No Chance, Below us will be:
Newcastle
Wolves
Leeds
Southampton
Burnley
Brighton
Brentford
Watford
Brentford
Norwich

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

I would much prefer if you predicted us to go down, like the last 8 seasons. This has jinx written all over it. Predict doom please Willo. Get us back on track.

Red and Blue Army!

Shame we’re not playing Arsenal next week

Good Call

“That’s a joke son, I say, that’s a joke.” “Nice boy, but he’s sharp as a throw pillow.” “He’s so dumb he thinks a Mexican border pays rent” “ “Son… I say, son, some people are so narrow minded they can look through a keyhole with both eyes.”__ Forhorn Leghorn

Yes, yes we will be in a relegation battle this season, especially in the first half of the season.

I find it incredulous that anybody expected any different. This is not a case of me being unduly negative, especially off the back of the Chelsea result.

I think nearly all of us can accept anything at all out of that game whoever was in charge, whichever personnel we put out and whatever tactics/formation we played would have been a bonus.

First off look at the manager. Yes he is a big name in football and we all hope and want him to do well but the reality is he is unproven at this level. The difference between him and a Hodgeson type is we, the players and the board all knew Hodgeson had been there and done it. Whether we agreed with what he was doing or not he has enough capital in football management for us to understand he had reasons for doing things like he did and that it would keep us in the league. Viera does not have that capital at the moment. If, and yes it is an if, we continue to have a but clenching start it is a question of how long the fans can accept that we are going to be awful for the immediate future and hope we can develop out of it. How long Parish and co are willing to stick it out also remains to be seen. Say we are in the relegation zone at Xmas do they stick? (given the financial commitment they have made to this `new generation` of younger prospects, they have committed fully to this past the point of no return).

Fans have of course been very excited by new signings over the summer. We can't deny they have been exciting but, and it is a very key but they are nearly all `potentials` Olise and Guehi are totally untested at Prem level. In fairness Gallagher and Anderson have been but not over several seasons, effectively Premier Newbies.

Fan's clamoured for a more attacking brand of football. We have got what we wanted, the club has responded. Tactically think about it RH (Like it or not) would go very defensive against a side like Chelsea. Be ultra defensive, yes you may lose but hopefully not by much and goal difference can make a difference in the long game but also importantly mentally for the players. The difference to losing to Chelsea say 1-0, where you can say `hey lads good shift you really worked hard and narrowly lost to the European Champion` compared to....`well what can you say to them that feels credible after the drubbing we got? That means putting in midfielders like Luka etc that break up play, create a screen in front of the back four. For more attacking play you need players who are better ball players, like Jairo. But the reality is if, like we were against Chelsea these players are forced back into chasing shadows and cant get on the ball they are totally ineffectual. If you want a more attacking football yo have to accept that when up against top sides you are going to ship a lot of goals.

So we have Brentford next. And already people are saying that they will judge us after the Brentford game. Brentford are very used to and employ a very aggressive press. They did against Arsenal and got a lot of success from it. Even in the pre-season friendlies we are not remotely comfortable with playing the ball around and out the back. We can expect Brentford to really exploit our weakness with one of their strengths. So I'm sorry to say I think we can expect a very tough match against a Brentford team on a real high. I'm not expecting to get anything out that game.

So yes I am expecting we will be in a relegation dog fight for at the very least the first half of this season. It's just a question of if we and the board hold their nerve with what we are doing or not.

I dont see us as weaker than at least half a dozen sides so no but there wont be a lot in it .

Playing more on the front foot will see our occasional victories against the top sides become as rare as rocking horse poo but wins against the poorer sides should increase

I take us to win the bottom half of the league