[St Charles Owl]

THE MATCH - SAT 8th AUGUST 2015 3PM UK TIME

 V      

Well we all anticipated a lot of changes during the summer but I am not sure we anticipated so many!!!!  It all started with the new pitch being laid and the new scoreboard going up, keeping us all a bit entertained with time lapse videos!!  The main change was SG being fired, came as a bit of a shock when it happened but this seemed to be the catalyst to not only more changes but a whole new feeling of optimism around the club!!!  Carlos Carvalhal was brought in a Head Coach, someone in truth none of us had heard of and to this day I am not sure how we found him in the first place!!  Since then the common language around Hillsborough became Portuguese!!!

We let a whole team plus subs either leave or they didn't renew and then we went on a bit of a shopping spree, most permanent signings but some season long loans added in as well.  Aside from Jack Hunt, Lewis McGugan and Ross Wallace most of them were players we did not know but seem to come with some pedigree although not in England.  Not to worry though, there seems little doubt that the team is definitely improved in quality over last seasons version, but they need to now prove it on the field!!


OUR TEAM

I suppose the friendlies have given us some clues but I expect we will have to get through a few games to truly see who is in CCs favorite starting 11.  One thing that seems certain is we will finally be moving away from a rigid 442 like we saw under SG and we will be employing predominantly a 433 formation with the ability to switch to 451 or 442 depending on the situation during a game.  I have absolutely no doubt that while CC may not know the English game as well as our previous managers, he knows tactics and formations better than the last 5 combined, and we have all too often seen a lack of imagination, attacking and flexibility during the past, something I think we will not see going forward.  I expect CC to create a team with intelligent footballers who can adapt to his tactics and be able to adapt to the needs of the game as it goes along.  Essentially I think we may finally have not only a Plan A, but a B, C, D E etc behind it just in case!!  The following is my prediction for the opening line-up:

Westwood

Hunt  Loovens  Lees  Helan

McGugan  Semedo  Lopez

Wallace  Nuhiu  Matias

THE OPPOSITION - BRISTOL CITY

Difficult to know what to expect from last season's Pub League Champions!!  They appear to have kept most of the side together and only added 3 or 4 players to the squad.  I keep seeing them higher than us in the betting for promotion this season but I could also see them being relegated!!   One thing we do know is that they will not bring many fans as they are having a bit of a boycott due to the 39 pound ticket price, but then they usually don't bring thousands anyway so nothing new there!!

Our head to head against them P52, W24, D13, L15, so we definitely have the upper hand against them.


CLASSIC MATCH

Only one game to show here, the promotion winning game back in 1991.  In front of nearly 32,000 we needed a win to be promoted and duly got it with goals from Hirst (2) and Francis saw us run out deserved 3-1 winners and we were back in the top flight!!  If ever we needed a good omen for the new season ahead of us, then this is it - This was the last time we were promoted to the top flight and it came against our opening opponents this season!!! 





WHO'S THE BASTARD IN THE BLACK

Ref - James Adcock
Assts - Gary Hilton and Kevin Mattocks
Fourth Official - Rob Lewis

MS will hopefully give us the skinny on this guy in previous Owls games!!


CURRENT FORM

Will return once a few games have been played.


OTHER RESULTS TO PREDICT

L**ds v Burnley (12.30pm kick off)
Bolton v Derby
Brentford v Ipswich
Hull v The Village
New SWFC B team v Old SWFC B team (Toytown v The Franchise)

That last game could include up to 6 ex-Owls in the line-ups!!!


THE BIG MANS LEAGUE

BML will return with Owlkev being the new defending champion!!  There will be a variety of things each week to win a  including score and scorer each week both home and away and the Other Results Predictions.  I have also included a "guest prediction", for this game its the number of goals that will be scored in the Premiership and Championship combined this weekend.   Lets see how it goes and what we can come up with.  For this week here is what you need to predict:

SCORE AND SCORER (SWFC score first please, no copying)

2-0 Nuhiu - Consilio
2-0 Lopez - Thurnscoe
2-0 Lees or McGugan - Actual Result
2-1 Wallace - Pei
2-1 Nuhiu - Gambling
2-1 McGugan - Towinjustonce
2-2 McGugan - Maddix
3-0 Matias - Washington
3-0 McGugan - Imre
3-1 Matias - St Charles
3-1 Nuhiu - Wereham
3-1 Lopez - A57
3-1 Wallace - Southey
3-1 McGugan - Bottesford
4-1 Nuhiu - Owlshighgreen
4-2 McGugan - Stateside


OTHER RESULTS TO PREDICT (Copying is allowed)
AAAHD - Maddix
AADHH - Southey
AAHHA - Stateside
AAHHH - A57
AHAHH - Gambling
DADHA - Washington, Thurnscoe
DDDHA - Actual Results
HAAHH - Wereham
HADDH - Towinjustonce
HAHHH - St Charles, Bottesford
HDDHH - Consilio
HHHAD - Owlshighgreen
HHHDA - Pei
HHHHH - Imre

TOTAL GOALS SCORED IN THE PREMIERSHIP AND CHAMPIONSHIP THIS WEEKEND (No copying, note prediction needs to be in before the Friday night kickoff game between Brighton and Forest)

42 - Imre
57 - OwlKev
58 - Pei
60 - Towinjustonce
63 - Thurnscoe
66 - Gambling
67 - Stateside
69 - Maddix
71 - Owlshighgreen
72 - Consilio
73 - Bottesford
74 - St Charles
77 - A57
83 - Southey
84 - Wereham
88 - Washington


THE MUPPET LEAGUE

A clean slate for all at the start of a new season!!!  

Until Thurnscoe popped up and plonked his ass in here for one game!!!!





KATE BECKINSALE TRIBUTE PIC

The nice little video version is back, so hopefully she can writhe in ecstasy watching us win this one!!  Suggestions for other writhing "mascots" will be considered!!




This thread awaits the Meggo of Statesides choice