By far the most important thing to me is that we see progress in terms of style of play when considering the squad design. If we finish 4th or 5th but there is clear progress and a pathway to further improvement over the summer then OK. If we just shuffle through the season and things look as bleek at they do now then we'd be in a truly desperate state.
What does a good season look like now?
- Thread starter UpWithRivers
- Start date
Top 4 and a free-flowing, high-scoring style of football. I'm not too fussed about trophies just yet because it's all luck of the draw and we aren't the best in any competition we are in but we need to start playing great football again. That's the biggest thing for me.
Only if English teams do well in this years comp. Some maybe thinking it's on previous 3-4 years but it's not so if Newcastle, Arsenal and United do poor and only City get far it might not be enough to open up a 5th place and it will go to another country.
It's too early to change the aims from before the season really.
Before the season aims
Top 4
Play good football
Get out the CL group
Decent cup runs (Win a cup bonus)
Now
Top 4
Get out of CL group
Improve on the shite we're playing now
Decent cup run
What I actually think will happen
Finish 6th-8th
Possibly scrape through CL group
Before the season aims
Top 4
Play good football
Get out the CL group
Decent cup runs (Win a cup bonus)
Now
Top 4
Get out of CL group
Improve on the shite we're playing now
Decent cup run
What I actually think will happen
Finish 6th-8th
Possibly scrape through CL group
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Top 4
Actually play some entertaining attacking football
Quarter final CL
Actually play some entertaining attacking football
Quarter final CL
My aims for the season are completely unchanged from what they were preseason
Consolidate champions league status.
Give a good account of ourselves in the Champions League. QF or better.
Decent run in the FA cup.
Most importantly improve our performances as the season goes on and start to look like a team that can go the next step next season.
Give a good account of ourselves in the Champions League. QF or better.
Decent run in the FA cup.
Most importantly improve our performances as the season goes on and start to look like a team that can go the next step next season.
It’s not just Champions League though. All European competitions will add to it.
I‘m expecting we will turn around our bad form and make another jump forward in the quality of our performances.
Why? We have better squad options than last year: a decent striker, ball playing goalie (one of the best), defensive ball playing mid and youngsters coming through (Mainoo, Mejbri, Pellistri).
Eventually we will start putting together a run of good games.
Why? We have better squad options than last year: a decent striker, ball playing goalie (one of the best), defensive ball playing mid and youngsters coming through (Mainoo, Mejbri, Pellistri).
Eventually we will start putting together a run of good games.
This reads like the thread last year which had Ten Hag getting the sack before Christmas and genuine questions being asked about us being in a relegation battle.
We just need to pick up a run of wins and our season will start properly, a bit of confidence will go a long way with a lot of our players.
We just need to pick up a run of wins and our season will start properly, a bit of confidence will go a long way with a lot of our players.
Indeed, the general play hasn't been great and the near consecutive run of tough aways has built a pessimistic atmosphere around us but you could argue we're only a point worse off than we'd have probably expected to be (that being a draw at spurs)
I expect top 4 and to compete into the latter stages of the cups (where a good draw can make all the difference)
I see no reason to think this isn't still achievable
I don't see why ETH doing a shit job should change what I think the team should achieve this year.
Basically, start playing good, combative and dominant football. Stop being a bottom feeder, beta club. "Counter attack?" feck off. Always attack.
Basically, start playing good, combative and dominant football. Stop being a bottom feeder, beta club. "Counter attack?" feck off. Always attack.
Finishing 4th would be miraculous for me.
Think we will be 6th though. Said before season even started 5th or 6th, nothing whatsoever has changed my mind in a positive way since.
Think we will be 6th though. Said before season even started 5th or 6th, nothing whatsoever has changed my mind in a positive way since.
Too early to be writing us off completely, especially after the slow start last season, I think we have to be looking at a minimum of the top 4 and strong showings in the cups, anything less is just not good enough for the outlay, ETH will surely be working under the same understanding.
A good season would be top 3 and showing consistency in performance and not being outclassed by top 6 teams or in Europe, that would show the team is evolving and give us some belief that things are improving.
A worrying season would be just making the top 4 and little or no improvement in the side, there's no excuses for not improving, ETH can't make everything perfect in 1 season but we have to keep developing or we will flounder.
I don't think we can judge ETH until at least halfway through the season, the tactics have changed, there's been loads of off field trouble and we have a lot of injuries, those are not excuses but very valid reasons for an underpowered start to the season (as well as the number of games played last year etc) but it's ETH's job to get the best out of what he has so there has to be discernable improvement (not expecting miracles).
A good season would be top 3 and showing consistency in performance and not being outclassed by top 6 teams or in Europe, that would show the team is evolving and give us some belief that things are improving.
A worrying season would be just making the top 4 and little or no improvement in the side, there's no excuses for not improving, ETH can't make everything perfect in 1 season but we have to keep developing or we will flounder.
I don't think we can judge ETH until at least halfway through the season, the tactics have changed, there's been loads of off field trouble and we have a lot of injuries, those are not excuses but very valid reasons for an underpowered start to the season (as well as the number of games played last year etc) but it's ETH's job to get the best out of what he has so there has to be discernable improvement (not expecting miracles).
I felt we were always being setup for a fall this season because there's this expectation in the mind of football fans that 'progress' is linear, with respect to league positions.
We massively overachieved last season, in my opinion. We didn't have the 3rd best squad or team, yet we somehow managed to finish 3rd.
This season, teams around us have improved, therefore there's no guarantee at all we'll finish top four, let alone "get closer to City".
For me, progress is the continued building of a squad capable of regularly securing top four and the implementation of a clear style of play/system.
A good season now would be:
Glazers sell and feck off forever
Ten Hag stays in the job because we play a coherent, attractive style
New signings come good (Mount, Onana, Amrabat, Højlund. Reguilon already has.)
Injured players return and stop getting injured.
Youth players step up (Mainoo, Amad, Gore)
Antony cleared of charges and returns to the first team
Sancho and Maguire leave in January. Maybe VDB too
We don't get humiliated by our top 6 rivals.
And then we finish in top 5.
Who am I kidding? A successful season at this point is if we stop being a laughingstock owned by vampires with a bunch of spoilt wankers in the squad stealing a living. If we score a few goals, that's just gravy.
Glazers sell and feck off forever
Ten Hag stays in the job because we play a coherent, attractive style
New signings come good (Mount, Onana, Amrabat, Højlund. Reguilon already has.)
Injured players return and stop getting injured.
Youth players step up (Mainoo, Amad, Gore)
Antony cleared of charges and returns to the first team
Sancho and Maguire leave in January. Maybe VDB too
We don't get humiliated by our top 6 rivals.
And then we finish in top 5.
Who am I kidding? A successful season at this point is if we stop being a laughingstock owned by vampires with a bunch of spoilt wankers in the squad stealing a living. If we score a few goals, that's just gravy.
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An improvement in our general play and an obvious coherent style of play. Top four with a decent crack at a domestic cup and knockouts in champions league. That is the minimum for this season but next season we really should be challenging otherwise we are Arsenal.
Holy feck. We have played 6 games. Gotta love TheCaf 
An improvement on last year would be a good season. If we only match it or worse then it's a disappointment.
My wild prediction is that between now and the end of the season, we'll drop very few points against the bottom 12 and get top 4 based off that.
Our form against the top 6/8 (especially away) will stop us finishing top 2.
I'd also maintain that another League Cup (alongside top 4) would represent a successful season.
Our form against the top 6/8 (especially away) will stop us finishing top 2.
I'd also maintain that another League Cup (alongside top 4) would represent a successful season.
improvement on last year and Glazers gone!
No matter where we finish, that would represent a good season.
I think our squad was exactly 3rd behind City and Liverpool at the start of last season. Arsenal overachieved with a team that started the season with a bunch of unproven youngsters, two City rejects and bang average at times ridiculed Xhaka, Partey and Gabriel. Of course they showed their quality since then and should be rightfully considered 2nd or 3rd best squad now but there really weren’t many standout squads on paper last year. It’s still an achievement for EtH since most of that same squad was massively underperforming and at an all time low when he took over.
I disagree personally on the squad front. We have some really good individuals but we also had some glaring weaknesses that ETH had to immediately try to address (or put up with)
- For me DDG was the worst GK in the top half, if not one of the worst in the league.
- The CM combo of McFred that ETH inherited was miles away from the standard required. You could have easily made a case that clubs like Villa, Brighton and Fulham had better CMs.
- We were severely lacking in the CF department. Ronaldo was miles off it by the end and Martial was injured most of the time. ETH used Weghorst as a lone CF most of the time post-Jan, you could easily make a case for us having one of the weakest CFs in the league.
Marginal relegation, then bounce back with new owners and a squad of manc working class teenagers!