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Measuring this seasons expectations


General Zod

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Before a ball has been kicked I’ve been thinking what my expectations for successful 2018/19 season would be.

Last year I watched the team implode for most of 2018 but a widely held opinion was that as the final league position had improved from 2016/17 it was a good season.

Year on year league position improvement, not the second half collapse, history repeating itself and failure to do anything about it was how we should be measuring success.

Just wondering, at this stage, has the goal post changed for this season or is a higher league finish to last the measure of success we are using?

Personally I found this a strange measure given how the season played out and success for me this season would be entertaining the crowd at home, finally sorting out the away form, playing a style of football that can be maintained consistently  for an entire season and like last year, being in the mix.

 

 

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Ideally playoffs but I think this season is going to be a lot harder, not going to get a chance like last season unless teams **** up all over the shop. 

 

Forest for 1st place for me, followed by either Stoke, WBA or Swansea and then Boro and Derby. I feel were in that bracket just after this, alongside teams like Brentford, Norwich, Shef Wednesday etc 

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Just now, Eastside Moonwalker said:

Ideally playoffs but I think this season is going to be a lot harder, not going to get a chance like last season unless teams **** up all over the shop. 

 

Forest for 1st place for me, followed by either Stoke, WBA or Swansea and then Boro and Derby. I feel were in that bracket just after this, alongside teams like Brentford, Norwich, Shef Wednesday etc 

People say this every single year..

 

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10th or better, successful bedding in of the new lads, and our same attacking and exciting play style would work for me.

Looking at our signings, lots of pacey forwards, I’m quite confident of the latter coming true. 

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For me progression would be learning from our mistakes, playing good football and integrating the new signings successfully. If we fail to match or improve on our league position isn't a large factor as long as we don't drop to much lower.

We need to remember we have lost some important players so this season has to be viewed as a rebuilding season. I think we are still 3 or 4 players short of a very good squad. Progression would also mean having a depth of squad able to cope with the injuries we had last season.

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Just now, Eastside Moonwalker said:

Ideally playoffs but I think this season is going to be a lot harder, not going to get a chance like last season unless teams **** up all over the shop. 

 

Forest for 1st place for me, followed by either Stoke, WBA or Swansea and then Boro and Derby. I feel were in that bracket just after this, alongside teams like Brentford, Norwich, Shef Wednesday etc 

People say this every single year..

 

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I'd say similar league position to last season, potentially minus a couple of places given the amount of new faces we have. However that would only be acceptable if we're playing consistent style of play similar to first half of last season and no long unbeaten runs. If we finish mid table again it could see us in a stable position for having a better go the season after. 

Thats the minimum, the hopeful expectation is to finish top 10 plus the style of play/no long losing streak. 

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Consistency is almost more important than league position for me.  The bad runs for whatever reason suggest that something went wrong. Planning, injuries or fallouts, whatever.  A solid upper mid table  even season would do me.

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I think in the past few seasons players from other clubs may still have viewed us a 'smaller club' in the division, but successive Top half finishes, a recognised entertaining and attacking formation combined with last years strong start and cup run may have helped our reputation amongst the Division, and players may now look at us as genuine contenders for Play Offs - which may explain signing more players from similar teams at this level.

I still believe there may still be some more In's and Out's, potentially taking advantage of other teams financial issues and at this point im confident of another Top Half finish but like others have said we need to figure out a way to stop the second half slump which has derailed our last 2 seasons.

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For me as long as we are learning and consolidating our championship status I’m happy. There are so many positives with us at the moment it’s sad the 2nd half of last season over shadowed them. 

Very excited for it all to start now 

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I think one thing we are now is what a lot of people have aimed for us to be - an established championship club.

Championship Stadium - tick

Majority of Squad with c100 championship games (or equivalent standard) - tick

Category 2 Academy - tick

Fees paid in line with championship market - tick

Taking players from other championship clubs - tick

As an established club with most of the metrics pointing the right way (YOY position improvement, positive media, ability to spend), mid-table seems to be the minimum requirement.

However, I don’t see anything to scare us in this league, and that’s probably the first time since we’ve been back up. 

On that basis, I think a play off tilt as a minimum has to be seen as the barometer for success this year

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If historical performance is a gauge of future performance then I foresee:

  • A bad run of relegation form (happened the last 2 seasons)
  • A good run of promotion form (happened the last 2 seasons)
  • Nothing indifferent (not happened the last 2 season)

We'll finish mid-table after the above happens, in no particular order.

I do agree that we have nothing to fear in this division. Small margins and all that, anyone can beat anyone in the Championship (well, bar the poorest of the poor - whom we failed to beat in our dire run!)

 

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38 minutes ago, brad blit said:

I think in the past few seasons players from other clubs may still have viewed us a 'smaller club' in the division, but successive Top half finishes......may have helped our reputation amongst the Division, and players may now look at us as genuine contenders for Play Offs....

We haven’t had successive top half finishes yet....

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There's been a fair bit of squad churn over the summer, particularly with two key players leaving, so that's going to make things trickier. If we'd purely been adding players then I'd expect a top 6 finish but the departures make that a bigger ask.

Generally I think the Lee Johnson era has delivered good progress, even if there are bits that could have been better. A good season would continue that with a mid-table finish and some form of cup run, decent attacking football and players from the u23s breaking into the first team. Some suggestion that the mental fragility problems are being addressed would be welcome. Even if we don't finish as high as last season it would be good to avoid any long runs of poor results just to show that that problem has been addressed.

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I think any sort of top half finish, with a more consistent form book would demonstrate improvement. 

I’d accept finishing a little bit lower, if we can eradicate a prolonged period of bad results. 

I think mentally, WWDDLLWWDDLL will be viewed more preferably than WWWWWWWLLLLLLLLL

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1 hour ago, bengalcub said:

Gonna be tough this season , without the big man and bobbys pressing , need to find a new formula and fast , im thinking top half would be a good season .

I actually think losing those two could help us. Yes they were both important players but there was a stage where they could do no wrong. Getting in new players (with Webster definitely being a big improvement on flint, Weimann I’m not sure), could push us onwards

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