brightonrock
Dodgy Hamstrings
- Jan 1, 2008
- 2,482
I think about right - 12th to 16th is about the bracket I'd expect. I have a feeling we'll start slowly (standard pessimism - still feels a bit too good to be true), recover to have a really strong lead-up to Christmas, then stutter around the turn of the year as we did slightly this year. Whilst we have momentum, the high turnover of playing staff is going to cause a bit of a bedding-in period whilst, for example, our strikers gain an understanding, and the wingers know the movement each forward player is likely to make from *this* through ball, or *that* cross. The league is stupidly strong - really does show that the Championship is the most interesting in the FL pyramid.
Reasons for my scepticism:
+ Ankergren is not the most commanding and the higher we go, and the better the opposition, the more we'll be unlocked. Still a brilliant shot-stopper and with the ball at his feet, but coming for crosses is his Achilles heel.
+ Lack of pace at the back - Painter (whilst positionally superb) is not the quickest, likewise Greer, El-Abd, Elphick, Dunk - are not speedy players. The size of our pitch will definitely mean room in behind for quick strikers/wingers which may be to our detriment as well as our advantage.
+ Calderon - a proper old-fashioned wing-back which has come back into vogue higher up the league structure, and has a fantastic engine, but his roaming will definitely mean we will be vulnerable down the right side. I felt this was a slight problem which Bennett shifted infield last year, as the season before as an out-and-out winger he dropped in when Calde went up.
+ Lack of height - Gus has commented on it, and we need to address it - we are a small side and there will be times when we get bullied by bigger, stronger sides a la Stoke/Saints last year.
Reasons for optimism:
+ Front line combination looks incredible - a Dutch U21 as our fourth choice, behind a 70+ goals L1 3-man strike force, is almost good enough to see a top half finish on its own.
+ Wingers of the calibre of Noone and Buckley (and LuaLua?) are again a top-half string to our bow. Pace, trickery, ability to switch flanks - very exciting.
+ Dicker & Bridcutt gained almost psychic understanding by the end of last season, both are great on the ball, hard in the tackle, composed, and can play their part at set pieces.
+ A couple of defenders, a central midfielder and a winger to come would really round the squad off. With the money we now have you can't doubt they'll be coming in.
+ The stadium - opposition may well raise their game, I don't think it will be the fortress the Withdean was last year. But we can make it a cauldron if the bobble hat brigade and the plastic JCLs get as involved as no-doubt the North and WSU will. I can barely imagine the atmosphere if we took the lead against Palace, we'd have to build another one 'cause the roof would come off.
+ Gus & Tanno - they think of EVERYTHING. I like that. I like that opposition managers will say they've done their homework, but they won't have a clue really, how to counter us. Woking and FC United came to the Withdean and let us have it at the back, then pressed when we came into their half. It sort of worked, but we broke them down. Teams like Peterborough pressed high, we picked them off. Saints battered us physically, but save for the missed pen and a couple of late late goals, we could've taken them for 6 points. Gus doesn't just have Plan A, he has right down to Plan Z. That'll be to our advantage.
Reasons for my scepticism:
+ Ankergren is not the most commanding and the higher we go, and the better the opposition, the more we'll be unlocked. Still a brilliant shot-stopper and with the ball at his feet, but coming for crosses is his Achilles heel.
+ Lack of pace at the back - Painter (whilst positionally superb) is not the quickest, likewise Greer, El-Abd, Elphick, Dunk - are not speedy players. The size of our pitch will definitely mean room in behind for quick strikers/wingers which may be to our detriment as well as our advantage.
+ Calderon - a proper old-fashioned wing-back which has come back into vogue higher up the league structure, and has a fantastic engine, but his roaming will definitely mean we will be vulnerable down the right side. I felt this was a slight problem which Bennett shifted infield last year, as the season before as an out-and-out winger he dropped in when Calde went up.
+ Lack of height - Gus has commented on it, and we need to address it - we are a small side and there will be times when we get bullied by bigger, stronger sides a la Stoke/Saints last year.
Reasons for optimism:
+ Front line combination looks incredible - a Dutch U21 as our fourth choice, behind a 70+ goals L1 3-man strike force, is almost good enough to see a top half finish on its own.
+ Wingers of the calibre of Noone and Buckley (and LuaLua?) are again a top-half string to our bow. Pace, trickery, ability to switch flanks - very exciting.
+ Dicker & Bridcutt gained almost psychic understanding by the end of last season, both are great on the ball, hard in the tackle, composed, and can play their part at set pieces.
+ A couple of defenders, a central midfielder and a winger to come would really round the squad off. With the money we now have you can't doubt they'll be coming in.
+ The stadium - opposition may well raise their game, I don't think it will be the fortress the Withdean was last year. But we can make it a cauldron if the bobble hat brigade and the plastic JCLs get as involved as no-doubt the North and WSU will. I can barely imagine the atmosphere if we took the lead against Palace, we'd have to build another one 'cause the roof would come off.
+ Gus & Tanno - they think of EVERYTHING. I like that. I like that opposition managers will say they've done their homework, but they won't have a clue really, how to counter us. Woking and FC United came to the Withdean and let us have it at the back, then pressed when we came into their half. It sort of worked, but we broke them down. Teams like Peterborough pressed high, we picked them off. Saints battered us physically, but save for the missed pen and a couple of late late goals, we could've taken them for 6 points. Gus doesn't just have Plan A, he has right down to Plan Z. That'll be to our advantage.
