Pre-Season Fixture thread (22/23)

[Alan]

If we have a good season I will be insufferable with my "clubs are too eager to sack managers too early" line.

Which will more or less guarantee that everything goes completely tits up the following year.

 

[The Bear]

Isn't that basically what Nuno did? Started early in preseason and drilled them constantly in a back 3.

 

[Jinky]

I usually avoid the Birmingham Mail website where I can but this was fairly interesting

Bruno Lage makes Wolves training decision, Neves change & Kilman reveal

Alex Dicken takes you inside Wolves training as Bruno Lage finalises his plans for the new Premier League season

www.birminghammail.co.uk

Good article, but couldn't help but notice the muppet in the comment section saying RAN is shite at defending and we "never replaced Marcal".

 

[Kenny]

Good article, but couldn't help but notice the muppet in the comment section saying RAN is shite at defending and we "never replaced Marcal".

Didn't have Dan down as the type to comment on the Brum Mail website

 

[Alan]

Didn't have Dan down as the type to comment on the Brum Mail website

He's got loads of burner accounts dontchaknow

 

[Tony Towner]

I usually avoid the Birmingham Mail website where I can but this was fairly interesting

Bruno Lage makes Wolves training decision, Neves change & Kilman reveal

Alex Dicken takes you inside Wolves training as Bruno Lage finalises his plans for the new Premier League season

www.birminghammail.co.uk

Interesting how different journalists have the same interview, but come to different conclusions. Keen's take on that was don't assume 4 at the back for Leeds, Bruno just doesn't see the need to practice it vs it being the secondary option

 

[Lupollet]

If we have a good season …

We won’t.

We were dire second half of last season and we have a considerably weaker squad now.

We are going into a new season with ZERO fit strikers.

I’ll be amazed if we are playing a back four by the fourth game.

 

[Tony Towner]

I do think people confuse a lack of signings with a weaker squad

 

[Johnny75]

Interesting how different journalists have the same interview, but come to different conclusions. Keen's take on that was don't assume 4 at the back for Leeds, Bruno just doesn't see the need to practice it vs it being the secondary option

Seeing how only the kids have played 5 at the back and the success in attacking with a four, Lage would have to be the biggest fool on the planet to play a five.

 

[Kenny]

We won’t.

We were dire second half of last season and we have a considerably weaker squad now.

We are going into a new season with ZERO fit strikers.

I’ll be amazed if we are playing a back four by the fourth game.

I hope you are like this across all aspects of your life

"We are going to have a great holiday"
No we won't. It will rain, the beer will be shit and the restaurants will only serve foreign muck.

"Going to cook your favourite meal tonight, you looked stressed out"
Hardly call it my favourite and I can guarantee you will burn it and ruin whatever nice memories I have of this meal.

 

[The Bear]

Too many people basing our prospects based on the end of last season.

 

[Deano]

Too many people basing our prospects based on the end of last season.

Well it's the most recent evidence tbf and I'd say that stretch where we were 4th from bottom of the form table is a decent cross section of games from teams of varying quality as it's almost half a seasons worth.

I do think Collins signing on it's own will make a sizeable difference if it means we can transition to a 4 and in turn get an extra attacker on the pitch though and as things stand I think we should be better than all of Bournemouth, Forest, Fulham, Southampton, Everton, Brentford and Leeds - I think we've got better players than all of those 7.

Still work to do though and another 2 first team ready players as a minimum.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Exactly, how can you just wave away 3 wins in 14 games, it's one of our very worst runs at any level since the mid 80s and it wasn't like we were unlucky either.

There's been more encouragement about pre-season than there was last year, but it's pre-season.

 

[Tony Towner]

I still think the same(ish] players with the same manager and the same mindset will end in relegation without an intervention.

I'm hoping that at least the final one is different, there are indications it will be

 

[Johnny75]

Exactly, how can you just wave away 3 wins in 14 games, it's one of our very worst runs at any level since the mid 80s and it wasn't like we were unlucky either.

There's been more encouragement about pre-season than there was last year, but it's pre-season.

I think the style and tone of this preseason is much different to the last.

If Lage does stick with 4 at the back then I can see us doing well and wholly different to last season.

 

[PuntsWolf]

I think the style and tone of this preseason is much different to the last.

If Lage does stick with 4 at the back then I can see us doing well and wholly different to last season.

Too many good attackers to not be able to outperform a third of the league. GK, FBs and CMs top half quality. Yes there’s question marks over CB and CF, plus there’s currently zero depth in most positions. But somethings got to go really wrong with injuries or the managers decisions to be at the wrong end with the quality we have available.

 

[1986]

Ok , here's an attempt at positivity .

We should start the season with effectively 3 new players in our starting 11 and a back 4 .

Gibbs White , Collins and Neto - none of those 3 were present for all or most of last season ( Neto was towards the end , but not the fullt fit and focused version ) .
A back 4 clearly should allow us to be far more effective going forward , while also leaving us a bit more exposed at the back . We'll score more , probably concede more , but hopefully score more than we concede over the long term .
Kilman should be a better player with a full season under his belt , as will RAN .
Jonny has a full pre season into his legs and we should see the benefit of that .
Jiminez is now well beyond his injury , I'd be very disappointed if we get last season's version . I'm very hopeful that he'll return a better player than last season .

The transfer window is far from over and it's clearly slow across all clubs . I'm hopeful here too that we'll get at least a striker in .

Our bench does look weaker - that much is true .

A fit Adama on the bench can upset teams when he comes on . If Ronan stays he'll be biting at the heels of all others to prove his doubters wrong . Gomes and Mosquera can only improve .

There you go .

 

[The Bear]

It's a new season with a fresh start and a new formation. The hangover from last season should hopefully be gone*


* I reserve the right to change my mind if we lose to Leeds and Fulham.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Seasons don't exist in isolation though. We won 3 of our last 14, Newcastle won 12 of their last 18, they ended up finishing not far behind us, we have both signed a highly rated centre half each for the first team...who do you think goes into the season with higher hopes? Who finished above us last season that we can realistically hope to overtake, based on the current state of affairs? You don't just press reset in May and it's as if nothing that happened in the last 9-10 months exists any more.

It's historically a far better indicator to look at the previous actual season's results and performances rather than anything in pre-season.

My biggest hope is that Lage knows (he must do) that this is the biggest job he's ever likely to get. He should also be under a fair bit of pressure from above (strangely he still seems to get a fairly easy ride from a majority of fans, but we'll see how long that lasts). So it's on him to change the emphasis on how we play and of course not have an even vaguely similar kind of run of results, or he's back to a backroom role or taking over some mid-range Portuguese team. If he recognises the need for urgent change (whether that's with the existing players or whatever) then that's our biggest hope. You can't blame people for having serious doubts though. All the evidence was there in abundance for months, right in front of our eyes.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

I presume all those thinking we’re stronger than last year will be filling their boots on a top half finish given SkyBet have us at 5/2? Bloody good odds for a team that finished top half last season you’d think.