do youse think we'd end up in the league (bearing in mind squad strengthenings elsewhere)?

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

Answers

3rd

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

2nd.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

I'd say 8th at very best.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

Signing players can have a negative effect on the squad as well as positive. i.e How do you think Dennis Bergkamp is feeling following speculation that Wiltord is signing?

Squad game or not...

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

1st?

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

with a first choice team of

harper/given barton, dabs, howey, domi solano, dyer, speed/lee, diego shearer/ferguson

i'd say 6th

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

8th with a run of bad luck. 6th with a fair wind. 4th with our overdue slice of good luck!

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

I'll go with Geordie's idea but say 10th, 8th and 6th cos I'm more pessimistic :))

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

could be right there Gav..

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

Deffo competing for a UEFA spot, but probably not Chumps League...unless wor Robbo is better than we think! That'd be nice :-))

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

1st. Not convinced by any of these new hybrid squads. Ours was working beautifully until just before the end. We'll sort that out this season and win the league. We were awesome last time we didn't have a European distraction and will be again.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

11th - sound familiar - and only that high if AS stays fit.
At the risk of taking over the role of family pessimist, I just don't believe the present squad is good enough.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

Going by the way we were performing up to the ManU game, I'd say 6th to 8th. Judging the lads on how they played after that, I'd say another season of relegation flirtation.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

1st if no more purchases, 11th if we change anything. Relegated if we even think about Zahovitch.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

If we play the 13 beardo picked we will win the league.

If we only play with 11, we will finish 8th.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

cheeky buggar!

even if we did play those 13 would we really win the league?

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

if shearer got injured plus ferguson continues the same bottom five

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

I think well play this season, the way we played for a few months up till the ManU game. After that game I think the season took its toll- RGs x's fitness preseason training, the mental trauma of the first few months, losing out in the FA semis and the lack of extra squad players to rest espec Lee+Speed. Ketsbia also played a lot near the end which didnt exactly help ;-)

7th

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

I'm thinking about teams who are capable of finishing higher than us, and reckon I can only only come up with 3. So, fourth!

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

Same Basis as Gibbo - 10th we've bought too many good squad players, if w had ambition we'd be looking to pick up stars.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

To be fair Dave LF, I really don't think it's ambition we're lacking - it's brass. Sad, unpalatable, but true.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

I'll go the same way as we were talking in the pub the other night after the football extravaganza in Regents Park. 6th best, 8th Worst, FA Cup win and Semi-Final/possibly final of the Worthless.

Our biggest strength is getting the match at the Theatre of Wet Dreams out of the way first up.

Getting a result there will (not could, WILL) kick the season off nicely....and remember, we have taken points from there in four of the seven seasons we have played them in the Premiership

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

There will be no runaway train in the EPL this season, The likes of Man U, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arse,Spurs, Toon, and West Ham will all be taking points off each other, the trick is not to drop points to the others if possible,hard fought 3rd.

-- Anonymous, July 05, 2000

Have been thinking about this a bit to.

I think the top 5 teams are just to deep in quality and quantity - though Leeds is the shallowest of the top five.

I'm waiting to see the full extent of the fall out at Aston Villa and Everton.

I don't think West Ham, Coventry and Leicester are deep enough, but each of them can put a quality 11 out on the field when all players are fully fit.

I always instantly discount the Makems!

To me that leaves Tottenham as our main contenders for the 6th spot. If we suffer from a lot of injuries to key players, then 12th.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

Beardo,

Yes we will win with the 13 you chose, the extra striker and midfielder may not swing it but the 2 goalies will

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

Before signing Cort I'd have said 7th - 9th and I'm not changing that for now. Reserve the right, though, to revise slightly just before the season starts depending on further transfers. You'll have to convince me that we're not still looking at anything other than a transition season this coming year.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

LT...

Can you tell me what position Bassedas plays in? Left wing, Central midfield or in the hole behind the strikers. All I know is that he is left footed.

With the squad we have now we can challenge for sixth spot. If we add Helder (on the assumption we're trying to sell Marcelino) and Guardiola we strengthen our squad, so as to be able to survive a rash of injuries and maintain our push for a eufa cup spot.

So why 7th apart from the top 5, who else is better than us, and has better coaching?

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

Tre,

Luck comes into it as well.....and who else has luck worse than ours?!?! possibly Spurs but that's about it!

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

Gav...O.K. where do we need luck? that we don't suffer from a rash of injuries, yeh. Other than that I don't see where we need luck. We have the squad and manager to do well enough.

Oh alright, the Bobby doesn't have a heart attack either.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

Oh my god Tre!!

Quick Dunx...delete that posting of Tre's before the bad luck gremlins spot it!! :((

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

I wonder how much Robson has in his war chest now? I think the board said they'ed back him with 10 million, then add the money from the sale of Pistone.

But have paid 4 million for Bassedas, 1/2 million for The Wolf and now 7 million for Cort.

So does Robson have only 2 and a half million left or will the board back him further. Or is it sell before you buy now.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

I'd think he'd have to sell before he can make any further meaningful purchases. He could buy some squad players with the #2.5 mill but it's not his style.

Serrant, Brady, Robinson, Hamilton, Maric and the rest could probably raise a few bob IF we manage to sell them.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

Can't tell you that Tre I'm afraid. And nor could any of the various media reports coming out at the time he was signed. Best guess from the 'steering wheel' tag would be that he plays in a more advanced creative role. But I haven't even heard if he has a left foot, less still able to play wide on that side.

And I hear what you're saying re. Helder, Guardiola and Marcelino but they all remain big ifs at present. Biggest mistake we make before each season IMHO is looking with rosy-tinted specs at our squad on paper, and getting carried away with Geordie optimism that TIWY. Far as I can see, biggest plus we have going for us this year is that we'll have a more 'settled' squad than most (ie. fewer signings!) And that ain't enough to merit us leaping automatically from 11th to 5th place. I dunno, maybe Gus is right. Mebbe I am just a pessimist in need of a shot of Prozac .....

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

At the end of the season I'm sure we'd all agree that we needed a couple of strikers and midfielder and maybe a defender. All we've got left to get is the defender.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

With the addition of Cort and a full season (and pre-) under YBR, we have every chance of a top 6, and possibly higher. Don't underestimate the morale issue. I don't think on paper KK's team were the best players in the PL, but together, with KK motivating them they were (almost) top class. YBR has similar motivational skills, plus I suggest a bit more football savvy. Top 6. OK?

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

The addition of CC plus Cordone makes a big difference up front. However, for us to become a Top 6 team we need a vastly improved defence, and some additional cover in midfield.
We don't really know what kind of player Bassedas is - a creative left-sided player is what we lacked last season and hopefully he fills that gap. However, he may be a RL/GS kind - in which case he provides invaluable cover for those two key players. If not, we need another solid player in there and IMO, at #4mm, Guardiola would be a terrific buy - a highly experienced international.
I have reservations about our existing CB's, principally as they're all a similar type of player. We just don't have a big dominating Centre Half in the Jap Stam/Matt Elliot mould. Having said that, other than possibly Ugo Ehiogu (almost certainly too expensive), I can't think of anyone we could buy who would solve what to me is a problem area, and we may need to rely on Steve Howey's brittle fitness, at least initially.
I'd be surprised if the comings and goings are finished just yet.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000

Hopefully the goings have only just started with Serrant going to Sheff Utd.

Hamilton to Bradford, although it looks like they've signed Hopkin from Leeds so they may not have the necessary fiver. sI just wish somebody would terminate Perez's contract on some obscure technicality, failing that pay him off as a gesture to the Toon Army.

-- Anonymous, July 06, 2000