The bookies have us finishing 20th ?

[BlueArmy 86]

Why not the playoffs

[Wash DC Blue]

Why not the playoffs

Fcuk it..why not!?
It’s still early days and we looking more than half tidy.

The difference over the last two games between our opening games has been extreme.

Regardless of how “unlucky” we may have been in our opening fixtures and who we have played recently …it’s night and day to how we are playing now from then.

That being said, I’m not really comfortable with my level of optimism right now, but plan to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Fcuk it..why not!?
It’s still early days and we looking more than half tidy.

The difference over the last two games between our opening games has been extreme.

Regardless of how “unlucky” we may have been in our opening fixtures and who we have played recently …it’s night and day to how we are playing now from then.

That being said, I’m not really comfortable with my level of optimism right now, but plan to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

We'd need automatic promotion form for the rest of the season to do it....

[the other bob wilson]

We’ve played like Play Off contenders in the last two matches, but they were against a side that are very poor travellers and a team that is bottom of the league - I’ll let others talk about potential top six finishes for awhile yet, but, there’s no way a team that can play like we have done for the past two games, and a section of the one before that, should be nineteenth having broken club records for the worst start to a season. As has been remarked elsewhere, the players must have hated playing Bulutball (I would have) and it seems this squad could have been top six possibilities if we’d get shot of Bulut back in May as I believe he had little to do with the selection of players signed in the summer.

[TheBirchgrovePub]

I think we're a few players short of the top six to be honest, players like Colwill and Tanner will hit a rough patch naturally and can't possibly keep up their performances over the last few games for a whole season. The amount of energy Tanner puts into his performances he will most likely blow up with his first full season in professional football as a starter.

But that's fine, it would be good just to even be in with half a chance of the play offs with 10 games to go. The most encouraging thing for me is that bar player sales, the likes of Robertson, Colwill etc will be in the starting line up in August 2025, we won't be scrambling around to replace five loan players before we have even made improvements to our team.

Not one loan player in the starting 11 last night. Finally the penny is dropping hopefully

[North Cardiff Blue]

I think we're a few players short of the top six to be honest, players like Colwill and Tanner will hit a rough patch naturally and can't possibly keep up their performances over the last few games for a whole season. The amount of energy Tanner puts into his performances he will most likely blow up with his first full season in professional football as a starter.

But that's fine, it would be good just to even be in with half a chance of the play offs with 10 games to go. The most encouraging thing for me is that bar player sales, the likes of Robertson, Colwill etc will be in the starting line up in August 2025, we won't be scrambling around to replace five loan players before we have even made improvements to our team.

Not one loan player in the starting 11 last night. Finally the penny is dropping hopefully

Squad depth will kill us, the first eleven has looked good the last few games, but we won't be able to lose players like Colwill, Tanner, El Ghazi, Robinson, and Robertson for any length of time.

[the other bob wilson]

Squad depth will kill us, the first eleven has looked good the last few games, but we won't be able to lose players like Colwill, Tanner, El Ghazi, Robinson, and Robertson for any length of time.

As I said in my blog, I think there are four or more in the under 21 team that could do a job in the first team for the short term at least. We’ve also got two forwards who’ll be fit again soon and another one out on loan - our squad has more depth to it than there’s been for five years and more.

[North Cardiff Blue]

As I said in my blog, I think there are four or more in the under 21 team that could do a job in the first team for the short term at least. We’ve also got two forwards who’ll be fit again soon and another one out on loan - our squad has more depth to it than there’s been for five years and more.

Fair point I agree on reflection, some of the youngsters look good, and Bagan is looking strong as a cover for O'Dowda, it is those four that would worry me the most especially Colwill and Robertson they are playing brilliantly.

Looking forward to Issac Davies coming back, I think on paper he should fit in well with this team.

[Father Dougal]

Currently 19th. Bookies haven't got a clue and shouldn't have under estimated us. ;-)

[The Lone Gunman]

The bookies were wrong. Turns out 20th was way too optimistic.

[The Bloop]

That league table early on was so misleading aswell, as we had too many matches against the fancied teams at the start 😉

[poc]

That league table early on was so misleading aswell, as we had too many matches against the fancied teams at the start ��

dont start mark drakefords mate off

[Armitage Shanks]

Christ! I thought this was for next season.!!!!

[The Lone Gunman]

Not sure where their confidence in Bristol is coming from ?

Looks like the Racing Post pundits were right to have confidence in Bristol City, even if they're rubbish.

[The Lone Gunman]

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'm not bumping this post to have a go at you in any way - some of my predictions were also way off, as I intend to highlight in the coming days. However, it's interesting to look back on posts like this one in retrospect considering what's happened.

None of Willock, Chambers, El Ghazi or Robertson proved to be excellent signings. Robertson has time on his side and I still have hopes that he can prove a really good signing in the long term, but the other three were disappointing at best and awful at worst. Kanga, meanwhile, was just a joke.

Ashford has done well I think, but Conte and Giles were never sighted. King went out on loan again and Davies has become a dead loss who is almost always injured.

O'Dowda has had a good season on an individual level and has played a lot of games, but Ramsey has been a total waste of wages (zero games won with him as a player, captain or caretaker manager).

As for the defence looking solid, this was posted before McGuinness signed for Luton and the rest of the defence proved anything but solid.

[Father Dougal]

Looks like the Racing Post pundits were right to have confidence in Bristol City, even if they're rubbish.

Its probably in the thread somewhere but do you have the predicted league table from the bookies pre season? Any glaring mistakes? Looks like all 3 promoted teams are staying up and doubt that was predicted?

Don't know why but I always find that fascinating. always keep all the pre season previews in the magazines also and look back how close the fans and magazine predictions were.

Quite funny on sky I know carragher predicted Nottingham forest to go down and I read somewhere out of 30 pundits sky and bbc combined none had Liverpool to win the league!

[Father Dougal]

I'm not bumping this post to have a go at you in any way - some of my predictions were also way off, as I intend to highlight in the coming days. However, it's interesting to look back on posts like this one in retrospect considering what's happened.

None of Willock, Chambers, El Ghazi or Robertson proved to be excellent signings. Robertson has time on his side and I still have hopes that he can prove a really good signing in the long term, but the other three were disappointing at best and awful at worst. Kanga, meanwhile, was just a joke.

Ashford has done well I think, but Conte and Giles were never sighted. King went out on loan again and Davies has become a dead loss who is almost always injured.

O'Dowda has had a good season on an individual level and has played a lot of games, but Ramsey has been a total waste of wages (zero games won with him as a player, captain or caretaker manager).

As for the defence looking solid, this was posted before McGuinness signed for Luton and the rest of the defence proved anything but solid.

It's that old adage you never sign a bad player in pre season though isn't it!

Same for all clubs. Literally anyone a club signs in the summer fans can convince themselves "oh if we can just keep him fit" or "if he can just get that consistency" or "this is the chance for 1st team football he needed" or whatever it is.

All part of the fun though!

[Pedro de la Rosa]

It's that old adage you never sign a bad player in pre season though isn't it!

We do

[North Cardiff Blue]

Squad depth will kill us, the first eleven has looked good the last few games, but we won't be able to lose players like Colwill, Tanner, El Ghazi, Robinson, and Robertson for any length of time.

And we did, and we stuggled.

[North Cardiff Blue]

That league table early on was so misleading aswell, as we had too many matches against the fancied teams at the start ��

True and then we appointed a nobody, with no experience, who floundered us right into relegation, this was so avoidable.

[The Lone Gunman]

Its probably in the thread somewhere but do you have the predicted league table from the bookies pre season? Any glaring mistakes? Looks like all 3 promoted teams are staying up and doubt that was predicted?

The following list is based on the major bookies' prices as at Monday August 5th. The figure in brackets is where the Racing Post tipsters thought each side would finish:

1 - Leeds United (2)
2 - Burnley (1)
3 - Luton Town (7)
4 - Middlesbrough (3)
5 - West Brom (6)
6 - Sheffield United (9)
7 - Coventry (5)
8 - Norwich City (4)
9 - Stoke City (15)
10 - Hull City (11)
11 - Sunderland (19)
12 - Sheffield Wednesday (18)
13 - Watford (12)
14 - QPR (14)
15 - Derby County (20)
16 - Portsmouth (21)
17 - Swansea City (10)
18 - Bristol City (8)
19 - Millwall (13)
20 - Preston (16)
21 - Cardiff City (17)
22 - Blackburn Rovers (22)
23 - Plymouth Argyle (23)
24 - Oxford United (24)

[Pedro de la Rosa]

And we did, and we stuggled.

You were relying on Colwill and Tanner who haven't played a full season for us ever, Robinson is made of glass, AEG hadn't kicked a football in a year and Robertson hadn't played a game in 2024 when we signed him. Can't see why we went down

[North Cardiff Blue]

You were relying on Colwill and Tanner who haven't played a full season for us ever, Robinson is made of glass, AEG hadn't kicked a football in a year and Robertson hadn't played a game in 2024 when we signed him. Can't see why we went down

I was saying, "Squad depth will kill us" which it did, I knew lots of them would get injured.

[The Lone Gunman]

Quite funny on sky I know carragher predicted Nottingham forest to go down and I read somewhere out of 30 pundits sky and bbc combined none had Liverpool to win the league!

Forest were expected by the bookies to finish 17th. They were a popular tip for relegation.

As for Liverpool, they were available at 7/1 to win the title. Not one of the Racing Post's top eight tipsters picked them, and none of the eight reps from the biggest bookmakers did either.

It looks like Arsenal will finish second. A Liverpool / Arsenal straight forecast was available at 20/1.

[The Lone Gunman]

We're going up as champions

This went well.

Then table must be upside down.