2016-17 : that was the season that was

Apart from the remaining micro targets (squad take note) , we are done and dusted.
So here we go ...

PL :

Chelsky have played well, no disputing that.
What ultimately has let Spurs down has been the AWAY form.
One of the traits of a PL top 4 finisher is to win at least half of the away
games. Spurs have only won 7 to date, and winning the final two are
now moot.


UEFA :

Not a good display in either CL or EL.
Cannot blame the Wembley factor that much. The squad however was
nowhere near close enough to up and running at the period of the CL
group stages.


Cups :

FA Cup : generally reasonable squad rotation.
League Cup : the line-up against the Poool was poor.

 

The last two league games could be important for a number of players.
It would also be nice to see the season out in the right manner.
We've got a number of good records to protect, too.
Not incredibly important, but a good marker to set.

 

The team sheets for the last two games will be revealing.

I thought the last 15 minutes summed up why we need Walker (or equivilant). Trips has done ok but he lacks the presence, speed and power that Walker brings (most of the time). However, the morose, lethargic, hands-in-pocket performance during the ceremony was not a positive indication for Kyle being here next season.

 

Ditching the Europa League before the final third of the PL season
began IMHO had a significant effect on being able to push Chelsky so far.

We did not have the scheduling issue of having to play so many
consecutive games after the league leaders. That helped put more
pressure on Chelsky than was the case last season with Leicester.

 

Sometimes I think we miss the simple tricks as a club. Last Summer I was feeling that we needed experience. I wanted Defoe...having that kind of pedigree coming off the bench to fill in for Kane when he was injured would have tied us over till Kane returned. Defoe is a goal machine and would have bagged a few for us. I also wanted an experienced CB...could have done with him when Verts/Toby have been out. As the season has progressed the main difference between Chelsea and Us has been squad depth. Conte is the only manager to have used every sub in every game this season. He can rely on quality coming off the bench. These are little details that go a long way in the course of a 38 game season.

FA Cup....I think we messed up...missed a chance. Once again it was the quality off the bench that was the difference.

 

Not having European games was a big advantage, they were also very lucky with injuries (as we were last year). They haven't got that deep a squad, but they've not needed to this year.

 

We know from painful experience that the margins for error in getting
a PL top 4 slot are small. We are similarly learning that the margins for
winning the PL are even smaller.

So what to do ??

IMHO there has to be a cut-off date for incoming summer transfers.
Unless there is another VDV near the end begging to be had, I want the
senior squad more or less defined ASAP so that they all get the maximum
pre-season training and playing time TOGETHER.

On the Wembley front, I assume Pochettino will have to increase the
fitness regime even more so that the standards of the current MF pressing
game can be done on the larger Wembley pitch for about 25 home games.

On the subs front, Pochettino needs to be a lot smarter.
The MF run the most yards, therefore you want to be subbing them more
frequently to give the squad players match time. I also believe that subject
to injuries, you should have two of your subs on by 75 mins and hold the
third until the last 10 mins (in case there is an injury) .

 

Yeah true no Europe helped, we weren't really in it for long either...but long enough to have an affect no doubt. I just think we can match them by being savvy, don't have to spend millions. Get Defoe, a few of them draws in Kane's absence would have been wins. Instead we were all hoping on Janssen.

I just think we need to be cleverer, the fine margins are very frustrating.

 

Prem:
Had Chelsea have had European games, I truly think things may have panned out differently but no point talking of IFs and BUTs, they were the better team this season so deservedly won the title.

We were excellent though, a thorough joy to watch. We got shafted by a lot of injuries in the early months which massively disrupted our rhythm but we've just cemented 2nd place having won 13 out of 14 games, an incredible feat, topped by the fact we haven't lost at The Lane the whole season in our final year there.

Europe:
Woeful. Wasn't helped by the injuries that I've already mentioned but the performances of many individuals and as a collective was a far cry from what we saw in the Prem. We embarrassed ourselves, thankfully we have a chance to put things right next season.

Domestics:
League Cup - Played a rotated XI vs a rotated Pool XI at Anfield, they came out on top. A shame young Harrison didn't take that glorious chance he had on his debut, otherwise things may have turned out differently.
FA Cup - Played well in the games but was undone in the Semi by some poor refereeing, poor selection (Son for Davies at LWB) and two cracking goals that killed the tie.

On the whole an excellent campaign, naturally gutted not to have won silverware as I think this team deserved something but we've improved from last year and with this manager in charge, I believe we'll continue to improve and hopefully bag a trophy sooner rather than later. A couple of squad additions is all that's really needed, first XI is practically impossible to improve on unless players at Barca/ Real/ Bayern/ Juve etc suddenly decide they want to play in that lily white shirt of ours but if we can just add a bit of strength in depth then I see no reason why we can't be a bigger force next season.

 

It's hard to criticise a team with 80 points from 36 games for not being consistent enough, but in the context of pursuing a team who have won so many games, the drop in form/results in October/November was costly.
The defence was consistently excellent all season, but the team was short of goals in the period mentioned.
Away results at top eight clubs were significant too - W0 D4 L3.
Kane, Alli and Eriksen have all performed very well this season overall, but all three have had dips in form, albeit for short periods.
In October nobody was scoring many goals when Kane was absent in draws v WBA, Bournemouth and Leicester.
I suppose to win the league these days, you need to hit the ground running at the start of the season, beat all the teams you should beat and be competitive home and away v top six teams. You can only get away with two or three bad results.
It's about fine margins - but that makes a difference at the top.

 

So if Utd do win the EL (if), would you sooner have won two trophies, but finished 6th in the PL, going into next season off the pace for top 4 never mind the title or are you more content to have performed excellently to come 2nd, but won nothing, with a realistic chance of winning the title and/or other trophies next season (but no guarantee, of course)?

 

I'd rather have the trophies and about 300m to spend on Mino Raiola's players!

Honestly though, I think that you have to go with the silverware.
We've done well, but got nothing for it.
The fans have largely enjoyed the season, though. I'd suggest that's probably not true of Utd.

 

Agree with PNP - trophies every time. However I would say we are more relaxed with our Champs League Group Stage in the bag, whereas your lot don't know if you'll be in EL or CL yet.

 

In a league as competitive as the PL, I've always felt that final position tells you much more about the actual quality of a team than any trophy other than the CL. Arsenal have demonstrated this superbly in recent years, with 2 (potentially 3) FA cups masking a terminal decline in league performance. Same could be said of many teams who have won the domestic trophies over the years - Wigan and B'ham were even relegated with them!

Mourinho excels in cups because his ultra-cautious approach suits tournament football (where teams often progress off the odd away goal. Indeed, it is interesting to note that he made hard work of your group stage precisely because it resembles a league more than a KO tournament). His strength in tournaments is at the same time your weakness in the league. Far too cautious and conservative leading to far too many draws.

If given a straight choice between United's season with 2 trophies or Spurs' with none, I'd choose the latter every time.

 

Champions League pays the big bucks. With our owner and income we can't realistically prioritise winning the 2 domestic cups. Collectively the financial return on that is £10m. Chuck in winning the EL as well and it still brings half the financial reward of getting knocked out of the CL at 'The Arsenal Stage'.

Whilst we owe hundreds of millions of pounds on the new stadium, the £50m or £60m from 8 games in the CL is where we have to concentrate our focus and make sure we're getting our shout covered in the gravy, season in and season out. I want to win stuff but it's no panacea. We won the 2008 League Cup and our players ****ed off elsewhere. Mourinho can point at the League Cup with pride because United have huge resources come what may but they could buy Bale for what losing the EL final will cost them. Even for them not being in the CL would cause great pain.

It's **** but it's PL and CL as priorities for a few seasons unless ENIC are prepared to get in additional investment. Comparing what United can afford to do is as pointless as wondering why we didn't try to outbid them for Pogba.

 

I'd rather have our team and our manager than yours (and our new stadium, yours is toilet). If it means only coming second and not having anything to show for it, so be it.

With reference to your stadium, I've sat in row ZZ in the away supporters end, it was like watching a game of Subbuteo. (Younger posters look it up on wiki)

 

If it requires me to watch a Jose Mourinho team every week, followed by his press conferences I couldn't give a stuff what we won. Danny Blanchflower had it right....

"The game is about glory. It's about doing things in style, with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom."

That was written for United these days, there's no joy in watching that. All true United fans know it, too.

 

I've posted comments elsewhere on the board expressing these sentiments. The quality of football produced this season has been poor.
But in the future, the season will probably simply be remembered as one where Utd won two trophies and completed the set of all major trophies at home and abroad.
Putting wins in the Charity/Community Shield aside, I think a win in the EL would also mean that Utd will overtake Liverpool in the list of most major trophies won - which obviously brings a great deal of satisfaction to Utd fans too.

 

What annoys me sooooooooo much is that we are still so Spursy; if not in our own performances then in the way things turn out for us.
I've said for a number of years that even if we finished above Woolwich , somehow they would find a way to outdo us.

We had a great chance to finish above them,and had lasagnegate.
Last season we blew it up north.
When we finished top 4, we still didn't qualify for CL as Chelski undeservedly won the thing with the worlds top players missing penalties-Robben in Semi final and then Messi in the final.
This season , we have been brilliant and got enough points that in previous seasons would have seen us crowned champions but no, Chelski have to have a brilliant season as well ( not having CL to distract them ) and possibly break the record for number of wins in a season.

SPURSY