I've been thinking about our season so far and where it went wrong. Wrote some stuff on it and managed to make it rather long in the end.
To put it simply, we most probably blew our chances of top four yesterday, one needs to have some rich imagination to think otherwise. It's not only the distance to our rivals, but also our manner of play that basically does not allow us to dream for more than a fifth spot this year. Where did it go wrong though? Looking back at the beginning of the season, it should have never turned out the way it did, yet here we are, facing another transitional season. Our summer transfers looked good enough for a successful campaign - and some of us were even dreaming beyond a top four spot - while Andre was in his second season in charge, a season when his ideas were supposed to take better shape.
I kept hoping for Champions League football throughout the season, although to be honest, we never looked good enough to pull it through. We scraped our way through the first games with maximum points, but the feeling was that we could (and had to) play better than that in order for the season to be a successful one. Then came the game against Woolwich, a team that had a shaky start of the season, and even though they weren't particularly brilliant, we went home empty handed. Our players looked completely devoid of any motivation the day when we faced our bitter rivals, even though we were a goal down we lacked urgency in the final third and we also lacked creativity. Unfortunately, this was going to set the trend for the remainder of the season. Whenever our opponents managed to score first, we struggled to find the goal that would get us back in the game. We also managed to record losses before every international break, which left me with a bad taste in my mouth, but got me hoping that we would return stronger and manage to learn from our mistakes.
Some mixed results, including two severe losses against City and Liverpool led to the sacking of Andre and the naming of Tim Sherwood as head coach. Was that the right decision to make? The matter is still debated on this forum, but it was obvious that our game was not working and some changes needed to be made. In his first games in charge, Sherwood managed to bring some life to the team, among the most notable changes being the reactivation of Adebayor and the inclusion of youth team starlet Nabil Bentaleb in the first team. Our game was showing signs of improvement and we seemed to be back in contention for a much coveted top four spot. It wasn't another severe loss to City that hit the final nail in the coffin for us, but the disappointing results against the likes of Hull and Norwich, teams that we simply had to beat were we to hope for more than a place in the Europa.
So here we find ourselves yet again, a new end or maybe a new beginning, it does't really matter that much at this point, does it? Who exactly is to blame though? It is easy to blame Sherwood for his stubbornness to start Bentaleb every single game or Andre's focus on the high line when our attack was screaming for creative ideas. Yes, our coaches have their share of the blame, Andre failed to learn from his past mistakes and Sherwood is probably not ready yet to coach at this level, but this is only a part of the problem.
Another culprit is our chairman, Daniel Levy, who just like every season, decided to buy late into the transfer window in order to haggle the transfer fees to the max. He also sold our star player, Gareth Bale - the one who won us games by himself last season and whose brilliance managed to hide some of the weaknesses in our game. What we had at the end of the transfer window was a team with great potential, but no established talent, with the exception of Roberto Soldado, a player with no prior Premier League experience. It takes time to make such a team click, and to put it fairly this was supposed to be a make or break season, we did not afford to miss out on the top four yet again. Instead of thinking from this perspective, our transfer window was focused on signing every single young prospect that the Bale transfer money could buy instead of trying to build a team around the core that already existed. This ended up costing us in the long run when the lack of consistency of some of our players began to show.
Then there's the players. On numerous occasions, they managed to let me down with some gutless displays and lack of sheer belief that we could get something out of a game. When you are one goal down and the chances of European football start to fade, you need to show some character and find that much needed extra gear. Our players seldom showed that ambition. We also lacked a leader on the pitch. For all his devotion to the team, Michael Dawson failed to motivate his colleagues and some of his displays, riddled with mistakes in defence, made a case for him being benched. Other players like Jan Vertonghen seemed at times content with the idea that the season is compromised and just seemed to be waiting to jump the boat come summer. To paraphrase JFK, they should not ask what their team can do for them, they should rather ask what they can do for their team.
One of my conclusions so far is that we do have a handful of talented players, but we do not have a team, and we will not be able to progress any further unless we have one. If Louis van Gaal (if we are to believe the current rumours) is going to be the one who manages to make us click, that is a different story. There is still a long time until summer and things can change very fast in the world of football. The season is not over yet and we may still get something out of it, but the possibilities are really remote. Regardless of what happens, i will still be offering my team my unconditional love.
One thing is certain though, if we want next season to be more successful, we cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes we made in the last years, fifth place may not be that easy to get next season.
To put it simply, we most probably blew our chances of top four yesterday, one needs to have some rich imagination to think otherwise. It's not only the distance to our rivals, but also our manner of play that basically does not allow us to dream for more than a fifth spot this year. Where did it go wrong though? Looking back at the beginning of the season, it should have never turned out the way it did, yet here we are, facing another transitional season. Our summer transfers looked good enough for a successful campaign - and some of us were even dreaming beyond a top four spot - while Andre was in his second season in charge, a season when his ideas were supposed to take better shape.
I kept hoping for Champions League football throughout the season, although to be honest, we never looked good enough to pull it through. We scraped our way through the first games with maximum points, but the feeling was that we could (and had to) play better than that in order for the season to be a successful one. Then came the game against Woolwich, a team that had a shaky start of the season, and even though they weren't particularly brilliant, we went home empty handed. Our players looked completely devoid of any motivation the day when we faced our bitter rivals, even though we were a goal down we lacked urgency in the final third and we also lacked creativity. Unfortunately, this was going to set the trend for the remainder of the season. Whenever our opponents managed to score first, we struggled to find the goal that would get us back in the game. We also managed to record losses before every international break, which left me with a bad taste in my mouth, but got me hoping that we would return stronger and manage to learn from our mistakes.
Some mixed results, including two severe losses against City and Liverpool led to the sacking of Andre and the naming of Tim Sherwood as head coach. Was that the right decision to make? The matter is still debated on this forum, but it was obvious that our game was not working and some changes needed to be made. In his first games in charge, Sherwood managed to bring some life to the team, among the most notable changes being the reactivation of Adebayor and the inclusion of youth team starlet Nabil Bentaleb in the first team. Our game was showing signs of improvement and we seemed to be back in contention for a much coveted top four spot. It wasn't another severe loss to City that hit the final nail in the coffin for us, but the disappointing results against the likes of Hull and Norwich, teams that we simply had to beat were we to hope for more than a place in the Europa.
So here we find ourselves yet again, a new end or maybe a new beginning, it does't really matter that much at this point, does it? Who exactly is to blame though? It is easy to blame Sherwood for his stubbornness to start Bentaleb every single game or Andre's focus on the high line when our attack was screaming for creative ideas. Yes, our coaches have their share of the blame, Andre failed to learn from his past mistakes and Sherwood is probably not ready yet to coach at this level, but this is only a part of the problem.
Another culprit is our chairman, Daniel Levy, who just like every season, decided to buy late into the transfer window in order to haggle the transfer fees to the max. He also sold our star player, Gareth Bale - the one who won us games by himself last season and whose brilliance managed to hide some of the weaknesses in our game. What we had at the end of the transfer window was a team with great potential, but no established talent, with the exception of Roberto Soldado, a player with no prior Premier League experience. It takes time to make such a team click, and to put it fairly this was supposed to be a make or break season, we did not afford to miss out on the top four yet again. Instead of thinking from this perspective, our transfer window was focused on signing every single young prospect that the Bale transfer money could buy instead of trying to build a team around the core that already existed. This ended up costing us in the long run when the lack of consistency of some of our players began to show.
Then there's the players. On numerous occasions, they managed to let me down with some gutless displays and lack of sheer belief that we could get something out of a game. When you are one goal down and the chances of European football start to fade, you need to show some character and find that much needed extra gear. Our players seldom showed that ambition. We also lacked a leader on the pitch. For all his devotion to the team, Michael Dawson failed to motivate his colleagues and some of his displays, riddled with mistakes in defence, made a case for him being benched. Other players like Jan Vertonghen seemed at times content with the idea that the season is compromised and just seemed to be waiting to jump the boat come summer. To paraphrase JFK, they should not ask what their team can do for them, they should rather ask what they can do for their team.
One of my conclusions so far is that we do have a handful of talented players, but we do not have a team, and we will not be able to progress any further unless we have one. If Louis van Gaal (if we are to believe the current rumours) is going to be the one who manages to make us click, that is a different story. There is still a long time until summer and things can change very fast in the world of football. The season is not over yet and we may still get something out of it, but the possibilities are really remote. Regardless of what happens, i will still be offering my team my unconditional love.
One thing is certain though, if we want next season to be more successful, we cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes we made in the last years, fifth place may not be that easy to get next season.
