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Post by wearestoke80 on Aug 29, 2020 8:47:25 GMT
I’d say we’re relegation candidates you can forget promotion
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Post by FullerMagic on Aug 29, 2020 8:48:41 GMT
I’d say we’re relegation candidates you can forget promotion Play-off form under MON though - and we're surely stronger than at the end of last season?
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Post by cheekymatt71 on Aug 29, 2020 8:55:24 GMT
Our problem has been defence.
Adam Davies made the back 4 look a lot safer and trusting. Its important he starts in goal.
We have only improved at left-back area but also the Mikel signing should make us more solid.
Still we dont look like a team that can go on a Leeds or West Brom style run and win 10 games on the trot.
For that reason our best bet is to aim for play-offs. We just are not consistent enough even under MON.
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Post by wearestoke80 on Aug 29, 2020 9:03:47 GMT
I’d say we’re relegation candidates you can forget promotion Play-off form under MON though - and we're surely stronger than at the end of last season? Play off form for what 5 or 6 games ? Not good enough and I think we’ve made some piss poor signings. Hope I’m wrong.
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Post by FullerMagic on Aug 29, 2020 9:11:38 GMT
Play-off form under MON though - and we're surely stronger than at the end of last season? Play off form for what 5 or 6 games ? Not good enough and I think we’ve made some piss poor signings. Hope I’m wrong. Play-off form pretty much from when MON took over - we'd have just missed out. Pretty impressive when he walked into an absolute shit show. Only Leeds and Brentford scored more goals too And I think the signings are fine. I bet there aren't many teams in our league that wouldn't take Mikel and Fletcher in the squad. And at least we've got a left-back now! I wasn't a big Chester fan, but he improved and maybe he'll be better for that half season of football.
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Post by wearestoke80 on Aug 29, 2020 9:16:22 GMT
Play off form for what 5 or 6 games ? Not good enough and I think we’ve made some piss poor signings. Hope I’m wrong. Play-off form pretty much from when MON took over - we'd have just missed out. Pretty impressive when he walked into an absolute shit show. Only Leeds and Brentford scored more goals too And I think the signings are fine. I bet there aren't many teams in our league that wouldn't take Mikel and Fletcher in the squad. And at least we've got a left-back now! I wasn't a big Chester fan, but he improved and maybe he'll be better for that half season of football. I do hope you’re right but I refuse to get my hopes up
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Post by foxysgloves on Aug 29, 2020 9:21:15 GMT
If Fletcher brings leadership and quality up top....
If Tyrese hits the ground running and scores for fun....
If the defence continues to improve and becomes more settled.....
If we see someone (Mikkel????) emerge to nail down the CM positions and give us some bite and presence in the middle....
If MON has managed to instill a positive dressing room spirit and get rid of the troublemakers......
Then....
Maybe.....
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Post by lordb on Aug 29, 2020 9:30:15 GMT
Play-off form pretty much from when MON took over - we'd have just missed out. Pretty impressive when he walked into an absolute shit show. Only Leeds and Brentford scored more goals too And I think the signings are fine. I bet there aren't many teams in our league that wouldn't take Mikel and Fletcher in the squad. And at least we've got a left-back now! I wasn't a big Chester fan, but he improved and maybe he'll be better for that half season of football. I do hope you’re right but I refuse to get my hopes up No 'hope' about it the facts are there staring you in the face.
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Post by Trouserdog on Aug 29, 2020 9:33:03 GMT
I've had a cheeky fiver on us at 16s, mainly because I can't see a stand out team.
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Post by Gods on Aug 29, 2020 9:37:23 GMT
Bet 365 Championship Title Winners
Norwich 6 Brentford 7 Watford 8 Bournemouth 11 Nottingham Forest 12 Stoke 12 Cardiff 14 Derby 20 Swansea 20 Middlesbrough 20 Millwall 20 Preston 25 Huddersfield 25 Blackburn 25 Bristol City 25 Barnsley 33 Birmingham 33 QPR 40 Coventry 50 Luton 40 Reading 40 Sheffield Wednesday 66 Rotherham 100 Wycombe 200
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Post by wearestoke80 on Aug 29, 2020 9:43:54 GMT
I do hope you’re right but I refuse to get my hopes up No 'hope' about it the facts are there staring you in the face. He said that that fletcher and Mikel and good signings, that’s not a fact it’s an opinion and I happen to disagree.
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Post by foxysgloves on Aug 29, 2020 9:48:15 GMT
I've had a cheeky fiver on us at 16s, mainly because I can't see a stand out team. Tempting. But we’re Stoke and we tend not to win much. If we go up I’d expect it to be as runners up. I can’t see us winning it and you just know if we make the play offs we’ll contrive to lose out in spectacular fashion.
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Post by Trouserdog on Aug 29, 2020 9:49:45 GMT
I've had a cheeky fiver on us at 16s, mainly because I can't see a stand out team. Tempting. But we’re Stoke and we tend not to win much. If we go up I’d expect it to be as runners up. I can’t see us winning it and you just know if we make the play offs we’ll contrive to lose out in spectacular fashion. That's why I've only risked a fiver! Honestly think it could be any one of about 16 teams.
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Post by foxysgloves on Aug 29, 2020 9:57:11 GMT
Tempting. But we’re Stoke and we tend not to win much. If we go up I’d expect it to be as runners up. I can’t see us winning it and you just know if we make the play offs we’ll contrive to lose out in spectacular fashion. That's why I've only risked a fiver! Honestly think it could be any one of about 16 teams. Ive a feeling someone will come out of nowhere. A Swansea or QPR because like you say there really isn’t a stand out team. I suppose by that logic we have as much chance as anyone. Hopefully the MON factor will be a big plus.
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Post by cheekymatt71 on Aug 29, 2020 10:01:35 GMT
I think the only teams that could dominate the division would be Brentford or Norwich.
Everyone else will be winning and losing unexpectedly.
Top 6 has to be very realistic though based on our players on paper. BUT we need to get a winning mentality back very soon.
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Post by lordb on Aug 29, 2020 10:41:16 GMT
No 'hope' about it the facts are there staring you in the face. He said that that fletcher and Mikel and good signings, that’s not a fact it’s an opinion and I happen to disagree. That bits an opinion yes (don't agree with you but fair enough) Our firm under O'Neill is clearly very good
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Post by RAF on Aug 29, 2020 10:53:29 GMT
I'll be amazed if we get anywhere near the playoffs I really will. That said I never thought we would get promoted under Pulis.
H
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Post by Deleted on Aug 29, 2020 12:46:19 GMT
He said that that fletcher and Mikel and good signings, that’s not a fact it’s an opinion and I happen to disagree. That bits an opinion yes (don't agree with you but fair enough) Our firm under O'Neill is clearly very good What firm? The Naughty Over 40s?
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Post by wagsastokie on Aug 29, 2020 12:51:35 GMT
That bits an opinion yes (don't agree with you but fair enough) Our firm under O'Neill is clearly very good What firm? The Naughty Over 40s? Well if Simpson signs we'll be the naughty over 30s
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Post by biglad180 on Aug 29, 2020 14:56:16 GMT
i think the best we can hope for is mid table i cannot see the signings we have made helping to improve the team that much, we have no pace in the team still and no one who can turn a game
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Post by citynickscfc on Aug 29, 2020 15:12:56 GMT
i think the best we can hope for is mid table i cannot see the signings we have made helping to improve the team that much, we have no pace in the team still and no one who can turn a game Exactly. Zero pace. I have no idea why we aren't fixing this, and instead are signing geriatrics
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Post by FullerMagic on Sept 3, 2020 16:05:49 GMT
In to 4th favs with Betfair/Paddy Power, possibly based on us beating Leeds ( reserves) the other day
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Post by thehartshillbadger on Sept 3, 2020 16:13:01 GMT
I fancy Norwich to romp the league with Swansea as a dark horse and Brentford being up near the top again. I expect and would be happy for Stoke to be around the play off mix.
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Post by robwahlmann on Sept 3, 2020 16:56:26 GMT
I really think we have players good enough to fight for a playoff spot, and there anything can happen!
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Post by duckling on Sept 3, 2020 20:50:50 GMT
I feel that in the Championship just about everyone is a promotion candidate. Who would have thought Huddersfield would be promoted a few years ago? On the flip side, just about everyone is a relegation candidate too.
So yes, we are a promotion candidate...along with everyone else.
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obhstokie
Academy Starlet
Vis Unita Fortior
Posts: 230
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Post by obhstokie on Sept 4, 2020 9:45:07 GMT
I can see us finishing in the 10th-15th bracket, i reckon MON has enough to keep us away from the bottom which he has shown since he came in. But i don't think we have enough to be challenging for promotion yet, think we will still be too pedestrian & over the course of a full season the older legs may hinder us
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Post by Staffsoatcake on Sept 4, 2020 10:56:02 GMT
Can't see us in the top 6,most of our back 4 just ain't good enough, Smith, Baath, Chester need replacing. We may score plenty, but we will concede plenty also. Can see us winning and losing a lot of high scoring games.
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Post by cousindupree on Sept 4, 2020 12:28:42 GMT
At the start of last season I successfully picked the 3 actually promoted teams. You could see they were the stand out teams by some distance along with Brentford...should have had a flutter on them This season and although it's early doors there doesn't really seem to be a stand out team except for Norwich. Norwich cantered this league just over a year ago. At the moment they haven't lost any key players and their manager has been there and done it. It would be a big surprise if they didn't finish in the top 6 if not automatic promotion. The only negative is that they have surprising brought in 10 new players! That could be a selection issue. Other than Norwich you would expect Brentford to be top 6 again. So far they haven't lost any of their star players but you would expect at least one to go. But Ivan Toney 9 (a 1 in 2 striker) looks a very smart bit of recruitment...yet again. The manager seems to be a smart cookie and I expect them to be there or there abouts. Other than Norwich and Brentford, all others look hard to pick, Watford and Bournemouth both have new managers so unknown quantities and out of the rest for me only Swansea impressed last year. As for us I would be very surprised if we didn't finish top half. MON's record over quite a large slice of a season has been consistent suggesting top half at least. Such is the bat shit crazy aspect of this league the play offs at least will involve at least 8 teams vying for the 4 slots. For that reason we have a shout at playoffs.
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Post by Vadiation_Ribe on Sept 4, 2020 12:59:25 GMT
In to 4th favs with Betfair/Paddy Power, possibly based on us beating Leeds ( reserves) the other day Anecdotal, but also a lot of people seem to be betting on Stoke. It'll be interesting to see the Championship previews when they come out. Our odds may shorten further!
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Post by CBUFAWKIPWH on Sept 4, 2020 13:16:42 GMT
In the second half of the season we got 38 points - 76 over a whole season would have put us comfortably in the play offs. For us not to finish in the playoffs we would have to have a dip in form and other than losing Allen I'm struggling to see what has happened to turn us from being in play off form to being mid table also rans let alone relegation fodder.
If you average out the season mid table would look to be a realistic level of improvement and had our points tally been evenly spread over the season I would get the reasoning for predicting a mid table finish. However that isn't what happened - the team in the second half of the season just wasn't the same team as the one playing in the first half of the season. In addition the second half of last season has effectively merged into the first half of this season so there has been less time to lose the momentum we've built up since Xmas.
I'm aware of the danger of being optimistic when it comes to Stoke but this is the first season where our promotion odds look like they are based on an objective view of where we are as a team rather than based on reputation as a recently demoted Premiership side.
I doubt he'd admit it publicly but I firmly believe O'Neill is setting his stall out for promotion next season and I strongly suspect the talk in the dressing room has nothing to do with this being a season for development or consolidation. The transfers to date seem to confirm it - the only reason for bringing in seasoned pros on short term contracts is to achieve a short term goal - promotion. Had we been bringing in a load of youngsters with potential I would think exactly the opposite - we would be building for promotion in 2 or 3 seasons and using next season for consolidation and development.
I think O'Neill would view anything other than at least a play off place as a failure and I genuinely think that is a realistic aim.
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