One of the Worst Premier League Seasons?

[Marvin]

Leicester did not make any massive investments. This argument that every Premiership club is very wealthy is true in relation to European clubs, but look at the transfer spending in the Premiership. There is a massive gap between Manchester City, Utd, Newcastle, etc and clubs like leicester. If that gap remains then the divides in the premiership will reassert themselves. Obviously you can buy badly eg newcastle eg Swales eg man Utd, but overall money = success. It buys you the best and you have to be totally incompetent to throw money away season after season. Sooner or later it wull start to count

 

[Manchester33]

No, it's not a joke. And the thread is about this season, not us.

And no, we did not 'nearly' reach the CL final, although getting to the semi was good. We didn't ever look like we were even trying in the last match. And we finished, was it, 15 points behind a relegation favourite while barely scraping 4th place from a shit Utd with a shit manager.

And if we are talking shit seasons for City, it's pretty much the worst one since the takeover despite spending another bloody fortune.

Yea, we won the League Cup. That was nice, no more. It's a pretty thin consolation prize.

I think I'm being Clarkied...

This season Leicester won the league, I can't imagine an upset of that magnitude will ever happen again. Last years winners stumbled and finished 10th. Clubs like West Ham (Payet), Stoke (Shaqiri), Everton (Lukaku) saw some real talent emerge in their squads. Giants like Newcastle and Villa got relegated. There was loads that happened this year, just because the end of the season wasn't as dramatic as say 11/12 or 13/14 doesn't mean the whole season was 'the worst ever'.

We did nearly reach the champions league final, we didn't play we but we got knocked out at the semi final stage by a one goal margin - if you think that isn't 'close' then you're deluded.

If you think finishing top 4, semi of the champions league and a cup is the worst since 08 think again. In the first season, Mark Hughes spent over £100m and finished 10th, on 50 points, with no trophy and no European football to look forward too. in 09/10 we finished 5th, getting dumped out of the CL by Spurs on the penultimate game of the season. In 12/13 we finished as runners up in the league (by some distance), couldn't win a single game in Europe and got beat in the FA cup final by Wigan. Last year we finished runners up and couldn't win anything. This year hasn't been as bad as those, and look, we bounced back from them years (even with the now, close to irrelevant, FFP rules blocking us from really dominating).

I agree that, where we are now, the league cup is a consolation prize, but it's something. Give me 4th place and a cup + a good cup run in Europe over finishing 2nd and empty handed. We could/should have done better, but it could have been a lot worse!

I really think you near to look on the bright side a bit more!

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

Yes, this season has been the poorest one for a long time, just checking the points Leicester won with compared to previous seasons shows that doesn't it? They won because the big teams all screwed up, Chelsea, utd, arsenal, city, all have completly got it wrong.

 

[BLUEMATT23]

If our players shared the same intensity that Leciester have shown we would have won it by March. Problem is 80% of them couldn't be arsed when the going got tough.

 

[Marvin]

If our players shared the same intensity that Leciester have shown we would have won it by March. Problem is 80% of them couldn't be arsed when the going got tough.

But it's not as simple as that. Players have to be believe in what they are doing. Just 12 months beforehand that same Leicester group were in the relegation zone. Self-belief and belief in your team and manager generates is based on experience. It's not magiced from thin air

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

This season has been far more than the rogue portrayed in the media. Leicester won the PL because they were the most consistent team and they played the most effective football. Spurs, West Ham and Southampton also had good seasons while Arsenal, City, United and especially Chelsea all had problems. Within the game there seems to be a growing belief that dominating possession is no longer the means oe wearing the opposition down so that they crumble in the last half hour. Ranieri, more than any other manager in the PL realised that his team could not take City, Arsenal etc on in a quick passing festival of the beautiful game so he didn't try. If anything he acted on what Herbert Chapman preached in the 1920s and 30s: the longer you have the ball the less likely you are to score and the more you are in the opposition's half the more vulnerable you are. Unfortunately, in England this was interpreted as an endorsement of the long ball game, which Chapman never intended, but Ranieri has never adopted such a view. Successful teams keep possession and have players with pace. So you don't let them use their pace by defending very deep indeed and leaving very little space in the box. A high press is a purely defensive measure to allow the rest of the team to drop deep. But Ranieri did allow the other team to enjoy a lot of possession, but how many times did we see the other team make literally hundreds of meaningless passes on the edge of their box, looking for space that wasn't there, until a careless pass or a good tackle turned over possession, almost rugby style, allowing Leicester to break the last defensive line with one simple pass, a run by one of their lads and finally (usually) a ball to Vardy and a goal. This is what City couldn't/didn't cope with at home to Leicester or away at Southampton for that matter. What worries me slightly is that this is a fairly accurate description of Atletico's crucial away goal in Munich. Simeone plays the same game as Ranieri but he plays it better because he has better players. Bayern conceded a goal virtually without a Bayern player having set foot in his own half! United's possession game has been so sterile because they don't move the ball forward quickly enough and there are no cups for dominating possession. Martinez got the sack because all he seemed to care about was passing and possession, to the extent that you could almost believe he'd had the goal posts removed from Goodison so that his team wouldn't be distracted.

So, I think it has actually been a very interesting season, though a disappointing one for us in the PL, and I think Pep will spend his summer coming up with ways of dealing with sides who aren't at all alarmed at not having the ball for 70% of the time - in fact teams who prefer it that way.

 

[BluessinceHydeRoad]

Yes, this season has been the poorest one for a long time, just checking the points Leicester won with compared to previous seasons shows that doesn't it? They won because the big teams all screwed up, Chelsea, utd, arsenal, city, all have completly got it wrong.

The points tally suggests it was much more competitive. None of the teams you mention got it wrong as a charitable donation to Leicester or anyone else - they got it wrong because Leicester out thought them.

 

[bellsouth]

I think its one of the best seasons. Because it has showed convincingly that there is still a place in the rich world of the Premier league for old fashioned traits like, hard-work, team spirit, good coaching and that proper scouting can turn up some real gems. The wealthier clubs including us, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, United had become complacent to an extent, expecting to finish top 4 every year. Now all clubs must match others work rates, commitment, tactics and coaching. Its refreshing and the good news for us, we have a manager coming who will embrace those challenges.

 

[kramaring]

I agree with the comments about short memories. I know we all have high expectations these days but this seasons has been far from a disaster. I can still remember the yo-yo seasons in the late nineties. City have had 19 seasons in the Premier League. We have finished 3rd or above on 5 occasions but admittedly there were the 5 seasons prior to this one.

2015 2nd
2014 1st
2013 2nd
2012 1st
2011 3rd
2010 5th
2009 10th
2008 9th
2007 14th
2006 15th
2005 8th
2004 16th
2003 9th
2001 18th
1996 18th
1995 17th
1994 16th
1993 9th

 

[madden150]

W T F ??? Well I preferred it to being relegated, playing for zero in midtable and hopeing by some miracle we might get to A cup final/ semi final in my lifetime. We are too spoilt nowadays!