Sunday 31 July 2011

The same old scene

So the Npower Championship starts next Saturday and the excellent news is that this season it includes the Saints!

So how do I feel about this season? Will we be this seasons Norwich (who achieved back to back promotions so start this season in the Premier League) or will we be Scunthorpe (who went up then back to League 1)? Or more likely, will this be a season of acclimatisation?

Well we have a squad with depth in it, so much so, that (as I write this) we have only made two pre-season signings, Jack Cork and Steve de Ridder. Cork was on loan from  Chelsea the last time that we were in the Championship and looked good. Last season he played at Burnley and fans were sad to see him go. We've now bought him so let's hope the good signs seen in pre-season games continue. De Ridder is a right winger, looks good and seems to have genuine pace. That seems a great piece of business as, if as expected, Alex Chamberlain does go on a big money move. then we've avoided being asked for silly money when we have to go and buy a replacement.

I don't see any obvious weaknesses in the team, in fact we appear to have a series good problems in that we have 4 quality central midfielders vying for 2 places. We also have 5 strikers in competition for 2 places and again 4 central defenders fighting over 2 more spaces. As long as Adkins can keep everybody happy then we start from a good settled place.

So where do I think that we will finish? If we have a good start then promotion could be achievable, but I expect mid-table to be where we end up.

Let's hope I'm wrong!




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

We've only been away from the Championship for a couple of seasons, so not sure we need to acclimatise, or even consolidate. We have a bigger squad than most and plenty of cover for just about every position. If you look at the two teams that played in the Memorial Cup, both had bags of first team experience. The likes of Davis, Harding, Richardson, Fonte, Jaidi,Connelly and others have all played plenty of times at this level so acclimatisation shouldn't be a problem. Play-offs are a distinct possibility, but I think most of us wouldn't be too disappointed if we finished just outside.

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