Dave Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Injuries. We can complain all we like about who is or isn't brought in, players on the fringes, the youth team and reserves, but at the end of the day injuries have fucked up this pre-season in terms of on-pitch practice. Owen, Faye, Beye, Martins, Viduka. Five first-team players who will have had at best two games, and at worst nothing whatsoever. Even if they all got some time, it wouldn't be anything like enough to get a rhythm and understanding going. In two weeks we go to Old Trafford to play the champions of England and Europe. It doesn't matter a jot who we sign from here on in, I hope everyone is bracing themselves for a shit start to the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wullie Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Avoiding a twatting at there and the Emirates will do me, unfortunately. We absolutely must beat Bolton, not least because it's on my birthday. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syrette Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 It doesn't matter a jot who we sign from here on in, I hope everyone is bracing themselves for a shit start to the season. How did you work that one out? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shak Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Was hoping the post would just say 'Alan Smith' tbh. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 It doesn't matter a jot who we sign from here on in, I hope everyone is bracing themselves for a shit start to the season. How did you work that one out? In terms of the start to our season. Obviously. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Was hoping the post would just say 'Alan Smith' tbh. Too easy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syrette Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 It doesn't matter a jot who we sign from here on in, I hope everyone is bracing themselves for a shit start to the season. How did you work that one out? In terms of the start to our season. Obviously. Maybe I've misread something here, but are you saying if were hypothetically to bring in a few class attacking players, it wouldn't make any difference to our form at the start of the season? Apologies if I've confused myself somewhere. Doing several things at once here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Exactly right Dave tbh, and as i said here it's my only worry. I'm confident we'll get the right players in, but team chemistry is a serious concern. Not too worried by the pre-season because as said before we've got the majority out. I am concerned at how many players have missed pre-season though and that will probably reflect in our opening games, players who aren't match fit and the team that haven't played together before. Agree - this is my only major worry atm. I'm not greatly concerned on the whole but i'm a bit uneasy about this. Yeah, pre-season is about building fitness and team chemistry - but the players who haven't gained from this so far are the ones we need to do so the most. You've just hit the nail on exactly head i was talking about. The players we desperately needed to gel with each other, have missed out. In some ways it's fortuante we've got Man Utd and Arsenal in the first three games (i think?), games which aren't winnable anyway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinho lad Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I'm not looking forward to this season, not just the start of it. Sorry. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WarrenBartonCentrePartin Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Owen, Faye, Beye, Martins, Viduka. Yup. IMO can't judge pre-season without them, 'cos I think they would make a difference. In all honesty, from the moment the fixtures were released, I reckoned that 6 points from our opening 5 was the best we could hope for. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest K9 Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Shit start then end amazing, opposite to last year Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 It's only pre season, but I'm falling off the Milner bandwagon. His crosses never improve. And I would like to modify my Alan Smith prediction to 3 goals and 2 red cards. Still a fantastic return given his ability. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 It doesn't matter a jot who we sign from here on in, I hope everyone is bracing themselves for a shit start to the season. How did you work that one out? In terms of the start to our season. Obviously. Maybe I've misread something here, but are you saying if were hypothetically to bring in a few class attacking players, it wouldn't make any difference to our form at the start of the season? Apologies if I've confused myself somewhere. Doing several things at once here. They won't feel any benefit of the pre-season, as it's too late. They won't be bedded in with their team-mates, the tactics and the manager, and they probably won't be in line with fitness levels at the rest of the club. Just making the point that the pre-season, proclaimed by most managers as very important, has been well and truly fucked up for us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Syrette Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 It doesn't matter a jot who we sign from here on in, I hope everyone is bracing themselves for a shit start to the season. How did you work that one out? In terms of the start to our season. Obviously. Maybe I've misread something here, but are you saying if were hypothetically to bring in a few class attacking players, it wouldn't make any difference to our form at the start of the season? Apologies if I've confused myself somewhere. Doing several things at once here. They won't feel any benefit of the pre-season, as it's too late. They won't be bedded in with their team-mates, the tactics and the manager, and they probably won't be in line with fitness levels at the rest of the club. Just making the point that the pre-season, proclaimed by most managers as very important, has been well and truly fucked up for us. Oh I totally agree with that, I'm just saying it's possible depending on the quality of the player in question that the lack of a proper pre-season might not matter as much. Obviously it will effect things noticably whatever happens but I wouldn't say that new signings wouldn't make any difference whatsoever. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest DazzaNufc1892 Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 Was hoping the post would just say 'Alan Smith' tbh. expected exactly the same thing when i clicked the thread Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted August 3, 2008 Share Posted August 3, 2008 I think everyone knows why pre-season has bee shite. But it's a shame that the fringe first xl players haven't made the most of their opportunity and instead have just reinforced their lack of ability at this level Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 lets be honest, we're getting a fucking by manu & arsenal anyways what we have to avoid at all costs is making an arse of the bolton & hull games...if we come out of the first 4 games with 6 points it'll be no less than what i'd have expected without injuries or a shit pre-season, plus we'll have the added bonus of seeing the back of 2 of the hardest away games in the league come out of the first four games with 1-4 points and it looks a hell of a lot worse personally i think 6 points is exactly what we'll get Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewellander Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 lets be honest, we're getting a f***ing by manu & arsenal anyways what we have to avoid at all costs is making an arse of the bolton & hull games...if we come out of the first 4 games with 6 points it'll be no less than what i'd have expected without injuries or a s*** pre-season, plus we'll have the added bonus of seeing the back of 2 of the hardest away games in the league come out of the first four games with 1-4 points and it looks a hell of a lot worse personally i think 6 points is exactly what we'll get I agree with this. ManU and Arsenal away are games that I don't expect us to win at any rate. But our defenders haven't been playing poorly, and we're getting Coloccini in this week, so maybe our back four can stop the onslaught and at least get us out of those two games without a huge goal difference deficit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmojorisin75 Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 lets be honest, we're getting a f***ing by manu & arsenal anyways what we have to avoid at all costs is making an arse of the bolton & hull games...if we come out of the first 4 games with 6 points it'll be no less than what i'd have expected without injuries or a s*** pre-season, plus we'll have the added bonus of seeing the back of 2 of the hardest away games in the league come out of the first four games with 1-4 points and it looks a hell of a lot worse personally i think 6 points is exactly what we'll get I agree with this. ManU and Arsenal away are games that I don't expect us to win at any rate. But our defenders haven't been playing poorly, and we're getting Coloccini in this week, so maybe our back four can stop the onslaught and at least get us out of those two games without a huge goal difference deficit. to be fair, after last seasons massacres at the hands of manu losing both of those games 1/2-0 would feel like a victory in itself tell you one thing though, both manu and arsenal have been known to have stutters right at the beginning of the season - if we go there and battle like dogs we might get lucky? nah, just doesn't wash does it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 I'm pretty sure Man Utd drew at home to Reading first game of last season, so there's always a chance of getting a lucky result. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenny Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 At this point in time I'd probably add Barton to that list of absent first teamers as well. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
womblemaster Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 ofcourse manu wont have ronaldo in their side.....clutching at straws tbh! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colos Short and Curlies Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 ofcourse manu wont have ronaldo in their side.....clutching at straws tbh! Or Tevez Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
stozo Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 I don't see playing Man U first as a bad thing. In fact I'd be more worried if we were playing a side that aren't in the top 4. The way I see it our best eleven would strggle to get a result against them so I'd rather play them than play for example Wigan away where we should be picking up pionts but end up losing because were not up to scratch yet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatwax Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 I'm pretty sure Man Utd drew at home to Reading first game of last season, so there's always a chance of getting a lucky result. Aye, they got relegated too. Probably best to stick with losing the first game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now