I agree Conte and Ashford looked very good at the end of the season, maybe with plenty of good players around them to help them have their breakthrough season.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
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I agree Conte and Ashford looked very good at the end of the season, maybe with plenty of good players around them to help them have their breakthrough season.Quote:
Originally Posted by J R Hartley
Not sure where their confidence in Bristol is coming from ?Quote:
Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman
I think the Championship 11th-18th is much of a muchness so not sure why city fans are getting annoyed by people predicting a lower finish. Unless we get a proven striker we will always struggle to improve on that. Signings from abroad have a rare hit rate so I think we will struggle to come by goals again this season which will be our undoing
Ramsey staying fit and starting 25+ games or Kanga being a gem are the only things I can see that would take us into the top 8
Derby?Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric the Half a Bee
Szmodics was the top scorer in the Championship with 27. I for one would not have wanted to swap places with Blackburn last season.
There are only a couple of ways of finishing mid table. One is lose as many as you win, the other is win less but have a few more draws. We “took” the former option. Teams that do this have a tendency to finish with large negative goal differences. Our final “on the beach” game with Rotherham obviously took us into the stratosphere in some people’s eyes wrt gd but have a look, plenty have finished up with similar numbers. Btw a team could go through a season unbeaten and be relegated. I.e. gd = 0. We almost did this in league 2.
Who and when?Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulWent76
I would. In a heartbeat. Seeing a player score 27 league goals would have been brilliant and it's the sort of thing that happens very rarely.Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulWent76
Their write-up on Bristol City is as follows:Quote:
Originally Posted by TheBirchgrovePub
Bristol City finished 11th last season despite conceding only 51 goals - the fourth-lowest total in the division. The Robins were lacking in offensive areas, but they have added to their options with the off-season signings of Sinclair Armstrong (QPR) and Fally Mayulu (Rapid Vienna).
This will be City's first full season under highly-rated head coach Liam Manning and they have scope for improvement. If Bristol can add a few more goals to their game it will make a big difference as they are a difficult side to play against.
And their top scorer from last season (Tommy Conway) is heading out of the door!Quote:
Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman
Ok. You got me. The other minus gds over -10 over the past 5 years are not similar (Preston seem to be the masters) to our horrendous -17. And before you point out that Eric stated top half teams, I was pointing to characteristics of mid table teams which we clearly were last season. We had a small flirtation with the playoffs and a small flirtation with relegation.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Lone Gunman
Blackburn with their goal machine finished 19th, 3 points off the relegation spots, we finished twelfth. My blood pressure situation means I couldn’t join you in wishing for such excitement but everyone has their own tastes.
For what it’s worth I really enjoyed the Rotherham game. It was quite enjoyable up until their 3, 4, 5th goals. At least we scored 2.
Not sure, like most clubs we've shipped out a lot more than we have brought in, and even assuming they're on decent wages our wage bill may well be the same - possibly lower. I also think it makes sense to leave some loan spaces ready for the January window..Quote:
Originally Posted by PontBlue
No. It's us. 1953/54, albeit goal average was the thing back then, we finished 10th having scored 51 and conceded 71. It's the second worst goal difference for any top half time in the football league of all time.Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueArmy 86
We have the worst goal difference of all top half teams in both of the top two divisions. It's an unusual and somewhat freak record to hold. I can't recall it being on the club's honours board....
Sadly the club didn't keep up with the spirit of things in the third and fourth tier, where we've never had a negative goal difference after 13 top half finishes. A GD of +2 in 1996/97 was the lowest and the only one under two figures.
We've finished in the top half of the second tier on 28 occasions, having a negative goal difference 6 times. 4 of those have been since 2005/6. In fact, in our last 4 top half finishes in this division, we've created the records for the best and worst goal differences of all our top half finishes combined at this level.
Latest odds - Sky Bet
We are now 80/1 to win the Championship and shortened to 3/1 for relegation. Unchanged at 18/1 for promotion.
I really enjoyed Sheff Wed in the cup. We played with an approach which was pleasing to see. We should have won that match, ridiculous as that sounds.Quote:
Originally Posted by PaulWent76
Im really optimistic. A lot of the predictions are based on last seasons goal difference / xg balance but for me the squad is hugely different to last season.
Weve brought in Willock, Chambers, El Ghazi, Robertson and Kanga; Kangas a bit of an unknown quantity but the other 4 are excellent signings.
Weve got Ashford, Conte and Giles, who all look capable of stepping up, weve got Ramsey and ODowda who both played very little last year and will both make a big difference if they stay fit plus theres Eli King and Isaak Davies returning from successful loan spells. We still look light up front (unless Kanga does the business or Robinson carries on his pre season form) but lets be honest, our main problem in the last few years hasnt been our strikers missing chances, its that weve created sweet FA.
Defence looks solid plus Horvath was excellent after we signed him. Also the divisions a lot weaker than last year. I reckon we're going to finish between 6 and 10.
I also feel confident we are going to improve in very important areas , from what I have seen so far the signings look very positive. one or two of the youngsters look like they may have something to offer . I really like the look of Conte.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cardiff Ultra
So I have been looking for at the odds for a top half finish or even top six.
For a team that the bookies reckon will finish 20th there is very little value . 7/4 ish for top half and 5/1 for top 6 , better odds if you go to the spread markets . Nothing for me at the moment.
13/2 for the top six with SkyBet. 2/1 for a top half finish.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimmy the Jock
I can only see one of our players in the Top Championship goalscorer market which is Ramsey at 150/1
My mistake Robinson 66/1 Miete 80/1.
You could put Meite in at 800/1 and he still wouldn’t appeal.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hilts
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hilts
Worth a tenner.
Good post I am of the same P. M. A.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cardiff Ultra
I really don't get that. I admit that I don't pay that much attention to other clubs, but I can't see how we're not a mid-table team.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hilts
Great post :thumbup:Quote:
Originally Posted by Cardiff Ultra
I was struck by how much the Second Tier podcast's season prediction of an eighteenth place finish for us was put down to the fact that we were owned by Vincent Tan. I said on here that I couldn't argue too much with that viewpoint when it comes to our owner because I believe that, over the past fourteen years, his overall effect on the club has been negative, but what cannot be denied, is that we've been promoted twice to the top flight under his ownership and no other owner in my City supporting life has been able to do it once.
I've seen one prediction of a tenth placed finish for us in numerous podcasts I've watched streamed by non City fans. That was well above anything else I've seen as we've generally been rated around the 17th to 20th mark. I've also read a piece saying that we've had one of the more striking transfer windows in the Championship so far - I've not seen anything else using g such dramatic language, but there's generally a feeling that we've done pretty well in the window up to now, yet this is never reflected in the finishing position predicted for us, bar that one outlier that has us finishing tenth.
So, if it seems to be accepted that we've done okay this summer, why is it not being reflected in where we're predicted to finish - as it stands, there seems to be a feeling that we've improved our squad, but are expected to drop by somethiung like half a dozen places in a division which is held to be weaker than last season by many? I agree that this can partly be explained by our finishing position being prett freakish last season - so many of the end of season stats point to a side that should be in the bottom six rather than the top dozen.
However, does the Second Tier's verdict reflect how we're perceived by football fans outside of a corner of south Wales? I think it probably does - we've been a shambles of a club for years and this stems from the man in charge, but I think this time ther pundits from outside of south Wales have got us a bit wrong, I believe that if, say, Preston has the 23/24 that we did and then signed the exact same players we have, then the verdict would be that they were headed for a top ten finish and maybe better than that - we need more goalscoring potential in the form of the sort of striker we were told to expect during this window if we are to make a genuine top six challenge in my opinion, but I think that one person who had us finishing tenth may be closer to the truth than all of the others.