7th with a game in hand, and they have been the second most form team in the league.
Let’s not pretend they’ve finished 7th just to make your argument. They have a great chance of 5th.
If they finish 5th, for the 3rd time in 4 years, with the 3rd highest net spend and you wanna call that “bad”? You know they were 7th in 2018-19 right? So surely you have to count in the catch up? You can’t simply expect a 7th placed team to have the 3rd net spend and instantly become 3rd can you?
The 6 teams above them didn’t just sell every player and start from scratch.
5th or at a push, 4th seems about par. And the longer they spend the 3rd highest, especially with a top sporting director in, you’d expect them to slowly climb year on year.
And if that counts as “bad”, what the funk do you call Everton? Or Chelsea? Or United? Or Liverpool?