier League have the main target of reaching the 40 point mark and then seeing how much higher they can finish in the table for the extra few hundred thousand coming into the bank account

Edited 30 December 2023 by Jimbo

[whoareyaaa]

7 hours ago, Chelmofox said:

For the first time in ages we were talked about on the 5 Live morning football preview - when they predominantly talk about Premier League teams. They discussed how Palace, Brentford and Forest are all in relegation trouble as Luton seem to be the one who could survive. Then we were talked about as being 'on fire', 'miles ahead' and shouldn't be 'where we are'. 

This is why we will cope far better if we do get promoted as we already had a team of Prem quality players and now have a manager that knows what hes doing, a few quality additions should set us up well.

[MattFox]

9 hours ago, Chelmofox said:

For the first time in ages we were talked about on the 5 Live morning football preview - when they predominantly talk about Premier League teams. They discussed how Palace, Brentford and Forest are all in relegation trouble as Luton seem to be the one who could survive. Then we were talked about as being 'on fire', 'miles ahead' and shouldn't be 'where we are'. 

Noticeable how perceptions of the club have changed in the last decade 

 

Only people that seem to consider us a second tier club are a section of our own fanbase and Alan Smith

[Paninistickers]

18 minutes ago, MattFox said:

Noticeable how perceptions of the club have changed in the last decade

It's stark, isn't it? 

 

We've elevated away from the West Brom / Middlesbrough / Norwich type perception to a whisker away to a West Ham / Newcastle / Leeds / Villa level. 

 

Add Gary Lineker, bless him, who also still thinks we are punching and as such makes constant self deprecating remarks - well meant modesty, I guess - but bad for business. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[honeybradger]

1 hour ago, Paninistickers said:

It's stark, isn't it? 

 

We've elevated away from the West Brom / Middlesbrough / Norwich type perception to a whisker away to a West Ham / Newcastle / Leeds / Villa level. 

 

Add Gary Lineker, bless him, who also still thinks we are punching and as such makes constant self deprecating remarks - well meant modesty, I guess - but bad for business. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You do have to wonder how we would be perceived after a couple or more seasons in the championship though. Considering we've had one of the most successful decades out of any club in England including the big six it's arguable that our status as a club has only temporarily increased.

[Sly]

27 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

You do have to wonder how we would be perceived after a couple or more seasons in the championship though. Considering we've had one of the most successful decades out of any club in England including the big six it's arguable that our status as a club has only temporarily increased.

I still perceive Blackburn as a biggish club, as they were polishing the Premier League trophy when I was younger. To me, the games against them feel bigger. In reality, they aren’t really. 

[don_danbury]

2 hours ago, MattFox said:

Noticeable how perceptions of the club have changed in the last decade 

 

Only people that seem to consider us a second tier club are a section of our own fanbase and Alan Smith

i dont remember him ever saying we are a championship club. he has said yo-yo club a few times tho