Europa League Final Autopsy

[Özim]

There isn't really a general sense of the word. Average can only be understood in a context.

No, we weren't that impressive last season. Only 2 clubs in the country were consistently impressive.
After that we were as good as anyone and better than most. We were a 1 point off Spurs and 2 off Chelsea.
You think a team who finished 1 point above us are better player for player?!
They lost 13 league games! They were in the top 4 because, inexplicably, they won most of the rest but it's so bizarre you think that a team who finished on 71 points need a "bit of tinkering" and a team who finished on 70 need a "new team". How are they "far closer" than we are? They finished 27 points off the top, we finished 28. We're both miles away from the level of the top 2 and as you say we really should have finished above them.

What matters is where you are at the end of the season, you say. Well, Spurs finished with 0 trophies to our 0, and they finished 1 place higher in the table and 1 point better off. Their CL run was admittedly impressive but let's not forget they (I think) lost their first 3 group games. They only got through the group because of a late equaliser against Barca and I think they had to rely on the other result going their way too. They do (as much as it hurts to admit it) deserve some credit for their CL run but they rode their luck a bit at times and end of the day they came away potless again.

You say Chelsea had a poor season by "their standards". They actually got 2 points more than the previous season. Since they won the title a couple of years ago they've not been great. I'm not sure what "their standards" are, the season before they won the title they finished with 50 points in 10th.

Our main problem, as always, is defence. We scored more than anyone other than the top two but we conceded 51 goals, significantly more than any of the top 4 (it was more than City and Liverpool combined, embarrassingly!). And there's a mentality issue as well. Those are the biggest issues I see. I think they're perfectly sort-outable without going nuclear and starting again. We don't have the budget to anyway. A couple of additions and we could be better. Not at Liverpool or City's level but we are miles away. Let's be realistic and start by targetting the top 4. We were close this year (we weren't last year). The points total to get into the top 4 was admittedly a little lower this year but not by that much, it's certainly doable next year. There was some improvement from the previous season. We got 7 more points, we got to the final of the Europa instead of the semi-final. But winning it wouldn't have made it a great season any more than losing it makes it a terrible one.

I'm giving Emery a C for this season. Maybe a C+ as we got to the Europa final. He has work to do and there will be pressure on him next year if we don't improve. We're not going to make the leap from where we are to Champions in one season. I question with our owner whether we can anyway. But we don't need to rebuild the entire team to improve. Let's get into the top 4 first, then we can try and push on.

Spurs alos collapsed at the end of the season, but overall they were certainly more impressive than us, I think they probably need 2-3 new additions wherease I reckon we need more like 7 or 8.

Just look at the squad the defence is awful, Monreal, Koscielny, Mustafi all have to go due to age in the case of the 1st two and quality in the case of the latter, that's 3 players right there, Lichsteiner is also gone already so we need a new player to replace him, that's 4 now.

Then we have the average midfield, Xhaka has to go I'm sorry but he's a liabilty, it's been shown the guy has made the most mistakes leading to goals than any other PL player, he's slow ponderous and offers nothing, that's 5. Mhkitaryan is on too much money and hasn't turned up since he moved here there's 6. Then we have Ozil, it's widely accepted he's finished at the top level and needs to be disposed of, that's 7. Elneny again not really good enough, 8 if you replace him oh and don't forget we've lost Ramsey probably the pick of our midfielders this season.

Cech is gone so we probably need a new keeper is Martinez isn't promotoed, that's 9. Welbeck is also gone so we need a 3rd forward, that's 10. Even if you brought in a couple kids ESR and Nelson and Even Chambers being the obvious choices you'd still need around 7 players if you want a decent side because all of those listed aren't up to the job, but realistically that goes back up to 8 as we'd need a more experienced winger than those guys.

You keep saying we need 2-3 players, but that's just not right, 2-3 barely fixes the defence. Granted we probably won't do a fraction of that because let's face it we have little money and the owner won't put any in, so next season we'll probably be also rans again and because Emery is not a top coach looking at him, we may well miss out on top 4 again as well, as I expect Spurs and Man U will spend big and Chelsea also will if they aren't under a transfer ban.

To be honest, if Wolves can add a bit more quality to their squad I can see them coming above us as well if we keep hold of many of the current lot, we've had a lot of these guys for years and they've shown they just aren't up to the job and nothing you can do will ever make them up to it.

I agree our defence is a problem, but so is out midfield to be honest, we're losing Ramsey as well so it's already weaker, there's very little quality in there now, very little creativity and not enough battling quality either, I haven't even mentioned Iwobi in this who IMO is at best a squad player who time and time again can't deliver a cross and of course Kolasinac a player who can't defend and wasn't very good last season, what will Emery suddenly change in this lot that he couldn't do last season exactly, I can't see any of those guys getting better or being up to the job, they've had long enough to show they are after all.

If we do indeed get jut 40 million then we're in real trouble and we'll have to pray some of the kids come good, but statistically (and given our poor youth record over the years) it's unlikely to be the answer, we may find one decent player who makes it out of a dozen but we'd be bery very lucky to find more, our youth academy isn't exactly outstanding and the only one who's done anything of note (in another country however) is Nelson.

I know a lot of people talk about this guy and that guy being good, but in the end 99% of these guys don't make it, it's just fans wanting to have some outstanding youngster come through, truth is we haven't found anyone world class coming through the ranks in years, we're not like Southampton, Ajax or even Man City and Chelsea who seem to find quality young players (the latter two seem to buy the right ones).