An Honest Season Appraisal

[garnett]

It's time for everyone to say their piece without fear of ridicule or nastiness, we won't all agree but we all have the right to comment.
Unfortunately I won't be starting as I am currently sitting at a pool bar in Santorini, sadly only 30°.

[OZHAMMER]

There’s so much that can (and will) be analysed, so I’ll keep it simple.

Overall, I’m generally pretty happy with the season as a whole.

A string of injuries localised to the CBs was unfortunate. We somehow still managed, by the skin of our teeth.

Despite DM getting a lot of stick for his transfer policy, I don’t think the issue would have been as obvious had Yarmolenko and Vlasic justified their transfer fees and wages. The midfield would have been able to be rotated more, and the workload would have been a little more evenly distributed.

A poor half of football against Brighton changed what would’ve been considered by many as a great season. Qualifying for Europa would’ve silenced (or subdued) a few of Moyes critics re his transfer policy.

But I thoroughly enjoyed the season. Disappointed with a few results, as always, but I’m keen for next season already.

[eskimo joe]

There’s so much that can (and will) be analysed, so I’ll keep it simple.

Overall, I’m generally pretty happy with the season overall.

A string of injuries localised to the CBs was unfortunate. We somehow still managed, by the skin of our teeth.

Despite DM getting a lot of stick for his transfer policy, I don’t think the issue would have been as obvious had Yarmolenko and Vlasic justified their transfer fees and wages. The midfield would have been able to be rotated more, and the workload would have been a little more evenly distributed.

A poor half of football against Brighton changed what would’ve been considered by many as a great season. Qualifying for Europa would’ve silenced (or subdued) a few of Moyes critics re his transfer policy.

But I thoroughly enjoyed the season. Disappointed with a few results, as always, but I’m keen for next season already.

Well can't say I agree with all of that, even had we won the last game it wouldn't diminish the critique of his transfer policy. It's that that has been a blemish on what could have been a far better season.

Having said that I can accept this season as being a good one and at least we didn't finish it with nothing.

Personally now, I think we need to make the most of the qualification because I feel we might be hard pressed to emulate the last two seasons. It is dependent on what happens between now and the end of July.

[Towie]

A decent season, the lack of transfer activity in Jan killed the season for us.
The chance was there to push on, go for Champions League, not taken so this season once again will be remembered for what could of been.

Europe was fantastic, Seville home was best atmosphere I’ve witnessed for a long long time at home.

Some good results notably Liverpool, Cheats at home.

Less points than previous season suggests that we are going backwards, hope lessons have been learnt.

Doubt it though.

[palerider]

It's time for everyone to say their piece without fear of ridicule or nastiness, we won't all agree but we all have the right to comment.
Unfortunately I won't be starting as I am currently sitting at a pool bar in Santorini, sadly only 30°.

Santorini is an active volcano. I'd get the fuck out if I were you.

A season of much hope but ultimately one leaving me a bit flat. Not because of the players who performed manfully, but because of Moyes and the board, as has been mentioned countless times.

January was a dog's breakfast. And the difference between what we did achieve and what we could easily have achieved.

[Whiskyman]

Being brutally honest we've gone backwards. Only slightly but backwards nonetheless. 9 points fewer than 2020/21, 8 goals fewer scored, 6 more conceded. Yes, I know we had extra games to contend with because of our Europa run but that was something we knew was going to happen so it should have been factored in when planning for the season ahead.

Far too many points lost at home against teams who finished lower than we did in the table which all proved very costly in the end. I am, overall, happy with the Moyes era so far because we now have expectations above what used to be the case which is to his and the coaching staff's credit. But next season will be interesting. We will be expected to go a long way in the Conference whilst maintainng a serious challenge for Top 6. Top 4 is still too optimistic at the moment imo.

If it was a school report I think the summing up would be something along the lines of David hasn't really built on the progress he made last year,.However there were moments of promise. We will be looking for a return to the standards of 2020/21 next year.

[BlackDiamond]

It's time for everyone to say their piece without fear of ridicule or nastiness, we won't all agree but we all have the right to comment.
Unfortunately I won't be starting as I am currently sitting at a pool bar in Santorini, sadly only 30°.

Santorini is an active volcano. I'd get the fuck out if I were you.

A season of much hope but ultimately one leaving me a bit flat. Not because of the players who performed manfully, but because of Moyes and the board, as has been mentioned countless times.

January was a dog's breakfast. And the difference between what we did achieve and what we could easily have achieved.

Not playing the kids and confining selections from out of form players (Soucek) has limited progress. Not surprised.

And of course this reduces your outcomes, which it does and it has.

Perhaps lessons can finally be learned

[terrya1965]

Being brutally honest we've gone backwards. Only slightly but backwards nonetheless. 9 points fewer than 2020/21, 8 goals fewer scored, 6 more conceded. Yes, I know we had extra games to contend with because of our Europa run but that was something we knew was going to happen so it should have been factored in when planning for the season ahead.

Far too many points lost at home against teams who finished lower than we did in the table which all proved very costly in the end. I am, overall, happy with the Moyes era so far because we now have expectations above what used to be the case which is to his and the coaching staff's credit. But next season will be interesting. We will be expected to go a long way in the Conference whilst maintainng a serious challenge for Top 6. Top 4 is still too optimistic at the moment imo.

If it was a school report I think the summing up would be something along the lines of David hasn't really built on the progress he made last year,.However there were moments of promise. We will be looking for a return to the standards of 2020/21 next year.

That is questionable,because our involvement in Europe and we did better overall in the domestic cup competitions.

At the end of the day,the squad was not big enough to cope with all them fixtures and it cost us.

[Newmarket]

Being brutally honest we've gone backwards. Only slightly but backwards nonetheless. 9 points fewer than 2020/21, 8 goals fewer scored, 6 more conceded. Yes, I know we had extra games to contend with because of our Europa run but that was something we knew was going to happen so it should have been factored in when planning for the season ahead.

Far too many points lost at home against teams who finished lower than we did in the table which all proved very costly in the end. I am, overall, happy with the Moyes era so far because we now have expectations above what used to be the case which is to his and the coaching staff's credit. But next season will be interesting. We will be expected to go a long way in the Conference whilst maintainng a serious challenge for Top 6. Top 4 is still too optimistic at the moment imo.

If it was a school report I think the summing up would be something along the lines of David hasn't really built on the progress he made last year,.However there were moments of promise. We will be looking for a return to the standards of 2020/21 next year.

That is questionable,because our involvement in Europe and we did better overall in the domestic cup competitions.

At the end of the day,the squad was not big enough to cope with all them fixtures and it cost us.

Whisky has , in his appraisal, factored in the Europa involvement.
Maybe Moyes should have done .

[BlackDiamond]

Being brutally honest we've gone backwards. Only slightly but backwards nonetheless. 9 points fewer than 2020/21, 8 goals fewer scored, 6 more conceded. Yes, I know we had extra games to contend with because of our Europa run but that was something we knew was going to happen so it should have been factored in when planning for the season ahead.

Far too many points lost at home against teams who finished lower than we did in the table which all proved very costly in the end. I am, overall, happy with the Moyes era so far because we now have expectations above what used to be the case which is to his and the coaching staff's credit. But next season will be interesting. We will be expected to go a long way in the Conference whilst maintainng a serious challenge for Top 6. Top 4 is still too optimistic at the moment imo.

If it was a school report I think the summing up would be something along the lines of David hasn't really built on the progress he made last year,.However there were moments of promise. We will be looking for a return to the standards of 2020/21 next year.

That is questionable,because our involvement in Europe and we did better overall in the domestic cup competitions.

At the end of the day,the squad was not big enough to cope with all them fixtures and it cost us.

And being positive - which is what we are on this forum - we can interpret DM's end of season dissapointment, by his criticism of the players; as an acknowledgement of the fact, that his gamble with it's over reliance of a small squad, in the end, run out of road.

Which might inform the planning for the coming season. The teachable moment,the penny dropping and past mistakes corrected.