8th place

[ceredigion]

I would point out that in a league history that goes back 128 years to 1894 we've only finished higher than 8th on 10 occasions. It's also the first time that we have ever had 5 consecutive finishes in the top 9, which I think is significant. It needs to be remembered that these days it's very difficult for any club outside the now traditional top 6 to break into it. Since our return to the PL in 2015 it's only happened on 4 occasions and 3 of those times were us in 15/16, 19/20 and 20/21. The other was West Ham also in 20/21. So on the whole I don't think 8th should be seen as a disappointment. 

 

From my point of view the biggest disappointments were the manner of our exits from the League Cup, the FA Cup and the Europa League. We came close to knocking out Liverpool in the League Cup but couldn't cross the line, put in a shocking performance against Forest in the FA Cup which we were the holders of and we should have done better against the motley crew of teams we had in the Europa League group.

 

The positives have been winning the Community Shield against Man City and getting another Wembley victory under our belt, being 1 of only 2 teams to beat Liverpool in the league and the away performances against Spartak Moscow and PSV Eindhoven. We had a good go at the Europa Conference and ended up playing 13 matches in European football this season which probably emptied the tanks with an injury prone squad. Also we have finished the season strongly and scored a lot of goals and seen Jamie Vardy become our 3rd highest scorer. If he can stay fit next season we may seem him break 150 PL goals.

[TrentFox]

Well, that’s footie for the year. The basketball has also finished and the rugby isn’t far behind. Still, at least we have the County to look forward to 😳🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃

[SafewayFox]

7 minutes ago, ceredigion said:

I would point out that in a league history that goes back 128 years to 1894 we've only finished higher than 8th on 10 occasions. It's also the first time that we have ever had 5 consecutive finishes in the top 9, which I think is significant. It needs to be remembered that these days it's very difficult for any club outside the now traditional top 6 to break into it. Since our return to the PL in 2015 it's only happened on 4 occasions and 3 of those times were us in 15/16, 19/20 and 20/21. The other was West Ham also in 20/21. So on the whole I don't think 8th should be seen as a disappointment. 

 

From my point of view the biggest disappointments were the manner of our exits from the League Cup, the FA Cup and the Europa League. We came close to knocking out Liverpool in the League Cup but couldn't cross the line, put in a shocking performance against Forest in the FA Cup which we were the holders of and we should have done better against the motley crew of teams we had in the Europa League group.

 

The positives have been winning the Community Shield against Man City and getting another Wembley victory under our belt, being 1 of only 2 teams to beat Liverpool in the league and the away performances against Spartak Moscow and PSV Eindhoven. We had a good go at the Europa Conference and ended up playing 13 matches in European football this season which probably emptied the tanks with an injury prone squad. Also we have finished the season strongly and scored a lot of goals and seen Jamie Vardy become our 3rd highest scorer. If he can stay fit next season we may seem him break 150 PL goals.

Top post mate 👍🏻

[whoareyaaa]

2 minutes ago, TrentFox said:

Well, that’s footie for the year. The basketball has also finished and the rugby isn’t far behind. Still, at least we have the County to look forward to 😳🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃

Normally we would have a world cup to watch but its in the bloody winter.

[Mr Weller]

20 minutes ago, ceredigion said:

I would point out that in a league history that goes back 128 years to 1894 we've only finished higher than 8th on 10 occasions. It's also the first time that we have ever had 5 consecutive finishes in the top 9, which I think is significant. It needs to be remembered that these days it's very difficult for any club outside the now traditional top 6 to break into it. Since our return to the PL in 2015 it's only happened on 4 occasions and 3 of those times were us in 15/16, 19/20 and 20/21. The other was West Ham also in 20/21. So on the whole I don't think 8th should be seen as a disappointment. 

 

From my point of view the biggest disappointments were the manner of our exits from the League Cup, the FA Cup and the Europa League. We came close to knocking out Liverpool in the League Cup but couldn't cross the line, put in a shocking performance against Forest in the FA Cup which we were the holders of and we should have done better against the motley crew of teams we had in the Europa League group.

 

The positives have been winning the Community Shield against Man City and getting another Wembley victory under our belt, being 1 of only 2 teams to beat Liverpool in the league and the away performances against Spartak Moscow and PSV Eindhoven. We had a good go at the Europa Conference and ended up playing 13 matches in European football this season which probably emptied the tanks with an injury prone squad. Also we have finished the season strongly and scored a lot of goals and seen Jamie Vardy become our 3rd highest scorer. If he can stay fit next season we may seem him break 150 PL goals.

Yes but context is everything. We became a much richer club when our current owners arrived so those historical comparisons aren’t altogether valid.

 

Fans are a little disappointed because it’s obvious the team has more about it than the mid season form delivered. It is perfectly possible this team could’ve finished 6th or reached the conference or even Europa final never mind beaten Forest in the FA Cup but in the games that mattered we fell short. 
 

8th is still highly creditable and certainly nothing to be downcast about but it’s no use denying that most fans feel a bit underwhelmed even if they know that historically it’s a really good finish.

 

 

[Happy Fox]

30 minutes ago, TrentFox said:

Well, that’s footie for the year. The basketball has also finished and the rugby isn’t far behind. Still, at least we have the County to look forward to 😳🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃🥃

Huddersfield to beat the Redshite 

[ceredigion]

43 minutes ago, Mr Weller said:

Yes but context is everything. We became a much richer club when our current owners arrived so those historical comparisons aren’t altogether valid.

 

Fans are a little disappointed because it’s obvious the team has more about it than the mid season form delivered. It is perfectly possible this team could’ve finished 6th or reached the conference or even Europa final never mind beaten Forest in the FA Cup but in the games that mattered we fell short. 
 

8th is still highly creditable and certainly nothing to be downcast about but it’s no use denying that most fans feel a bit underwhelmed even if they know that historically it’s a really good finish.

 

 

I think it was better for us to finish 8th than 7th this season. Qualifying for the Europa Conference League is a poisoned chalice and I think West Ham will find that out next season. Tottenham had the right approach to that competition. They threw in the towel and were happy to be disqualified for it and now they will be in the Champions League next season.

[FerrisBueller]

Quite happy with 8th to be fair, a bit like the last few seasons in reverse. We weren’t better than the teams above us (obviously) so it’s about right. No Europe next year so with a good summer of recruitment hopefully we can push for the European spots again next year.

[st albans fox]

We accumulated 10 points in the last four games of the season

 

the previous two seasons it took us the last ten games to get 10 points !   Fwiw, we took fifteen points from the last ten games. In both of the two previous seasons, that return would have seen us qualify for the CL …..

[Ric Flair]

Cannot underestimate the mood around the club for finishing the season on a high. Some may argue if we'd ended up 14th (could easily have) then we may have changed manager and in the place would get an inevitable lift anyway but I don't think we'd have gotten rid of Rodgers and then we'd be very fearful of what was to come.

 

Regardless of what Rodgers will tell anyone that will listen, it's not been a good season, there's been plenty that's gone wrong and only a handful of positives but yet we still have gotten our noses ahead of many of our rivals outside the top 6, so that's testament to what we do have here and although 52 points is not the standard we are capable of or what we should return, let's demand more as a club (like the likes of Castagne and Schmeichel have gone on record in recent weeks) and I think we'll be alright next year.

 

Big summer recruitment and coaching. No excuses.

[Corky]

1 hour ago, Ric Flair said:

Cannot underestimate the mood around the club for finishing the season on a high. Some may argue if we'd ended up 14th (could easily have) then we may have changed manager and in the place would get an inevitable lift anyway but I don't think we'd have gotten rid of Rodgers and then we'd be very fearful of what was to come.

 

Regardless of what Rodgers will tell anyone that will listen, it's not been a good season, there's been plenty that's gone wrong and only a handful of positives but yet we still have gotten our noses ahead of many of our rivals outside the top 6, so that's testament to what we do have here and although 52 points is not the standard we are capable of or what we should return, let's demand more as a club (like the likes of Castagne and Schmeichel have gone on record in recent weeks) and I think we'll be alright next year.

 

Big summer recruitment and coaching. No excuses.

Yeah, the lap after the game was really positive.

[Guest Chocolate Teapot]

Which chopper said Newcastle were definitely going to finish ahead of us?

[Foxdiamond]

2 hours ago, ceredigion said:

I think it was better for us to finish 8th than 7th this season. Qualifying for the Europa Conference League is a poisoned chalice and I think West Ham will find that out next season. Tottenham had the right approach to that competition. They threw in the towel and were happy to be disqualified for it and now they will be in the Champions League next season.

Just happy Spurs did not win the cup a year after us. Will be at least 15 years wait for a trophy for them 

[Miquel The Work Geordie]

It sounds insane if you retrospectively look at our season "on paper" but personally I think it's been a forgettable misery of a campaign and the league position covers up a lot in terms of style of play and actual enjoyment of watching your team play.

 

Anyone saying "didn't mind 8th under O'Neill" etc etc has completely lost a grasp of context.

 

KDH has been a genuine positive, Maddison has looked a different player - both outstanding and a fully fit Wes going into a new season is a huge plus but there are surely big reservations about a potential "rebuild" given this manager has frozen out several players who cost substantial amounts we simply can't afford to waste?

 

[Beachyboy]

5 hours ago, Aus Fox said:

Is it? Do we genuinely when you look at it subjectively, have a better squad than anyone who finished above us?

Especially, when you consider how many first choice players have missed large chunks of the season.

it's just not finishing above West Ham, an them making the Europa semi rather than our Conference semi, that gripes me, it's been an ok season, i'm not sure European football does us many favours with the domestic competitions, so hopefully we make a semi final minimum next season an finish 5th/6th next season, we are just lacking that bit of quality to go any higher.

[Beachyboy]

1 minute ago, Miquel The Work Geordie said:

It sounds insane if you retrospectively look at our season "on paper" but personally I think it's been a forgettable misery of a campaign and the league position covers up a lot in terms of style of play and actual enjoyment of watching your team play.

 

Anyone saying "didn't mind 8th under O'Neill" etc etc has completely lost a grasp of context.

 

KDH has been a genuine positive, Maddison has looked a different player - both outstanding and a fully fit Wes going into a new season is a huge plus but there are surely big reservations about a potential "rebuild" given this manager has frozen out several players who cost substantial amounts we simply can't afford to waste?

 

If somebody says "they didn't mind 8th under MON" that is the context, now the fans, with the squad, how Arsenal/Spurs have been, an also Man utd/ West ham, i'd say 5th-7th should be our mentality as supporters going into every season, we are slowly getting rid of this small club syndrome but it still lingers in supporters, management, you adjust your expectations accordingly, 6th or better should be the goal next season. 

[FOXSE]

Our injury crisis this season, especially with it being concentrated around defence, to come through that, with a European campaign to contend with and finish 8th, is actually very good! Vardy missed a third of the season!

 

If we are relatively injury free next season, we could do very well.

Edited 23 May 2022 by FOXSE

[PhillippaT]

10 minutes ago, Beachyboy said:

If somebody says "they didn't mind 8th under MON" that is the context, now the fans, with the squad, how Arsenal/Spurs have been, an also Man utd/ West ham, i'd say 5th-7th should be our mentality as supporters going into every season, we are slowly getting rid of this small club syndrome but it still lingers in supporters, management, you adjust your expectations accordingly, 6th or better should be the goal next season. 

The problem is that our A-team is good enough for top 4 - but our B-team is worse than we expected, and we've had to rely on too many of our B-team in the league this season...

[Golden Fox]

4 hours ago, ceredigion said:

I would point out that in a league history that goes back 128 years to 1894 we've only finished higher than 8th on 10 occasions.

I'm wrestling with this, as we are a different club now:

 

We didn't finish in the top 7 until '27/28 & we then did it 3 years in a row.

 

Then, in the next 85 years between 1929 & 2015 we did it 3 times: 4th, 6th & 7th (and not at all in those years under MON).

 

Then, in the last 7 years, we've finished 1st, 5th & 5th, so we are a different level of club completely now to the club we were for those 85 years.

 

Which is it more relevant to compare this season to: to those 85 years or to the last 7???

 

The majority of my Leicester supporting life has been before the last 7 years, and 8th under MON felt like the peak, so the last 7 years have been an incredible ride, and it feels ridiculous to not be happy with 8th - but then again, its only the 4th best placing out of the last 7 years, its the definition of mediocrity!

 

But I'm inclined to think football teams go in waves and its cyclical & you can't keep at peak level forever - best example is Liverpool who finally won the league & then dropped off the map with a couple of injuries: only to come back again. I had the feeling that the emotion of last year with the number of big games in winning the cup and trying to keep the top 4 challenge was draining - and as we were looking to start this year, the Fofana injury was a real killer, and I feel like the team has been running on empty for most the year: like a punch-drunk fighter asking who was coming next in the Europa League and swinging for them while just getting through league games knowing European places were out of reach. But, like the Liverpool analogy, we can bounce back quickly after a pause.

 

The big key for me is how we respond next year. Its a massive year for us with no Europe, less World Cup players than a lot of other teams and a good chance to go at it healthy and refreshed.

 

So I think oddly, the way to really judge this season will be what happens next year. If we have a good year, and look at this as a "down year" - when we won the Community Shield, had a run in Europe and a top half finish, we'll look back and appreciate it. If we can't improve on 8th and do nothing in the cups, we'll look back on this year as a turning point when we started going backwards. Not quite answering the op's question, but give it 12 months and I'll let you know! 

Edited 22 May 2022 by Golden Fox

[Big_Nige]

6 hours ago, Fox42 said:

As daft as it sounds, I think it’s a blessing we won’t be playing in Europe next season. I think given our rebuild and certain players that have either just recovered from injuries or are tired, we can do without a crammed fixture list for the first time in three years. Look at Arsenal & Wolves as examples. 

Not just that, but with a winter World Cup and a crammed fixture list because of it, I’d say if we’re going to miss out on Europe for a year then next season is the ideal one

[Dan LCFC]

8th isn't really bad in isolation but I don't think it's because we've been any good, albeit for a late pickup.

 

It actually looks like a missed opportunity the more you look at it. We were miles below our best and still ended up not all that far off Europe. We can get back there.

[KingsX]

8 hours ago, Samilktray said:

I can’t believe people still have the energy to tell us all they want Rodgers out. It’s exhausting reading it and he’s clearly not going anywhere at the moment 

 

I say this as somebody who would welcome a managerial change aswell 

 

You are able to look at it from a business perspective -- how such decisions are made. 

 

The club have invested a ton in Rodgers, and this was his only mediocre year’s work out of three.  The players have not downed tools.  Fofana and JJ re-signed. 

 

That said, I don’t believe areas of regression will be ignored.  The board are not fools.  They have recently taken back power from Rodgers in both recruitment and medicine.  Surely the obvious failures in defensive coaching will be similarly reviewed this summer, and some change made.  But it’s not realistic -- or wise IMO -- to think he’d be axed with three years and ₤30M left on his contract.

 

Edited 23 May 2022 by KingsX

[Nicolo Barella]

25 minutes ago, KingsX said:

 

You are able to look at it from a business perspective -- how such decisions are made. 

 

The club have invested a ton in Rodgers, and this was his only mediocre year’s work out of three.  The players have not downed tools.  Fofana and JJ re-signed. 

 

That said, I don’t believe areas of regression will be ignored.  The board are not fools.  They have recently taken back power from Rodgers in both recruitment and medicine.  Surely the obvious failures in defensive coaching will be similarly reviewed this summer, and some change made.  But it’s not realistic -- or wise IMO -- to think he’d be axed with three years and ₤30M left on his contract.

 

One of the most reasonable posts on the subject I have read on the site

[phoneticerror]

8th is fair. We’ve not been higher than that all season and we could have crashed and burned, but we ended reasonably well. On to next season!

Edited 23 May 2022 by phoneticerror

[StanSP]

Interesting stats here (barring xG). 

 

Competent but busy defence. Quiet attack. 

 

Languidly clinical is perhaps the shortest but best phrase to describe how it's been. 

 

Generally approach the game defensively, but we've scored 100+ goals in all comps...