Will we qualify for the CL?

[PeterWithesShin]

Newcastle and Spurs made the R16 this season and are miles behind us. Of course we'd be CL level.

[LeonW]

See I don’t buy that at all. I suspect we’ll get there and we’ll have earned it in the round. Depth is an issue, and of course we wouldn’t win it, but with a competent summer window we’d be pretty competitive.

We’ve been able to compete because sides like Chelsea, Tottenham, even Man Utd until Christmas,  who have massive financial wriggle room compared to us, have been off it for a few years. If they got their act together…I think we’ve over achieved for the past few years. The hope would be that whilst we were over achieving and others were off it, we’d be building a side and squad that would start getting to the level of others. That hasn’t happened because what we’ve got is a very aging squad with players on massive wages. Emery is eeking out everything out of what he has but at the same time, is culpable for poor recruitment where we are still relying on what we have for years. In a way, I think we’re growing and regressing at the same time and that’s almost bearing itself out on the pitch. The experience at doing the minimum to win is better but our ability to dominate the majority of a game seems to lessen with the exception of a few games where the gas is turned right up.

[Dave]

Newcastle and Spurs made the R16 this season and are miles behind us. Of course we'd be CL level.

Indeed. "This" team would probably do worse than last season's top eight version, but would still comfortably be a last sixteen team.

But this team is this team because we didn't qualify. And next season's should be better because we (almost certainly) will qualify.

[Mellin]

Despite being annoyed by recent performances, I'm at peace with it all and am still convinced we'll do it, or someone will do it for us. One way or another.

It's September. Full time has just gone at the Stadium of Light. We've failed to beat 10 man Sunderland, sit in the bottom three, and have clearly come into the season undercooked in attack. I'd have killed for this position then. Yeah, there's a flip side, in that we worked ourselves into a really strong position and have squandered it, but either way, we're exactly where we need to be in the league and in Europe. So let's get it done.

[KRS]

Absolute agree that injuries can’t be solely to blame when our squad depth is so low in quality due to piss poor recruitment. Guessand, Sancho and Elliot have been a total waste of resources, leaving our squad much weaker than last season…and we’ve then subsequently brought back Bailey, Luiz and Tammy in to the fold, and those signings most likely wouldn’t have had to be made hadn’t the summer recruitment been so poor.

[Meanwood Villa]

I'm not as doom and gloom as some on here but I don't have much confidence the squad will be better next season given how shite our last couple of transfer windows have been. We'll always be competitive with Unai in charge though.

[Small Rodent]

Yes

[PeterWithesShin]

I hate the 'XYZ only happened because BCD and EFG aren't as good' bullshit. We're better than them, it's up to them to catch us. Same as it was up to us to catch them when they were better than us. We aren't flying right now but no need to disparage that we're better than the vast majority of sides in England and Europe as though it's some undeserved anomaly.

[PaulWinch again]

We had a shocking summer last year, and I think it’s understood why. We need Champions League football - the “need” part isn’t ideal, but we’re highly likely to get it. It is highly unlikely we can have a weaker year than we have done with transfer business, even if we lose a key player or two. If Unai is here I’m confident we’ll be even stronger next year.

[RamboandBruno]

We’ll never know, but im pretty convinced that if we’d managed to get past PSG last year, we would of beaten Arsenal over two legs, then Inter in the final. We had a stronger team then though.

[Ger Regan]

This season has been so weird, across the season we've given so many poor performances (even during the amazing run of results there were quite a few performances that weren't good), we've a worse team than last season, but there's still a decent chance of us having a much more successful season in comparison. It just feels like the quality of the league has gotten worse, but I won't be complaining if we manage to get over the line.

[PeterWithesShin]

The quality of the league is excellent. Which is why most likely 4, maybe 5 of the last 6 European trophies will be won by PL sides.

[trinityoap]

Is it wrong  to be happy if Leeds, Man City and Man Utd win all their remaining games?

[eamonn]

Yeah, the midtable sides are now capable of beating the top teams more than in the past which has got to be a good thing for the competitiveness of the division.

[PaulWinch again]

We’ve created ourselves a problem now. It might be that neither Brighton or Bournemouth get the results they need, but if Bournemouth get 4 we need a point, or if they get 6 then we’ll need a win. We’re going to need to go strong against Liverpool, and get our mentality right, which is not ideal with a cup final five days later.