Verdict on season

[Mythyaar]

Devastated not to make top 4. Just couldn't quite get over the line, again! Hurts a lot.

 

Positives are that Justin and Barnes showed their real quality until injuries hit. Either could have pushed Tielemans for player of the season had they stayed fit. And we'd ve almost certainly comfortably secured champs league with them.

 

Fofana has also been a revelation and will only get better.

 

Thomas has made a few mistakes but for a 19 yr old rookie he's been outstanding. He'll just keep improving too.

 

The other positive is winning the cup. Never did I think we'd do it in my life time!

 

I think/hope we recruit well in the summer as we've not got over the top 4 line last 2 seasons due to lack of squad depth. We can't allow that to happen a third time, if we're in contention again.

 

The neutrals will be gutted for us too today. We're the envy of many clubs/fans. A fantastically run club from "Top" to bottom with the best owners imaginable.

 

Onwards and upwards.

[Free Falling Foxes]

If we had won the cup and had a few good results towards the end of the season, which saw us climb the table and finish 5th, many would feel better I guess.

 

But that scenario would have meant a poorer season earlier on.

 

Emotionally, quite a bizarre situation. I was quite relaxed today, convinced it was out of our hands because both Liverpool and Chelsea would win I believed. But then Chelsea go 2 goals down, we are leading. For those 15 mins or so I was anything but relaxed.

 

Bottom line for me though is, FA Cup winners. Shiver down my spine typing that,

[sishades]

Fecking brilliant season......orgasmic almost. 5th place, 2nd highest points tally, Europe (again) and a FA Cup. Superb.

[Paninistickers]

Injury ravaged.

 

Worst set of injuries I can ever remember. To do what we've done is remarkable. 

 

Well done to the entire staff,.on and off the field 👏

 

 

[TWUKO]

My main concern is that I'm looking at the table and thinking are we really only 1 point better than West ham?

 

In all honesty the injuries have caught up with us, we've been quite poor for a couple of months, couldn't beat 10 man Southampton, went 4-0 down to Newcastle before starting to play, lost the 6 pointer to Chelsea, lost today, we've had so many opportunities to get this over the line.

 

At the start of the season I thought we'd finish about 8th with the injuries we had, was very surprised with the quality start we had. Recently though we just look done in.

 

Away form has been excellent for the most part, home form has been something you'd expect from a team fighting relagation, quite shocking, think we've lost 9 out of 19, that's really poor.

 

We all would have taken 5th before the season, its still crazy to think we're all slightly disappointed with a 5th place finish, the manner how we've finished there is a concern, but in reality 4 place is pointless with having to qualify and seeding etc, the only benefit is the money. I don't think there's much between the likes of us, Chelsea, spurs and arsenal nowadays which is ridiculous when you think about it.

 

Taking the FA cup out of it there's been an improvement on last season although finished in a very disappointing way again, not as bad though.

 

I just thank the footballing gods that the one game they managed to see through despite all the odds was the one that resulted in our first FA cup and for that I am immensely proud. Nobody should underestimate what an achievement that is. Even in the modern era of football the domestic trophies are still won by the big boys and for us to win our holy grail in these times is just wonderful.

 

For next season we definitely need quality additions to the squad to challenge again, would like it if we had a go at the europa league, we could possibly win that one, this seasons europa was bit pointless in all honesty.

 

Onwards and hopefully upwards, not too bothered about the champions league but it's nice to be there or there abouts. An incredibly progressive season overall!

[Mark_w]

1 minute ago, TWUKO said:

My main concern is that I'm looking at the table and thinking are we really only 1 point better than West ham? 

Well they did beat us twice.

[Ted Maul]

54 minutes ago, StriderHiryu said:

Twenty minutes away from it being a 10/10, ends up being an 8/10.

 

Would have taken 5th and FA Cup win all day every day at the start of the season but it feels cruel the way we shot ourselves in the foot again this time round. 
 

Biggest issue is how we pick ourselves up again. This season Liverpool had a massive injury list and probably won’t next season. We can probably finish 5th again but our squad isn’t top 4 material... I feel we needed to take our chances whilst they presented themselves. 
 

Still amazing times to support the club. 

Pretty much this. 

 

Although I wondered how we'd dust ourselves down after last season's implosion and we were fine.

 

Slight disappointment to end a wonderful season but we should have plenty of faith in the club to keep us progressing. 

[Dahnsouff]

Whilst

• Winning the FA Cup for the first time in our history
• Finish with more points than last season
• Qualifying for the secondary European competition 

we 

• Lacked our best players due to injury at critical time/large slices of the season
• Fell foul of the lack of quality in their deputies
• Crammed more games into a contracted season

 

Same next year? Sign me up. 

 

[Koke]

Great season. Honestly the FA Cup has cheered me up no end. Today was a terrible display and we messed up but we can't understate how huge winning the cup was. 

 

I will say though that questions has be to asked regarding BR and some of his subs and tactics. Hopefully we won't see 5 at the back for a long time.

[foxes_rule1978]

1 minute ago, Dahnsouff said:

Whilst

• Winning the FA Cup for the first time in our history
• Finish with more points than last season
• Qualifying for the secondary European competition 

we 

• Lacked our best players due to injury at critical time/large slices of the season
• Fell foul of the lack of quality in their deputies
• Crammed more games into a contracted season

 

Same next year? Sign me up. 

 

True that, if I was handed this season every season I think I would take it. The worry of not being top 4 is about who leaves and who we sign, so this summer will be telling 

Edited 23 May 2021 by foxes_rule1978

[AjcW]

At the end of the day. We’re a 5th place side over the course of it, especially the home form.
 

And we’d get raped in the champo even with additions because we need to get tougher mentally. Not sure how....

 

Need to take europa super serious next year though. Look at the two in the final, no reason that isn’t us next year.

 

Oh yeah... and we won the FA Cup  

[Unabomber]

I would say 9/10 but if we hadn’t won the fa cup then 7/10.

[Koke]

Had Chelsea won I think most people would be more relaxed. It's the fact that they lost and we didn't take advantage of it. It's painful.

[Chicago Foxile]

1) FA Cup winners for the first time in our history

2) Playing in Europe next season (all being well, we will be able to travel)

3) A lot of outstanding talent coming through

 

Writing as a fan since 1989 my synopsis is a grade A season! Looking forward to next already

[Muzzy_Larsson]

Gutting way to miss out on top 4 but it's important to take a step back and look at it as a whole.

 

First ever FA Cup win and proving last season's top 5 finish wasn't a flash in the pan. Arguably the second best season in the history of the club.

 

8/10

[teblin]

Big shame we didn’t do it again. If we had all of our players fit. Which is a big ask of course. I believe we would’ve finished 3rd maybe even 2nd.

 

5th place and an FA cup. In 5 years we have had 3 too 5 finishes. A FA win, a premier league title and champions league 1/4 finals. 
 

this is the greatest period in our history, enjoy it I’ll still think it can get better with a few additions. 

[LaCiudad]

Brilliant FA Cup winning season. Not to say today wasn't disappointing, but last Saturday was one of the best ever!

 

Need a break now...

Edited 23 May 2021 by LaCiudad

[sphericalfox]

Quick summary

 

https://sphericalfox.wordpress.com/2021/05/23/the-cudbes/

[Matt]

As I’ve said a few times this season we’ve come on leaps and bounds from last season, some people thought we were fantastic last season, I beg to differ we were largely too slow, too passive and still far too much tippy tappy, sideways and backwards stuff.

 

This season we learnt and moved on from that, we’ve had our moments but there’s been far less of it in the main. We learnt, that’s all I ask.

 

I ask for us to learn again, what’s cost us is when we’ve played like that on a few occasions, failure to address and change it during games.

 

The Chelsea game was another game where we were hardly in it.

 

We couldn’t have any much more go in our favour other than the referee randomly awarding us a goal.

 

Today we were in it, we looked decent and then for some reason let Spurs back in when it was all going our way. Sickening.

 

On more than a couple of occasions this season we’ve gone into gave to passive, too slow, too much sideways and backwards and only decide to wake up and go for it once we go a goal down, then we actually wake the **** up and go forward, try but usually by then it’s too little too late.

 

The FA Cup and Europa league I’ll take (I have no other option really! It is what it is). It’s a trophy we’ve longed for,  it’s success, it’s progression, and a very good season all in all.

 

However you also can’t hide away from the fact we’ve been in the top 4 for pretty much the whole on 2 seasons except the 2 weeks that count - the final week of both season which is quite simply sickening and disgusting.

 

For me it’s quite easy to pinpoint where it’s gone wrong and it’s no coincidence the way we played in those games we can pinpoint have cost us.

 

The worry is it can all quite easily fall apart, Champions League somewhat secures us abit, (more so than our drop off in successive seasons it goes without saying) helps us keep players, helps us attract players, failure to do so means things can go either way and in the last 2 seasons we’re not going to have a better opportunity, these big clubs are only going to wounded and able to compete with for so long, we need to seize our moment of which we threw 2 glorious chances away.

 

As I’ve said certain players here don’t really care if we make champions league or not in some way it actually harms their career as they will have their eye on the big clubs, they’ll get their moves, same goes with Rodgers - that doesn’t mean our drop off is on purpose or they’re not trying but it ultimately doesn’t matter to them or not if we make Champions League.

 

The FA Cup sweetens the sour taste for this seasons drop off compared to last season’s drop off but only just.

[Trelleh]

Not getting any business done during the January window for the second year running has cost us yet again. We didn’t learn from last years mistakes when we were down to our bare bones and couldn’t see the job through, criminal.

[Nod.E]

Brighton lost 3 more games than us in the league. 

 

Yes, we had a lot of injuries.

Yes, 5th is good 'for Leicester'.

Yes, we won the FA Cup.

 

However if we're all honest, we weren't good enough to clinch Champions League football this season. Too many abject displays, too many underperforming players, and too many common shortcomings. We're very frustrating.

 

[Mickyblueeyes]

Top 5 and a cup is always a good season. The result today with Chelsea losing makes it feel like the end of the world. Let’s see if anyone goes in the summer. If not, with players coming back and a few signings, we go again.

[Guest Bert Fill]

22 minutes ago, TWUKO said:

My main concern is that I'm looking at the table and thinking are we really only 1 point better than West ham?

Yes. Although we did win the cup and also had Europe, so also probably no.

[Guest Col city fan]

I wonder whether this is what people would have said 6/7 weeks ago? Can someone put up the 'Will we finish top four' thread and lets see how many people have changed their minds

[Guest ttfn]

In terms of the performance of the team it’s been a good season. Winning the FA Cup for the first time in the club’s history is a huge achievement and we’d have to call it a good season on that basis whether we’d finished 5th or 17th. Obviously the league form for the last couple of months have been annoying but we got injuries to the wrong players (Justin and Barnes) at the wrong time.

 

On a personal level I’ve found it to be an incredibly disappointing season despite our success:

 

Covid has left a dark cloud over the whole season, both in terms of the number of people suffering directly or indirectly and of course the empty stadiums. I struggled to “get up” for any game this season and the whole thing felt more like a commercial exercise than a sporting one.

 

Covid has also exacerbated the existing problems in the sport. At all levels football clubs are struggling for finance. Some in the lower leagues turned to the government for furlough, others further down the chain have turned to their communities. And of course on two separate occasions this season the “big 6” sought to consolidate their financial dominance with moves that threatened to undermine the integrity and spirit of competition first of the Premier League and then of the entire European football structure. Of course no meaningful action was taken on either occasion, the importance of “protecting the brand” and “not punishing the fans” essentially proving once and for all that these six clubs are above the law. As much as we’ve collapsed at the death 2 seasons running, any reasonable form of sporting governance would have seen meaningful points deductions to one or more of our competitors in both seasons. The latest news suggests a fine in the region of the value of 1/3 of a Manchester City reserve full back or perhaps one star player’s annual salary.

 

Sky, BT and the rest of the media’s moralising proved itself completely vacuous almost immediately, the relentless pandering to the supporters of the big 6 and the established narrative coming to a nadir a couple of weeks ago, and a couple of weeks after the ESL attempt, when Sky managed to devote 50 minutes of the pre-match hour on Fulham v Burnley to talking about the big 6.

We’re now into summer transfer talk season, Harry Kane being sold by the media because he “deserves to win trophies”, nobody even stopping to think for a moment that maybe there’s a reason he hasn’t won trophies when surrounded by some decent players at Spurs.

 

We’re arriving at a Euros with virtually every player set to participate absolutely exhausted. A euros played in half empty stadiums all over Europe running roughshod over Covid rules in place either by having way more fans inside stadiums than local governments indicate is safe in any other part of society or, here, way fewer.

 

And to cap it all off FIFA are now proposing to move the World Cup to every 2 years.

 

So as much as this has been a great season on paper for the club I will struggle to look back on it fondly on the whole.