The change in expectations before each game

[guitarmark]

I think the whole roller coaster of emotions and expectations will change this coming season in the PL - We can't expect as many good days as per last season - The last 2 years of playing well - Winning many matches with the long term goal of promotion - The expectation before kick off was that we should win, home/away, against anyone - So overall a great experience

Now we have to look at it differently - Hoping when we play the 'elite' clubs, especially away from home, that we don't get humiliated - Hope when we play the lower 6/8 placed clubs we can pick up 4-6 points throughout the season (ie Brighton, Palace etc) - The hope that when we play the upper mid table clubs (Wolves, Everton, Leicester), who are chasing Europa League places, that we can pick-up, 1, 2 or 3 points in the season, from each club

If we can achieve something similar to Wolves, then that will be an acceptable place to be - Would hate to have to have a similar experience to that of Villa and barely survive - But we have to accept reality and that we are no longer the big fish in the pool

In short - I think watching us play Man City, or similar, will be about trying to avoid a humiliation and having to hang on and be dogged - Yet I hope when we play the likes of Soton, we can take them on, play the Bielsa way, as per the last 2 seasons and entertain, as well as aim to take 4-6 points from them

[selbydave]

against arsenal last season we played them off the park for the first half but they had the quality to adapt, most teams dont play like leeds looking to press right from the front they prefer to defend in numbers from their own penalty box
if you look at the games leeds have struggled in over the last 2 seasons its against the packed organised defences that have caused us issues
i think we might grab points against teams like spurs but teams like palace might be harder to crack open

[CorkWhite]

I'm not going to be a pessimist and say we will be in a relegation fight because i genuinely believe we're better than that, but we do have to get in a few players that can make us a mid table team which is what i believe Bielsa will hope for as well. In the next 12 months there will be a lot of activity in the investment area which could propel us to challenge the top six. I believe we are a few players away from that as it stands.

I genuinely think we will have a variety of emotions for every game. It all depends on how we start life back in the Premiership and re-evaluate after 10 games or so. A bad start may have us believing we will lose every game where as we win a few we might start thinking we could challenge the upper regions of the table. I sincerely hope for the latter.

Most of all for this season is setting a target of points and which teams we should beat to reach that target. It's no surprise that everyone is discussing Leeds United FC as we were by far the best side coming up. However the knock on effect of winning can have a negative side too. I do however believe we will be fine this season and then kick on from there in the subsequent seasons to follow.

Mark my words we will be Champions within five years guys. Is that too much Giddy Kipper? or is it just a tired old Leeds fan having a huge amount of optimism. Remember that we have waited sixteen years for this and we were a very wounded club, our spring was recoiled and now its starting it's release. Think Big, Act Big BE BIG.

[Leonickroberts]

I think the whole roller coaster of emotions and expectations will change this coming season in the PL - We can't expect as many good days as per last season - The last 2 years of playing well - Winning many matches with the long term goal of promotion - The expectation before kick off was that we should win, home/away, against anyone - So overall a great experience

Now we have to look at it differently - Hoping when we play the 'elite' clubs, especially away from home, that we don't get humiliated - Hope when we play the lower 6/8 placed clubs we can pick up 4-6 points throughout the season (ie Brighton, Palace etc) - The hope that when we play the upper mid table clubs (Wolves, Everton, Leicester), who are chasing Europa League places, that we can pick-up, 1, 2 or 3 points in the season, from each club

If we can achieve something similar to Wolves, then that will be an acceptable place to be - Would hate to have to have a similar experience to that of Villa and barely survive - But we have to accept reality and that we are no longer the big fish in the pool

In short - I think watching us play Man City, or similar, will be about trying to avoid a humiliation and having to hang on and be dogged - Yet I hope when we play the likes of Soton, we can take them on, play the Bielsa way, as per the last 2 seasons and entertain, as well as aim to take 4-6 points from them

Glad you posted this Mark as it was something I'd been thinking about even before the fixtures came out this morning. Looking at them though, I feel a mix of both excitement that we're not going away to Luton on a Tuesday night, and absolute terror at the really low number of sides in there I'm confident of us beating.

I'm so excited to be playing at this level again, but you're totally right that we need to temper expectations of both the season and individual matches. One amazing performance against Arsenal (which, lest we forget, we still lost) does not make us top-6 contenders. Of course it's possible we could push into the top 10 like Wolves or Sheff Utd, but this season I'd just be happy with 15th and avoiding a relegation scrap before the horrific April fixture list hits.