Season Review 23/24

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

What a fantastic season from Unai and the boys!
We made cl from 36 games with a mauling bookending those games.
We had 4 season ending injuries and a multitude of other injuries that Unai never once complained about. He worked with what he had and motivated the guys into upsetting the scab 6 and their compliant media, with some fantastic football and sheer resilience and determination.
We took 10 points out of 18 from the teams that finished above us.
We made a European semi-final in a competition we could easily have won had our bad luck with injuries not caught up with us.
The transformation in us as a team has been astounding!
Well  done to Unai, his back room team and all our hardworking and honest players. It’s a shame Ollie didn’t make the 20! Next season he can set this as an aim again and deservedly become our record pl goal scorer! UTV! !

[dr.chekov]

Yeah, absolutely wonderful season. Best in 28 years.

[ez]

Amazing season. Top four was the priority and we did it. Pity about all the injuries as we would have got third place I reckon. Next season is going to be brilliant with players coming back and a couple of quality additions. Have great summers everyone. UTV

[ChicagoLion]

Fantastic, it’s a incredible achievement.
Loving what is possible for next season.

[eamonn]

Amazing season. Top four was the priority and we did it.

I don't think it was! Which makes it all the better.

[manic-road]

Just a brilliant season, battering the champions at home the double over Arsenal and the European run were truly fantastic.

[Paul.S]

I thought last season from Emery arriving until the end was unbelievable. I didn’t expect more than 6th or 7th at best but this has been something else. Considering the injuries we’ve had to a small squad, what’s been achieved is very special. Easily manager of the season.

[robleflaneur]

Pre season said to my eldest daughter and her Liverpool supporting partner that I fancied us to finish above Liverpool and in 4th.Got laughed at.
We've continued the form that we've shown since the arrival of the Basque genius.If Citeh and Arsenal had suffered the injuries we've had..who knows how the league table would have looked.Without Rodri I don't think Citeh have won a game.
Emery doesn't blame VAR or refs or complain about injuries or fixture congestion,he just keeps deliverong.

[Mellin]

Alright, I suppose.

[AV84]

I'm sure I said at the start of the season that an improvement on last season would make me happy. I thought Europa instead of Conference would be amazing. Obviously a better domestic cup run would have been nice.

What we got far outreaches that. There was a point mid season where we had the opportunity to go top of the table! I still can't believe it. I know in the end there was a pretty sizable gap between 4th and the two battling for the title, but we were in the mix for a large part of the season.

Next season I'm hoping for consistency. It'll be a tough ask to do better than this year, but establishing ourselves as a team that belong at the top and can compete in multiple competitions, repeatedly, should be the next goal. Anything on top of that will be a bonus.

[PaulWinch again]

Brilliant season - Unai has done an incredible job, and the first half of the season we were sensational. That was when Pau was fully fit and we had Kamara protecting our defence.

The progress in 18 months has been remarkable, and now it is going to be so hard to sustain it. If we can have some much better luck with injuries we’ve got a really good squad - some quality additions will give us the basis to kick on. We can’t stand still and I’m confident Unai won’t let us.

[pauliewalnuts]

Incredible season.

Really excited for the future, but fear we'll have some difficult stuff (and a lot of it) to sort this summer, moving on players who just aren't good enough for where we want to stay.

That's what it is going to take to remain at the level we've reached this season - to pick an example, we can't be having Tim as our back up option to Dougie, we can't be relying on at best average players like Cash, and there are a few similar examples across the team. Also, goes without saying, we can't be having back up keepers with crisp packets instead of hands.

With PSR limits, here's hoping Monchi has been working his evil genius in the market and lining up some good moves. I'm sure he has, we've not brought him in to make obvious signings.

It's great to be doing things at such a higher level to how things have been for far too long now.

What a season.

[olaftab]

Yes brilliant. Loved some of the results where we scored a few and dominating opponents at home was a total pleasure.  Champions League qualification is great but what I am looking for now is to make this recovery to competitiveness sustainable. Do not want to be one season wonders. 

[Risso]

Brilliant season, best since Sir Brian. Shame we couldn't win the European Conference, but qualifying for the Champions League more than makes up for it.

Highlights of the season off the top of my head - battering Brighton 6-1, beating Man City and Arsenal in the same week, the signing of Morgan Rogers, securing 4th despite the injury list, Unai's contract extension.

The disappointments - the absolutely ridiculous injury list, Ollie just missing out on 20 goals, losing the European semi finals.

As Paulie says, the hard work starts now. First job is to get another defensive midfielder who can play the Kamara role. Our defensive record without him fell off a cliff, and he or somebody else who can play his role is absolutely critical if we're going to continue to push on.

[PaulWinch again]

Yeah and it’s not just Tim being back-up to Doug, it’s basically Doug being back-up to Kamara as well. That had the double impact of Doug not being able to do that role particularly effectively, and also taking away what Doug was doing so brilliantly. It almost robbed us of two quality players.

We need to aspire to having at least two quality options for each position, but that defensive midfield role is an absolute critical priority. Especially as Kamara will miss a good chunk of next season.