Brenxit - Sack Brendan? (poll)

[fitz]

Every single club that finished around us in the league in each of those seasons could say exactly the same thing.

None of us are that good. That's the truth of it. This league has two sides that everybody else appears to enjoy losing to and the rest are pretty mediocre.

Totally agree. When people said we punched about our weight (including BR) in the last 2 seasons I can't see who should've finished above us that didn't. The Prem and it's supposed quality is absolute bollocks in the main, so many teams have a couple of good players and then loads of crap.

 

[Jeff]

if you look at the two Everton fixtures we should have won that is 6 pts. the Newcastle game we should have won that is 3 pts. that puts on 58 points the same as Man Utd.

We drew one of the Everton games.

And are you going to knock off points for the games we won when we probably didn't deserve to?

 

[H T B]

if you look at the two Everton fixtures we should have won that is 6 pts. the Newcastle game we should have won that is 3 pts. that puts on 58 points the same as Man Utd.

yep you are bang on absolute wibble!

for 3 seasons in a row we have squandered these opportunities that would have brought in huge revenues to invest further in the squad. just look at how the teams will improve next season.

Man Utd new manager and huge funds.

Man City just signed a striker

Liverpool will invest again.

Chelsea about have new owners and will invest.

Newcastle now have more money than Man City.

Spurs will more than likely qualify top 4 and will invest.

Us? we have gone backwards under BR

Talk about deja vu!
Before a ball was kicked this season: -
Man U Brought in Ronaldo, they're gonna win the league
Chelsea brought in the final piece of the jigsaw, Lukaku, they're gonna win the league
Arsenal have a young squad with Peps right hand man at the helm, they'll finish top 4.

As for next season: -

Who will Liverpool invest in? Will they hit the ground running like Lukaku or Pepe?

As for Newcastle having more money than Man City. Who the **** wants to go to Newcastle? That is as hard a sale, in footballing terms as you can get.
Superstars that are already mega rich, will they really go there for the money? I don't think so.
Probably a really good reason why the Toon have been in the doldrums for many a year.

Liverpool showed last season, if they lose VVD they're ****ed.
Man City, brilliant going forward, well, smothering the opponent, but still show they have a soft underbelly if the opponent is willing to have a go.

I still believe, that top 6, maybe top 4, is still there for the taking, providing we don't have any horrific injuries before the season starts.

 

[Bezu Fache Fox]

Every single club that finished around us in the league in each of those seasons could say exactly the same thing.

None of us are that good. That's the truth of it. This league has two sides that everybody else appears to enjoy losing to and the rest are pretty mediocre.

I agree, there are plenty of teams that are of very similar (average) standard. It's what makes it so disappointing that we couldn't find an edge against the rest with the players we have.

 

[Blue Maniac]

if you look at the two Everton fixtures we should have won that is 6 pts. the Newcastle game we should have won that is 3 pts. that puts on 58 points the same as Man Utd.

yep you are bang on absolute wibble!

Yes this is wibble of the wibblest variety

 

[Lako42]

Yes this is wibble of the wibblest variety

Rodgers out

 

[SimonW]

I have given BR the benefit of the doubt this season due to the sheer amount of injuries, especially those to key players, we have had to endure and IMO have affected performances significantly.

With a more settled side and for more appearances from Evans, Fofana, Ndidi, Vardy especially we could well be looking forward to a European final and have 10-15 points more in the league ... a largely successful season. Although just missing out on Champions league qualification again would have probably been the focus for many.

When Liverpool suffered with injuries last season, IMO not as significant as we have to cope with, they dropped 30 points from the previous season. If we win this weekend we will finish on 52 points, 14 less than last season.

 

[Graz]

I'm glad to see no new posts in this thread after the final game!

I said before the Norwich game that I was still behind Brendan but wasn't happy with the way our season was petering out, and wanted to see a minimum return of 7 points from the remaining 4 games to prove that he could still motivate these players and was still motivated himself.

We took 10 points from the remaining 4 games, and the 3 wins were all in convincing style.

It was a good ending to the season, and to finish 8th in a "bad" season shows how far we've come.

There's definitely squad issues to address and our recruitment has to be better than last summer, but the recruitment team is being addressed and I'm confident that Brendan is still the right man to take us forward.

Not having European football and hopefully less injuries to key players will make a huge difference to our league performances next year

 

[FryattFox]

It was a good ending to the season, and to finish 8th in a "bad" season shows how far we've come.

This is the key part for me. To finish 8th, plus a European semi final, whilst playing the third most matches of any league team (given the size of our squad) is still a pretty decent baseline achievement.

Regardless of whether Rodgers will still be here in 12 months time, or whether we sign the 'right' players over the summer, this team is still achieving impressive overall results.

(I'm still in the "Undecided" voting category though...)

 

[City Fan]

I love how people keep banding “European semi final” about as though it’s an achievement. We slumped out of the Europa League, having been gifted a piss easy group.

Rodgers is not the right man to do our rebuild, our set pieces are a joke, the football is mostly horrendously dull to watch, and the shite he spews is embarrassing.

But I have no doubt he will start next season as our manager. I really hope he turns it round, but if we have another summer of awful signings, along with some key players leaving, and no improvements on set pieces, we’ll be in real trouble next season.

 

[FryattFox]

I love how people keep banding “European semi final” about as though it’s an achievement. We slumped out of the Europa League, having been gifted a piss easy group.

It is an achievement though. We could have done better, but it's still an achievement.

Go and ask Everton, Aston Villa or Newcastle fans whether they would have been pleased with a European semi final this season, or whether they would like one in the next couple of seasons. They all have similar levels of player wages as us (which is historically the key indicator of on-the-pitch success).

I get the impression that you wouldn't have been happy if we'd have reached the semi final of the Europa League either. You'd probably have just pointed to a "piss easy group".

 

[M17TT C]

Whilst I do completely agree with the above post, I do also find it funny that it is referred to as a European Semi Final.

Like **** everyone would just say we got to a European Semi Final if it was the Champions League and not the Conference League.

They should at least say a CL Semi Final to at least provide the ambiguity without being an outright lie.

 

[pork pie fox]

Whilst I do completely agree with the above post, I do also find it funny that it is referred to as a European Semi Final.

Like **** everyone would just say we got to a European Semi Final if it was the Champions League and not the Conference League.

They should at least say a CL Semi Final to at least provide the ambiguity without being an outright lie.

FF didn't mention the Champions League, M17, he said the Europa League.

 

[City Fan]

The fact is, we wouldn’t have been in a “European Semi Final” had we not epically failed in Europe this season. Yet people use the phrase “European Semi Final” to try to justify it as a means of success this season. It’s utter bollocks.

 

[M17TT C]

FF didn't mention the Champions League, M17, he said the Europa League.

Yeah but people use the phrase 'European Semi Final' as they want to leave out the conference League part of it.

We don't talk about the 'European Quarter Final' we lost to Athletico, that is always known as the 'Champions League Quarter Final'.

Personally, I don't feel we should be embarrassed about competing in the Conference League as we have never won a European trophy so any would be better than none.

 

[pork pie fox]

Yeah but people use the phrase 'European Semi Final' as they want to leave out the conference League part of it.

We don't talk about the 'European Quarter Final' we lost to Athletico, that is always known as the 'Champions League Quarter Final'.

Personally, I don't feel we should be embarrassed about competing in the Conference League as we have never won a European trophy so any would be better than none.

I agree that the Champions League is seen as a different level. I think quite a few will lump the other two together in that they're both seen as inferior in comparison. A European semi final when the other teams involved at that stage were Roma, Feyenoord and Marseille sounds good to me.

 

[Brown Nose]

I've got a feeling that qualifying for Europe is going to be tougher than ever for us in the future.

We've been 7th-8th on budget for a few years so getting a place should be within reach each season.

However, now Everton, West Ham, Villa and Newcastle are all surpassing our spending power. Of course, we can overachieve and they can underachieve but over time bigger budgets win.

We're probably going to have the 11th highest budget in 22/23 so if we get back into the Conference League it will be an excellent achievement.

 

[Lako42]

Qualifying for the Conference League was a bit like qualifying for the Johnston Paint Trophy for being knocked out of the FA Cup.

 

[londonfox]

I'm glad to see no new posts in this thread after the final game!

I said before the Norwich game that I was still behind Brendan but wasn't happy with the way our season was petering out, and wanted to see a minimum return of 7 points from the remaining 4 games to prove that he could still motivate these players and was still motivated himself.

We took 10 points from the remaining 4 games, and the 3 wins were all in convincing style.

It was a good ending to the season, and to finish 8th in a "bad" season shows how far we've come.

There's definitely squad issues to address and our recruitment has to be better than last summer, but the recruitment team is being addressed and I'm confident that Brendan is still the right man to take us forward.

Not having European football and hopefully less injuries to key players will make a huge difference to our league performances next year

I accept that you only beat the opposition at hand. And yes we had 3 convincing wins. But it has to be factored in that we were playing the worst three teams in the league on current form.

It is an achievement though. We could have done better, but it's still an achievement.

Go and ask Everton, Aston Villa or Newcastle fans whether they would have been pleased with a European semi final this season, or whether they would like one in the next couple of seasons. They all have similar levels of player wages as us (which is historically the key indicator of on-the-pitch success).

I get the impression that you wouldn't have been happy if we'd have reached the semi final of the Europa League either. You'd probably have just pointed to a "piss easy group".

Yes, it’s an achievement of sorts. But it’s akin to Fulham reaching the play-off semi final this season. An achievement, but one I doubt they would crow about. A bigger achievement would have been not to fail into the tournament in the first place.

 

[camberwell fox]

I've got a feeling that qualifying for Europe is going to be tougher than ever for us in the future.

We've been 7th-8th on budget for a few years so getting a place should be within reach each season.

However, now Everton, West Ham, Villa and Newcastle are all surpassing our spending power. Of course, we can overachieve and they can underachieve but over time bigger budgets win.

We're probably going to have the 11th highest budget in 22/23 so if we get back into the Conference League it will be an excellent achievement.

Villa are nowhere near us, neither are Everton. Newcastle will be, but probably not for a couple of seasons.