The People's Forum: I think we’re still punching above tbh…

It depends on what basis tho, I guess. You can absolutely say we spent a lot of money in the summer just gone - but a lot of that was with future seasons, rather than this season, in mind. Arguably, only Grealish and KDH, maybe Barry, were bought with immediate starting roles in mind. I’d argue that was actually a poor use of resources when investment in the full back positions (at least) would have provided a far stronger platform for immediate success. But perhaps the investment in youth pays off in future seasons; who knows?

What I do know is, over the last 13 years, we’ve tried a range of managers of varying levels of experience, styles, big names…and none (except for Martinez’s first season) have come close to performing as well as Moyes. It’s not even a contest. In barely a year he’s turned around a team that was fast heading down the pan, pretty much with the first team additions of Grealish (injured for half the season) and Dewsbury-Hall (plus, to a lesser extent Barry - who is clearly behind Beto in our pecking order).

Far from perfect - and he certainly has his faults - but far from where we’ve been and far closer to where we want to be. VERY fine margins over the last few weeks mean we’re sat here on 49 points in tenth when we should probably have had another six points and been sat in at least 7th. It’s frustrating, disappointing and I get that. But we’re starting to see a team that can play a bit of football again, something that’s been missing since the first half of Carlo’s full season. I’m not sure why people think that turnaround should’ve been any quicker given today’s starting eleven really only added one player (Dewsbury-Hall) to the group that was nearly relegated several times.

No question this season feels like a missed opportunity but do we really need to throw the baby out as well? And, after more than a decade of seeing just how bad this thing can look, are we really that confident that someone else can just come in and get more out of this group? And why are we so sure that Glasner, Iraola et al won’t just be another Frank, Potter etc…?

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under Benitez, Lampard, and Dyche we under performed massively (aside the season of points deductions where we would have had 48 points or whatever it was)

We finished with 59 points with Ancelotti in 20/21 and then dropped to 39-36-40-48 - huge drop off.

We arent punching above our weight this season, we are performing about how we should overall - we've over performed away, under performed at home.

But because we had 3 seasons massively under performing, this season looks like we are doing amazing - we arent.

Over performing would be 58+ points come the end of the season

Now steadying it and reversing that decline was great. But many said 8-12th for the season, and thats what its looking like. And thats fine, but so many opportunities have been there this season, and we've not grabbed them.

We need
2 right backs - fuck patterson off, and never have to revert to a midfielder or cb at right back
1 left back - clearly Aznou isnt getting a run before 2030 - Myko needs competition
1 winger with pace - either side will do
1 striker - who gives something different, preferable pace and link up play

and then we need to replace in the squad anyone who leaves.

Chelsea are still in a mess, Villa are up and down, next season again there will be opportunity to crack in to the 6-8th spot, but we might have to over perform to get it.