I don't think anyone, from the fans to the players to the boardroom would identify this season as a positive one, but all in all it could prove to be the making of us. This season has finally answered a lot of questions that have been lingering for the past few seasons.
- Harts standout performances in the champions league (especially Bayern and Barca away) put to rest any doubts about his future and contribution to the team. Every keeper has a wobble now and again, but Hart's form over the course of the season gives us assurance that he will be our number one for a fair few seasons after this, and it still seems there is a level or two in him yet.
- this season has also brought to light our over dependence on our top, top players, highlighting the areas around them weak and at times ineffective. The reputation of some players, in particular the likes of Kompany, Zabaleta and Fernandinho, was so cast-iron that we took their contributions as a given, as they usually provided match defining moments that didn't particularly involve much contribution from the rest of the team. With a post world cup hangover, and not much improvement to the squad with the new additions, formerly untouchable players became a cause for concern, and their dwindling leadership affected the rest of the squads ability to put together consistent match winning performances.
Silva and Aguero have arguably had their best seasons of their career, with Silva adding goals to his game and Aguero showing up more and more each game, that 4 goal performance against Spurs looked like a striker who was playing for fun, knowing full well he was many levels above the opposition, and his hat trick in the comeback game against Bayern highlighted his status as an elite player who could play for, but also compete against the very best in the world.
The group of players who have- for all their great contributions to the team- always had doubts over their ability, commitment and mentality have given us reason to believe they may need to move on from the club. Toure, Dzeko, Nasri and Kolarov have all endured less than favourable seasons, contributing to our vulnerability at the back and our bluntness up front. players that have provided moments of individual brilliance but are often erratic, and don't contribute enough to the entire teams philosophy. There will now no doubt, or sentiment, attached to the decisions over their futures, sentiment being the very thing some players played on at times, when really they needed to constantly be proving themselves worthy to the team.
All in all this season has been a major kick up the arse, having ignored the lessons we learned after the summer of 2011/12, we finally seem to be identifying major areas of weakness in our team, and touting young, hungry, semi proven players to replace them, so they can grow into a system designed to make them into a formidable team domestically and in europe. sometimes it takes a step back like this to take two forward, and it seems big changes are going to be made in order for us to make that jump from premier league challengers to champions league ones.
