The season where almost every top-10 club will feel disappointed ?

[lysglimt]

I looked at the table and started thinking - which clubs players and fans will feel really happy after this season ? Normally there are always quite a few clubs who overachieved, reached C.L, picked up a trophy etc - but this season ?

Man United - even an FA Cup-win wont save this season
Chelsea - same with them.
Newcastle - they can realistically end up 6th - but they never looked like reaching top-5 - surely they wont be happy either.
West Ham - could theoretically end 6th (even if they probably wont) - but they have had some shocking games.
Brighton - if they get into 10 - it will be ok, but not much more than that.
Aston Villa or Tottenham - one of these clubs will be ecstatic - the other will be heartbroken - even if it has been a brilliant season for whoever ends fifth. But the thought of losing out on C.L because the other teams failed - that will HURT
Liverpool, City or Arsenal - one will win the league and naturally be really happy. The other 2 (esp if its Liverpool and Arsenal) will feel it was a huge chance lost. And a cup-win wont save the season. And Liverpool will lose Klopp

So - we could quite likely end up with Tottenham or Aston Villa + the league winner feeling happy. Everyone else will for different reasons feel disappointed.

 

[Utd heap]

I'd be delighted if we won the FA Cup especially if it was beating City.

 

[Andy_Cole]

Yeh a cup win saves our season.

 

[Scandi Red]

So - we could quite likely end up with Tottenham or Aston Villa + the league winner feeling happy. Everyone else will for different reasons feel disappointed.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Although isn't this true for most seasons? Even under "ideal" circumstances at most 4 or 5 clubs will be happy. But there are also scenarios where only one team is happy with the season. Example:

City win the league. Liverpool, Arsenal and us finish top 4. Chelsea finish 5th and win the league cup. Tottenham finish 6th and win the FA cup. Newcastle 7th. 8th-10th, whatever. In this realistic scenario, only City fans would be happy I think.

 

[Plant0x84]

+1 more for a Cup win saving our season. A trophy, especially one as grand and engrained in our history as the FA Cup is always good.

 

[tomaldinho1]

If we win the FA cup by knocking out Pool (on Klopp's farewell tour) and beating 115fc in the final, that would be a superb end for me.

I'm not a fan of how we've played this season but the injuries have been a joke. I expect ETH leaves this summer and if he can deliver back to back trophy seasons, he's actually done ok (first post SAF manager to get top 4 & win a trophy in the same season, also first manager post SAF to deliver back to back trophy winning seasons). I think that last one is correct?

 

[noodlehair]

I think Villa and Spurs can both be happy regardless. West Ham fans should be too but they're a bunch of weirdos. Great season for Arse or Liverpool IF they won the league (although don't think either will).

I don't think a cup win saves our season at all although it would be a nice way to finish, and also funny if Arsenal and Liverpool finish with 1 league cup between them...but then I don't think us winning the cup is any more likely than either of them winning the league.

I think it's reflective of the fact it just hasn't been a good season in general quality wise. No one outside of the top 3 who you can actually confidently say are a decent team. Everyone's either rubbish or always has a potentiql 4-0 hiding to Brentford performamce up their sleeve.

 

[tomaldinho1]

Agree re West Ham fans @noodlehair
They are 2 points behind us and Newcastle, did well and were somewhat unlucky versus Leverkusen, and generally have overperformed if I think about their squad. Yet desperately unhappy with Moyes because they expect to be playing swashbuckling attacking football or something.
Villa will be delighted, they will have some form of European football next year almost guaranteed, they can finish CL places and they look like heavy favorites in my eyes for the ECL now.

 

[top1whoisman]

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Although isn't this true for most seasons? Even under "ideal" circumstances at most 4 or 5 clubs will be happy. But there are also scenarios where only one team is happy with the season. Example:

City win the league. Liverpool, Arsenal and us finish top 4. Chelsea finish 5th and win the league cup. Tottenham finish 6th and win the FA cup. Newcastle 7th. 8th-10th, whatever. In this realistic scenario, only City fans would be happy I think.

Spurs would be delighted with that. They haven’t won shit since 2008.

 

[Scandi Red]

Spurs would be delighted with that. They haven’t won shit since 2008.

Woah, that's worse than I thought. I forgot about the Kane curse.

 

[simonhch]

Agree re West Ham fans @noodlehair
They are 2 points behind us and Newcastle, did well and were somewhat unlucky versus Leverkusen, and generally have overperformed if I think about their squad. Yet desperately unhappy with Moyes because they expect to be playing swashbuckling attacking football or something.
Villa will be delighted, they will have some form of European football next year almost guaranteed, they can finish CL places and they look like heavy favorites in my eyes for the ECL now.

West Ham fans are indeed weird. They somehow think they are better than Moyes, who has them performing and competing at their best level in a really long time. Wouldn't be surprised if they end up letting him go, with delusions of grandeur, only to bring in a more expansive coach, and end up sliding down the table next season. It would be what they deserve. I'll be the first to give Moyes endless shit for the job he did here, but credit where it's due, he has done a brilliant job at West Ham with very limited resources. They'd be kicking on even better if they had backed him even a little bit in January.

I get that Moyes' teams are functional, rather than fantastic, but look at their squad; and look at how thin it is. And then remember you are West Ham, not Barcelona. He did really well with the additions of Alvarez and Ward Prowse to replace Rice, which has arguably made them an even better team than they were last season. If West Ham fans force him out, they are going to learn the meaning of the phrase, be careful what you wish for. If Paqueta leaves in the summer - which seems likely, and they get some swashbuckling coach to replace Moyes, I could easily see them being in a relegation scrap next year. Meanwhile, wee Dave will go on to another very mediocre, underperforming club and turn them into a solid top 8 team.

 

[noodlehair]

Agree re West Ham fans @noodlehair
They are 2 points behind us and Newcastle, did well and were somewhat unlucky versus Leverkusen, and generally have overperformed if I think about their squad. Yet desperately unhappy with Moyes because they expect to be playing swashbuckling attacking football or something.
Villa will be delighted, they will have some form of European football next year almost guaranteed, they can finish CL places and they look like heavy favorites in my eyes for the ECL now.

Yeah. Not forgetting they also sold Rice to Arsenal and also that the last time they finished higher than 6th was about 20 years ago, in the championship.

Their fans all go on about West Ham's traditions of playing this mythical type of football that no one has ever seen West Ham play.

Villa even if they miss out on CL have had a great season imo. Worst you could say if they didn't get 4th is they had a disappointing end to the season. But when you look at Tottenham fixtures (and the fact its tottenham), has to be there for Villa really

 

[caid]

I think United fans have a warped sense of success and that might be bleeding into how you think other teams will react to their season. Were never going to be happy unless we win the league so were going to be disappointed more often than not.
Arsenal and Liverpool should be happy really. The best you can expect is to keep pace with City and hope they feck up. City are better than them, if they do their job they'll finish ahead. They've both done their part.
City fans should be happy whatever the circumstances.
Spurs fans will be delighted however their season ends. They've been watching Mourinho and a disinterested Conte for years. Being entertaining will more than make up for only finishing 5th. They're used to disappointment anyway
Villa fans will be happy. Possible cup win for the first time in 30 odd years. 4th and 5th are both the high end of what they could reasonably hope to achieve.
We wont be happy because our season has been a car crash but if it ends with an FA Cup we really should be. Thats a good season for 99% of teams and were not in the 1% who can turn our noses up at things like that these days
West Ham should be happy. I dont like Moyes much but they've put a good set of forwards together so they're not bad to watch (Their game against us was wretched and miserable but i presume Ward Prowse up front wasn't a frequent choice). They look to be finishing quite high up the table too so i'd say its gone about as well as can be expected. Not to say i wouldn't change things either mind you.
feck Newcastle
Chelsea are kind of volatile and could finish anywhere. After most of this season i'd say they'd bite your hand off for a 6th place finish and fa cup win. It'd be hard to be happy with Bohley around, they probably have reason to be worried.

 

[lysglimt]

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Although isn't this true for most seasons? Even under "ideal" circumstances at most 4 or 5 clubs will be happy. But there are also scenarios where only one team is happy with the season. Example:

City win the league. Liverpool, Arsenal and us finish top 4. Chelsea finish 5th and win the league cup. Tottenham finish 6th and win the FA cup. Newcastle 7th. 8th-10th, whatever. In this realistic scenario, only City fans would be happy I think.

But is it ?
Last season - City were happy, Arsenal were happy by finishing second, We were happy for finishing third, Newcastle were happy for finishing 4th, Brighton were happy for finishing 6th, Brentford ended 9th and were happy.

 

[RaddyRed]

An FA Cup win, especially if it is beating City in the final would save the season for me. Would be delighted.

I'd take it over finishing 4th.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

Winning the FA Cup would be great and finish the season on a high. I don’t see why that can’t be true and our overall season has been disappointing. And it has. We all hoped the team would much better this season. So that’s disappointing, right?

 

[Adebisi's Hat]

It's all about the cup now, that would be a nice end to a turd of a season

 

[FootballHQ]

Would Newcastle really be that disappointed with finishing 6th? I know people on here seem to be judging Eddie Howe as should be leading title challenges but they're a long way off that currently.

Yes I know they were top 4 last season but that was generally acknowledged as being ahead of schedule.

They were in a poor state at xmas with injuries and some poor performances but have turned it around since. 6th gives them a shot at winning Europa league and CL qualification next season and also keeping hold of Isak and Guimaraes for at least another season.

They'll have learnt plenty from this year as to how to balance playing high intensity games every 3-4 days.

 

[Utd heap]

Would Newcastle really be that disappointed with finishing 6th? I know people on here seem to be judging Eddie Howe as should be leading title challenges but they're a long way off that currently.

Yes I know they were top 4 last season but that was generally acknowledged as being ahead of schedule.

They were in a poor state at xmas with injuries and some poor performances but have turned it around since. 6th gives them a shot at winning Europa league and CL qualification next season and also keeping hold of Isak and Guimaraes for at least another season.

They'll have learnt plenty from this year as to how to balance playing high intensity games every 3-4 days.

They were a little unlucky not to fall into Europa from the Champ League aswell TBF. They're a cup run short of a 'decent-ish' season.

 

[Chipper]

Would Newcastle really be that disappointed with finishing 6th? I know people on here seem to be judging Eddie Howe as should be leading title challenges but they're a long way off that currently.

Yes I know they were top 4 last season but that was generally acknowledged as being ahead of schedule.

They were in a poor state at xmas with injuries and some poor performances but have turned it around since. 6th gives them a shot at winning Europa league and CL qualification next season and also keeping hold of Isak and Guimaraes for at least another season.

They'll have learnt plenty from this year as to how to balance playing high intensity games every 3-4 days.

Should they finish 6th I think that would be okayish on paper. They were mostly predicted to finish around 5th or 6th before the season by pundits and bookies.

Here were the pre-season top 4 finish odds:

1-20 Man City, 1-2 Arsenal, 4-7 Liverpool. 4-5 Man Utd, 13-8 Chelsea, Newcastle, 7-2 Tottenham, 11-2 Brighton, 10 Aston Villa, 25 bar.

The disappointment might be what kind of 6th place it's been if they end up there. Not really pushing for a Champions League place late into the season, even when we all still thought 5 places might be up for grabs.

 

[DrRodo]

Us winning the fa cup and city somehow not winning the league, thus trophyless this season would be a fantastic end of season despite all the turd

 

[justsomebloke]

West Ham fans are indeed weird. They somehow think they are better than Moyes, who has them performing and competing at their best level in a really long time. Wouldn't be surprised if they end up letting him go, with delusions of grandeur, only to bring in a more expansive coach, and end up sliding down the table next season. It would be what they deserve. I'll be the first to give Moyes endless shit for the job he did here, but credit where it's due, he has done a brilliant job at West Ham with very limited resources. They'd be kicking on even better if they had backed him even a little bit in January.

I get that Moyes' teams are functional, rather than fantastic, but look at their squad; and look at how thin it is. And then remember you are West Ham, not Barcelona. He did really well with the additions of Alvarez and Ward Prowse to replace Rice, which has arguably made them an even better team than they were last season. If West Ham fans force him out, they are going to learn the meaning of the phrase, be careful what you wish for. If Paqueta leaves in the summer - which seems likely, and they get some swashbuckling coach to replace Moyes, I could easily see them being in a relegation scrap next year. Meanwhile, wee Dave will go on to another very mediocre, underperforming club and turn them into a solid top 8 team.

There's no "arguably" about West Ham being better than last season, unless they completely collapse for the rest of the season - they project to end up with 14 more points than last year.

Not that this would be likely to satisfy Hammers fans, who are indeed weird.