The Premier League Thread

If you want to isolate the one sentence from my post to make it look a bit silly, you're at liberty to do so. I can't stop you. But it doesn't mean anything if you just counter my opinion with 'nonsense'. Of course people are entitled to feel disappointed.

 

That's pretty bad stuff that's he's allowed that to happen. I notice Richard Scudamore was at Stamford Bridge today. I wonder what he thought. I suspect he's pro that kind of stuff.

 

Well in my opinion it is nonsense.

Who exactly should we be finishing above?

The top 6 are streets ahead, and Everton have a much better squad too.

I stand by my statement that if you consider 8th and a cup final a disappointment then you're supporting the wrong club, and you'll likely be disappointed most seasons.

 

The fat bloke got fired for eating a pie this season. Remember le tiss tried to punt the ball out for a throw from kick off because he agreed to.

 

So not only did today sum up our season, it summed up the entire league below 7th. We won just one of final eight games, and yet managed to climb up into - and hold onto - 8th place.

 

It's pretty remarkable. From matchweek 30 on, the final games of the season for each club from 8th - 17th went as follows:

Bournemouth - 12 points in 8.
West Brom - 1 in 8(!)
West Ham - 12 in 8.
Leicester - 11 in 9.
Stoke - 8 in 8.
Palace - 10 in 9.
Swansea - 13 in 8.
Burnley - 8 in 8.

Us - 12 from 10.


Our meandering mediocrity matched the haul of all but one team, and that one started in the relegation zone. The universe conspired perfectly to ensure our 8th place finish.

 

And yet still there are people out of who are mentioning our 8th placed finish as if it's something to celebrate or a target achieved.

There is an utter world of difference between finishing 8th on 46 points, and finishing 8th on 60 points.

 

Regardless of the points, we're the 8th best team in the country. Would you have taken that in September?

 

8th place, absolutely. The seven teams above us are all better than us. I'd love us to be finishing higher, but I don't think we can be expecting or demanding it. 8th is our place, and we achieved it.

But I never would have taken 46 points, and so few goals. If you're going to offer losing and drawing Stoke, losing and drawing Hull, drawing Sunderland at home, drawing Bmouth at home, drawing Watford at home, losing to WBA at home, and losing to West Ham at home (on top of losing to Swansea, losing to Burnley, losing to Palace), then no I would not have taken that.

Not a single one of those teams finished in the top seven. You can have your three points against Everton, and four draws vs Utd, City and Liverpool back, if you want. Seven points from those seven teams hardly balances out all those lost points to the 12 sides below us.

I cannot buy the argument that 8th is 8th, regardless of whether it's 8th with 46 points and very few goals, or 8th with 60 points and a lot more goals.

 

As well as that I find it weird how the relegation race seemed so competitive for so long, and ended in a yawning 6 point chasm. It's only been less close once (8 in 2001).

 

I agree the home form has been very bad, particularly regarding goals scored. Think it's 17 goals in 19 games? With 9 in 3 of those so 8 in the other 16? Hang on that can't be right?

I'm just not sure what people were expecting this year, I actually thought we'd be a lot lower when the Summer window closed with our lack of striker and EL etc. but 8th and a cup final is pretty good to me. I wouldn't have been that disappointed to finish bottom half really.

As we've discussed plenty of times this season it's been a very poor league this year outside the big clubs, when you look at some of the games you list above and the fact we didn't beat any of the top 6 it's a miracle we finished 8th to be honest.

I can see both sides to be honest, I do see 8th as us being the 8th best side in the league, the highest we could realistically achieve this season. But it's so tight in midtable then I don't think it tells us a lot about next season for any of those teams. I'd honestly say that from us down to Palace it's quite possible nearly any of those clubs could pick up 50 points next year or could possibly go down.

That's why it's so vital that we get it right this Summer.

So so tight in that middle pack, been a very strange season. Kind of feels like it never got going in a weird way?

 

If you are into this sort of thing, theres some nicely presented stats on the PL season here: https://experimental361.com/category/divisions/premier-league/

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The number of Liverpool fans in the 'Boro section at the game today, you can see them celebrating after Coutinho's goal

 

Arsenal scored more goals and got more points than they did last season, yet are widely felt to have failed by not getting into a CL spot.

The weirdness of last season has skewed our perception a little tbh, particularly of how 'well' Koeman did for us then.

 

I said at the start of the season, it's a weird situation where it is seen as impossible for all 6 teams to have a 'good' season.

The team finishing 5th was always destined to be described as a 'failure', no matter how well they played. It's the kind of reporting that keeps journalists in jobs

 

Especially when they can tap directly into the "fans'" expectations and self-entitlement.

 

Anyone else think the 'guard of honour' for Terry was ridiculous?

It's a top flight football match not a ****ing testimonial

Chelsea have form for this too.

 

Didn't Sunderland admit they put the ball out on purpose and were in on it all from before the game? So I presume the Referee was also aware. Absolute joke and I bet if a lower league team had done that, the FA would be down on them like a ton of bricks.

Plus, John Terry, yeah, the bloke who admitted in court to being racist to Anton Ferdinand. Who got Wayne Bridge's girlfriend pregnant and then insisted she had an abortion. Who slept around behind his wife's back. Who likes pissing into pint glasses in nightclubs. Legend. Leader. Twat.

 

Yeah the fact Sunderland agreed to it makes it even more of farce. Love to see a punishment handed out but you like you can't see it.

Agree on the assessment of Terry too, cringey as **** as he's hailed as a hero when he's an utter ****.

 

I expect the Chelsea players weren't celebrating his legacy, they were celebrating that he no longer "gets a turn" on their girlfriends/wives.