Premier League 2020/21 Thread

[cruzFOX]

When all is said and done season will be a little disappointing (not taking into consideration FA cup triumph that is a bonus imo.

For the whole season we have been playing and at times fighting for champions league qualification. Tis the reason we were ok to

let the europa performances slide and bow out. This was our primary aim to finish in the top 4. We have literally started to stumble

at the last hurdle again. There is a LOT banking on getting this top 4 spot. we are trying to keep out top players and we are trying to

attract from overseas some great talent who may be looking elsewhere now. We could use the extra money to fund getting these types

of players in. It's not a case of oh well never mind. Blowing it this late in the season AGAIN is rediculous and of our own making.

I think it would be totally fair to put Brendan to the sword on this and explain why we've collapsed again. It's his job to spot the warning

signs and keep us on track. Its not over yet but it's getting mighty close after the Liverpool win. I've no faith in Palace doing anything for

us (they may) but I am holding out for a rejuvenated Villa who will love to play in front of their home fans. Other than those results we have

to redeem ourselves and batter the spuds!

[Fightforever]

If Barnes had never gotten injured I am sure we would have made it to the top 4.

[Tom12345]

46 minutes ago, Fightforever said:

If Barnes had never gotten injured I am sure we would have made it to the top 4.

He would have definitely given us a boost but we would not have seen the best of Nacho. 

 

All we needed to do was not to capitulate against Newcastle or failed to beat 10 man Southampton with the wrong tactics. Then it would already be in the bag. Now it is out of our hands and we still have to beat Spurs.

[FoxyJim1987]

8 hours ago, SydenhamFox said:

Nope. This is too defeatist. We were one Perez missed shot away from making this game tonight redundant. Or one party away from a full strength side against West Ham. 

Well this is just wrong. Perez and Choudhury would have helped us beat West Ham would they? Maddison has been awful since his injury. Yes Perez should have scored v Chelsea but they also could have been about 4 up before then. Simple fact is dropped points v 10 man Southampton have cost us. There's no way we shouldn't have won that game. 

[FoxyJim1987]

6 hours ago, cruzFOX said:

When all is said and done season will be a little disappointing (not taking into consideration FA cup triumph that is a bonus imo.

For the whole season we have been playing and at times fighting for champions league qualification. Tis the reason we were ok to

let the europa performances slide and bow out. This was our primary aim to finish in the top 4. We have literally started to stumble

at the last hurdle again. There is a LOT banking on getting this top 4 spot. we are trying to keep out top players and we are trying to

attract from overseas some great talent who may be looking elsewhere now. We could use the extra money to fund getting these types

of players in. It's not a case of oh well never mind. Blowing it this late in the season AGAIN is rediculous and of our own making.

I think it would be totally fair to put Brendan to the sword on this and explain why we've collapsed again. It's his job to spot the warning

signs and keep us on track. Its not over yet but it's getting mighty close after the Liverpool win. I've no faith in Palace doing anything for

us (they may) but I am holding out for a rejuvenated Villa who will love to play in front of their home fans. Other than those results we have

to redeem ourselves and batter the spuds!

Luckily champions league this year isn't be all and end all. No club will pay 80m for any of our players, and the guys we are after like Soumare, Edouard, Pereira, Bertrand will join if we are in UCL or not and will improve us. We have had a lot of injuries, it's not a total disaster, just very disappointing 2 seasons in a row. I still have a strange feeling Villa and Grealish will beat Chelsea and let us sneak in. 

[Raj]

Modern day football fans.

When finishing 4th means more than winning the FA Cup.

I despair

[teblin]

1 minute ago, Raj said:

Modern day football fans.

When finishing 4th means more than winning the FA Cup.

I despair

I was saying the same last night. 

[ARTY_FOX]

7 hours ago, Blarmy said:

For me they’re separate - but it works both ways. Not finishing fourth won’t detract from my cup win enjoyment one little bit. But likewise, winning the cup isn’t going to stop me feeling hugely disappointed that we’ve capitulated again in the league. 

 

This is because they’re two different competitions with very different rewards.  
 

I don’t get either side of the argument to be honest, and I didn’t get all the “which would you rather get, FA Cup or top 4” talk either.  They’re not mutually exclusive, and neither are my resulting emotions. Chuffed to bits we won the cup, gutted we more than likely won’t get CL.

Is it a capitulation though or was it tight at the top and focus shifted elsewhere? We had a gap of 5 points and lost 3 key players to injury with the hardest run in of anyone. It's hardly the blunder of last season. 

 

This is still our second most successful season ever. I'm pretty happy.

Edited 20 May 2021 by ARTY_FOX

[FoxyJim1987]

7 hours ago, jammie82uk said:

Have we really Capitulated? We have had a decent season on the whole, we have broke into the top 5 again, back to back European qualification, 2nd best points return in our history, our longest losing run is 2 games, all this in a crazy truncated season 

 

Unfortunately that run since Man City Home has cost us. Won 3 drew 1 lost 4. Whilst Liverpool have been winning almost every game. 

[oldbluefox]

I'm disappointed but we won the Cup and likely will end up 5th in the league. In my book that's a good season especially considering our injuries. However it's not over till the fat lady sings. It's all on Sundays results now.

[Guest Bert Fill]

7 hours ago, Tom12345 said:

So the point is that we have the squad to finish the job,

But we don’t.

Not compared to Liverpool and (especially) Chelsea.

We have a squad that can compete, which is what we’ve done, but when we have injuries to key players we have to make do and mend instead of having top-class replacements ready and waiting - or the cash to nip out and get one. And that’s without factoring in that our record signing is £40 million, compared to their multiple signings for way more than that.

[shailen]

It's out of our hands but we better Liverpool's result or if Chelsea drop points then we have every chance. You have to understand who we're competing with, two clubs who have won the Champions league and two clubs that have both made it to the final in the last three years. 

 

It's crazy that we're competing and on top we've won a FA cup and done okay in Europe all in the same season. Think people need to understand how incredibly hard it is to get top four, with only us breaking the big 6 mould in the last 15 or so seasons! It's very rare that a club gets there and we have nearly done it three times in the last five seasons, assuming we miss our again. 

 

[TrentFox]

The sad reality is we’ve lost 4 of the last 8 games. Previous to that, it was only 2 from 16. Call it what you want, but that’s a dramatic downturn. Truth is, our squad depth wasn’t anywhere near enough to cope with key injuries, loss of form and loss of everything in our most important striker. The injuries were doubly painful as they all seemed to afflict out most creative types. It’s the reality of the financial models that the CL contending clubs run on. Just look at Chelsea’s bench over the last two games compared to ours. That we won the cup is simply the stuff of fairytales, but the loss of the revenue from CL for the sustainability and development of the club is devastating, for me. I understand that others are just happy with a cup win, and that’s great. But, barring a miracle on Sunday, this season will always be a bitter-sweet one for me. 

[Babylon]

7 hours ago, jammie82uk said:

Have we really Capitulated? We have had a decent season on the whole, we have broke into the top 5 again, back to back European qualification, 2nd best points return in our history, our longest losing run is 2 games, all this in a crazy truncated season 

 

EXACTLY, we've shown we can be like this all season. We've actually got more points than Liverpool in the last 19 games (half a season).

[Tom12345]

37 minutes ago, Bert Fill said:

But we don’t.

Not compared to Liverpool and (especially) Chelsea.

We have a squad that can compete, which is what we’ve done, but when we have injuries to key players we have to make do and mend instead of having top-class replacements ready and waiting - or the cash to nip out and get one. And that’s without factoring in that our record signing is £40 million, compared to their multiple signings for way more than that.

You can make the argument about finishing Top 4 as overachieving, for sure and I agree with your sentiment in that context, but I am talking about “finishing the job” once we were there. Beat Newcastle. Beat 10 man Southampton. Turn up against West Ham. Yes, we could have finished the job. 

 

If we had the same mental toughness during 15/16 season, we would have faded in the final third of the season but we finished the job - we more than did that of course! But that team had the belief and had no fear. They believed in themselves and went attacking every game. 

Edited 20 May 2021 by Tom12345

[StanSP]

1 hour ago, Raj said:

Modern day football fans.

When finishing 4th means more than winning the FA Cup.

I despair

 

1 hour ago, teblin said:

I was saying the same last night. 

It's saddening isn't it? 

 

Pure elation on Saturday evening seems to have gone out the window for some, sadly. 

[nnfox]

I think we've been fairly consistent through the season.  We play well in 3 out of 5 ganes.  The secret to achieving top four is to pick up points in those 2 out of 5 games where we are below our best.  Too often, those games have ended in defeat.  It makes it very difficult to qualify when you play teams in 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 15th and 18th and lose to them all.  We should be able to get 12 points from those on average.  4 would have been enough.

 

More points than last season though and the FA Cup to boot.  This season has not been a failure if results don't go our way this weekend.

[Pliskin]

8 hours ago, jammie82uk said:

Have we really Capitulated? We have had a decent season on the whole, we have broke into the top 5 again, back to back European qualification, 2nd best points return in our history, our longest losing run is 2 games, all this in a crazy truncated season 

 

This is the thing. We haven’t capitulated.... we’ve had some disappointing result along the way, particularly at home.

 

But I stand by my sentiments, it’s down to our depth and quality.... man for man, on our day we can take anyone, because we have.... it’s over a period of time occasionally our lack of quality in depth comes back to haunt us when we lose games against the likes of Newcastle, West Ham and Everton. 
 

Still have a chance, and I would absolutely piss myself if Chelsea stacked it on the last day. And then lost to city.... 

[Blarmy]

Playing well in 3 out of 5 games isn’t consistent - it’s inconsistent. In fact, it’s only 45 minutes away from being as inconsistent as it is possible to be.

 

And I think that’s what we need to work on. 

Edited 20 May 2021 by Blarmy

[RowlattsFox]

I'm more fuming that the FA cup wasn't the last game of the season. Should be something we dine on throughout the summer but instead focus immediately changes and we have disappointment to deal with. 

[StanSP]

7 minutes ago, Pliskin said:

This is the thing. We haven’t capitulated.... we’ve had some disappointing result along the way, particularly at home.

 

But I stand by my sentiments, it’s down to our depth and quality.... man for man, on our day we can take anyone, because we have.... it’s over a period of time occasionally our lack of quality in depth comes back to haunt us when we lose games against the likes of Newcastle, West Ham and Everton. 
 

Still have a chance, and I would absolutely piss myself if Chelsea stacked it on the last day. And then lost to city.... 

Tottenham caving in to us, knowing Liverpool could also be winning, would be lovely if it denies Chelsea potential top 4. Sweet poetry. 

[Md9]

Can’t see spurs wanting to do us any favours. We end up top 4 that’s another team they will struggle to get close to again as well as the normal top 4. Where as if the normal top 4 get in they will still think they have a chance of catching us again next season 

[David Hankey]

The 'Spuds' will obviously want to win, why wouldn't they. It's barmy to think otherwise. All we can do is win and hope.

 

We all know where and how we've lost ground. It's a great pity we haven't learnt from last season.

[Guest Bert Fill]

8 hours ago, Kendal Fox said:

 

I'm not sure finishing 5th, 2 years in a row, after almost 3 seasons with him is what most had in mind (if they are being honest) when he was first appointed. It's very frustrating and given the fact we won the PL, just 3 years before he arrived, I don't think it's being ungrateful or unrealistic to expect better by now.

I do understand, but doesn’t this make us sound a bit like those Arsenal fans stamping their feet because they only finished fourth?

[RowlattsFox]

8 hours ago, Kendal Fox said:

This is it for me too. 

The reason we appointed Rodgers was so we could treat the various competitions separately and with the consideration required to succeed as a legit, top-flight team, capable of winning things on a routine basis.

 

I'm not sure finishing 5th, 2 years in a row, after almost 3 seasons with him is what most had in mind (if they are being honest) when he was first appointed. It's very frustrating and given the fact we won the PL, just 3 years before he arrived, I don't think it's being ungrateful or unrealistic to expect better by now.

If I was offered back to back 5th placed finishes when Rodgers took over I would have snapped your hand off and be delighted with that. Unfortunately it's the manner of those 5th placed finishes which is frustrating. 

 

Having us challenge the top 4 is a great achievement in my opinion, especially when you consider our squad is mixed with genuine quality and a number of 'decent' premier League players.