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  On 08/05/2022 at 18:17, Paullow said:

Forget the 'big 6', our team / squad is a long way off the likes of West Ham, Wolves, Leicester, Villa. I'd still include Everton in there, and probably and one or two others, and those will all be strengthening in the summer as well, well maybe not so much Everton, but if we can finish in and amongst those crop of clubs, and away from the rest, then it will be a solid follow up season.

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You could argue we might have a better squad than Everton but I absolutely agree with the sentiment. We have a long road ahead break into the top 6, we have to remember we were owned by Ashley only one transfer window ago. We are still at the building block stage of our evolution and depending on a lot of factors we could even still be in almost the same position next summer, lots of things need to go right before we starting talking about top 6 or top 4.. Howe defo backed himself into a corner with some fans with that good run we went on and it’s raised some peoples expectations way beyond what is reasonable right now. Top half would be great for next season, I’m more focused on the direction of our style of play along with who we bring in as much as our league position. 
 

Todays result hasn’t changed anything, this was case yesterday and last week and the week before that. 

 

 

Edited by Nine

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  On 08/05/2022 at 18:41, Kanji said:

 

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My guess is Lascelles, Hayden, Clark, Hendrick, Fernandez, Gayle, Ritchie and hopefully Longstaff. Basically most of the dregs of the 2016/17 Championship season that should've been moved on 4 years ago.

 

 

Edited by HaydnNUFC

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  On 08/05/2022 at 18:28, Rod said:

In my opinion we are on par or even better than Wolves, Everton and Villa (just look at our recent results).  Not far from West Ham and Leicester.  In 3 years we will be challenging Spurs and Man Utd.

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All about opinions I guess, but I still think we're a long way behind.

 

Burn wasn't a guaranteed starter for Brighton, and would either be on the bench or a LB when Dunk, Duffy, Webster were fit, and despite his strong start, is very much a bottom half defender IMO. Him and Schaar rotating with a quality addition would be fine for a top 10 charge next season, but we need better longer term. Villa obviously wanted better than Targett, which tells you something. Shelvey has been operating in the bottom half or Championship for the past 6 or 7 years, Fraser probably bottom half. I don't think we need to replace Dubs yet because there's other positions I'd go for first, and you do need a bit of familiarity, but I doubt he'd get into any of these teams mentioned, and again bottom half standard IMO. You can't rely on Wilson for a full season, and Wood is bang average and at 30 has had a career of struggling in the PL or in the Championship. There are some decent players here, and plenty to build around, but there's also some pretty average players who Howe has been getting the best out of.

 

You can't knock the 10 wins from 14, but there were clearly a few factors that went out way in a lot of those wins such as early red cards, timing of fixtures etc.

 

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  On 08/05/2022 at 18:43, HaydnNUFC said:

 

My guess is Lascelles, Hayden, Clark, Hendrick, Fernandez, Gayle, Ritchie and hopefully Longstaff. Basically most of the dregs of the 2016/17 Championship season that should've been moved on 4 years ago.

 

 

 

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Longstaffs just signed a new contract hasn't he? ☹️

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  On 08/05/2022 at 18:45, joeyt said:

Do seem to have a bit of a habit of getting howked by some teams away from home. Leicester, Arsenal, Man City, Spurs

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Leicester away we have a decent record tbf. Obviously we have had 2 heavy defeats but 3/4 wins in that time as well.

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  On 08/05/2022 at 18:46, Paullow said:

All about opinions I guess, but I still think we're a long way behind.

 

Burn wasn't a guaranteed starter for Brighton, and would either be on the bench or a LB when Dunk, Duffy, Webster were fit, and despite his strong start, is very much a bottom half defender IMO. Him and Schaar rotating with a quality addition would be fine for a top 10 charge next season, but we need better longer term. Villa obviously wanted better than Targett, which tells you something. Shelvey has been operating in the bottom half or Championship for the past 6 or 7 years, Fraser probably bottom half. I don't think we need to replace Dubs yet because there's other positions I'd go for first, and you do need a bit of familiarity, but I doubt he'd get into any of these teams mentioned, and again bottom half standard IMO. You can't rely on Wilson for a full season, and Wood is bang average and at 30 has had a career of struggling in the PL or in the Championship. There are some decent players here, and plenty to build around, but there's also some pretty average players who Howe has been getting the best out of.

 

You can't knock the 10 wins from 14, but there were clearly a few factors that went out way in a lot of those wins such as early red cards, timing of fixtures etc.

 

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It still only takes 4 or 5 quality players though doesn't it, which to be fair is the same for most Premier league clubs. Just look at the difference Bruno alone has made.

 

 

Edited by WillingtonMag

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I really want to see Ritchie, Gayle, and Clark get good send offs like. It's not their fault the good byes should have come years ago, they still played a big part in the club's history. Ritchie especially I absolutely loved, the tenacious little fucker.

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At this moment in time he would define literally any departing player as "loved," because he still has to work with them and we've still got the job of actually selling them; no one's contract is actually up this summer (even Gayle still has two years :lol:)

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  On 08/05/2022 at 18:48, WillingtonMag said:

It still only takes 4 or 5 quality players though doesn't it, which to be fair is the same for most Premier league clubs. Just look at the difference Bruno alone has made.

 

 

 

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For me, I'd like a quality CB, CM, RM, ST and then, along with Bruno, Trippier, Joe, Wilson (when fit), ASM, etc. I'd be confident of genuinely competing with the likes of West Ham, Wolves, Leicester etc. for the 8-10 spots, but at the moment, I do think there are levels between those sides without these additions (which I'm sure will come).

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  On 08/05/2022 at 18:41, Kanji said:

 

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Us still having Ritchie, Gayle, Hayden, Clark today would be the equivalent of still having Kelly, Peacock, Venison, Scott in 1998. Good pros and great for where we were but would have been over the hill and not good enough. Thank God we’re finally getting rid.

 

 

Edited by Optimistic Nut

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No sentiment please Eddie. Thank them publically, let the fans thank them too then move them on and replace them with better. It's not harsh it's simply how we're going to improve. Good on him 

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  On 08/05/2022 at 18:52, Paullow said:

For me, I'd like a quality CB, CM, RM, ST and then, along with Bruno, Trippier, Joe, Wilson (when fit), ASM, etc. I'd be confident of genuinely competing with the likes of West Ham, Wolves, Leicester etc. for the 8-10 spots, but at the moment, I do think there are levels between those sides without these additions (which I'm sure will come).

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All depends on who can sign of course and how the summer goes but with 4 players to the standard of Bruno and Trippier we can absolutely be better than Arsenal.

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  On 08/05/2022 at 18:50, Kid Icarus said:

I really want to see Ritchie, Gayle, and Clark get good send offs like. It's not their fault the good byes should have come years ago, they still played a big part in the club's history. Ritchie especially I absolutely loved, the tenacious little fucker.

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Yeah I loved Ritchie, he was pivotal in us going up, and then keeping us here for a season or two, and he's someone who always puts his absolute all into everything he does, wears his heart on his sleeve, and gets extra bonus points for telling Bruce to fuck off.

 

It's not his fault he didn't get moved on at the right time a few seasons ago, once he lost that yard of pace. Also it goes under the radar, but his form at the back end of last season, along with the Willock goals are what kept us up.

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