Is this team even that good?

[Koke]

One of the reasons for the huge divisiveness amongst the fan base is due to how good this squad is perceived to be.

 

This team isn't good enough nor consistent enough to get 6th. Manchester United have picked up recently and will likely finish 6th.

 

Maybe we are where we are supposed to be, 7th-10th? 

[foxfanazer]

Just now, Koke said:

One of the reasons for the huge divisiveness amongst the fan base is due to how good this squad is perceived to be.

 

This team isn't good enough nor consistent enough to get 6th. Manchester United have picked up recently and will likely finish 6th.

 

Maybe we are where we are supposed to be, 7th-10th? 

We are exactly where we are meant to be. You could even say that Everton have spent more so should be ahead of us theoretically. It's the same delusional people that think because we won the league we should be playing champagne football and pushing top 4

[davieG]

It takes time for a team to jell and even longer when so many are as young and inexperienced as a lot of this team are. Even some of the more experienced players aren't that experienced at playing a more inclusive fulsome game.

 

Sadly football fans in general have very little patience and expect instant success something which rarely happens and when it does it tends to be on the back of the previous incumbents foundations as in Pearson/Ranieri, even that didn't last more than i season.

[KFS]

7th this year is a great achievement. If we can get European football through that route it’s mission accomplished imo

[jayfox26]

We have some very good players in key positions but we also lack quality in others. Puel has improved the defence and if we give him another summer to clear the deadwood and bring in some better attacking options, then we'll be laughing. Can we compete with the top 6? Probably not as we don't have the budget. Can we have a crack at a cup competition and possibly Europe? Absolutely! Puel sorted out the rb issue with Ricardo, the number 10 issue with Madders and improved us at cb with Evans and 2 youngsters in soyuncu and Benkovic, both of which we cant really judge yet. If we can get a back up left back for next season, a creative attacking centre mid, a striker and a winger then we'll have a very good squad. We will probably lose 1 player in the summer, most likely Maguire, so we may need another cb, depending on whether Soyuncu and Benkovic will be ready for regular 1st team football next season.

[Izzy]

3 minutes ago, Koke said:

One of the reasons for the huge divisiveness amongst the fan base is due to how good this squad is perceived to be.

 

This team isn't good enough nor consistent enough to get 6th. Manchester United have picked up recently and will likely finish 6th.

 

Maybe we are where we are supposed to be, 7th-10th? 

And realistically, we should be delighted with that.

 

For years we've been a 'yo-yo' club desperately trying to cement our place in the PL. And here we are doing just that yet some are still not happy.

 

We'll never be a 'big club' or compete with the top 6 on a regular basis. We're not a big enough City/catchment and although our owners are rich, they're not in the same rich league as the big boys.

 

If we can consistently try to be 'the best of the rest' that's as good as is gonna get. We've got no divine right to finish 7th anyway as Everton, West Ham and others will also be after that spot.

 

Our squad is decent and probably the best we've ever had. We're spending money and paying decent wages and the clubs in a stable financial position.

 

We've never had it so good and it can soon turn to rat shit overnight as we've seen before. Gotta enjoy the good times really...

 

[martyn]

First team is 2 or 3 players away from being very good.

 

Squad is lacking in a lot of areas, except in the centre of defence.

 

7th or 8th would be a good league finish. 9th-11th acceptable, anything lower slightly disappointing.

[Fox92]

No. People overrate our players massively. I see stuff like "we should be top 6" (on twitter today I even saw someone say a better manager would have us 5th  ).

 

Puel has inherited players he didn't buy, players that are getting old now and need moving on, but he's also added in quality (Ricardo as an example). We're a young side, bound to be inconsistent, and these things will take time. Eventually could I see us challenging for the top 6, yes, but at the minute I think we should be pleased with 7th or 8th in the league (hopefully a good FA Cup run too!).

 

But managers need time to build. Look at Pochettino, who has built a young side, he didn't make Spurs superb overnight.

Edited 1 January 2019 by Fox92

[Rigga]

2 minutes ago, jayfox26 said:

We have some very good players in key positions but we also lack quality in others. Puel has improved the defence and if we give him another summer to clear the deadwood and bring in some better attacking options, then we'll be laughing. Can we compete with the top 6? Probably not as we don't have the budget. Can we have a crack at a cup competition and possibly Europe? Absolutely! Puel sorted out the rb issue with Ricardo, the number 10 issue with Madders and improved us at cb with Evans and 2 youngsters in soyuncu and Benkovic, both of which we cant really judge yet. If we can get a back up left back for next season, a creative attacking centre mid, a striker and a winger then we'll have a very good squad. We will probably lose 1 player in the summer, most likely Maguire, so we may need another cb, depending on whether Soyuncu and Benkovic will be ready for regular 1st team football next season.

Agree with a lot of this regarding positions needed to fill. 

We need to buy better than we have. Players that start and not fill squad positions.

Disappointed to not bid for Felipe Anderson before he went to West Ham.

its a struggle to replace Mahrez but let’s have a damn good go at trying.

 

We have some of the best young talent in the country. Add quality to that and who knows where we could end up.

[foxfanazer]

3 minutes ago, Izzy said:

And realistically, we should be delighted with that.

 

For years we've been a 'yo-yo' club desperately trying to cement our place in the PL. And here we are doing just that yet some are still not happy.

 

We'll never be a 'big club' or compete with the top 6 on a regular basis. We're not a big enough City/catchment and although our owners are rich, they're not in the same rich league as the big boys.

 

If we can consistently try to be 'the best of the rest' that's as good as is gonna get. We've got no divine right to finish 7th anyway as Everton, West Ham and others will also be after that spot.

 

Our squad is decent and probably the best we've ever had. We're spending money and paying decent wages and the clubs in a stable financial position.

 

We've never had it so good and it can soon turn to rat shit overnight as we've seen before. Gotta enjoy the good times really...

 

Thats the weird thing though. The people moaning about our current plight aren't just the hangers on from the title win. A lot of them have seen the dross of the Peter Taylor, Craig Levein eras etc. Imagine 10 years ago somebody saying to us we'd be 7th in the league, selling players for £50m+ and would've experienced the champions League. Not only will you do all of that but 40% of your fan base will be hounding the manager out every week. It's baffling to me but hey ho

[Bossman Blessed It]

Building a squad that can challenge the top 6 is a slow process - one that certainly isn't an exact science. Our starting 11 has great potential but as soon as we need to dive into our squad to rotate, we end up with very mixed results. To finish in the top 10 and do alright in the FA Cup will be another season of growth in my opinion; after everything the players and club has been through it will be a huge achievement. 

[jayfox26]

1 minute ago, Rigga said:

Agree with a lot of this regarding positions needed to fill. 

We need to buy better than we have. Players that start and not fill squad positions.

Disappointed to not bid for Felipe Anderson before he went to West Ham.

its a struggle to replace Mahrez but let’s have a damn good go at trying.

 

We have some of the best young talent in the country. Add quality to that and who knows where we could end up.

Yeh true but Anderson was a risk given the price. Hes turned out good for West Ham but for all we knew, he could have been our next Silva, Musa or Slimani. We invested alot in Ricardo, Maddison, Soyuncu and Benkovic so may have been a stretch to spend another £35m on Anderson in the same window. I agree though that we need some quality players in attacking positions. 

[Guest]

7th is definitely the limit for this squad imo. There are a handful of class acts but a few too many who are pretty one dimensional and lacking any great deal of technique or intelligence. The only reason we're in touching distance of Man Utd is Mourinho. I think people who expect us to have a crack at the top four or five after a couple of signings or a new manager are seriously underestimating the gap in quality between us and the likes of Spurs and Arsenal. 

[yorkie1999]

We could get sixth with a bit of luck, once Man Utd get beat at Newcastle get knocked out the cup and get hammered by spurs then have to play the mighty Leicester for sixth place, they’ll fall apart and their fans will be demanding solsjaar be removed as manager

[Farrington fox]

I have no in depth tactical knowledge, I’ll be the first to admit that. But to me we’re now a decent intuitive striker short of a very decent side. Vardy is under a lot of pressure,and Puels setup doesn’t always play to his strenghts. 

So what type of striker do we need?  Just don’t think Nacho is the answer!

[The Horse's Mouth]

The team is good, the squad however isn't. 

[Lambert09]

I think the issue is the style of play, not the results. 

 

Football is supposed to be entertaining and it rarely is when we are playing.  

 

I think everyone would be happy with this approach in tough away games or against the big teams but when we are at home we expect the side to be a bit more creative and take a few more risks.

 

I completely understand why Southampton wanted rid, despite finishing in 8th.   

Edited 1 January 2019 by Lambert09

[HankMarvin]

Could compared to the other 13 teams in the league after the top 6

[boots60]

7th in the league would mean playing qualifying rounds of the Europa league which would essentially knock a month or so off the pre season break. Look what happened to Burnley this season. Disastrous. F.A cup win would enable us to go straight to the group stage but we all know where the cups are on Puels priority list.

 

[peterborofox]

We have a good squad but unbalanced. 

 

We should be the seventh best team in the league compared to rest tho imo

[Bezzanator89]

7th is realistically, without suffering any delusions of grandeur after 2015-16, the best we can currently hope for with our squad. So if we finished where we are now, I would say job well done.

[M0901]

38 minutes ago, Koke said:

One of the reasons for the huge divisiveness amongst the fan base is due to how good this squad is perceived to be.

 

This team isn't good enough nor consistent enough to get 6th. Manchester United have picked up recently and will likely finish 6th.

 

Maybe we are where we are supposed to be, 7th-10th? 

Was anyone suggesting we're better than any of the top 6?

[UniFox21]

5 minutes ago, M0901 said:

Was anyone suggesting we're better than any of the top 6?

The way some posters talk, yes, they make it seem like we should be in and challenging the top 6. 

[LinekersApples]

33 minutes ago, martyn said:

First team is 2 or 3 players away from being very good.

 

Squad is lacking in a lot of areas, except in the centre of defence.

 

7th or 8th would be a good league finish. 9th-11th acceptable, anything lower slightly disappointing.

so, we've sorted an issue we've had for a number of years and in doing so, we've got a couple of hot prospects from across Europe. The future's bright

[SheppyFox]

Looking at this helped it sink in how well we are doing.