I was berated and laughed at when I said we wouldn't make top 4 in November. I was told naive facts like "um, we're 3 points behind with 25 games to go". It's like form doesn't exist, patterns don't exist, our weaknesses don't exist. No, all that mattered was that we were a number of points behind with a number of games to go. That's such a shallow way to discuss an issue and has an element of burying one's head in the sand about it.
As far back as October and November I repeatedly said that:
1- We could never take advantage of our rivals dropped points.
2- We couldn't do anywhere near enough against the teams above us (currently 1 win in 6, 4 home games).
3- We were nowhere near good enough against the teams under us in the table. In response to that I was bizarrely told that we were doing better against teams below us compared to LVG, and when I responded that LVG was much better against big teams than we have been this season, so it balances out, the replies stopped.
It's not a shame to face the reality and just because you enjoy the football under Mourinho doesn't mean his results haven't been absolutely pathetic. We won't even go into his decisions.
There are certain traits about this squad that confirm we won't get top 4 and they're crystal clear for everyone to see. Better to see it now than later on in the season when it will hurt much more. I accepted it a couple of months ago which is why I also kept saying that I was losing interest in our league season and was more focused on our cup campaigns, especially the Europa League. As expected I was mocked for that too.
You could see this result coming from miles away and I would actually bet that if Spurs, Arsenal and Liverpool won last night, we would have won tonight. Our players simply can't deal with the pressure and have no cojones. There are reasons things happen and there are reasons why we can never get ahead. They're the same reasons it won't change even at the end of the season.
My advice is to look forward to the Europa League, stop degrading it as a Mickey Mouse competition and believe we can win that, somehow. Personally, I have completely lost interest in our league season as of tonight.