Season preview

[thehopethatkillsyou]

Hi

 

I’m launching a new blog focussed on The Championship for this season.

 

For my season preview, I’m keen to profile a kind of ‘insider’s view’ on the prospects of each 24 clubs for the next season. So, with that being said, I’d really appreciate a bit of an overview of how you think your season is likely to go? How’s it shaping up/where do you need to strengthen/who do you need to keep hold of/where do you think you’ll finish, etc. Any and all feedback would be much appreciated.

 

I’ll let you know once the blog is live, and hopefully you’ll have a spare few minutes to have a read and let me know your thoughts.

 

Thanks in advance, any help you can give me will be massively appreciated.

[djorkaeff]

Last season was a huge disappointment, following two seasons where we made the playoffs. 

 

Part of of this was down to horrific injuries and perhaps part due to the burn out of the previous regime. 

 

We we now have, what appears to be a more robust manager who has spent the pre season trimming  an ageing squad with the intent of injecting youth and pace. With an over reaching limitation of FFP. 

 

We’re yet to see our academy produce and we’ve yet to see any new players. For those reasons we could do anything this season. We do have good players who didn’t play much last year - along with some players who raised their game. Giving hope. 

That said the good players could leave, injuries return form players return to their previous level. We would struggle then. 

 

Par position 11th - we could make the playoffs just as likely as another scrap at the bottom. 

[pazowl55]

In your prediction table. put us top and the blades bottom. then just randomly scatter the rest.

 

In all serious though. We are going to be massively underestimated this season.

Edited July 21, 2018 by pazowl55

[steveger]

Here's mine....

• August            C'mon The Wednesday
• December       Meh
• May                 Disappointment

[legendaryswan]

I can see us being right up there this season,fitness is the key,hopefully weve the right guy in charge this time,hes impressed me in his short stint,especially under the circumstances he found himself in.

Could be a season we fill our boots this.......

[Reallondonowl]

So you are writing a blog and by posting on all 24 Championship club's forums asking for a view, you will simply aggregate the responses you get and pass it off as your own work. Mmmmm........

 

Fill yer boots......

 

Hackney or Leyton ?

[notts0wl]

This season is our wild card. F**k knows

[Holmowl]

On paper a top six squad.

 

In Westwood one of the best keepers outside the Prem.

 

In Tom Lees, a CB capable of stepping up to the next level with a Burnley, Watford, Huddersfield etc without a doubt.

 

Barry Bannan has been one of the division’s top CMs for 3 seasons. The heartbeat of any team. Neutrals and pundits pick him as MoM game in game out. Some fans criticise his lack of goals, but if he added 6/7 goals a season to his otherwise brilliance he wouldn’t be playing for Wednesday!

 

Adam Reach as LWB, LW or LB is an unbelievable ever-present workhorse. Doesn’t have the pace of a Bale or the tricks of a Waddle but is pacy enough and can run and run and run and run. As with Bannan, if he could turn his 3 goals per season into 7 goals per season he wouldn’t be here.

 

Forestieri’s role is key. Carvalhal saw him more as an out and out striker, but he was too often bullied out of games. In around 25% of games he played wide and he and the team scored for fun. Our new manager has employed him in a wider role so far and if he continues to do so we may have this season’s Knockaert or Ince.

 

Our 6 foot 5 strikers, Joao and Nuhiu went from non-starters to unplayable late season. The beast Nuhiu scored 9 goals in 8 games, and the lightning Joao scored 7 in 14 starts. Added to Forestieri scoring 4 in 5 late-season starts after a long injury layoff we are hugely potent in attack. Gary Hooper and Steven Fletcher are returning from injury giving us unparalleled options at this level.

[mozzy85]

5 minutes ago, Holmowl said:

On paper a top six squad.

 

In Westwood one of the best keepers outside the Prem.

 

In Tom Lees, a CB capable of stepping up to the next level with a Burnley, Watford, Huddersfield etc without a doubt.

 

Barry Bannan has been one of the division’s top CMs for 3 seasons. The heartbeat of any team. Neutrals and pundits pick him as MoM game in game out. Some fans criticise his lack of goals, but if he added 6/7 goals a season to his otherwise brilliance he wouldn’t be playing for Wednesday!

 

Adam Reach as LWB, LW or LB is an unbelievable ever-present workhorse. Doesn’t have the pace of a Bale or the tricks of a Waddle but is pacy enough and can run and run and run and run. As with Bannan, if he could turn his 3 goals per season into 7 goals per season he wouldn’t be here.

 

Forestieri’s role is key. Carvalhal saw him more as an out and out striker, but he was too often bullied out of games. In around 25% of games he played wide and he and the team scored for fun. Our new manager has employed him in a wider role so far and if he continues to do so we may have this season’s Knockaert or Ince.

 

Our 6 foot 5 strikers, Joao and Nuhiu went from non-starters to unplayable late season. The beast Nuhiu scored 9 goals in 8 games, and the lightning Joao scored 7 in 14 starts. Added to Forestieri scoring 4 in 5 late-season starts after a long injury layoff we are hugely potent in attack. Gary Hooper and Steven Fletcher are returning from injury giving us unparalleled options at this level.

You B*ast*rd! I was accepting a steady season and now you've given me renewed hope and optimism! I hope your feckin happy with ya sen. 

[Southie_Owl]

1 hour ago, notts0wl said:

This season is our wild card. 

 

This is how I’m looking at this season too, I know a lot are hoping for promotion football based on the ticket prices but for me it’s more about getting our best players fit and performing and developing the young players, whilst hopefully entertaining us.  Then next summer we can have a big clear out and start again.  I don’t think there should be any promotion expectations so the players should feel free to go out and express themselves and see what happens 

Edited July 22, 2018 by Southie_Owl

[S36 OWL]

9 hours ago, steveger said:

Here's mine....

• August            C'mon The Wednesday
• December End of August     Meh
• May                 Disappointment

 

correct it Steve 

[Roy Of The Roasters]

I think "Cautious Optimism" is the way to go.

 

After a mostly dreadful 2017 / 18 which cost Carlos Carvalal his job, we gained a new manager in Jos Luhakay under who we initially struggled but finished the season strongly as key players such as Fernando Forestieri returned from injury.

 

The optimism is driven by the fine finish to last season (culminating in a clinical 5-1 demolition of Norwich City), the renewed availability of several of the players who helped take us to two successive playoffs, improved fitness levels and the way that Luhakay appears to have got the best out of enigmatic but previously unproductive players such as Atdhe Nuhiu.

 

The caution comes from Luhakay still being relatively new to British football, the lack of signings, the likelihood that we are probably going to have to rely, to some extent, on unproven academy players stepping up to the first team, and - not to put too fine a point on it - bitter experience.......

 

 Personally speaking I would be satisfied to simply put the horrors of last season behind us and see evidence that we are making sustainable progress. It's clear that mistakes have been made both on and off the pitch and I think it's going to take a few years to recover from these so I'm not expecting a genuine promotion push in 2018 / 19, but I think a top half finish is realistic. 

[pride_of_the_road]

We will draw at Wigan and dem blades will blow Swansea away.

 

 

[Inspector Lestrade]

More or less will be promoted by the end of January.  

 

 

[davetherivelinowl]

For the last 3 seasons we gambled on getting promotion. We nearly made it but, having failed, we're now struggling to keep within FFP limits. We don't know exactly how deep a mess we're in but so far it looks like it's stopping us from refreshing the squad with much needed youth and pace. However, there's a chance that the squad we have at the start of this season will be stronger than the one that finished the last one so successfully (only Wolves and Fulham had a better end of season). That's because we still have so many first teamers coming back from injury. Hutchinson, Westwood, Fletcher, Van Akens and Matias will all be like new signings at the start of the season. Much might depend on when (or even whether) other key players like Lee and Hooper also make a full recovery and whether Winnall and Abdi ever return from the wilderness.

Having lost Hunt, Rhodes, Wallace, Venancio and Loovens we are effectively weaker than the squad that started indifferently last season BUT we now have a manager who seems much more concerned about getting us fit enough, has managed to get the best out of former fringe players like Nuhiu and Joao, and seems to have engendered a better team spirit. 

We could still be a threat next season but it depends on a lot of 'ifs'. IF our current playing squad doesn't break down with injuries again; IF the others return soon enough from the physio room; IF we don't have to lose players like Lees, Bannan and Forestieri to comply with FFP then we should at least finish in the top half and might be a surprise package despite our lack of new signings. But that's a lot of IFs.

Personally I'd be happy to stay comfortably in the top half of the table. But this is Wednesday and it could all go terribly wrong.  

[parkfieldowl14]

The Fitness of  Key Players Is certainly going to determine on how our season is going shape up especially in the First 10 to 15 games and if they start on the front foot pretty well,then a pretty good season could be on the cards.

 

Prediction : If we avoid injury to key players then 7th to 9th place is certainly achieveable. 9th.

 

However if we have a repeat of last season where the players fitness levels at the start of the season were way short of the other sides in the division,then a long hard season beckons.

 

 

[Quist]

if no teams really shine we will be in the mix as I suspect we will be consistent rather than spectacular. We will grind out results and be a top half team. If some of the teams do not gel and perform as expected we could be in mix.

We have not brought in any fresh faces at this time and if we succeed in moving those out we want to leave and bring in those Jos wants we could be really cometative.

Due to last season poor showing we are not amongst favorites and this will work to our advantage as less pressure. In betting we are mid table but are better than this probably a good bet for those who do points on spreadbetting or in handicap spreadbetting..

[fpowl]

This season sees us hopefully back to our best 

 

last season our squad was poorly trained in fitness terms and the start of the season was very uninspiring with key players at an unprecidented level getting injured for large parts of the season left us in languishing at the wrong end of the table 

 

Jos came in as new manager in probably one of the worst eniviroments to inherit an out of form team shot of confidence and a rising injury list into double figures 

 

That said a few of the injured players became available towards the end of the season we saw fringe players and youth step up and we finished the season on a high as one of the form teams

 

This preseason sees our squad nearly back to full fitness and our manager seems to have trained them well

 

there still needs to be some training of a bloated squad but if we can keep hold of key players like Tom Lees, Adam Reach, Sam Hutchinson, Barry Bannan, Fernando Forestieri to name a few we have an excellent chance of being right up there 

 

we could do with adding more quality out wide especially if we line up with wingbacks as suggested but I fear we need to let more out before we bring anyone in as we are riding close to FFP

 

we seem fitter and stronger and I get the impression we will be more disciplined this year and If we stay relatively injury free I see us finishing in the playoffs once again 

[airborne_rat_of_s6]

Think the optimism in terms of being fitter and more together can and will only endure for so long. Crucial we get a settled defence sorted soon. Past history on injuries prove we cannot rely on nor become complacent on the level of cover we need in all areas.  Mid-table at best imo. Hope

I am proven wrong.

[Athelwulf]

But in the last ten games of last season, with some of our better players having returned, Wednesday won 6, drew 2 and lost 2.

 

The problem is defence, as ever, but I don't see why we can't make a push for the top six.

 

Last season we were hit with a double whammy, because not only were we hit with one of the worst injury crises the Championship has ever seen, but we were also suffering from a play-off hangover.

 

It wasn't your typical season.