What are people thinking of some of the other sides/clubs in the division this year? I think it looks pretty tough compared to when we were last in league 1.

20 hours ago, PVFC FAN said:

What are people thinking of some of the other sides/clubs in the division this year? I think it looks pretty tough compared to when we were last in league 1.

Looks very tough. Not as top heavy with glamour clubs but more depth.

Said before when the likes of Barnsley, Rotherham and Peterborough all finished 12th or lower last season it shows how hard it will be.

I'm more than happy with our chances of holding our own.

Our " striking " options last time were truly abysmal and it took a 17 year old to show them the way.

We have a good balanced squad.

Still think we're a CH light, definitely a keeper, I think we might get a young loanee striker too nearer to the end of the window. 

Not rose tinted spectacles but I genuinely think we'll be okay. 

I think the division looks strong but would also say we are in a much better place going into it than we were last time. My gut feeling right now is somewhere around 15-17th for us.

The likes of Huddersfield are on a different planet with what they’ve been able to spend and expect them to win the league comfortably. I do feel of the promoted teams I think we stack up pretty well against all of them.

I don’t think the L1 is as tough as it was the 1st year following promotion via playoffs.

I can’t see a club running away with it this year. It looks wide open and clubs are going to take points of each other. To me it looks like there are some big clubs in L1 but they don’t have the big players who shouldn’t be playing in L1 like Ipswich and Sheff Wed did or Portsmouth and Derby the following season.These clubs are L1 for a reason. 

I fancy our chances finishing around 10-13, not quite good enough to be a playoff chasing contender. I fully expect our players to adjust to L1 very quickly and think we will surprise a few.

 

 

23 minutes ago, MBE said:

I fancy our chances finishing around 10-13

I'll choose to fancy our chances of finishing around 10-12, given that my season's bet is on us finishing top half ... 🙂

I reckon we will surprise a few of the big teams and beat some of them. 

3 minutes ago, ValiantHan said:

I reckon we will surprise a few of the big teams and beat some of them. 

With how Darren sets up I’d guess we will do well against the bigger sides. We were excellent last season against the better sides 

6 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

With how Darren sets up I’d guess we will do well against the bigger sides. We were excellent last season against the better sides 

Yeah, we will definitely surprise the biggest sides and we only lost 3 times against the better sides last season which were Doncaster at home, Walsall at home and Bradford away but the latter 2 games were when we had that bad spell in December and when Ben Garrity was injured and we didn't have any midfielders available apart from Croasdale. 

Edited July 25, 2025Jul 25 by ValiantHan

I listened to the usually very good NTT20 preview and was a bit disappointed in their Vale analysis.

I’ve got no issue with the predicted finish of 19th (above Burton, Posh, Dons, Exeter, Northampton in descending order), but they provided about 30 seconds of justification and it was pretty inaccurate/vague.

They’re clearly just looked at Smith’s ‘games played’ total and labelled him a ‘bit-part player’, which for me is not a fair representation of a player who played pretty much every game after Christmas.

Didn’t mention Marosi or Humphries, no real analysis of how good we looked after the switch to 352 and especially in the run-in, no mention of Walters’ emergence or the depth in midfield. Just felt like a bit of a rushed job.

Shows that it’s impossible for these lads to properly follow and analyse all 72 clubs, considering NTT20 are probably the best of the bunch and do it full-time.

IMO we need to target finishing above fellow promoted teams..that means we are at least 21st!

Home form will be key cos I can't see us winning 10 away games again

Mansfield,Stevenage,Burton, Northampton,Exeter are all teams I would hope we can finish above too

That leaves us 16th

Factor in I fancy we will beat some of the so called bigger teams and 2 of the 3 relegated teams have new managers,plus Huddersfield.

I'm optimistic 

I've gone wild with my bet with a promotion and relegation double for us going up and replacing the lardies. 

But I don't seriously think that will happen, but if it does I don't want to miss out 🤑

I'm getting more excited and optimistic (probably mental) as the season draws nearer and thinking about how Mooreball with a steady squad that we have will suit this league and surprise a few. 

Top half very possible but I'm hoping more realistically for somewhere near the middle. 

I'm not worried about relegation, but if form is inconsistent then it might feel a bit bumpy right to the final stretch. 

But we will be ok 🤩

Edited July 25, 2025Jul 25 by NW9Valiant

Any reason why Posh are predicted to finish so low? I know they struggled last year but I’ll be surprised if they’re that low. We will be lower mid table I think. I’d have us above all promoted sides, burton, Northampton, Exeter, Stevenage and Mansfield. 

16 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

Any reason why Posh are predicted to finish so low? I know they struggled last year but I’ll be surprised if they’re that low. We will be lower mid table I think. I’d have us above all promoted sides, burton, Northampton, Exeter, Stevenage and Mansfield. 

Argument was:

- bad last year

- lost all their best players (Poku, Kyprianou, two lads to Stockport)

- Ferguson good with good players but not with bad ones,

Just now, JoeB2 said:

Argument was:

- bad last year

- lost all their best players (Poku, Kyprianou, two lads to Stockport)

- Ferguson good with good players but not with bad ones,

Fair enough, didn’t realise they had lost that many key players 

19 minutes ago, valiant_593 said:

Any reason why Posh are predicted to finish so low? I know they struggled last year but I’ll be surprised if they’re that low. We will be lower mid table I think. I’d have us above all promoted sides, burton, Northampton, Exeter, Stevenage and Mansfield. 

Struggled last season, think Ferguson described them as weak and fragile. Lost Mothersille, Poku and Fernandez replacing them with players who have a lot to prove in L1.

Certainly not replaced the goal threat yet - I'm sure they will make a splash before end of August.