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Comments
Then Bilic has struggled to work out his best team and has regularly played people out of position.
Plus no Sakho and little Carroll (first time I've seen those two words next to each other).
But yes, give Bilic another season. And give him money to invest if he has a plan. Sturridge and Malcuit/Sagna/Zabaleta could make a huge difference to the team and the confidence the other players need. I wouldn't aim to be spending much more than that. We need to get our mojo back and then be in a position to say to top players that we just had a new-stadium wobble and now we're back on an upwards trajectory.
We were never going to be top 6 or even top 8, never really were we in any danger of bottom 6 let alone bottom 3.
We will make mistakes and we will lose games because we are not Chelsea, even City screw up. Look at Man Utd sitting in 6th and in danger of being leap frogged by Everton.
This was always going to be an odd season especially after the hysteria of last.
Why I agree with some of the issues raised (the RB situation for example) can we try not to throw the baby out with the bath water.
(and maybe not even then.)
I just don't have a sense of expectation about it.
I'd rather have a soul and be mid-table.
Not interested in a billionaire parachuting in 'top' players for silly money.
And even if one did, there is still no guarantee that we would break the top 6.
As Suze says, however, that isn't even a conversation for now.
For me, the issue is that for too many, progress has to be seen in linear, straight upwards terms.
That almost never happens in the PL.
We are a mid-table club, with the resources to match.
Over time, I would hope to see us stabilise into a top 7-10 club, but that means some 3 to 5 years (let's say this is the 2nd of those.)
If after another 3 years we are still facing relegation worries at some point in the season, I'll say that shows we haven't made any real progress.
I don't think by any means it is possible to see this only as a case of a few of the bigger teams playing well below par last season and not so much this season. That alone doesn't explain why we are playing so much worse than we were last season. And I don't think you need to believe that we should be finishing top six this year to feel disappointed in our season. I think the combination of being 14 points of 7th, playing rubbish for so much of the season, and continually seeing Bilic not getting the most out of what we have through stubborn and bizarre team selections will do it.
That said, I have still been proud of the way we have played for periods of matches. I think we have the capacity to pass the ball around quite nicely. And I realise we just don't have the quality of players to do this 100% of the time. And that's why we are aiming at 7th at the highest, realistically. But still we should be doing much better than we are.
WBA are an interesting one though. Because that was us last year. I'll be interested to see if in 12 months time people are still holding WBA up as an example of success. I will stick my neck on the line now and say that there is no way WBA have a better season next year than they do this year. But that won't mean they have failed or gone backwards, it is just the fact that teams at this level (8th - 15th) bounce around and have good and bad seasons.
I think Spurs have really changed their position through organic growth, they have gone from a 6/7 to 5/2.
Everton will look to cement the 6/7 position.
We are in that group of teams looking for a consistent 8/7 so we can then move to 6/7.
I hope that sense...
So two games, against the Champions elect and a below par display at Bournemouth (that stil almost saw us sneak a draw), have changed the entire mood.
The squad has declined since last season. This is because 1) the same players are playing worse 2) the club has sold it's best player of the last 10 years and 3) the transfer window of the summer was a massive mistake. Loads of cash spent on several squad players. When all we needed was 3/4 additions in key positions.
We were in the bottom four only in November!
It's been a 'back to reality' season, leaving us flat. I wouldn't have been that fussed about going from 7th back to mid table in any other season. What gets me is that we sold off a special ground for one unsuitable for football, and so I expected more in season one (maybe wrongly).