TRon Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 49 minutes ago, Rich said: What are we settling on then for this season's target, then? Top six? Just had a quick scan and it seems the bookies have us finishing 6th. That's basically been my prediction for a while now. Not because we haven't improved, it's based more on Liverpool and Chelsea spending much more than us, and landing some quality signings, especially Liverpool. 6th would be a creditable position considering the extra games, many might even think 7-8th would be more realistic, but I think we'll still have a good campaign because we are so well run now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Rich said: What are we settling on then for this season's target, then? Top six? Just had a quick scan and it seems the bookies have us finishing 6th. Aye. I’d take 7th too. I think people are a little quick to discount Spurs. A good manager, keep Kane, get Son, Maddison and Kulu performing with no European football. That’s a top 6 team. Even if they sold Kane. An attack of Richarlison, Son, Kulu and Maddison should finish top 6 without European football. But splitting the old top 6 again + Europe would be a good season. 4th is another miracle imo. Above target. 5th absolutely tremendous. Above target. 6th excellent. Just above target. 7th good. On target. 8th with a good CL run is still arguably par. Only criticism is that it would mean a Villa or someone finished above us. But they haven’t had to play CL football. 9th I would be disappointed. bur I can see how that happens. 10th or worse and Eddie’s job May be on the line. Unfortunately. Edited July 31, 2023 by The College Dropout Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy84 Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Pre season predictions are hard but I think there is still that “team x will have improved massively” which must instantly mean they will finish way above us. I think we will improve as well, by quite a bit. I’d be disappointed with 7th Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turnbull2000 Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 We basically need to double our commercial income again to be a permanent top 6 challenger? Could do with some juiced up sponsorships in the next couple of years, yet somehow avoid getting blocked on fair value. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingArthur Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 8 minutes ago, The College Dropout said: Aye. I’d take 7th too. I think people are a little quick to discount Spurs. A good manager, keep Kane, get Son, Maddison and Kulu performing with no European football. That’s a top 6 team. Even if they sold Kane. An attack of Richarlison, Son, Kulu and Maddison should finish top 6 without European football. They have decent attack anyway, it is the defence that seems to be the weak link for Spurs. Need 1-2 reinforcements there. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinky Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 8 minutes ago, The College Dropout said: Aye. I’d take 7th too. I think people are a little quick to discount Spurs. A good manager, keep Kane, get Son, Maddison and Kulu performing with no European football. That’s a top 6 team. Even if they sold Kane. An attack of Richarlison, Son, Kulu and Maddison should finish top 6 without European football. But splitting the old top 6 again + Europe would be a good season. 4th is another miracle imo. Above target. 5th absolutely tremendous. Above target. 6th excellent. Just above target. 7th good. On target. 8th with a good CL run is still arguably par. Only criticism is that it would mean a Villa or someone finished above us. But they haven’t had to play CL football. 9th I would be disappointed. bur I can see how that happens. 10th or worse and Eddie’s job May be on the line. Unfortunately. Good call, but I'd take 10th and a Cup win! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Butcher Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Anything below 7th would be poor imo. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Abacus Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 The other thing that we don't know is who we bring in. Howe has already said he hopes there will be more to come in the transfer window so, like everyone else, I'm excited to see how many and what level they are at. I think that actually makes us more of a wildcard than most of the rest. A couple of quality signings make far more of a difference to our squad than they do to, say, Man City's. I think the current squad would be disappointed with below 7th. Add two or even three quality players and it's a whole different bag of mackerel in terms of expectations. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiLvOR Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 My hope for this season would be: Top 6 Good cup runs in all 3 competitions (asking a lot, but hey). And this last one is potentially really smalltime/petty, but my god, I am desperate for us to beat those whinging cunts at Anfield this year. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cf Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Does feel it's going to be more competitive in the top half this year. One thing that means though is it might require less points than usual to achieve certain spots. All the teams can't win all the games. If the league is stronger that could pull City into the fold a little too but I still expect it's their title to lose. Top 6 and a decent showing of ourselves in the CL I think should be the target. Would represent an excellent season with anything else on top being gravy. Top 8 I think would be accepted if there was a good CL run and we were in that spot because of luck, injuries, etc rather than poor performance. Squad is starting to improve but it's still in transition. We are adding quality to many areas of the pitch but still quite a bit of deadwood to shift and lack of quality backup. 4 competitions is not going to be easy for us. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 11 minutes ago, The Butcher said: Anything below 7th would be poor imo. You think some bad luck with injuries, good CL run, we are simply too good to finish below Villa, Chelsea and Spurs? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr Venkman Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Anyone who thinks EH will be aiming for anything less than CL qualification hasn’t been paying attention, IMO. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 I’m assuming we’ll sign Tino and another defender. I stil think we’d be be 2 quality outfield players away from outright being better than the likes of Spurs. @Cf the better the best teams. The more points will be required. There was a season some to go ago the top 6 has their own league and Man U finished 6th on 69 points. Arsenal 5th on 75 points. Everton back in 7th with 61 points. Massive drop off from there. The good teams slayed the league. This year we’ll have like 9 bad teams. Possibly 8/9 great ones. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 Outside of City and maybe Arsenal, there are some pretty significant weaknesses in every other squad at present. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy84 Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 3 minutes ago, The College Dropout said: I’m assuming we’ll sign Tino and another defender. I stil think we’d be be 2 quality outfield players away from outright being better than the likes of Spurs. @Cf the better the best teams. The more points will be required. There was a season some to go ago the top 6 has their own league and Man U finished 6th on 69 points. Arsenal 5th on 75 points. Everton back in 7th with 61 points. Massive drop off from there. The good teams slayed the league. This year we’ll have like 9 bad teams. Possibly 8/9 great ones. we’re a better side than spurs imo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barnes23 Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 The club will be aiming for progress, that can be measured in different ways but they certainly won't be happy to drop out of the CL now that we're in. There was a direct (unattributed) quote in an Athletic article several months from one of the higher-ups along the lines of "once we get into the champions league the point Is to stay there". With that in mind, I'm not sure why we as a fanbase should be entering the season thinking differently. There are a lot of variables and factors at play which could mean that a lower finish is acceptable, many of them outside of our control, it's true that this season will be more difficult. But I don't see the need to downplay our quality before a ball has been kicked, the kind of tempering of expectations that feels ingrained as a Newcastle fan because of our history of underachievement and especially our recent history under Ashley. It's a mindset that we can do without imo Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yorkie Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 31 minutes ago, The Butcher said: Anything below 7th would be poor imo. Depends how we do in the cups imo. If we go deep in all three cup competitions I don't think anyone should be getting hammered if our league form falters. I wouldn't want us to be like Spurs, Chelsea et al, where the concept of a slow build is jettisoned along with the manager, in a hunt for immediate success. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cf Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 12 minutes ago, The College Dropout said: I’m assuming we’ll sign Tino and another defender. I stil think we’d be be 2 quality outfield players away from outright being better than the likes of Spurs. @Cf the better the best teams. The more points will be required. There was a season some to go ago the top 6 has their own league and Man U finished 6th on 69 points. Arsenal 5th on 75 points. Everton back in 7th with 61 points. Massive drop off from there. The good teams slayed the league. This year we’ll have like 9 bad teams. Possibly 8/9 great ones. I guess what I'm saying is if it's more like 8/9 great teams you mention at the bottom it potentially could be a more gradual increase to the top rather than being its own mini league. We'll see I guess Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 31 minutes ago, SiLvOR said: My hope for this season would be: Top 6 Good cup runs in all 3 competitions (asking a lot, but hey). And this last one is potentially really smalltime/petty, but my god, I am desperate for us to beat those whinging cunts at Anfield this year. I'd take this, like. 100%. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Prophet Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 In terms of the expectation of the club, it seems pretty widely accepted that last season went beyond what anyone realistically thought was achievable. So while the aim is incremental improvement, dropping out of the top four won't be seen as a failure. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 30 minutes ago, Barnes23 said: The club will be aiming for progress, that can be measured in different ways but they certainly won't be happy to drop out of the CL now that we're in. There was a direct (unattributed) quote in an Athletic article several months from one of the higher-ups along the lines of "once we get into the champions league the point Is to stay there". With that in mind, I'm not sure why we as a fanbase should be entering the season thinking differently. There are a lot of variables and factors at play which could mean that a lower finish is acceptable, many of them outside of our control, it's true that this season will be more difficult. But I don't see the need to downplay our quality before a ball has been kicked, the kind of tempering of expectations that feels ingrained as a Newcastle fan because of our history of underachievement and especially our recent history under Ashley. It's a mindset that we can do without imo That's what you would expect from these owners, but there's not much they can do if we are restricted to a far smaller budget than our CL rivals, at least the established superpowers. They can still outbid us for the very best players, and without those it takes some pretty special coaching to make up the gap. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 17 minutes ago, TRon said: That's what you would expect from these owners, but there's not much they can do if we are restricted to a far smaller budget than our CL rivals, at least the established superpowers. They can still outbid us for the very best players, and without those it takes some pretty special coaching to make up the gap. Aye. Clearly if we could sign Sadio Mane, Mbappe and the like we would. But FFP doesn’t allow for that. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Gleebals Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 (edited) Ultimately it is quite clear we are aiming to be at the very top (1st) and with that comes a high level of expecation. With that also comes the need for sustained and considerable investment and growth both as a team and club, all of which takes time and has been pointed out many, many times already, FFP gets in the way of doing this sooner than the owners might hope. However, we are clearly very well run and will be pursuing all avenues to make things happen as quickly as possible. Expectations might be high, especially after last season and rightly so, but I hope the club and fans remain relaistic as to what is achievable both in terms of team results, and investment. Personally, I would think top 6, ideally top 5 would be an incredible achievement this year. Chelsea and Tottenham are out of Europe and can focus on the league. Liverpool will most likely be in a transition season, but have some great new players that need to gel quickly, so they could be a very strong team this year. Villa look strong, as do Brighton.. So its going to be a very competitive season and possibly one of the most for years. We have a tough start to the season, and for me that could set the tone as to how we do over the course of the season. Sure, 4-5 games are not a good indicatior, but if we got say 8-10 points from the first 5 games, things are looking very encouraging.. As Howe has said, we need to make a rapid start and if we can get some decent points before the CL starts, we could have a great season. Edited July 31, 2023 by Dan Gleebals Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 The aim has to be Champions League qualification again, and to attempt to win a trophy (like last year). I'm sure that's what the team will be targeting. I wouldn't be disappointed with 7th or thereabouts, as this season could be very competitive at the top. The way last season panned out, it was imperative to finish top 4 as the opportunity was there, it would have been a bit of a crushing blow to falter from the position we got ourselves in, and I'm sure the players would have been more gutted than us as fans if we had blown it. I think it's because of how well we did last year that I don't feel we have to do it again. We are heading in the right direction and will keep improving and getting stronger and stronger. Next year is about adjusting to the extra games and expectations and challenges that come with being a top team. If the chance for a top 4 finish is there to be taken again however, we have to take that chance. So excited for the coming season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPERTOON Posted July 31, 2023 Share Posted July 31, 2023 I don’t think we will get near top 4 this season, but I didn’t last season either. Top 7 the aim imo and I’d be delighted with it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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