Pre-Season:A Promising Future
It is essential that when numerous changes are made to a squad, that they are given time to gel with their new team mates and settle into their new surroundings. The club has gone through a partial revamp with a number of youngsters going out on loan while a few additions have been brought into the club to add depth and quality to a squad that is brimming with confidence after our success last season. However, the “gelling” of the new team mates can go one of two ways. It could go without a hitch with the players settling into the team’s way of playing and contribute to the performances from the start. On the other hand, they could fail to adapt their preferred style of play to match that of the club they are playing for. Despite this possibility, you can’t help but look at the results from pre-season and believe that they all settled in very quickly.
What needs to be considered is the calibre of the team that we came up against. A number of the clubs have taken part in European football but have only achieved this by taking part in “lesser” leagues compared to the English Premier League. However, they are not seen as major clubs in European football which could be said the same as us. For us to win as many games as we did in pre-season shows that the club has a lot of promise for the coming season and may be able to avoid relegation like we are predicted to experience for the majority of the season. However, when you look at our first few games, you can’t help but already say we are destined to suffer relegation and head back down to the Championship. Between August and October, we will come up against Everton, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Arsenal. They are going to be extremely difficult challenges and they are not ones I can see us coming away from with anything about from loss after loss. I will set the team out with a positive attitude and instructions to stick to our normal style of play that served us so well last season. This in conjunction with the new signings and after September has passed, it could be a positive season that will provide our fans with a few memorable moments to savour for years to come.
Player of Pre-Season
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