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Pre-season: decimated and rendered almost completely useless by...


Dave

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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. :undecided:

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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. :undecided:

 

How did you work that one out?

 

In terms of the start to our season. Obviously.

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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. :undecided:

 

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.

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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.

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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.

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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. :undecided:

 

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.

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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. :undecided:

 

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.

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Guest DazzaNufc1892

Was hoping the post would just say 'Alan Smith' tbh. :lol:

 

expected exactly the same thing when i clicked the thread :lol:

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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

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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

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.  :laugh:

 

Probably best to stick with losing the first game.

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