End of Season Review

BaZ87

BaZ87

BaZ87

Don
Joined
9 Jun 2004
Posts
47,205
Team: Liverpool

League Position: 2nd

Season High: Winning the CL. After the season we'd had to have not won a trophy would have been a huge injustice. The final may not have been the greatest game but we made up for that with the win over Barca in the semi's.

Season Low: There weren't many but losing away to Red Star in the CL group stages. We were terrible that night and that result made qualifying from our group a lot harder than it should have been.

Player of the Season: VVD. Before we signed him I said that he was perfect for us but it turns out he's simply just perfect. He dominates your Benteke's and Lukaku's of this world physically, it's literally impossible to dribble past him, he pings passes like Xabi Alonso, he's started to realise that he can score at set plays and he's as calm as you like.

Young Player of the Season: Trent Alexander Arnold. It's mad to think he's only 20 years old and that was only his 2nd full season of senior football. He's grown into (and still growing) one of the best fullbacks around. Technically he's a phenomenal footballer, his range of passing and crossing as good as anybody around but he's also developing into a proper defender too. Defensively he can still improve but you only have to look over the last 18 months to see how much that's come on and with more experience he'll only get better.

Most Improved Player: Joe Gomez. When we first signed him he looked a real prospect but after nearly 2 years without regular football you wondered whether he'd be able to kick on. Injuries meant he was thrown into the side at CB, where despite that being his position he'd barely played a senior game there in his career, and he took to it like a duck to water. Him and VVD formed a formidable partnership at the start of the season and hopefully we'll see that for years to come.

Best Signing: The beautiful bearded ******* Alisson. The best keeper in the league by a distance and as good as anybody in Europe. He's so big that he makes difficult saves look easy, he dominates his area and is as comfortable as anybody around on the ball. Whenever we needed him he stepped up and the save vs Napoli alone was worth tens of millions.

Summary: Despite finishing 4th last season I think most people realised we would be City's closest challengers this season but I don't think many genuinely believed we'd push them as close as we did, I certainly didn't. Last season we could compete with anybody but playing a certain type of football - we couldn't go to City and try to dominate the game and possession, we would look to destroy them on the break. This season in games with PSG, City, Bayern and Barca we showed we can go toe to toe with anybody, dominate the ball and take the game to them. We can also kill sides on the break and thanks to VVD and Alisson, we're so hard to score against that we don't even have to play well to win anymore. Unfortunately we were up against another absolutely incredible side in the league and we fell just short but winning the CL softened the blow.

Grade: A-

Expectations for Next Season: With City around you can't have a set target whereby you have to win the League but we have to be in the mix, pushing 100 points and competing for the CL again.
 
Team: Arsenal

League Position: 5th.

Season High: Getting to the Europa League final.

Season Low: The second half in the Europa League final. It was like Wenger had popped in for the half time team talk, not seen us roll over quite so pathetically since Emery joined.

Player of the Season: Lacazette, hasn't scored as many as Auba but his all round game play has improved no end.

Young Player of the Season: Erm, Maintland-Niles, don't think we play anyone else. Don't think he's good enough for us though.

Most Improved Player: Lacazette. Completely different player from when Wenger was manager.

Best Signing: Torreira (just in front of Sokratis) but to be fair none of them have been brilliant. Expected more from him.

Summary: Better than with Wenger but still horribly short of defensive quality and creativity in midfield. First season for Emery though and I was expecting the worst so won't complain too much. A European final and finishing just a point from top 4 is ok.

Grade: C

Expectations for Next Season: All depends if we can lose the deadweight and invest, if we don't pretty much the same again. If we do hopefully get top 4 and close the gap between us and the top 2, Europa League win would be nice too.
 
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Team: Manchester United
League Position: 6th

Season High: Coming from behind to knock PSG out.

Season Low: Probably the period before Jose was sacked. The toxicity that was around the club was sickening.

Player of the Season: Victor Lindelof. A season ago people were calling him barely a professional footballer but he's come on leaps and bounds this season. Not only become a consistent performer but a solid leader for the team.

Young Player of the Season: Mason Greenwood. Seems weird to give it to someone who only made a couple of appearances but his performances for the youth team have been amazing this season. While both Rashford and McTominay have had good spells I don't think either did enough over the season. Greenwood is still young but I hope he gets opportunities next year.

Most Improved Player: Luke Shaw. Most people had written him off before this season, but he came back after some good fitness work over the summer and has consistently performed.

Best Signing: Diogo Dalot. Should have been played more than he was, a very stop/start season featuring at rb, lb, right wing. But he has shown signs of quality and seems to have a great attitude for a young player. It seems as if Ole considers him more as a winger at the moment so we'll see how he uses him next year.

Summary: A very up and down season. You could tell right from the first days of pre season that Jose was imploding and it was only a matter of time. Sadly it took us until December to sack him. Ole came in and injected some positivity, he certainly did more with what was left for him than people expected but ultimately the season ended with a very downwards trajectory. A lot of people have pointed fingers at why this was but I'm not sure myself. I'm willing to give him time to get the squad in the state he wants it to be, both in terms of personnel and system. I think Herrera deciding to leave is a huge loss and might have had a big impact on our closing season form. We decided to drop him at that point and I think it became clear how important he was to the team.

Grade: Jose F/ Ole B-

Expectations for Next Season: Top 4, nothing more really. It's going to take us at least two summers to rebuild with important players retiring and contracts ending. It is looking like we'll be going after younger players so we'll see how they adapt.
 
Team: Blackburn Rovers
League position: 15th (Championship)

Season high: Not being in a relegation battle, seeing Bradley Dack prove he's one of the best players outside of the Prem and that he arguably should be there
Season low: Not kicking on when it was looking like we could make it into the play offs, second half of the season saw too many late goals and all around bad defensive displays

Player of the season: Easily Bradley Dack
Young Player of the Season: Lewis Travis

Most improved player: Possibly Lenihan as he's really stepped up this season
Best Signing: Adam Armstrong

Summary: Disappointing second half of the season when it was looking very promising, at one stage we were looking likely to make the play offs and drifted away. Defensively poor, far too many mistakes and far too many goals conceded. The big worry would be whether we can keep hold of Dack, possibly not which would put is in a very bad position next season as the Venkys (spits) 100% would not reinvest the money into the club to strengthen the squad.

Grade: B/C - newly promoted so hard to say it was any worse than this, bottom mid table position means no relegation which is always good after going up.

Expectations for next season: Similar to this I would think, I can't see us making the play offs without serious investment and I don't think we will go down, providing we can keep the squad in tact.
 
Think Baz has been harsh with the A-. Straight A’s surely. 97 points and champions league winners. Joint golden boot winners and the best defence in the league. Hard to see how they could improve tbh.
 
Team: Arsenal

League Position: 5th

Season High: The 20+ game unbeaten run early-season and Emery finally bringing about competitiveness in big games and the feeling we can win them, at the Emirates at any rate: i.e. smashing Tottenham.

Season Low: Europa League final second-half collapse / final handful of Prem games. We really should have sewn-up 3rd with a margin to spare.

Player of the Season: Alex Lacazette. Goals and assists in quantity, and works his arse off every single game. Aubameyang hits the big numbers, but Lacazette is a great foil.

Young Player of the Season: Reiss Nelson. On loan at Hoffenheim, 7 league goals and a decent number of starts is a promising return in a competitive Bundesliga outfit.

Most Improved Player: Alex Lacazette again. He's a key player, wasn't under Wenger.

Best Signing: Bernd Leno. A better keeper than he is given credit for given Arsenal's defensive record. He's been an excellent buy.

Summary: Top four and a Cup run was the realistic aim. We got one and should have had the other. There are negative points: end of season collapse, lack of form away from the Emirates, too much rotation and an atrocious defensive record, but it was a mildly promising debut season from Emery. But there are some genuine concerns which he needs to address and he'll be judged more stringently next season.

Grade: B- - on the basis of coming close to expectancy within one of the most incompetently-run clubs in the division.

Expectations for Next Season: top four, a Cup run and a genuine feeling that we are making progress to being a competitive force that can do all aspects. We know we aren't title candidates, we know we will spend very little, but at least begin to look like a team that can defend and settle on a core set of players.
 
Team: Leeds

League Position: 3rd

Season High: Bielsa. He inherited a squad that finished 14th the season prior and got absolute everything he could out of them. He played football I or the Championship hadn’t seen for years and managed to bring back hope and excitement to the fans.

Season Low: Has to be the Derby defeat in the second leg of the play offs, we did all the hard work with a really professional performance in the first leg then just imploded at home.

Player of the Season: There were quite a few players that raised their game significantly this season but Philips in the centre of the park was class throughout. He could and did easily sit in the middle of the back two and ping balls around, his fitness and maturity had improved massively. I expect some 15m bids from lower end Prem teams this summer. Pablo a very close second.

Young Player of the Season: So many stand outs from the u23 who won their respective league. I’d go with Shackleton who looks a really promising player for us next season and as pivotal for the under u23’s success.

Most Improved Player: I’d probably go Pablo Hernandez for what he contributed this season, double figures for goals and assists. He’s a magician. Klich/Roofe a close second.

Best Signing: Difficult as we didn’t sign many, Barry Douglas looked a top signing up to Xmas then tailed off. Bamford was underwhelming and season ruined by injury. The rest were loanees and didn’t contribute enough.

Summary: I had little expectation going into this season, especially as we didn’t really add quality into the squad. I heard the rumours about Bielsa but didn’t know if he’d have a job by Xmas. The opening games against Stoke and Derby really did bring some enthusiasm back and up to Christmas we were fantastic. Unfortunately, the squad depth and housing to many players that make mistakes caught up with us. Fitness and play style was there until the end just missed that cutting edge. Daniel James was a big miss and probably would have been the difference getting promoted. Still a fantastic season but disappointing we didn’t have enough to get over the line.

Grade: A-

Expectations for Next Season: A worry really, so happy Bielsa is giving it another shot but he needs backing. He can’t get what he did out of the squad this season again I feel. Losing Saiz was massive and we really need to bring in new faces to freshen up the team but keeping with Bielsa’s philosophy. I’m worried we will just go down the youth route which is exciting but a risk. Need to replicate what Norwich did with loanees, youth and cheap foreign signings as I’m sure there is not much money to spend.
 
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