A season of two halves

[Swiss_tony]

Games 1-19

W - 12

D - 3

L - 4

GF - 41

GA - 18

Pts - 39

 

Games 20-37

W - 6

D - 5

L - 7

GF - 26

GA - 21

Pts - 23

 

What's interesting after looking at these stats is, our defence is about the same between the two halves, but our goal  scoring has just dropped off dramatically. Even if you treated a few of the 9 goals against a Soton as blip, we just aren't scoring enough  to  turn  losses into  draws, and draws into  wins.

We get a lot of possession 71% today, and don't turn it into enough goals.

 

In any other year, 5th would be fantastic, but this is going to feel like such a letdown.

 

 

Edited 19 July 2020 by Swiss_tony

[Jon the Hat]

PLaying football is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman.  You have to start slowly if you want to last.  

[Fox92]

When does game 20 start?

 

We have been poor since Norwich H. I've said it all along. That game plus hammerings from Manchester City and Liverpool. We've never recovered.

[StanSP]

4 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

When does game 20 start?

 

We have been poor since Norwich H. I've said it all along. That game plus hammerings from Manchester City and Liverpool. We've never recovered.

The first game after Boxing Day. West Ham I think.

[shailen]

That second half of the season is average but people were saying we were showing relegation form. 23 points would be 46 points over the season which would be around 12th based on this season. With the injuries we've had this has contributed to it but we aren't anywhere near as bad as some people make out. 

[shailen]

7 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

When does game 20 start?

 

We have been poor since Norwich H. I've said it all along. That game plus hammerings from Manchester City and Liverpool. We've never recovered.

I think the Villa game could have been the real turning point. A good win and really felt like that could change the momentum, but then lockdown killed that. 

[turkish14]

Wasn’t there that stat about LG or whatever the data is...

 

basically we were not creating much, but when we did we scored, and that it was unsustainable for the whole season.

 

seems like it was correct, plus teams sussing us out

[Pliskin]

What happened was we went on that 8 game winning streak. It completely blew the season out of proportion. The disappointing thing is, we would be home and dry by now, if we had hit some kind of mediocre form. I’m my eyes, this season is a failure. Regardless of what happens it has been a disaster in the second half. There’s a lot to think about over the summer... lots of planning and lots of thinking to be done, otherwise next season could be an epic disaster, if we are ill prepared. The Europa league is gruelling, and frankly not worth the effort it needs on my opinion.  

[sm1]

11 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

When does game 20 start?

 

We have been poor since Norwich H. I've said it all along. That game plus hammerings from Manchester City and Liverpool. We've never recovered.

I think you're right. We tried to take on Man City and Liverpool and got absolutely stuffed. It seemed to effect our confidence, and we've rarely played the same fast attacking football since. 

[Vacamion]

 

Bad luck.

 

Injuries.

 

Overconfidence by our flair players.

 

Regression to the mean, then regression below the mean.

 

Loss of confidence.

 

COVID break allowing others to fix their problems.

 

Some of our players having their heads turned by transfer rumours.

 

Relying on a ramshackle and ageing set of replacements.

 

Oh, yeah, I forgot. A conspiracy by the people running VAR, funded by Soros, Bill Gates and 5G, to make the big clubs finish top 4 at our expense.

 

 

 

 

[Fox92]

4 minutes ago, sm1 said:

I think you're right. We tried to take on Man City and Liverpool and got absolutely stuffed. It seemed to effect our confidence, and we've rarely played the same fast attacking football since. 

Exactly this. We knock it around now but it's just so slow.

[Leicester_Loyal]

• Vardy had that ridiculous run of good form then a ridiculous run of poor form
• Rodgers making some dodgy decisions throughout the season (tactics and subs).
• Injuries.
• Wingers aren't prolific enough.

Combination of all of these has meant that our second half has been pretty shit, we should have easily obtained top 4, it's very disappointing.

[NaijaFox]

28 minutes ago, shailen said:

I think the Villa game could have been the real turning point. A good win and really felt like that could change the momentum, but then lockdown killed that. 

COVID SCREWED US! 

 

The lengthy lockdown not only snuffed out any momentum we might have generated after the Villa victory, but also allowed our closest rivals time to get back their walking wounded and to set aside any distractions of their European campaign to concentrate squarely on the league. 
 

Edited 19 July 2020 by NaijaFox

[Hammo]

A phlegmatic take on this is that after 38 games you end up where you deserve to be. Every club has to cope with injuries, bad luck etc.
 

If we are ‘only’ good enough to finish fifth, and ensure Europa League participation, then so be it. We can bemoan our post-November collapse but at least that autumn surge has got us back into Europe, which, painful though it might now be to admit it, we would all have settled for at the outset.
 

My only real gripe is the lack of fight and passion in the side. Oh and the VAR assistance that has repeatedly benefited Mancheater United. That has been shameful, as has the media bias towards them, and stinks of foul play.

[jim5000]

28 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

What happened was we went on that 8 game winning streak. It completely blew the season out of proportion. The disappointing thing is, we would be home and dry by now, if we had hit some kind of mediocre form. I’m my eyes, this season is a failure. Regardless of what happens it has been a disaster in the second half. There’s a lot to think about over the summer... lots of planning and lots of thinking to be done, otherwise next season could be an epic disaster, if we are ill prepared. The Europa league is gruelling, and frankly not worth the effort it needs on my opinion.  

I know it’s disappointing that we are unlikely to make the Champions League after such a promising first half of the season, but to call the season as a whole a failure is nonsense.

 

Its our second highest Premier League finish ever, and we’ve secured European football for next season, only the second time we have got into Europe via league position rather than a cup. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a club our size competing in the Europa rather than the Champions League, and who knows, we might even go on a run a make it to the later stages or even win the thing!

 

We’ve suffered by not having the squad depth to replace 4-5 of our main players who are injured for the run in, and the whole lockdown mid season break has made it a very odd year.

 

But this season has been anything but a failure.

[The Blur]

Do people really buy our wingers do not score enough argument?   Zaha has got 4,  Townsend 1,  Traoe 4 and I cannot be bothered to look at the rest but I am guessing not many have notched more than Perez (8) and Barnes (6)?   Pepe at Arsenal got the same amount as Perez for an example.  

[Pliskin]

4 minutes ago, jim5000 said:

I know it’s disappointing that we are unlikely to make the Champions League after such a promising first half of the season, but to call the season as a whole a failure is nonsense.

 

Its our second highest Premier League finish ever, and we’ve secured European football for next season, only the second time we have got into Europe via league position rather than a cup. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a club our size competing in the Europa rather than the Champions League, and who knows, we might even go on a run a make it to the later stages or even win the thing!

 

We’ve suffered by not having the squad depth to replace 4-5 of our main players who are injured for the run in, and the whole lockdown mid season break has made it a very odd year.

 

But this season has been anything but a failure.

Depends how you look at it though. Losing the points lead we had over 5th in my eyes is unforgivable. It really wouldn’t have taken much to have sealed this. Some of the games we have dropped points in have largely been our fault.... we should have done enough to have seen this through, to me when you consider this, I think we’ve fluffed up. 

[whoareyaaa]

We only have ourselfs to blame however the corruption that is Man United have been given the green card to catch us. 

 

Losing Ricardo was a major blow if he hadn't have got that injury I believe we would have been over the line by now.

 

For the sake off football lets hope we can find a way to do it

[Ian Nacho]

1 hour ago, Jon the Hat said:

PLaying football is a lot like making love to a beautiful woman.  You have to start slowly if you want to last.  

I thought the aim of football was all about coming first.

[jim5000]

1 hour ago, Pliskin said:

Depends how you look at it though. Losing the points lead we had over 5th in my eyes is unforgivable. It really wouldn’t have taken much to have sealed this. Some of the games we have dropped points in have largely been our fault.... we should have done enough to have seen this through, to me when you consider this, I think we’ve fluffed up. 

We’ve definitely fluffed up, but the season as a whole, whatever the result against Utd has been a massive success. But as per the thread title, completely a season of two halfs!

 

remember it was this season when we spanked Southampton 9-0 away from home to set an all time record for biggest away win in the English football league!

[jonthefox]

1 hour ago, Ian Nacho said:

I thought the aim of football was all about coming first.

Fake news. If it were true i'd be Cristiano Ronaldo.

[Swiss_tony]

One of the worrying things is people saying injuries contributed,  fair enough.

But we'll be playing 38 league games AND Europa/CL league games next season.

Squads like ours just do not have the depth do do both well, look at burnley and wolves in recent years.

I fully expect us to finish mid table next season because of the european participation, unless we have some very  good recruitment.

I heard we're in for Cantwell, he's talented but shouldn't we be looking at some higher profile players to build the squad.

[Cadno'r Cymoedd]

2 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

Bad luck.

 

Injuries.

 

Overconfidence by our flair players.

 

Regression to the mean, then regression below the mean.

 

Loss of confidence.

 

COVID break allowing others to fix their problems.

 

Some of our players having their heads turned by transfer rumours.

 

Relying on a ramshackle and ageing set of replacements.

 

Oh, yeah, I forgot. A conspiracy by the people running VAR, funded by Soros, Bill Gates and 5G, to make the big clubs finish top 4 at our expense.

 

 

 

 

Absolutely this

 

😂

[Leicester_Loyal]

1 hour ago, The Blur said:

Do people really buy our wingers do not score enough argument?   Zaha has got 4,  Townsend 1,  Traoe 4 and I cannot be bothered to look at the rest but I am guessing not many have notched more than Perez (8) and Barnes (6)?   Pepe at Arsenal got the same amount as Perez for an example.  

Yeah but if we want top 4 regularly we need a winger to score more than 6 goals. Plus they've missed a lot of chances this year, Barnes could easily be in double figures.

[Pliskin]

42 minutes ago, jim5000 said:

We’ve definitely fluffed up, but the season as a whole, whatever the result against Utd has been a massive success. But as per the thread title, completely a season of two halfs!

 

remember it was this season when we spanked Southampton 9-0 away from home to set an all time record for biggest away win in the English football league!

It’s been a bizarre, and whereas you’d ordinarily think “what a great season” but considering the fact we’ve spent pretty much the entire season in the top four, with a ridiculous points gap, to throw it away is a horrible disappointment. I feel really disheartened by the way it’s all unfolded. I can only hope it makes us stronger going into next season. There’s been marked improvement, but there’s a lot of work to be done.