I was sure we would finish about 14th with no serious worries. I thought we had so much momentum that we would keep grinding out the key results to avoid getting sucked into the dogfight.I think we are all upset at how quickly it all turned to shit.
Quote from: Villan82 on July 10, 2020, 04:33:39 PMI was sure we would finish about 14th with no serious worries. I thought we had so much momentum that we would keep grinding out the key results to avoid getting sucked into the dogfight.I think we are all upset at how quickly it all turned to shit.I thought this, on about 45/46 points maybe. I thought some more about what went right in the last few months of last season. Grealish was the catalyst but it wasn’t just that. In that dire run without many wins post Xmas 2018 into new year 2019, we actually drew games we could of lost largely down to the goals of Tammy (QPR, Hull at home), without snatching those draws from the brink of defeat, even with the 10 game run we would of struggled to make the play offs. It was actually the combination of Grealish coming back, the form of McGinn, the marshalling of the defence from Mings and the goal threat of Tammy combined at just the right time that got us on that run.I don’t think we’ve ever recovered from Tammy not being signed in the summer (I know it was out of our hands). I think with him some of those early season draws are wins (West Ham, Burnley) and defeats are draws (Palace, Arsenal) just those games alone would yield another 6 points and there are probably others and we’d be virtually safe, if not on the beach. Add to that just as our early season okish form started dipping we lose the second of the 4 in McGinn and we’ve never really recovered. No disrespect to Wesley who may come good in time, but that four combined with the heartbeat of that team, and looking back not replacing Tammy adequately has killed us.
It all went wrong when they didn't replace Smith at Xmas, we have gotten worse as the seasons got on. Owners must take some blame for this.
Not learning anything from the last 15+ years. We always end up with resources yet don't appear to have the basic structures/teams in place to maximise effective use of them. We must be one of the biggest spending clubs in the world over the last 15 years yet it has got us nowhere.
For me, we didn’t put in a single bad performance until Wolves away. A few mediocre ones for sure, but not bad. We didn’t pick up enough points when playing competitively, simple as that. Up until the end of November I enjoyed watching us at least some of every match. Had we picked up the points our performances merited from a pure footballing sense (the game management, to coin an annoying trendy phrase, was diabolical), we’d still be struggling but at least on a par with West Ham and probably safe. That was where it wrong for me, but with the benefit of hindsight.
I know these sound like minor gripes but they all add up: Having two more home games than away left to play post-Lockdown (more than anyone else except Citeh perhaps) as a team whose home form was vital for survival (can anyone find the home games only table at Lockdown?), the moving of the goalposts where teams can use two extra subs which favoured those with stronger squads - we have played most of the big teams since the return; the VAR calls which have possibly effected us negatively more than rivals and definitely having the least recovery time/turnaround in lockdown matches.