The Holy Trinity
Player Valuation: £10m
Now that the dust has settled after Saturday's dissapointing draw at Stoke and the shouts have died down about the manager's lack of tactical nouse etc I've been thinking about how the season has really panned out.
Setbacks to Arteta, Jagielka, Anichebe. Lescott affair, NO MONEY UNTIL LESCOTT WAS SOLD etc and the 6-1 HOME defeat to Arsenal I don't think its been that bad a season. If we beat Portsmouth on Sunday we end with 61 points which is the amount we finished 4th with in 2004/5 and only TWO points behind last years tally.
When I think back to Derby match at Goodison at the end of November I remember the Trinity (me,LCAB and Source) discussing how the hell we were going to stay out of a relegation fight. We had Spurs and Chelsea fast approaching and did not look capable of winning a match anywhere against anyone.
Tim Howard's 95min penalty save from Jermain Defoe at the end of that Spurs match might have been the turning point in our season as we then drew 3-3 away at Chelsea before drawing with Birmingham and Sunderland then beating Burnley. A 5 match unbeaten run from nowhere !
My point in stating that sequence of results is that if anyone had told us then that we would still be in the race for a European spot going into our 37th match we'd have all taken a limb each of the person offering that opportunity ! Saturday was disappointing but no more so than Wolves, West Ham or Aston Villa. Stoke is a tough place to go and a draw normally isn't that bad a result. In fact if we had won there we'd have been only the 3rd team to do so with Man United and Chelsea the only others who have won there on both trips since Stoke's promotion. However, we struggled to get going and only for a Linesman's flag we'd have probably won again, however, it would not have made any difference as Liverpool will beat Hull this weekend anyway.
After I had read some posts on here slating Moyes or the players I started thinking about next season and realistically what our aims should be. I do believe (although I WILL miss it) that not being in Europe will help us domestically. The top 4 is not that far away and I include catching Arsenal in that. I think if we keep the majority of our players fit and with the addition of some in the summer (more than the three we are aware of) we can be right up there next season. Pienaar is important in all of this and I really hope he stays but if not we must replace him with some pace. I also think Bily will have a good season next year once he has a pre-season behind him.
I might upset some people here now but I would offload Joseph Yobo, Sylvain Distin, Louis Saha and James Vaughan for whatever money we could get in and replace them with a left back for cover, centre half and a right winger. I think everywhere else we've got decent cover as I expect Senderos to stay and with Duffy would probably have enough to cover Heitinga and Jags the dream partnership. Coleman and hibbo to put pressure on neville.
Let's accept that things conspired against us and not beating Stoke is not the real reason why we have not qualified for Europe. How we started the season and the injuries as well as the Lescott situation made it a bit of a write off season. The fact that we got ourselves into contention means we must give the manager (Who I DON'T always agree with) and the players some credit. I think we have a really good squad now so let's get behind them and watch us qualify for Champions League with a decent squad this time.
Anyway that's my take on things now I HAVE calmed down !!
Nil Satis ....
THT..
ps.. watched Liverpool v Chelsea.. People think we've got problems ??? Men against boys !!
Setbacks to Arteta, Jagielka, Anichebe. Lescott affair, NO MONEY UNTIL LESCOTT WAS SOLD etc and the 6-1 HOME defeat to Arsenal I don't think its been that bad a season. If we beat Portsmouth on Sunday we end with 61 points which is the amount we finished 4th with in 2004/5 and only TWO points behind last years tally.
When I think back to Derby match at Goodison at the end of November I remember the Trinity (me,LCAB and Source) discussing how the hell we were going to stay out of a relegation fight. We had Spurs and Chelsea fast approaching and did not look capable of winning a match anywhere against anyone.
Tim Howard's 95min penalty save from Jermain Defoe at the end of that Spurs match might have been the turning point in our season as we then drew 3-3 away at Chelsea before drawing with Birmingham and Sunderland then beating Burnley. A 5 match unbeaten run from nowhere !
My point in stating that sequence of results is that if anyone had told us then that we would still be in the race for a European spot going into our 37th match we'd have all taken a limb each of the person offering that opportunity ! Saturday was disappointing but no more so than Wolves, West Ham or Aston Villa. Stoke is a tough place to go and a draw normally isn't that bad a result. In fact if we had won there we'd have been only the 3rd team to do so with Man United and Chelsea the only others who have won there on both trips since Stoke's promotion. However, we struggled to get going and only for a Linesman's flag we'd have probably won again, however, it would not have made any difference as Liverpool will beat Hull this weekend anyway.
After I had read some posts on here slating Moyes or the players I started thinking about next season and realistically what our aims should be. I do believe (although I WILL miss it) that not being in Europe will help us domestically. The top 4 is not that far away and I include catching Arsenal in that. I think if we keep the majority of our players fit and with the addition of some in the summer (more than the three we are aware of) we can be right up there next season. Pienaar is important in all of this and I really hope he stays but if not we must replace him with some pace. I also think Bily will have a good season next year once he has a pre-season behind him.
I might upset some people here now but I would offload Joseph Yobo, Sylvain Distin, Louis Saha and James Vaughan for whatever money we could get in and replace them with a left back for cover, centre half and a right winger. I think everywhere else we've got decent cover as I expect Senderos to stay and with Duffy would probably have enough to cover Heitinga and Jags the dream partnership. Coleman and hibbo to put pressure on neville.
Let's accept that things conspired against us and not beating Stoke is not the real reason why we have not qualified for Europe. How we started the season and the injuries as well as the Lescott situation made it a bit of a write off season. The fact that we got ourselves into contention means we must give the manager (Who I DON'T always agree with) and the players some credit. I think we have a really good squad now so let's get behind them and watch us qualify for Champions League with a decent squad this time.
Anyway that's my take on things now I HAVE calmed down !!
Nil Satis ....
THT..
ps.. watched Liverpool v Chelsea.. People think we've got problems ??? Men against boys !!