An Honest Season Appraisal

[OZHAMMER]

And being positive - which is what we are on this forum...

Sometimes I read a post without looking at the author first, but still know who has written it.

[Newmarket]

And being positive - which is what we are on this forum...

Sometimes I read a post without looking at the author first, but still know who has written it.

I’ve often thought the same , we all tend to have our personal views and posting styles .

It’s given me an idea for a little competition to relieve the boredom of the close season , I’ll be posting more on this when I get more time , it’s a long transfer window

[garnett]

A few Mythos's down the Gregory, I concur wholeheartedly with Whiskyman's first paragraph.
No one should be in Europe from 7th, unless you have won a domestic cup, I fear our manager will go for that hell for leather as he did the Europa for the same reason, I believed sacrificed 4th spot for HIS own personal gain.
We were behind a manure team which is probably the worse in recent time's and yet trying to sign someone who cannot get into that team. Our Academy has been shit on from a great height, player's out of contract being preferred, I just don't get it.
If reports are to be believed Benrahma is gone, I would have put a transfer request in a long time ago, I don't see a transfer strategy, all this MOT bollocks, we are now Everton and I don't see us reaching the dizzy heights we expect.

[Dwayne Pipes]

To be honest a good season for a club of our stature
7th and a semi final in a European competition.
A far cry from the usual dross of seasons past.
Could and should have pushed on for better things but the board and manager felt differently and seem content to be also rans in the Premier league.
We all know nothing will change but will continue to sell out every game regardless.
Could be interesting next season if all starts going fucking tits up.

Onwards and upwards.

[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.

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.

The squad size is irrelevant when appraising the season because the appraisal is a critique of whether the KPIs set for the manager and his staff have been achieved or not. The squad size may be a factor which affected results but the size of the squad is something within the manager's remit. So if the squad was too small it should be a negative point when appraising the season should it not ?

The fact is the league is the barometer by which teams are judged. Domestic cup competitions, in today's game, aren't worth a wank in terms of assessment unless a trophy results. No one gives a toss about losers or beaten semi finalists. If a club gets to the final it's a nice day out for the fans but utterly meaningless in terms of judging where a club belongs in football's hierarchy. If a club actually wins one of the domestic cups ,then sure, put it in the credit column, but unless you actually win the thing you might as well go out in the first round as in the semi final imo.

So I'm standing by my assessment. We have gone a little bit backwards. 9 points to be precise or, if you prefer to put it this way home defeats against Brentford, Southampton & Leeds. Two of which didn't follow European games so I'm not going to swallow the tiredness argument either. But as I said, not a total disaster. Another European campaign awaits so far too early for me to join the clamour for replacing Moyes. But I will be looking for a sustained Top 6 push next season and a points tally closer to the 65 of 20/21 to the season just finished.

[Whiskyman]

A few Mythos's down the Gregory, I concur wholeheartedly with Whiskyman's first paragraph.
No one should be in Europe from 7th, unless you have won a domestic cup, I fear our manager will go for that hell for leather as he did the Europa for the same reason, I believed sacrificed 4th spot for HIS own personal gain.
We were behind a manure team which is probably the worse in recent time's and yet trying to sign someone who cannot get into that team. Our Academy has been shit on from a great height, player's out of contract being preferred, I just don't get it.
If reports are to be believed Benrahma is gone, I would have put a transfer request in a long time ago, I don't see a transfer strategy, all this MOT bollocks, we are now Everton and I don't see us reaching the dizzy heights we expect.

I'm not sure we expect "dizzy heights" tbh. Speaking personally I will be happy if we do perform like Everton did when Moyes was there. If memory serves they were nearly always challenging for "best of the rest" during his time there and had reasonably regular European campaigns.

And why shouldn't a team finishing 7th qualify for Europe ? Surely it's a better yardstick than winning a cup. Cups can be won by winning a handful of games ( or even taking better penalties) against opposition of questionable quality whereas the league is a true test of ability.

[garnett]

Ok, not we I, being a 60 something I am expecting more than just being a hard to beat side that relys heavily on set plays and hope's other team's fuck up before I pop my clogs. A dream too far I fear, but I'm entitled to dream. I don't think myself and Mr Moyes see the beautiful game played the same, no one's fault just a different opinion.
As for Europe, call me old fashioned but being 4th and being in the Champions League is a farce, I would concede runners up being included, the Europa league 3rd 4th 5th and the re introduction of the cup winner's Cup but won't happen. Would like to add also that losing finalist should be given European football if the winner's have already qualified, not the next team down the league.

[eskimo joe]

To be honest a good season for a club of our stature
7th and a semi final in a European competition.
A far cry from the usual dross of seasons past.
Could and should have pushed on for better things but the board and manager felt differently and seem content to be also rans in the Premier league.
We all know nothing will change but will continue to sell out every game regardless.
Could be interesting next season if all starts going fucking tits up.

Onwards and upwards.

Does that refer to the tits?

[eskimo joe]

Ok, not we I, being a 60 something I am expecting more than just being a hard to beat side that relys heavily on set plays and hope's other team's fuck up before I pop my clogs. A dream too far I fear, but I'm entitled to dream. I don't think myself and Mr Moyes see the beautiful game played the same, no one's fault just a different opinion.
As for Europe, call me old fashioned but being 4th and being in the Champions League is a farce, I would concede runners up being included, the Europa league 3rd 4th 5th and the re introduction of the cup winner's Cup but won't happen. Would like to add also that losing finalist should be given European football if the winner's have already qualified, not the next team down the league.

Losing finalists?! Think the reason that got stopped is it cheapened the event more than it already had been when Millwall made the cut. And similar to whiskeys point , the journey to 6 th and seventh spot is more arduous.

[Whiskyman]

Ok, not we I, being a 60 something I am expecting more than just being a hard to beat side that relys heavily on set plays and hope's other team's fuck up before I pop my clogs. A dream too far I fear, but I'm entitled to dream. I don't think myself and Mr Moyes see the beautiful game played the same, no one's fault just a different opinion.
As for Europe, call me old fashioned but being 4th and being in the Champions League is a farce, I would concede runners up being included, the Europa league 3rd 4th 5th and the re introduction of the cup winner's Cup but won't happen. Would like to add also that losing finalist should be given European football if the winner's have already qualified, not the next team down the league.

So who would have got the place this season ? Liverpool and Chelsea both having qualified elsewhere. And why would you reward a losing finalist but not reward other "losers" who aren't quite good enough to qualify for Europe through league position. ?