The 2017/18 season preview/expectation and build up thread

[Hound]

Questions from yesterday...

1. How injured is McCleary
2. Will Quinn ever play again as GR reckoned he was fully recovered yet no sign yesterday, even as a sub
3. Where was Blackett
4. Is McShane injured again or was his non appearance a deliberate ploy as he is suspended next week

JL reckons end of August for McCleary

Quinn and Blackett have featured heavily in preseason, thinking saw somewhere that Blackett picked up a minor knock in Holland. He was at the game watching apparently

No point playing McShane in that one. Expect he'll play in the cup game on Tuesday

That odds table looks pretty much as I'd expect it next year tbh

[CountryRoyal]

I'm expecting a poor start to the season, both because of our squad and also teams will have prepared to play against us more effectively. Think it will take us a little bit to adjust and also get in more players. By the end of august last season we were only 15th, so I certainly won't be throwing my toys out if we're not setting the world alight.

Was listening to a discussion yesterday about Spurs. No signings so far this transfer window. Reckon that they are waiting for the market to cool and prices to drop. As clubs realise that they aren't going to get the amount they are asking for. Perhaps Reading are playing the same game. Biding their time until clubs are become forced sellers if they want a player off their books.

Yep 100%. Was thinking the same thing and I think it's something Hound mentioned on here as well. Perfectly plausible and would echo what Stam said the other week. I'd happily kick off a bit more slowly if it meant biding our time to get the right player(s) in and not over spending. It's a long season and there's all that you need to do to be successful is go on a decent run and string a few results together, that normally serves one well. Like I said earlier won't be too disheartened if we start off poorly, providing we make the necessary additions by August's end.

[LightwaterRoyal]

Heart says Top 6.

Head says just outside the playoffs
Based on current squad.

Popa POTS

[Royal_jimmy]

1. Middlesbrough
2. Fulham
3. Aston Villa
4. Norwich
5. Reading
6. Brentford
7. Hull
8. Derby
9. Bristol City
10. Sheffield Wednesday
11. Cardiff
12. Wolves
13. Sheffield United
14. Nottingham Forest
15. Preston
16. Leeds
17. Birmingham
18. Sunderland
19. Millwall
20. Barnsley
21. QPR
22. Ipswich
23. Burton
24. Bolton

My hunch on a couple surprise packages and a few unexpected strugglers. Birmingham don't look that strong, not convinced by Leeds signings either. Sunderland will struggle with not much quality for this league.

I think Ipswich will go down, they've been in this league for ages and looked really poor last year. I think they could be a surprise package to exit the league. QPR could also go down but think they'll just stay up again.

We will do well but lose a few more at home and finish 5th. A few more good signings and think we will finish top 6.

[Sanguine]

I've gone for 7th-12th. I think we'll throw in a couple of Barcelona-like performances (like the first half against Leeds), and in the likes of Kelly, Evans, Swift, Moore and Blackett we've got some players that would get into most sides in the division.

But let's be clear that for the most part we achieved what we did last season because Kermorgant. Bodvarsson got 3 goals for Wolves last season and it's difficult to see him being a solution up front, not least with Yann injured for now. Stam must have a lot of faith in Mendes to have sent Rakels, Meite and Novakovich out on loan.

Other prediction for the season is that Daniel Loader becomes the first player born in the 2000s to play a first-team game, and first to score a goal for us too.

[Hound]

reasonable preview here : http://thesetpieces.com/features/efl-ch ... ew-201718/

[Snowflake Royal]

reasonable preview here : http://thesetpieces.com/features/efl-ch ... ew-201718/

Their Reading preview could have simply been the 'dunno lol' dog pic ffs.

[Sutekh]

Questions from yesterday...

1. How injured is McCleary
2. Will Quinn ever play again as GR reckoned he was fully recovered yet no sign yesterday, even as a sub
3. Where was Blackett
4. Is McShane injured again or was his non appearance a deliberate ploy as he is suspended next week

JL reckons end of August for McCleary

Quinn and Blackett have featured heavily in preseason, thinking saw somewhere that Blackett picked up a minor knock in Holland. He was at the game watching apparently

No point playing McShane in that one. Expect he'll play in the cup game on Tuesday

That odds table looks pretty much as I'd expect it next year tbh

For Saturday's squad (from GR)...

Bodvarsson is back in training and will be fit.
Van den Berg should be back too, plus Blackett.
Kermorgant out for a couple of months.
McShane has a minor thigh problem - out for about a week

[John Smith]

Getting pretty excited now. I think we'll get off to a good start - QPR are such a terrible side

[CountryRoyal]

Getting pretty excited now. I think we'll get off to a good start - QPR are such a terrible side

Ffs mate. Thanks for jinxing it.

[Jim Royal]

I think we'll finish in the higher echelons of The Championship. As usual it's so hard to call.

Personally I think Villa will do very well this forthcoming season and it's a case of (roughly) another dozen teams who could make an automatic promotion push.

[loyalroyal4life]

Reckon we will finish just outside the POs in 8th

Although i did think similar last season!

[Hound]

I'd almost us rather us start against a decent team than QPR.

Worried if we lose to them heads may go down, and looking at our first few games it's certainly the one that looks the easiest in amongst so tough teams

[KC Royal]

At the start of the week went for bottom half finish. Think we'll miss Al-Habsi and as mentioned we look short for goalscorers. I think either weakness will depend on what formation we play, 4-3-3 we're more open, whereas 3-5-2 we struggle going forward.

Can't say i'm particularly concerned atm, not sure i'm quite ready for the season to start yet, and last summer our best signing imo (Moore) was only signed a couple of weeks after the season started, and I was more positive after he came in so there's still time for my prediction to change. Sort of agree with what another poster said, think i'd rather a mid-table finish than another play-off disappointment. Actually feel it may be harder to hang on to Stam if we lose in the playoffs, finishing mid-table would mean he goes more under the radar.

[Royal_jimmy]

Getting pretty excited now. I think we'll get off to a good start - QPR are such a terrible side

Ffs mate. Thanks for jinxing it.

We aren't the best starters. A draw wouldn't be a bad result

[Nameless]

Getting pretty excited now. I think we'll get off to a good start - QPR are such a terrible side

Ffs mate. Thanks for jinxing it.

We aren't the best starters. A draw wouldn't be a bad result

We're officially the best starters the league has ever seen !

[John Smith]

I am getting sick of the media's Villa love in. They finished 13th last season. The club is a mess. They've thrown money at the problem. John Terry is 36 years old. Chris Samba got relegated with QPR when he last played in England.

Please provide a case to say why they are favourites to go up, let alone as champions

[genome]

I'm sure this will fall on some deaf ears as if we do have a bad start, I'm sure the helmets will be on here to complain. But we shouldn't panic if we do. Remember the start we had to the season in 2011/12, after losing the playoff final the previous season. We had a huge hangover, losing 5 in a row near the start, with only 4 wins until November. Obviously, we ended up winning the league.

[Jim Royal]

I would hasten to add that we lost 28.26% (13) of our games last season and were still one game away from promotion.

By contrast, Newcastle lost 10 games and won the league.

And Huddersfield lost 15 games and gained promotion.

That's a prodigious amount of losses to be 'successful' so to speak.

[NewCorkSeth]

Stam undefeated on opening days in England as both player and manager
Looking forward to the game and the season.