Congratulations LCFC

[Dahnsouff]

Just now, lcfceaves said:

Well that’s your opinion, but I think they’ll be thinking negatively about it. Cannot see how they can regard what has happened since January, a success. Certainly someone like Kasper, he will regard what has happened recently as a failure I’m sure of it. 

Perhaps there will be some regret (not blame) as to how the season has concluded and that is understandable and in fact desirable. If indeed there is regret within the team or for individuals, as long as they remain holistically focused, this will serve as a lesson and can only be of a benefit for next season.

However, on the flip side there will and should be pride, they have achieved the stated aims set out during the start of the season, and this should provide hope and enthusiasm that they can and will make the next step.

[Gwyn]

1 minute ago, Ric Flair said:

I think this has to be how the club view it for the long term health of this club, otherwise the capitulation will overshadow the players, management and club and we will implode.

 

In golfing terms this is the equivalent of a 9 handicapper playing in their home club championship, the most prestigious tournament of the entire season where the course is set up at it's most challenging and if they were offered shooting 1 under their handicap they'd snap your hand off. They then proceed to be 3 under gross after 9 holes, it's absolutely astonishing golf and far better club players are trailing them. Are the club witnessing the coming of age of a new amateur golfer? The said player then comes home 11 over par and finishes 1 under their handicap, they are distraught at what could have been. Everyone around them applauds them for the opening 9 holes and that they still finished under their handicap, but deep down it's a bottle job and they've fallen apart.

Or unforseen and untimely injuries plus a very strange mid season break with a relatively young inexperienced team?

[Ric Flair]

Just now, Gwyn said:

Or unforseen and untimely injuries plus a very strange mid season break with a relatively young inexperienced team?

i.e. delays at the half way house and a particularly heavy bacon & egg cob upset the rhythm. Immediate double bogey on 10, shank down 11 and a 3 putt on 12 led to a nervy finish.

[foxinsocks]

This is a great season from a smaller squad.

Now brendan has seen them in action he has to decide where he needs to bring people in... or let them go.  We will be a better side next season. Believe it 

Edited 20 July 2020 by foxinsocks

[AKCJ]

How will seedings work with the Europa League?

 

Are we automatically seen as 3/4 or do we have a chance of being 1/2?

 

Hoping we get to go to Germany. Wouldn't mind another trip to Portugal either.

[bovril]

Season's not actually over yet.

[TMELcfc]

16 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Perhaps there will be some regret (not blame) as to how the season has concluded and that is understandable and in fact desirable. If indeed there is regret within the team or for individuals, as long as they remain holistically focused, this will serve as a lesson and can only be of a benefit for next season.

However, on the flip side there will and should be pride, they have achieved the stated aims set out during the start of the season, and this should provide hope and enthusiasm that they can and will make the next step.

I think a lot of what you say is a view of matter of fact... at the start of the season you are right, and at the end we are definitely in a European mix when other clubs perceived as bigger than us have finished below us. But things change over time. Also what you say isn’t very ‘emotional’ (which may be a good thing), but Fans, players and managers are all human and are emotional. And right now me and I am sure a lot of the players emotionally see this right now as a bit of a disaster considering where we were. 

[Ollie93]

45 minutes ago, lcfceaves said:

From the position we were in, this is a failure. You can dress it up and be positive all you like... but for me, it’s a failure... and no matter what dross players and managers might come out with in press conferences, they’ll be thinking exactly the same thing... failure. 

Couldn't agree more, from the position we were in, 14 points clear of 5th in January, this is a failure. It's a defeatist mentality to say "well at least we are still 5th".

[kingcarr21]

Im delighted we have secured European football. Another European Tour is great. Our targets before the season started have been achieved.

 

But lets now kids ourselves, from the position we were in we should have secured Top 4 a long time ago. 

 

By the end of the season you finish where you deserve to finish. If we do indeed finish 5th then so be it. We do not deserve Champions League football based on the 38 games.

 

If we had a steady season and finished 5th we would be delighted. If the season was flipped and we started poorly then had a late surge and finished 5th we would be delighted.

 

But to get to the half way point so dominant only for us to drop off a cliff rings alarm bells. Will this slump continue into next season? We wont know until next season but the position we were in and being so many points clear we have let a huge opportunity potentially slip.

 

Im not confident of beating Man Utd but lets see what happens. We know we can beat any team on our day. 

[Gwyn]

6 minutes ago, Ollie93 said:

Couldn't agree more, from the position we were in, 14 points clear of 5th in January, this is a failure. It's a defeatist mentality to say "well at least we are still 5th".

And that's you're opinion but having followed the club for many years I would describe it as bitterly disappointing but by no me asns a failure. 

[Les-TA-Jon]

9 minutes ago, Ollie93 said:

Couldn't agree more, from the position we were in, 14 points clear of 5th in January, this is a failure. It's a defeatist mentality to say "well at least we are still 5th".

It is possible to say that missing out on CL from that position is a failure, whilst also recognising that:

• the restart, fixture pile up and 5-sub rule benefitted other clubs, and cost others.
• rival clubs brought in £150m+ of players
• rival clubs had players returning from injury, that otherwise would have missed the run in
• we have been a mid table side in the premier league ever since returning in 2014, with a much smaller and weaker squad than the top 6
• other than Schmeichel, Evans and Vardy much of the team/squad are young players 

[That_Dude]

41 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Perhaps there will be some regret (not blame) as to how the season has concluded and that is understandable and in fact desirable. If indeed there is regret within the team or for individuals, as long as they remain holistically focused, this will serve as a lesson and can only be of a benefit for next season.

However, on the flip side there will and should be pride, they have achieved the stated aims set out during the start of the season, and this should provide hope and enthusiasm that they can and will make the next step.

This has to be the understatement of the year.

 

I quite like your posts in general but aren't you pushing it a bit here?

 

You bet they'll have regrets and big ones at that. I would. I sometimes couldn't sleep after a defeat whilst playing at a level waaaaaay below. We're talking about professionals, fierce competitors who aim for the top. Pride in what? Bottling a 15 points lead, crumbling at the slightest pressure, failing to win any big game? There ain't no pride in that, I know it, you know it, they know it and the manager knows it too.

 

Now I'm all for positive posts to counter-balance the negativity of the last weeks, and I myself am guilty of that, but this kind of Pravda style threads, up there with the "King Brendan, Best Thing since Sliced Bread" one kinda irk me.

 

Yes, 5th is a very good result, there's no question about it. No way at the beginning of the season I'd have expected us to be where we actually are. Rodgers did a fantastic job, in the first half of the season. After that, well it's not that rosy and injuries don't explain it all. Covid affected every single team and is not a valid argument to me. This should be acknowledged too and put in the equation.

 

I do hope that, as you said, that they learn from this season and come back stronger in the next one. Because it will be one hell of a ride otherwise.

 

Edited 20 July 2020 by That_Dude

[Ollie93]

7 minutes ago, Gwyn said:

And that's you're opinion but having followed the club for many years I would describe it as bitterly disappointing but by no me asns a failure. 

The Troy Deeney goal was bitterly dissapointing, this is a failure.

 

If we'd have got results against Norwich/Brighton etc, which we should have, we wouldn't be in this situation.

[Ric Flair]

Top 4 sides do not bring in back up players from teams like Wolves as their only signing in a transfer window, that has also cost us hugely.

[Ollie93]

4 minutes ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

It is possible to say that missing out on CL from that position is a failure, whilst also recognising that:

• the restart, fixture pile up and 5-sub rule benefitted other clubs, and cost others.
• rival clubs brought in £150m+ of players
• rival clubs had players returning from injury, that otherwise would have missed the run in
• we have been a mid table side in the premier league ever since returning in 2014, with a much smaller and weaker squad than the top 6
• other than Schmeichel, Evans and Vardy much of the team/squad are young players 

Of course, all points recognised.

 

However, you're speaking as though the rival clubs have caught us, not that we have lost the position we were in. 

 

We should have taken maximum points off Norwich and Brighton, then we wouldn't be having this discussion. That just comes down to poor tactical decisions on the day and sheer complacency, thinking we already had it in the bag.

[Gwyn]

1 minute ago, Ollie93 said:

The Troy Deeney goal was bitterly dissapointing, this is a failure.

 

If we'd have got results against Norwich/Brighton etc, which we should have, we wouldn't be in this situation.

Clearly we weren't good enough or didn't have a big enough squad to compete with the big boys which makes me think you're mad that you're not happy being top 5??

[Gwyn]

3 minutes ago, Ric Flair said:

Top 4 sides do not bring in back up players from teams like Wolves as their only signing in a transfer window, that has also cost us hugely.

And that's the whole point we cannot compete transfer wise which makes it even better of a achievement 

[Les-TA-Jon]

4 minutes ago, Ollie93 said:

Of course, all points recognised.

 

However, you're speaking as though the rival clubs have caught us, not that we have lost the position we were in. 

 

We should have taken maximum points off Norwich and Brighton, then we wouldn't be having this discussion. That just comes down to poor tactical decisions on the day and sheer complacency, thinking we already had it in the bag.

Well it's obviously a bit of both, right? That's how tables work. 

 

I do agree that with the gap we had, it was in our hands. I also think it's tighter than it looks. Even since the restart:

• One lapse - Watford equaliser - 2 points dropped
• VAR doesn't give pen for handball in 92nd vs Brighton - 2 points dropped
• Schmeichel's goal kick doesn't leave the box - 3 points dropped
• Lloris makes a worldie save vs Perez at 0-1 - 3 points dropped 

[Ric Flair]

Just now, Gwyn said:

And that's the whole point we cannot compete transfer wise which makes it even better of a achievement 

Yes and no, we don't have the vast transfer budgets season in, season out to go toe to toe with clubs around us but we have a much better recruitment system and we also aren't exactly poor. We tried to spend a large proportion of the Maguire money but ran out of time in August, we then spent the whole of January doing what? We wanted Demiral and then Tapsoba until it became clear he wouldn't get a work permit. However we could still have seriously gone for the extra firepower or creativity we so badly need, I feel we misjudged our position and gap to 5th and thought we didn't need to take the gamble in a notoriously difficult transfer window but it has likely come back to haunt us (subject to a famous victory on Sunday)

[Staffs Fox]

We can’t get into we should have gotten a result here or there etc because every team can say the same. What if Southampton hadn’t got that 96th minute equaliser against united? What if they hadn’t lost at home to Burnley or lost to Watford or Bournemouth before Xmas? They’d be well clear of us now.

They had a stinker of a start and we’ve had a nightmare finish. It’s a clichè but it’s over 38 games, we’ve fallen apart after 28.

 

I’m gutted don’t get me wrong but analysing previous results will drive you mad! 

 

Its not over though, hopefully West Ham, Liverpool and Wolves can do us a favour and our lads can give one last push on Sunday!

[kingfox]

First half of the season was a big positive, second half of the season has been a huge negative.

 

As I debated argued with some fans yesterday, you just can’t brush our form since Christmas under the carpet, all because we’ve secured European Football.

 

We have a young talented squad, no doubt about that but we need to start delivering consistently. Questions need to be asked how we went from 2nd and having a 14 point gap, to potentially 5th and failing to get Champions League football.

 

This has been a season with positives that equally weigh with negatives.

 

Rodgers needs to get it right this summer, especially in the transfer market. Plus he needs to get it right on the pitch when the season starts again, we need to start finding that consistency again. You can be overly positive as much as you want, you can clutch at excuses as to why our form has dipped, but you also have to find that balance of realism, I’ve been highly critical of Rodgers recently but I’ve never said I’ve wanted him out, but if our current form continues into next season, he’ll be gone I’m afraid.

[Ric Flair]

Just now, kingfox said:

First half of the season was a big positive, second half of the season has been a huge negative.

 

As I debated argued with some fans yesterday, you just can’t brush our form since Christmas under the carpet, all because we’ve secured European Football.

 

We have a young talented squad, no doubt about that but we need to start delivering consistently. Questions need to be asked how we went from 2nd and having a 14 point gap, to potentially 5th and failing to get Champions League football.

 

This has been a season with positives that equally weigh with negatives.

 

Rodgers needs to get it right this summer, especially in the transfer market. Plus he needs to get it right on the pitch when the season starts again, we need to start finding that consistency again. You can be overly positive as much as you want, you can clutch at excuses as to why our form has dipped, but you also have to find that balance of realism, I’ve been highly critical of Rodgers recently but I’ve never said I’ve wanted him out, but if our current form continues into next season, he’ll be gone I’m afraid.

Agreed, can anyone come up with a similar example of when a team has nose dived like us and blown titles/CL qualification and then come back under that same regime and been a success? The obvious one at a lower level being us under Pearson after the 2012/13 debacle and then pissed the league in 2013/14. Newcastle under Keegan were never the same were they? Spurs in 2005/06 under Martin Jol was a big disappointment that after being in the top 4 the majority of the season then dropped out on the last day of the season after that wafty lasagne, they had a fairly decent season the following year and finished 5th but it was their final 3rd of the season that they really improved, think there was a bit of a hangover from the previous seasons disappointment.

[sacreblueits442]

3 hours ago, Gwyn said:

At the beginning of the season if you were offered top 6 we all would have taken it, if they also said you would play some sublime football and break a record for most goals scored in a game you would have taken it. For Brendan to come in and complete his long term project in 1 year and even before the season has ended is a feat worth applauding.  We went toe to toe with Liverpool and Man city before the difference in available transfer money shone to light, which is out of our hands really. 

We have been without our player of the year and the best right back in the league for a while now, add madderz the creative spark, cags, chilli....

 

I'd just like to come at this with a different angle and say congratulations to Top,Brendan,the team and all at LCFC for a brilliant and exciting season. 

 

We are still a young squad learning together and can only get better together. 

 

...do not feel there is anything to celebrate at this moment!!!

 We have no right to be in the top 4, nor any right to be in the top 6, but from where we were, to how we will finish, it leaves a bitter taste.

Am I ungrateful, perhaps, am I deluded, it might seem to be the case, but at this very moment I feel like I have lost a penny and found a pound but the pound is stuck in a pile of manure.....I should be grateful but.......!!

[irishfoxkev]

Still hoping there will be a few surprise results this week and for a good result next Sunday for us...Man Utd looked a very tired jaded team yesterday and have to play again on Wed before us on Sunday....Not making top 4 will be disappointing but guaranteed 5th has to be applauded......Without making this an end of season review  in my view there a a few critical events which determined our season

1/ Fixture list....Our  run of consecutive wins came to surprising end at home to Norwich...We needed a couple of games against lower placed team to regain momentum but unfortunately next  2 games were Man City and Liverpool and 2 heavy defeats...momentum and self belief badly damaged 

2/ Injuries.....every team has injuries but I feel losing N’Didi for was it 6 or 7 matches early New Year really hurt us

He was back for the thumping of Villa at home but then we lost the other of what I think are our 2 world class players  in Ricardo. Add Chilwell and Maddison to that since restart and obvious we were going to struggle. 

3/ Coronavirus.....Enforced break hurt us whilst others benefitted.....We had our mojo back in the defeat of Villa and I feel we would have taken this into the matches which ultimately may  cost us Champions League Watford away and Brighton home

Man Utd are the only team who can take our place in top four and the break assisted them as they got Rashford fit and back . They were the only team that I can see that also benefitted from a quiet Jan transfer window with Fernandes turning them around. 

 

As I said at outset it ain’t over yet ...Our last 2 home games were impressive...scored 5 conceded none....Its a long shot but still doable 🦊🦊🦊🦊

 

 

[Ollie93]

24 minutes ago, Gwyn said:

Clearly we weren't good enough or didn't have a big enough squad to compete with the big boys which makes me think you're mad that you're not happy being top 5??

Not at all, of course i am happy we still have European football, i'd be stupid not to be.