New season optimism

As it stands, not particularly optimistic. The Yoro signing was exciting but his injury has put a massive downer on it, and Zirkzee doesn't particularly excite me, but I obviously hope to be proven wrong.

But of course there's still time to salvage a good window, if we bring in de Ligt and Ugarte and shift some of the deadwood then I'll start to feel cautiously optimistic, but still have tempered expectations.
 
I’m a bit more optimistic than last season, though not to the extent that we will be challenging for the PL title. I hear lots of people saying we need to get rid of the deadwood, but our squad is really short in depth compared to the likes of City, Arsenal and even Chelsea. We are likely to be playing in excess of 60 games this season so rotation will be crucial. If Rashford finds his mojo, now that it seems he’s got a personal coach on board, and EtH persists with Amad without overplaying him, then Mount and Sancho can still play a big part, assuming Sancho stays. The Yoro injury is a concern for the first few months, but until a few weeks ago we didn’t have a clue he would even be part of the group. A DM and a versatile FB will give us even more strength if we can get them. Onwards and upwards
 
this is usually the period of the summer where everyone is losing their minds about lack of transfers and how underprepared we are going into the season

and to be honest looking at our midfield options I'm surprised we're not there already
 
Yoro and Höjlund out for quite a while, no CDM signed yet, Zirkzee unproven. Are we even going to improve this season? Amad is one reason for optimism, but otherwise it is rather gloomy. Can't see us finishing top 6.
 
M Bison said:
For me we're Luke Shaw and Licha playing 32-35 league games away from being top 4. With them 2 both fit for most of the season i can really see us having a decent season year (ie top 4). Appreciate that's a big ask, especially with Shaw.

Mainoo makes a big difference in CM, i expect Rashford to be better this season, Amad looks strong and Garancho is brilliant, I think Hojlund will kick on again and am expecting a lot more from Mount. Massively cliche of course, but feels like we have the equivalent of 3 or 4 new signings there! There's also more stability in the background, the stuff going on with the ownership and fan unrest is massive, the psychological element for everyone on the pitch will be better im sure.

I'd really like to see us bring in another CM but, dare i say it, im swaying towards optimism and a substantial improvement on last season!
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Written less than a week ago and can’t help but feel some of the optimism disappearing.

Leny and Hojlund injuries, plus no sign of another CM, all are a concern.

That said my points about Shaw and Martinez (acknowledging the previous poster rightly Saying those game no’s are highly unlikely) plus Rashford and Mount still stand, so I’m clinging onto optimism for now!

Hopefully see some movement in transfers over next few days though.
 
If we are relying on a midfield with Casemiro in it and defence of Maguire and Lindelof, with a dodgy Onana behind them, then we are doomed. We are still as leaky at the back and even with Martinez and Yoro, if as already happened oe gets injured, then without a top class CD to step in we are back to square one.
 
Cathy Ferguson said:
Yoro and Höjlund out for quite a while, no CDM signed yet, Zirkzee unproven. Are we even going to improve this season? Amad is one reason for optimism, but otherwise it is rather gloomy. Can't see us finishing top 6.
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Ye it’s not looking good considering 2 of our starters are currently missing the start of the season. Plus we still have some of the rubbish from last season and not really improved yet in one of the most important positions (DM) and we have a few injury prone players.
 
The optimism is dying with all the injuries, I dont know whats wrong with the club as this is beyond bad luck. There's something really wrong either with training, physios, doctors, nutrition or whatever but its simply not normal to have that many injuries specially with most of them happening without contact.
 
This year I've decided to check out completely on following transfer news. Usually around this time of the summer I'm quite optimistic about the new season but this year I just can't muster any. I can't forget just how dogshit we were last season despite the Cup win and the signings so far don't particularly make me think they'll make much difference.

I hope I'm wrong.
 
The early signings of Zirkzee and Yoro gave the illusion we were going to be efficient in getting deals done this summer. At the time it looked like Ugarte and De Ligt were close too.

Since then, De Ligt and Ugarte have stalled. Other than Greenwood we've failed to make any significant sales. And Yoro and Hojlund both get serious injuries.

It's not looking good.
 
stevoc said:
This year I've decided to check out completely on following transfer news. Usually around this time of the summer I'm quite optimistic about the new season but this year I just can't muster any. I can't forget just how dogshit we were last season despite the Cup win and the signings so far don't particularly make me think they'll make much difference.

I hope I'm wrong.
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Same here. Transfer forum ignored, I only know of who actually signed for the club and until we close the DM gap, we are in deep shit.

As I said at the finish of the season, the squad is broken and regardless who is the owner, we are going to struggle to offload players that don't fit in, what will obviously hinder incoming transfers.

I have very low expectations for this season, both because of very unbalanced squad and the manager that I don't expect to be here much longer.

It'll be a bridge season to an actual rebuild next summer.
 
As it stands we’re currently heading into the new season with a weaker first XI then the one that finished last season.

I’m not sure how anyone can be optimistic about the upcoming season unless we make significantly more signings. And it doesn’t look particularly promising on that front.

I think we’re in for another long season.
 
My new season optimism looked different 2 weeks ago. We’d just signed zirkzee and yoro, in talks with ugarte, talks with de ligt.. it looked positive.


Watching us start with Maguire and lindelof last night was slightly disheartening but I also understand the mess made by previous people at the club.


We still have players on massive contracts who no one is going to pay what we want for them. Can’t force them out, if they want to sit on their big juicy contracts that no one else would pay.. they will.


It’s going to take a while to rebuild this squad completely and that’s just the harsh reality. Ineos realising they have their work cut out by now.
 
For all the excitement about new structure and hiring people with football knowledge, I feel we are slowly and sadly reminded how Glazers are still majority owners
 
Too many false dawns over the last 10 years or so have left me a bit jaded. So, not optimistic at all.
Would love to be wrong though.
 
Winning the Yoro race was a positive but overall I don’t see a massive change which would lead to me believing we are going to be significantly better.
 
Borys said:
Same here. Transfer forum ignored, I only know of who actually signed for the club and until we close the DM gap, we are in deep shit.

As I said at the finish of the season, the squad is broken and regardless who is the owner, we are going to struggle to offload players that don't fit in, what will obviously hinder incoming transfers.

I have very low expectations for this season, both because of very unbalanced squad and the manager that I don't expect to be here much longer.

It'll be a bridge season to an actual rebuild next summer.
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Yeah we'd need to do something spectacular in the window over the next few weeks to significantly affect squad strength.

A back up striker, a back up RB and an 18 year old prospect are not going to push this squad to 20+ points over last season. Certainly not if we try to play the same way we did last season again.
 
I was optimistic about 2/3 weeks ago but not anymore. We haven’t made any movements to sign anybody else yet we desperately need a new DM (still) and another CB, probably also an RB. We won’t improve much on last season. The fact that we keep having rebuilds and are still nowhere near challenging is fecking depressing. I wonder if it will ever happen at this point. It will at some point, but probably not for another twenty years I feel. The optimist in me says that we can win a title in the next five years, but the pessimist/realist feels that it’s going to be a lot longer. 11 years of failure and I don’t see how this one’s going to be much better the way things are going. I’d love to be proven wrong though.
 
We haven't improved the squad (we're weaker in fact) and by the looks of our football it's similar to last season. I'll of course reserve judgement and see how we get on over the first 5 real games of the season but the only reason anyone is optimistic at this point is because we've had a break from United.
 
Weaker squad without Varane and imminently AWB. Can't sign anyone else without sales. Injury crisis looks set to continue. No reason to expect this season will be any different to the last.
 
Optimism very low with only two signings by early August, especially as one of those is out until sometime in November to boot
 
Our squad is weaker than it was at the end of last season. So no, not really excited.
 
Not sure what there is to be optimistic about.

Mainoo, Garnacho, Hojlund and Amad should be better as they mature and get more game time, so there is that.

But, we've still got the same useless 'keeper, who lets the most basic shots in and makes more mistakes leading to goals than any other goalkeeper in the league.
Still got the chuckle brothers Maguire and Lindelof at centre back, reserves or not they'll get more than enough game time.
Still got Casemiro stinking the midfield out.
Still got the sulking brothers Sancho and Rashford at the club.
Still get to look forward to Antony pointlessly being pointless.
Injuries still clearly an issue, with half a dozen players already injured and out of Saturdays game.

If things don't change before the window closes next season will be worst than last, we'll struggle to get into the top 10.
 
dazjoe said:
Not sure what there is to be optimistic about.

Mainoo, Garnacho, Hojlund and Amad should be better as they mature and get more game time, so there is that.

But, we've still got the same useless 'keeper, who lets the most basic shots in and makes more mistakes leading to goals than any other goalkeeper in the league.
Still got the chuckle brothers Maguire and Lindelof at centre back, reserves or not they'll get more than enough game time.
Still got Casemiro stinking the midfield out.
Still got the sulking brothers Sancho and Rashford at the club.
Still get to look forward to Antony pointlessly being pointless.
Injuries still clearly an issue, with half a dozen players already injured and out of Saturdays game.

If things don't change before the window closes next season will be worst than last, we'll struggle to get into the top 10.
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Completely agree
 
I was hoping for a more dynamic window but I guess there's still time. Really needed to offload deadwood. Injuries are a bummer. Sort of expect Fulham to beat us on opening day.
 
Hopefully Rashford finds some form, Casemiro plays well for the first few games until we get a replacement in. We still have Maguire, Lindelof and Martinez for defence, even pushing Martinez up into midfield if we get another CB signing completed. Amad seems to be progressing and Mainoo keeps getting better, lots of reasons to be optimistic about the season. We won’t win the league with the team we have but we have a great chance for top 4 this season.
I trust Ineos will sign who we need before the window closes, we do need a CB, RB and CDM/CM
 
I have no optimism whatsoever. I'm very disappointed with our transfers so far and I don't see any improvement in the squad for when the season starts. I also don't see Ten Hag lasting beyond Christmas.

Obviously I would like to be proven wrong but I think this season will be like the last one. Hopefully injuries won't hit us as hard, that might allow us to climb up in the table.

I don't see that we did anything to close the huge gap to the top four teams.
 
I haven't watched any of pre-season and I'm generally okay with our transfer dealings but I genuinely have zero excitement for the coming season. I'm not sure if it's just a continuation of feelings based on last last season, England losing the final of the Euros or an underwhelming transfer window but I'm feeling pretty flat about football returning. Hoping that will change soon, or once the season starts but a part of me is also thinking I can't even be bothered with FPL.
 
What is there to be optimistic about.
  • We still have a manager that isn't good enough
  • Maguire, Lindelof, Evans, Wan Bissaka, Shaw, Eriksen, Casemiro, McTominay, Rashford, Sancho & Antony are still here and we are just going to hope for a different outcome with these players.
  • We have a goalkeeper that looks like an outfield player in goal. Parries everything that is hit straight at him right back to to the opposition, not capable of diving to either corner. But but he can pass a ball... the point of a keeper is to keep the ball out the goal.
  • No intent of signing a left back despite having two out last season and needed to sign one on loan. Same shite will happen this season because they are injury prone and nothing will change that.
  • Linked with bang average centre mids despite having Eriksen that can't last 30 minutes if that, Casemiro that tries to get sent of each game by sliding into everything and McTominay who avoids touching the ball. Centre mid is the most important position on the pitch and should have been our main priority.
  • Trying to sign an injury prone backup right back, make it make fecking sense.
We have done nothing since signing Yoro 3 weeks ago and the transfer window closes in 3 weeks.

Season starts in a week and we have made zero improvement to the starting eleven.

Same old shit, nothing has changed.
 
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I'm not a very optimistic fan at the best of times (glass half-full is my vibe)... so right now? Yeah, not optimistic at all.

I said when they announced ETH was staying that he'll be gone by Christmas... now I'm wondering if he'll win the PL sack race.
 
Annihilate Now! said:
I'm not a very optimistic fan at the best of times (glass half-full is my vibe)... so right now? Yeah, not optimistic at all.

I said when they announced ETH was staying that he'll be gone by Christmas... now I'm wondering if he'll win the PL sack race.
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Ruud to be in place by then probably
 
Disappeared already. Chelsea have lashed out £200m, even spurs have spent £65m on Solanke... and we continue to fart around trying to save
£7 4s 4d. new team, same stupid lack of ability to get deals done
 
I think Garnacho is going to have a breakout season and score 20 across all competitions and Rashford will have a 20 goal season as well.
 
Seems there's more movement and more positive talk with regards to de Ligt, Mazraoui, getting AWB out. I think we'll get those two, and hopefully Ugarte. Hopefully the Kadioglu rumours are true given Shaw is at best a half a season contributor.
 
mitchmouse said:
Disappeared already. Chelsea have lashed out £200m, even spurs have spent £65m on Solanke... and we continue to fart around trying to save
£7 4s 4d. new team, same stupid lack of ability to get deals done
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This is the optimism thread, there are about 50 other threads on the forum for you to go and whinge.
 
Wednesday at Stoke said:
I think Garnacho is going to have a breakout season and score 20 across all competitions and Rashford will have a 20 goal season as well.
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Hopefully you are right as should comfortably finish in the top 4 if that happens. Rashford is so inconsistent so is probably due a 20 goal season. I thought Garnacho had a good season last season, only 10 goals but was nearly always was trying to make things happen for the team.
 
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