Closing The Gap…

[JR1882]

Much has been made of 2 years where the newly promoted 3 have all been relegated, however this season has the potential to be much more open.

Not just the fact that I think us and Leeds are better set than those that came up last season, but there is a bit of rebuilding to be done above us….

BOURNEMOUTH had a great season, however they have lost their best defender to Madrid, left back off to Liverpool and Kepa has gone back to Chelsea. Probably some interest in their forward line too.

WOLVES have lost their talisman allbeit for a fortune and are set to loose Ait Nouri to City as well, and the owners aren’t for spending much these days.

BRENTFORD have been really competitive but it will be fascinating to see them without Frank it it goes through as expected - it’s an unusual loss as he is woven into the fabric of the club there. Their managerial recruitment will have to be as good as their player recruitment and they haven’t had to do it for a good few years.

PALACE could be balancing off European football with the league and they only ever really finish mid table, lots of interest in Guehi & Eze and talk of Mateta moving on upwards too.

FOREST are too good to go down but teams seemed to have them figured out towards the end of the season, one season wonders come and go all the time.

I don’t think City, United & Spurs will all be as bad - between them they gifted 49 defeats to other teams most of whom would not normally beat them with such ease. I think this will mean the teams in mid table will be closer points wise to the bottom 3.

All irrelevant unless we are competitive I know, but there are some teams with a lot of work to do before the season starts.

[Quickenthetempo]

That's not closing the gap, it's hoping the opposition come back to your standard.

Just like Liverpool didn't get better than City, the Manchester club just regressed massively, which was needed for some other team to overtake them.

[CyrilEbokiPoh]

The one thing that should / could help us this time. Is that we will be a lot more pragmatic, organised, settled, together and Hopefuly competetive and harder to beat.

It is going to be very hard. But there’s no reason we can’t be better than last time.

[Silkyskills1]

[quote=CyrilEbokiPoh post_id=2562531 time=1749381703 user_id=9758

It is going to be very hard. But there’s no reason we can’t be better than last time.
[/quote]

17 reasons spring instantly to mind but I take your point that preparation and approach to games have to be different from 2 years ago to give us any chance of becoming one of those 17.

[Dyched]

A much stronger City/United/Spurs and the gap at the bottom reduces.

[Roosterbooster]

Let's assume ourselves, Leeds and Sunderland occupy 3 of the bottom 4 places.

Who is joining us in the bottom 4, and potentially the team to go down in stead of us? I'm really struggling

[beddie]

Also most of the teams mentioned will probably spend a lot more than us to bring in replacements.

[kenyon6923]

The massive issue is the goals - similar to the last premiership it looks like were losing our "tella" again in Brownhill and our captain. Think they both scored around 18 in the championship sseasons.
We know currently we have not got anyone at the club who's likely to get to double figures next season in goals. We huffed and puffed under VK in the premiership but how many times particularly at home did the forum say "best team but did not win the match" - it's kinda back to the SD days to survive - tight at back and scrap a win as we know we're not likely to create 20 chances a match and "good performances" don't always increase,the points tally.
The worry regarding the stats of the poor recent record of promoted clubs is they all played like us, from the back and it produced a 100% success rate of failure including us 2 seasons ago.
Think we have to be more cute and less naive this time and maybe at times mixed it up abit.

[Darnhill Claret]

I don't think Palace were about their individual players, more about the way they played, and maybe European club football may persuade their top players to stay for another season.
However Eze announced before the Cup Final, that he would be leaving.
If they lose 4 or more top players, and/or Glasner, coupled with the pressure of extra European travelling and playing, perhaps they will slip, points wise.
Bournemouth look like losing too many top players and if Iraola was to leave, maybe.
West Ham don't convince me, but I like Potter, so hopeful rather than confident that they will struggle.
Wolves, losing top quality players. Very hopeful.
Brentford, if they lose Franck and another player or two, might take some time to find consistency.

So if two or more of the above struggle and we adapt quickly, we have a reasonable chance of finishing above 18th place.

[Woodleyclaret]

Imo West Ham are going to struggle. They are loosing the Czech lads and Bowen will be leaving for big money .Sunderland will finish below us as will Leeds . It's imperative we get our OCC signed up to give us a chance of survival along with a box finisher to complement Flemming.

[daveisaclaret]

None of the established clubs are going to be threatened for as long as the promoted teams are putting up points totals in the mid 20s. We won 5 games in 23/24 and last season Leicester in 18th won 6 - for as long as that continues none of the teams mentioned in the OP are in any danger.

[Silkyskills1]

The massive issue is the goals - similar to the last premiership it looks like were losing our "tella" again in Brownhill and our captain. Think they both scored around 18 in the championship sseasons.
We know currently we have not got anyone at the club who's likely to get to double figures.

Two years and counting since I highlighted this issue on here. With those available to us currently 'double figures' is no more than a pipedream. I hope we address the situation as soon as we can but with the possible exception of Flemming the remainder of 'strikers' are surplus to requirement, especially at this level. No room for sentiment just pragmatism.

[fatboy47]

The experts on here had us nailed on for relegation when we finished 7th.

[TsarBomba]

Wolves are possibly losing Semedo to Marseille too, although Wolves have offered a 4 year deal.

My Dads side of the family are all Wolves fans, and they are definitely nervous about next season.

They were bang in trouble until their new manager came in and won 6 on the bounce, and they were incredibly fortunate to have players of the quality of Cunha and Ait-Nouri who were far too good for them.

Listening to the radio on the way into work yesterday, they were discussing Wolves and how much trouble they may be in- Cunha and Ait-Nouri contributed to 42 goals last season, that’s a helluva lot to replace for any team, let alone Wolves.

Their league finishes since returning to the Premier League of 7, 7, 13, 10, 13, 14, 16, also suggests they are a club standing still and on a downward trajectory.

Fosun don’t particularly want to invest either and dependent on how they replace key players this summer, they are definitely a team that can be dragged into a relegation battle.

[willsclarets]

We can only focus on ourselves and giving ourselves the best chance possible week to week. Make Turf Moor a horrible place to pick up points for others, throw a bit of luck in there too and you never know.

It's less about closing the gap i think, which is nigh on impossible in year 1 with our budget, and more about giving yourself the best chance to overperform. 1st key to that I'd say is keeping our best players, particularly the 2 CBs and GK. That in itself is a huge boost. You also want to keep the spirit and loyalty intact. So while there may be calls to get 6-8 players in I'd be much more inclined to get 2 or 3 quality signings that i) would give the lads a boost and ii) signings which no one in the squad could deny are an upgrade.

[Elizabeth]

I'd just be happy to be in with a chance of staying up in the last month of the season rather that knowing we have no chance of staying up with lots of games left.

[warksclaret]

If we can keep as many of the team as poss and create several quality signings we have a chance under Scotty
I think it won’t be pretty but hopefully we concede a lot less goals than the last season in the PL

[equinox]

Forest will struggle next year as will Brentford.

*post bookmarked.

[ksrclaret]

Forest will struggle next year as will Brentford.

*post bookmarked.

Why not go outside instead? There’s a whole world beyond trying to get one over someone on the internet.

[equinox]

Why not go outside instead? There’s a whole world beyond trying to get one over someone on the internet.

Eh?

[Vegas Claret]

it needs all the promoted teams to put up a better fight but I agree with Kenyon above, all about scoring goals when you have the chances and imho the likes of Foster are nowhere near clinical enough. A striker has to be our priority

[ksrclaret]

it needs all the promoted teams to put up a better fight but I agree with Kenyon above, all about scoring goals when you have the chances and imho the likes of Foster are nowhere near clinical enough. A striker has to be our priority

Absolutely. I’d not be relying on Foster whatsoever. Flemming could be an asset for us as a sort of nuisance player like Barnes was, but we really do need someone else in there who might threaten double figures. Where you find a striker from I don’t know, there seems to be a shortage of decent ones in the game at the moment.

[kentonclaret]

I have been posting on here for years of the need to score goals to have any chance of surviving in the PL and once again this season the 3 lowest scoring teams were relegated. But you also need to be able to defend. Note the atrocious goal differences of the bottom 3 teams which were minus 47, minus 46 and minus 60.
The last player to get into double figures for Burnley in the PL was probably Chris Wood? Quality strikers command a premium fee in the PL and probably are beyond our reach financially.
If we do not end up losing the spine of the team we will probably have to rely on defensive resilience once more under the guidance of Scott Parker.

[dougcollins]

Foster and Flemming both have useful attributes, but neither is the answer when it comes to PL goals.

[Spike]

Palace may not be in Europe

[equinox]

Foster and Flemming both have useful attributes, but neither is the answer when it comes to PL goals.

If Danny Ings is available on a play/pay deal I'd take him.

[kenyon6923]

If Danny Ings is available on a play/pay deal I'd take him.

Latest rumours he's going to Wrexham !!!!,

[Quicknick]

We will stay up easily.

[CyrilEbokiPoh]

There is no reason Flemming cant get 10. We then need the wingers and other players to contribute. And we also need to improve our attacking threat at set plays!

[claretinkorea]

Foster and Flemming both have useful attributes, but neither is the answer when it comes to PL goals.

Fully agree regarding Foster based on recent experience, but this does seem harsh on Flemming given that he spent most of last season playing out of his preferred position, still scored enough goals and also has never had the chance to demonstrate whether he is up to the Premier League or not.

Perhaps he does struggle but this seems a bit of an unfair sweeping statement at this stage in proceedings.

[ChorltonCharlie]

You can’t underestimate the importance of fixtures as well. You still have to take advantage, but winnable games early on makes a huge difference. You don’t want to be playing catch up. The same goes for your rivals, you want them to have a nightmare start. As mentioned above, that happened to Wolves last year, but they turned it around with the managerial change and were helped by none of the promoted teams taking advantage early in the season. Leicester may well have done had they not made the mistake of sacking Cooper.

For all the talk of the gap widening, the 4th bottom team for the last 10 years has gained a consistent amount of points. Only once as low as 35, and once as high as 40. I’ve taken Forests total for 23/24 as what they gained, the points deduction just distorts thing. You can only afford to lose half your games, and of the other half you need to be winning half of them. Realistically one or two of the teams mentioned in the OP will only get to the mid thirties (or less).

What we need to do to continue to be hard to beat. As above, good strikers don’t go on trees, so the one thing we need to see huge improvement on next season is goals from set pieces. If you do go behind, you need to stay in games. We didn’t do that enough under VK.

[fatboy47]

We will stay up easily.

Wrong thread...pre-season bedwetting fest here.

[Jel]

I thought this might have been about trees!

[kentonclaret]

I thought this might have been about trees!

It could well turn out that way.

An earlier post informed us that “Good strikers don’t grow on trees”.

Every day’s a School Day.

[ollieclarets8]

An earlier post informed us that “Good strikers don’t grow on trees”.

Then why do banks have branches?

[kentonclaret]

Then why do banks have branches?

If you listened to the banks customers don’t use them anymore?
Getting pruned rapidly.

[CyrilEbokiPoh]

You can’t underestimate the importance of fixtures as well. You still have to take advantage, but winnable games early on makes a huge difference. You don’t want to be playing catch up. The same goes for your rivals, you want them to have a nightmare start. As mentioned above, that happened to Wolves last year, but they turned it around with the managerial change and were helped by none of the promoted teams taking advantage early in the season. Leicester may well have done had they not made the mistake of sacking Cooper.

For all the talk of the gap widening, the 4th bottom team for the last 10 years has gained a consistent amount of points. Only once as low as 35, and once as high as 40. I’ve taken Forests total for 23/24 as what they gained, the points deduction just distorts thing. You can only afford to lose half your games, and of the other half you need to be winning half of them. Realistically one or two of the teams mentioned in the OP will only get to the mid thirties (or less).

What we need to do to continue to be hard to beat. As above, good strikers don’t go on trees, so the one thing we need to see huge improvement on next season is goals from set pieces. If you do go behind, you need to stay in games. We didn’t do that enough under VK.

Agreed. Still feel Luton being cancelled was a big factor. It was a winnable game cancelled. Coupled with an otherwise very hard start.