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Post by Himmy! on Aug 5, 2011 10:51:34 GMT -5
So the football league officially kicks off again tonight at 7.45 and all 3 leagues are looking harder than ever to get out of.
Sadly, being a Cardiff fan I'll be making most of my posts in here once again haha, but this will be a nice season for us I think, not too much expectation and a new exciting team to watch.
Pissed off that after next week my shifts are being changed to Saturdays I think so I wont get to use my season ticket as much as I would have liked, I could see that happening though. Oh well!
So which team have you got this opening weekend of fixtures?
Cardiff have West Ham away on Sunday live on the BBC. Couldn't be any harder for us really with a team that hasn't played together too often, I think I'd definitely settle for a point.
Overall I still believe we have enough to get up, would be very happy with the play offs but maybe realistically a top ten finish would be good enough.
What are your expectations for the coming season?
Onwards and upwards!
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Post by Hammersmith Hardman on Aug 5, 2011 11:19:29 GMT -5
I was waiting on this Glad to see the season is back for English teams, should be a good couple of days in terms of live football. Never been excited over a Hull City game before lol.
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Post by McBlake on Aug 5, 2011 12:18:46 GMT -5
I was waiting on this Glad to see the season is back for English teams, should be a good couple of days in terms of live football. Never been excited over a Hull City game before lol. Same, really looking forward to the match tonight. Don't think we'll be in for much joy this season. Mid table at best. Howe is relying far to heavily on youth and our squad is still far too thin. We've had a few bids rejected over the past week for Jutkiewicz and George Boyd. Not players I'd describe as promotion pushing players, but I'd obviously give them a shot if signed. Don't think Cardiff will go up this season either tbh. As much as I rate Miller, he along with Earnshaw and this Rudy Gestede is a pretty big drop down from Bellamy, Bothroyd and Chopra. I think Conway is great signing, but Burke was better. The likes of Don Cowie and Joe Mason aren't exactly signings that will help push for promotion either. As for Leicester, anything other than promotion has to be considered a disaster, and if they somehow get Shane Long then Sven pretty much has to win it imo. They've made literally tonnes of great signings and I can't see them being a Championship club next season if they can gel. I know it's a ballsy thing to say, but I think Brighton could be considered under dogs for promotion. New stadium, great manager in Gus Poyet and obviously one of the best signings this summer in Craig Mackail-Smith. They have some quality players in Calderon and Greer as well. Stranger things have happened...
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MattPenrose13
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Post by MattPenrose13 on Aug 5, 2011 14:13:56 GMT -5
Same, really looking forward to the match tonight. Don't think we'll be in for much joy this season. Mid table at best. Howe is relying far to heavily on youth and our squad is still far too thin. We've had a few bids rejected over the past week for Jutkiewicz and George Boyd. Not players I'd describe as promotion pushing players, but I'd obviously give them a shot if signed. Don't think Cardiff will go up this season either tbh. As much as I rate Miller, he along with Earnshaw and this Rudy Gestede is a pretty big drop down from Bellamy, Bothroyd and Chopra. I think Conway is great signing, but Burke was better. The likes of Don Cowie and Joe Mason aren't exactly signings that will help push for promotion either. As for Leicester, anything other than promotion has to be considered a disaster, and if they somehow get Shane Long then Sven pretty much has to win it imo. They've made literally tonnes of great signings and I can't see them being a Championship club next season if they can gel. I know it's a ballsy thing to say, but I think Brighton could be considered under dogs for promotion. New stadium, great manager in Gus Poyet and obviously one of the best signings this summer in Craig Mackail-Smith. They have some quality players in Calderon and Greer as well. Stranger things have happened...I don't think we'll be too far off mate to be honest, I'm gonna say we'll finish 8th or so, but play-offs are a definite possibility, Buckley looks class along with LuaLua, as well as Calde and Greer like you mentioned. Cardiff will in around it too I think top 10 at worst for you lot Himmy, and as for Burnley, still too many good players to be worrying about relegation but I dont think you can hope for anything more that top 12-14 And Tom Cairney has already seen a free kick crash off the outside of the post! Season starts here!!
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Post by Red Dragon on Aug 5, 2011 14:21:38 GMT -5
Top 10 is a little harsh for Cardiff, we need to get in the Play-Offs again and I can see it happening. Although we have brought people in the team seemed much stronger last season. Obviously I see the former PL teams take the top spots. Ham/Cardiff seems like a great way to start off our season, so glad its on BBC.
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Post by Hammersmith Hardman on Aug 5, 2011 15:55:43 GMT -5
Great goal by Taylor-Fletcher, fitting to win any match. Can definitely see Blackpool finishing quite high especially with their team spirit despite not having the best team.
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AV1
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Post by AV1 on Aug 5, 2011 15:57:38 GMT -5
As their me and my mates fifa team i would like to see Forest go up but can't see it. Got a crap load of midfielders and hardly any defenders or strikers.
Think it will be Leicester to finish top and West Ham second. Think the play off will be between Birmingham, Forest, Cardiff, Blackpool (cant rule them out) and Brighton
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wayneyb
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Post by wayneyb on Aug 5, 2011 19:32:22 GMT -5
Can't wait to go down to Valley Parade later this aft to see my beloved Bradford City take on Aldershot.
Big revamp of the squad this past few weeks and despite results, some good performances in preseason. Looking forward to the new season, and the only way is up!! (Cant do any worse than last year!)
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Dee Dubble You
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Post by Dee Dubble You on Aug 6, 2011 6:04:05 GMT -5
Can't wait for 3pm today. We have Scunny at home in our opening match. Should be a good game and hopefully a decent season. Top half finish would be lovely, but ultimately, anything but relegation would be a success.
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Post by Red Dragon on Aug 6, 2011 6:04:19 GMT -5
My prediction for top 6: 1) West Ham 2) Birmingham 3) Leicester 4) Blackpool 5) Forest 6) Cardiff
Shaping up to be one hell of a leauge. Lots of talk about Leicester but despite thier big money I don't expect them to get either of the automatic promotion spots.
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Post by Lemmy on Aug 6, 2011 7:49:44 GMT -5
Cant see Blackpool coming back up, at least not straight away. Getting rid of DJ Campbell, Vaughan and Adam hasn't helped their cause either. They were key players for them last season.
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Post by Hammersmith Hardman on Aug 6, 2011 8:02:34 GMT -5
After doing a great job with Newcastle, I personally can't see Hughton taking Birmingham up. Players like Zigic, Ridgewell & Dann are expected to leave and that will leave Birmingham without much experience of getting out of the league. Plus with the current cash crisis with their owner, it looks like they are only going for scraps/relying on youth, still expect them to be up in the top 6 - 10 though.
My prediction for top 6:
1. West Ham 2. Leicester 3. Nottingham Forest 4. Blackpool 5. Hull City 6. Ipswich
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Post by Hammersmith Hardman on Aug 6, 2011 8:17:50 GMT -5
Great game going on atm between AFC Wimbledon and Bristol Rovers, Rovers went 2-0 and now it's 2-2. Great atmosphere aswell, i'm hating the hype of the return of ''Wimbledon'' though as MK Dons are the real Wimbledon...
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Post by Lemmy on Aug 6, 2011 8:36:17 GMT -5
After doing a great job with Newcastle, I personally can't see Hughton taking Birmingham up. Players like Zigic, Ridgewell & Dann are expected to leave and that will leave Birmingham without much experience of getting out of the league. Plus with the current cash crisis with their owner, it looks like they are only going for scraps/relying on youth, still expect them to be up in the top 6 - 10 though. I can't see them coming back up either, which is a shame considering Hughton is a top bloke who deserves to manage a decent club. I think with the loss of players, Birmingham might stuggle, leaving Hughton jobless half way through the season.
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MattPenrose13
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Post by MattPenrose13 on Aug 6, 2011 12:41:35 GMT -5
We were pretty lucky to get a result today, had Billy Sharp not been down injured for 6 minutes, there wouldn't have been enough time for Buckley to secure his winner. Buckley managed to get both for us today in a 2-1 victory, great signing, great result.
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Post by McBlake on Aug 6, 2011 13:45:41 GMT -5
Decent comeback. Expected us to beat Watford though. Nice to see Treacy score the equaliser on his debut. Austin to get his first goal after coming back from injury too.
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Post by Markw on Aug 7, 2011 5:49:04 GMT -5
Sat in a car listening to Leicester/Cov on Five Live in the middle of Wales :-P Sounded like we would have lost if it wasn't for the second red card, but I guess it's important to get the three points more than anything. How did Ben Mee look for Burnley yesterday?
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Post by Hammersmith Hardman on Aug 7, 2011 9:05:34 GMT -5
It's no wonder West Ham went down and still up to their same tricks again, the amount of goals they conceded by letting players in acres of space are shocking. Cardiff never deserved the win though.
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Post by Himmy! on Aug 7, 2011 9:30:51 GMT -5
Great result for us, as much as I hoped I didn't see us winning that game. I think we definitely earned a point at least, we did well, worked hard and at times yes we were lucky but I think we deserved the points. I think Gestede changed the game, Earnie and Miller both struggled but Gestede really had an impact. Loved Kenny Miller's celebration, he's going to be a hit with the fans. Very happy with that result, also off Kevin Nolan, your a joke!
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Post by McBlake on Aug 7, 2011 11:44:27 GMT -5
How did Ben Mee look for Burnley yesterday? I've ony seen extended highlights, but he put in a few hard challenges from what I've seen although his tackle lead to their 2nd goal. Not really sure he can be blamed for it or not really. Treacy was our best player despite coming on half way through the 2nd half. Got the an assist (the goal could have been given to him tbf) as well as his debut goal. Great result for us, as much as I hoped I didn't see us winning that game. I think we definitely earned a point at least, we did well, worked hard and at times yes we were lucky but I think we deserved the points. I think Gestede changed the game, Earnie and Miller both struggled but Gestede really had an impact. Loved Kenny Miller's celebration, he's going to be a hit with the fans. Very happy with that result, also off Kevin Nolan, your a joke! What did he do?
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