*Official 2012/2013 expectations*

[Gazza Dazzla]

They should have walked the title last year, only managed it on Gd - he got a new contract!

Mancini's the only thing stopping that club from dominating england and doing serious damage to europe, the longer he stays their the better. I'm loving the fact he's a cult hero there, makes it tougher for them to sack him when they eventually do. He was 2 injury time minutes away from one of the most embarrasing fudge ups in prem history, the fact it got to the last game of the season is bad enough, let alone that they were lucky to even be in touch by that stage because of a Utd collapse, seems to go unmentioned.

 

[Roy1983]

Absolutely.

Oh, and why is this thread "official"?

Cos it's my thread buster

 

[VolSpur]

Somewhere 1st-3rd.

Finishing above Arsenal.

AVB Manager of the Month x2.

GDS to score 10+ goals.

 

[thfcsteff]

This post should be stickied!

I think we'll finish 5th and I'd be happy with that. My expectations are that we'll be an outside bet for top four, but as long as we're in touch distance and in the top six most of the season then I'll be happy.

FA Cup win would be nice too, but the Cups are so low value now that it's not that big a deal. Europa League and League Cup I'd be happy if he just played kids so that he didn't have to squad rotate the first team for the league fixtures.

That first glint of silverware and glory will help them realize what it takes to be a winner. I don't think the point will be lost on AVB. We should have a squad that can win a trophy and finish top 4. Indeed, I think we have providing the details are in place...

 

[africanspurs]

I never said we'd struggle. This is from a post at an earlier date for example :

As for my personal expectations? I said all last season we were punching above our weight and we had a great season. I certainly don't expect AVB to match it, especially in his first season in charge. I'd hope that we were still better than Saudi Sportswashing Machine and that Liverpool will need more than one season to catch us up though, so my personal expectations are we should finish 5th regardless of this Summers transfer dealings. But if we finish lower than 5th, then as long as there are clear justifiable reasons for it (key players being injured, not many points between a few teams etc) then I won't be calling for AVB's head if we finish lower than 6th. My biggest hope is that AVB tries to do what Harry did and play attractive attacking football. If AVB does that, he'll get my blessing all year as long as we aren't in any sort of relegation danger.

i'm not going out like this. you wont make me look ,ad LOL... You said top 10 somewhere some time ago.

Somebody HELP MEEEE!!!!!

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

i'm not going out like this. you wont make me look ,ad LOL... You said top 10 somewhere some time ago.

Somebody HELP MEEEE!!!!!

I recall the post you are fixated on, but can't find it. And I said I wouldn't be shocked if we finished outside the top six, and even as low as ten IIRC. I still hold that opinion too. My personal expectation is 5th, but I am not the sort of person who calls for a Manager's head after one underachieving season unless it's a complete disaster.

My concern already this Summer is the sheer amount of transfer targets we seem to be looking at. It's becoming revolution, not evolution. And it's all very well buying these highly rated unknown Premiership quantities but it could be Gross all over again with the likes of Berti (Italian international) and Saib. Sigurdsson obviously has Premiership experience but it's too early to say whether he will be a top player or a player of the ability of someone like Kranjcar (who was a good player, but just not quite good enough).

I guess the bottom line is, even with Verts, we haven't made a signing yet that I think really stands out as definitely going to be an upgrade on what we had last season. So I don't really understand how people can expect us to exceed last season.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Mancini's the only thing stopping that club from dominating england and doing serious damage to europe, the longer he stays their the better. I'm loving the fact he's a cult hero there, makes it tougher for them to sack him when they eventually do. He was 2 injury time minutes away from one of the most embarrasing fudge ups in prem history, the fact it got to the last game of the season is bad enough, let alone that they were lucky to even be in touch by that stage because of a Utd collapse, seems to go unmentioned.

I agree. Look at how Cesare Prandelli managed to get the best out of Balotelli. He looked like he genuinely cared whenever they won/lost. One quote that really impressed me was along the lines of "as soon as Mario realises people are not trying to hurt him, but they are trying to help him, then in Italy we will have a true champion." Can't imagine Mancini coming out with a line like that!

Mancini has done a poor job at managing Balotelli.

The team spirit as their club is clearly still poor.

The fact is, they won the league in the last minute of the season, on goal difference despite having the best squad in the league by a distance!

 

[Jurgen the German]

That first glint of silverware and glory will help them realize what it takes to be a winner. I don't think the point will be lost on AVB. We should have a squad that can win a trophy and finish top 4. Indeed, I think we have providing the details are in place...

Brian Clough said a similar thing about the league cup win when he was at Forest gave the players and himself a taste for success, so they wanted more and more.

 

[Libero]

Hard for me to say before we get nearer the deadline in terms of ins and outs but if we confirm Ade and everything else stays roughly the same then my expectations for this season would be: Challenging the top 4 if not finishing 4th. A serious chance of winning one of the 3 cups we are in and by that I mean reaching a final of one of them and hopefully managing to go close in one of the others as well.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

That first glint of silverware and glory will help them realize what it takes to be a winner. I don't think the point will be lost on AVB. We should have a squad that can win a trophy and finish top 4. Indeed, I think we have providing the details are in place...

Nice theory, but in practice does it really work that way? We didn't really push on from our League Cup wins (both under Graham and Ramos, in fact under Ramos I felt we went the other way), and Pompey got relegated not long after their FA Cup win.

Seems to me that if you win a cup and DON'T make top four all that really happens is your team gets picked apart. The better players may get a taste for winning, but all that happens is that they want to move on to another club.

I just don't think the Cups mean much anymore. It saddens me greatly though. Last year I was very critical of Redknapp's treatment of the Europa League for example, but in hindsight the right call was made. I hope AVB doesn't field strong teams for the mid-week cup comps.

 

[Jurgen the German]

Nice theory, but in practice does it really work that way? We didn't really push on from our League Cup wins (both under Graham and Ramos, in fact under Ramos I felt we went the other way), and Pompey got relegated not long after their FA Cup win.

Seems to me that if you win a cup and DON'T make top four all that really happens is your team gets picked apart. The better players may get a taste for winning, but all that happens is that they want to move on to another club.

I just don't think the Cups mean much anymore. It saddens me greatly though. Last year I was very critical of Redknapp's treatment of the Europa League for example, but in hindsight the right call was made. I hope AVB doesn't field strong teams for the mid-week cup comps.

The timing of the Carling Cup can be a problem. If you win it, then players can look back at the end of the season and say oh well we still won a cup despite a poor league campaign. The same can't be said about the FA cup/ Europa as they are at the end of the season. I still believe that most players who play over here would like to win the FA cup and view it as a presitigious competiton, even if some of the shine has been removed in recent years.

 

[Roy1983]

Would finishing 5th but above scum satisfy anyone?

 

[Jordinho]

Would finishing 5th but above scum satisfy anyone?

Scum fans seem to think that's all we care about, finishing above them.

 

[Roy1983]

Scum fans seem to think that's all we care about, finishing above them.

I know but it is getting silly now especially after last season! I would love to finish above them this coming season.

 

[F10]

Pushing for 3rd and 4th (think it will be close again)
A proper run in the FA cup, would love to win it
Same in the EL

 

[camspur]

We should be striving to be Premier League, Europa League, FA Cup and Carling Cup winners.

Realistically top 4 and a Cup trophy would be just fine.

 

[a spur from swansea]

Going by our wage bill,which must be top 4 in the premiership now,we should and will finish in that top 4....full stop.

With the cups i hope AVB can break our semi final jinx in the fa cup but reaching the europa cup final will be just great.........winning a 2nd leg semi final at the Lane under lights will be a joyous thing to experience and then smash it in the final.

I can see AVB giving it the vic's then to the chelski scum when we triumph in Holland.

 

[jimmyb]

Going by our wage bill,which must be top 4 in the premiership now,we should and will finish in that top 4....full stop.

With the cups i hope AVB can break our semi final jinx in the fa cup but reaching the europa cup final will be just great.........winning a 2nd leg semi final at the Lane under lights will be a joyous thing to experience and then smash it in the final.

I can see AVB giving it the vic's then to the chelski scum when we triumph in Holland.

No way that our wage bill is among the top four. Chelsea, City and United all have far bigger wage bills (as in more than twice as big). And Arsenal and Liverpool also have considerably bigger wage bills than Spurs.

 

[F10]

No way that our wage bill is among the top four. Chelsea, City and United all have far bigger wage bills (as in more than twice as big). And Arsenal and Liverpool also have considerably bigger wage bills than Spurs.

Even Aston Villa have had bigger wage bills the last years

 

[Klinsmania]

My expectations are to perform strongly again and push for top four. Realistically Man Utd/City are way ahead of us, Chelski with their new signings should also be much stronger than us, so I think the best we can hope for is to battle it out for fourth with the scum, and Liverpool, if they can get their act together. I don't see Saudi Sportswashing Machine doing as well as they did last year, but they shouldn't be ruled out either. I also expect us to field strong teams in all competitions, and reach the latter stages of the Europa league.

I would be happy with top five and a cup, any cup.