If we made the semi-finals and go out.. would you class that as success/progress?

One step forward, one step back for me. Progress would be maintaining our league form (finishing in the top 2) AND performing well in Europe. I don't think substituting one for the other should count as progress.
 
Progress? Well, if you get 2 rounds further in the competition than you ever have before, of course it's progress. Foolish to say otherwise. But success? No. To me, success would be winning the thing. Others will think differently. Fair enough.
 
It wasn't long ago the quadruple was on, since......
We have flopped in the prem
We won the League Cup
We gave up the FA Cup to concentrate on the CL
Where we have a good chance on making the semis
Definitely some progress but failure in the prem has been hard to take.
 
Given the money spent, the squad we have, and the total joke Mourinho made of Chelsea, not winning the PL is a bad season. Finishing 3rd would have been a huge failure. Finishing 4th is shambolic and well, not even managing that has to be one of the biggest managerial failures in PL history.

In terms of the CL, I don't see actual progress in terms of what we've done. We have been knocked out by Barca the last few years and if we face Barca over 2 legs again (if we beat PSG) we'll go out again (we could have a chance vs Barca in a one-off final but not over 2). I think had we been given this season's draw the last few years we wouldn't have done any worse.
With that said, getting to the Semi Finals would be a big boost mentally for the players (who remain), and the club and fans in general - not to mention the press headlines.
I never viewed our previous 2 CL campaigns as harshly as many - esp. the media and punditry. It's not like we went out to the likes of Monaco
 
Malty said:
But only 1 team can win the league.. and no team has shown 100% consistency apart from Leicester. Need a bit of perspective here, it's been a freak season for everyone.
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I am not saying we should win it every year but we should have done better than we have in the league. I don't think anyone can deny that. I don't care what other sides do, I care what we do and it hasn't been good enough by a long way. Top 4 is essential for us, Pep and the players. Anything less would be a huge disappointment.

If we get top 4 and finish with a cup a semi final in the CL then I am sure the owners will be relatively happy but the league campaign has taken the gloss off it for me.
 
I think the only real sign of progress will be if/when we beat one of the big three (rm/barca/bayern) in a tie that really matters to both teams.
 
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no we have not progresssed season wise, we will have gone 2 years without winning the prem which is the hardest one to win as it's over a sustained number of games, knock out games are dependant on that days performance. winning the league cup and getting to the semis would be progress on last year when we went out in the last 16 and won nowt, but overall we are too inconsistant.
 
My prediction has been - for some time - a semi-final appearance and finishing 3rd in the league. If that transpires then it will be a decent springboard for the arrival of Pep. Major difference this close season is we will see a different approach to buying players driven by two factors. Firstly FFP is dead in the water -and the club has made significant moves commercially to negate any further nonsense - and secondly, the draw of playing for the best manager in the world. Some favourites will be moved on, but if we look at it without thinking of the missed opportunities this year my word the future is pretty good. So yes another stepping stone achieved.
 
Malty said:
I think City making it to the CL semi-finals for the first time is massive progress, and not a bad season.
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Can you give me this weeks Lottery Numbers please? I assume you can as you seem to know next Tuesday's result already. Who have we go in the semifinal by the way? I can book some cheap flights/hotel.
 
Semi finalists at present could be Bayern, Barcelona, Wolfsburg and City.

Could just as easily be Benfica, Athletico, Wolsburg and PSG.

Ideally I would wish for Benfica, Athletico, Wolfsburg and City.
 
I'd consider it good progress... provided that we finish Top 4 in the league.

If we don't finish Top 4, it's only progress if we miraculously win the UCL.
 
Now that a place goes to the winner of the Europa, it should be that both finalists automatically qualify for CL.
 
jaigurugoat said:
Now that a place goes to the winner of the Europa, it should be that both finalists automatically qualify for CL.
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Sounds good to me.

I didn't know that the Europa winners automatically qualify for the UCL now. That seems a bit odd.

Anyhow, I think I like automatic qualification for the UCL to the UCL runners up.
 
For this season to be a success we need top 3. Not 4th. I don't want to be going through a qualification round early on next season.
We shouldn't have to with the squad we have, we aim big and 4th for me is way below par.

It has been a shambles this season in the Premier League, some of the records we have accumulated over the season are nothing short of embarrassing, yes other teams have been the same but that shouldn't matter, we should be more bothered about City and less of the other teams records.

The League Cup painted over the cracks and our progression in Champions League should be expected. (Remember we have been a shambles at times this season in the Champions League)

I am far from happy at the minute but maybe it's just because we missed out on a League title again, that's the bread and butter for me and always will.
 
weeman19_89 said:
For this season to be a success we need top 3. Not 4th. I don't want to be going through a qualification round early on next season.
We shouldn't have to with the squad we have, we aim big and 4th for me is way below par.

It has been a shambles this season in the Premier League, some of the records we have accumulated over the season are nothing short of embarrassing, yes other teams have been the same but that shouldn't matter, we should be more bothered about City and less of the other teams records.

The League Cup painted over the cracks and our progression in Champions League should be expected. (Remember we have been a shambles at times this season in the Champions League)

I am far from happy at the minute but maybe it's just because we missed out on a League title again, that's the bread and butter for me and always will.
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What a lovely end to what's been a shit week
Keep away from the bread knife mate
 
Hard to say. We haven't progressed as a team really because i think the team is weaker than it was a couple of years ago. On top of that, the draw this year has been more favourable. The group stage looked hard on paper but when the majority of the fixtures were played, i think all 3 opponents were struggling for form. That's not to belittle our performances or take anything away, but we still lost twice in 6 games. We've had a couple of games where we looked like a proper side (Sevilla away, Kiev away), but again neither Kiev or Sevilla should be posing great danger to the top, top teams in the CL.

The real difference is we haven't had to face Barcelona in the knockout round yet, and we managed to top the group because we didn't have a Real Madrid, a Bayern or even a Dortmund in there (like we have previously).

It used to annoy me when the pundits used to wonder why we struggled so much to get beyond the last 16. The answer was because of the draw. It had nothing to do with the mythical Champions League Inferiority Complex. We just drew teams who were better than us and would probably beat us 7 or 8 times out of 10. This year, the best teams we have played have been PSG and Juve, and they are probably on par with us in terms of quality.
 
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