What do pre-season results really tell us?

[Nymzee]

Why are we comparing our games with the Top 4’s games? They’re obviously not our immediate competition.

 

[dholliday]

You're better off comparing our pre-season results with the likes of West Ham, Leicester, Bournemouth, Newcastle.

Why are we comparing our games with the Top 4’s games? They’re obviously not our immediate competition.

We've been consistently best-of-the-rest for the last 15 years, bar those two 11th-places under Martinez or the odd 8th spot. We've had a billionaire majority-owner now for a while and are spending 40m+ sums on players. If we want to break into the top 6 we compare ourselves with them. Before the billionaire owner we had enough 5th/6th-place finishes to suggest we're right to aim for that.

Alas, our pre-season results only support what you twos are saying: that we're miles behind the top 6, that our rivals are the mid-table sloggers, and that this coming season will be measured in individual highlights rather than anything approaching achievement or at least ambition.

Which after the Allardyce-era I suppose is what's expected. But had our pre-season results been very positive, we'd all feel more inclined to compare ourselves with the top 6. This positivity carries over into the new season.

Take the 13/14 pre-season, we played high-end teams, very ambitious stuff: we lost narrowly to Valencia, scored against Real Madrid (the mighty Özil & Ronaldo slotting to cancel out Jelavic's goal). We beat Juve on pens.

Exciting stuff. This carried over into what we now know was a great season.

Now we're playing boring average teams and lose depressingly to them. This goes back to what you twos are fairly accurately saying: as we're no longer seem to be comparing ourselves to the top 6 we're sliding down the scale to the point that mid-table sloggers are our rivals now.

That's what pre-season results tell us...where we are as a club.

 

[Rugby Toffee]

Tells us not much has changed and another tough season is ahead of us.

 

[evertony]

Davy Klaasen, Yannick Bolasie, Michael Keane cost a combined £75m.

None of them can get near our team, and we still have two of them stinking the gaff out.

That first statement is truly sobering. I’ve just chucked up my Primula on toast.

 

[meagher94]

What you can say is none of those sides have just had a complete restructure of the management of the team.

Do I think our results are meaningless? No.

Do they worry me? Yes.

Am I willing to give Silva and Brands the time they need to transform this side as I realise there is no quick fix? Yes. I just hope the majority of the fan base agrees as the start of this season could be ugly.

 

[dholliday]

What you can say is none of those sides have just had a complete restructure of the management of the team.

Chelsea & Arsenal have.

Am I willing to give Silva and Brands the time they need to transform this side as I realise there is no quick fix? Yes. I just hope the majority of the fan base agrees as the start of this season could be ugly.

That's my concern too. These poor pre-season results will have shortened the patience of the fan-base. Had we good results, there'd be more goodwill for the first 10 games of the season or so as at least then the fans will have seen some potential.

 

[Big Bob]

As I’ve said in another thread, watching last season’s pre-season games we were dreadful including the europa league qualifiers against awful teams. This pre-season has been very similar with poor performances and letting in goals galore.
I just can’t see any difference unless personnel are brought in to change things in the next 2 weeks

 

[Winston8977]

They tell us not to lose the ball 10 yards into the opposition half when your full backs are in line with their penalty area.
Baines and Coleman were too far forward, yesterday, probably because Siggy didn't nothing and Sandro should be anywhere but in an Everton side.

 

[Zezti]

It tells me we'll be flirting with the drop zone again, unless we bring in at least 2 good CBs.

 

[billyblue80]

How crap our defence and midfield is, but we knew this last season. Shocking lack of action so far.

 

[billyblue80]

Worries me how Big Sam teams fall apart after he leaves he's a quick fix with nasty after effects.

 

[PITA]

Pre-season results tell us that it's not worth playing 380 games since the RS have already won the Premier League.

 

[tsubaki]

How crap our defence and midfield is, but we knew this last season. Shocking lack of action so far.

The thing is that this is almost exactly our crap defence and midfield of last season.

How, after three changes of manager, do we still go into games with two of Jags / Keane / Williams at the back and Gana / Schneiderlin in midfield? How does something that fails every time it is tried survive such repeated changes of leadership?

 

[uknightbreed]

I think we all agree that this pre season we haven't learnt anything that we haven't known since December, and in some instances since Martinez was here.
we needed wholesale changes and an exodus of players out and new blood to freshen the squad up.
2 or 3 out and in will not cut it.

 

[dholliday]

The thing is that this is almost exactly our crap defence and midfield of last season.

How, after three changes of manager, do we still go into games with two of Jags / Keane / Williams at the back and Gana / Schneiderlin in midfield? How does something that fails every time it is tried survive such repeated changes of leadership?

That is a weird one. Gana's proven to be very good for us if used properly, but Jags & Williams are past-it and Keane & Schneiderlin haven't shown first-team quality. Browning's back, he showed some quality a while back and been good for Sunderland on loan, needs a run in the team. Holgate is decent. Sig can still improve if Silva's able to instill discipline & workrate into his game.

I believe the players are there to make a decent 11, a vastly-improved performance vs Valencia next week and maybe we can hit the ground running in the league after all.