Erik Ten Hag has done ok but how much of that is down to him and how much is that down to Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea having terrible seasons? The true test will be next season when those teams will improve and with the pressure all on Erik Ten Hag especially if he spunks another £150M-£200M up the wall and doesn't improve on this season... questions will rightly be asked.
the expectations next season must be higher.. you can't settle for Top 4 year after year. Not when you sign players like Casemiro who's at the twilight of his career and will need replacing probably after next season. Those are signings for immediate improvement.
I feel like the football has been dire at times this season. And I hope Ten Hag can improve that. Ajax played sexy football under Ten Hag didn't they?
Your first point is a bit silly and I’ve heard this type of comment elsewhere too. When has there ever been a season where all the big 6 teams have had “non-terrible” seasons?
75 points is a good points total for what we expected at the start of the season, where our aim was top 4. Below is where 75 points would get you in the past 5 seasons:
21/22 = 3rd
20/21 = 2nd
19/20 = 3rd
18/19 = 3rd
17/18 = 4th
We earned top 4 fair and square, and comfortably in the end. To say it was down to others being terrible is not fair on us or ETH.
I agree, next season will be big test for him if he is backed with that level of funds. This season, we’ve largely improved the way we play and we’re a better team to watch (it couldn’t have got worse tbh). I believe ETH adapted his plan early on after realising he couldn’t come straight in and start playing like Ajax. The squad simply wasn’t technical enough and it was too big a change to make. Also with the fixture schedule and games coming thick and fast, and a World Cup mid-season, there was restricted time on the training ground to develop our play throughout the season. With how far we went in the cups ETH rightly stuck with a winning formula, even if it’s not exactly his long-term vision for how he wants to play.
I’m very confident with another full pre-season, more technical players added and less technical players sold (Maguire, Fred, McTominay, AWB? De Gea?) and ideally our main signings wrapped up before August for once, we’ll see a big change this year and dominate games better.
Again I agree, simply competing for top 4 is not enough and there will be an expectation to be in a closer title challenge next year with similar performances in the cups. Especially as you say with signings like Casemiro, we need to capitalise and go up a gear next year.
Overall I agree with what you say, apart from the comment about us being lucky to get top 4… We earned it. Bring on next season!