Rate this season

I'd say 7 is a pretty fair score. We played some entertaining football, broke several club and league records and honestly, looked the better of every other team in the league. But for dodgy refs and a lack of ruthlessness in front of goal, we'd have finished with much more to show for it.

Nonetheless, we did it all with washedups like Gael Clichy at the back and while trying to adapt to Pep's style. We finished strong, unlike under Pellers, and we have so much to hope for next season. It wasn't perfect, but I'm happy.
 
4 -no title challenge, no trophies and poor CL performance, a few wins at the end of the season and shit sides doesn't change much. As Pep said he would have been sacked at barce or bayern, big improvements needed.
 
Dave Ewing's Back 'eader said:
How many of the matches have yer watched, Bill, where yer kept yer eyes closed for 89 mins? I never thought for a moment we would walk away with a trophy. Too many variables at play and we probably had control of about two or three of them. We play an artistic brand of football. It is fantastic to watch, although not very realistic in the hunt for trophies, but trophies should not be the sole criterion of judging a season. I would have liked to have brought home a pot, but, remember, MCWFC won the lot! If 2016/17 was a poor season then words do not exist in the English language to describe some of the seasons I've suffered over the years.
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I'm a part timer these days mate. Missed at least 4,could even be 6 games. I still think I deserve a say.
 
6.5

A shoddy period was bookended by 10 straight wins at the start and 2 defeats in 24 games at the end.

We clearly have a style, we clearly lacked at full back and we clearly suffered from some rum decisions. No cups, last 16 of champs league (when 5-3 up) but i dont think 3rd was too bad. Some exciting players and some clearly ready to leave.

Various performances can be evidenced to show both our exciting possibilities and horrible frailties, the latter of which must (and will!) diminish next season.

Probably the biggest failure of the season was the fans did not galvanize behind the club's biggest management signing ever, due to the above point.
 
Start with 10, thought we'd get about 85 points so one off, c/l semi so 1 off, 1 cup, so 3 off and a 7 for me.
 
Not one for ratings tbh. In the end the table is what it is. Chelsea and Spurs have been the better team overall, not always when they played us. 3rd place is the correct final position for us.
A lot of what if's this season: What if Gundogan and Kompany had been playing the complete season? Especially the latter lifted our defence considderably. What if the refs done their job in the big games? What if Gabriel Jesus had been playing for us from the day we signed him?
I like to believe we improved lately but we are far from the finished article (under Pep it'll never be finished). Main positions to fill in are both right and left back.

League: Good start and good finish. Some really poor results that still makes me wonder, and quite a bit of bad luck in between. Easily finished above the filth.
Champions League: Poor, the hometies vs Barcelona and Monaco probably the exception. Not a single away win.
League cup: Cut short due to more important matters.
FA Cup: Strong run up until semi, and unlucky to have lost out on the final with (again) some dodgy refereeing.

I hope and expect Pep and his team to have learned a lot this year. With the correct additions we will be much stronger next year, but I expect other teams to strengthen as well.
And we should be close to bring in some academyplayers that becomes regular starters.

In all, another season with the usual high and lows. It's not been the bright start of the new area that most of us expected, but I think there is every reason to be positive as the club is in a very healthy state.
 
Bill said:
5. Poor at best.we got the bare minimum. You'd have to expect more from this squad with this manager. With our money and 2 transfer windows we should not be scrapping for 4th on the last game of the season. We tossed away 2 trophies along the way. The referees have a lot to answer for but I can't see that changing,what I do expect is pep now knows the score and will play our strongest 11 to combat the cheating.
The dead wood have gone so the hard work upgrading starts now,which a 3rd place finish will help.

First job a new keeper.
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We were scrapping for 3rd on the last day of the season,

I would say we had the 3rd best squad in the league this season (in terms of availability and balance), so finishing 3rd was about right.
 
Too many mistakes from a top manager: Bravo a disaster, Yaya a really silly argument (and a bit of vanity from Pep), full back should have been sorted at least a year ago, too much critcism in public of players, fans. Nolito????
But, to be fair, Sane and Jesus and improved Sterling real plusses and Kun looks better in the new style. A settled role for KdB needed.

So.....a generous 7.

If he's learnt about English football, especially the need for balance. we'll do well next year. If not......bye bye.
 
Rate this season? B-
Great Top and Tail, underarchieved in the middle. No pots. An opportunity missed.
De Bruyne hitting the bar against Chelsea was the "sliding doors moment" of the season - shot goes in, we win the game and could well have won the league. shot hit the bar (which it did) chilean thug scores at the other end and we lose the impetus to end up where we are now.
 
Even though no trophy still good for a 7.5

I have seen far more positives, yes there have been a few lows and Pep needs to swallow pride and learn to focus more on defensive.

But I have seen the best football, passing and moving that I have seen since we won league under mancini.. I feel we have had to take a step back and learn to improve, if we get the right signings at the back this summer we will become a force.

A few players that have stood out...

Silva - class of his own, brilliant
Sane - What a buy, he is magic !
Gab Jesus - Better than naymar, one of most skillful players I have seen, future star if not already.
Sergio - say no more, brilliant
Vinny - thank god he is back, shows how good he is
Otamendi - when he partners with the right guy he is a great defender.
Gundagon - shame he got injured, looked very good
Sterling - major improvement this year
Yaya - hope he stays, like his new roll.
 
KS55 said:
Yaya a really silly argument (and a bit of vanity from Pep)
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KS55 said:
too much critcism in public of players
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Each to their own but these two points are just completely and utterly ridiculous.

Yaya wouldn't reign his chunky twat of an agent in and was overweight. He ended up apologising and playing the best football he's played in years.

And the "too much criticism in public of players" is totally bizarre.
 
I'd give that season 6.5, I think 7's a tad too generous, and 6 too harsh. But honestly, perhaps we were living in a bit of a fool's paradise for those first ten games. There were obviously big problems with the squad, especially at the back, and they weren't going to be fixed in one summer, prior to Pep's first season. So after the bubble was burst at Tottenham, I didn't really expect it to be more than a 6.5, 7 season at the most.
Next season's an entirely different story, though. As far as I'm concerned, the honeymoon's over. That team have to be winning trophies, with the talent and manager they've got.

I'd be curious, though, to know what people's most disappointing match over the whole season is. I thought about starting a thread about it, and then thought, nah, that's too negative to deserve its own thread, with us just having qualified direct for the CL. For me, it's clearly the return match at Monaco, especially those first forty-five minutes. Cup semi-final against Arse comes a close second, though. Both of those matches we should have taken by the scruff of the neck.
 
My remarks:
1. When we played well, we were really, really good.
2. The limiting factor was mainly the defensive half of our team, and we are going to address that this summer.
3. Pep went through a learning curve regarding the premier league and he will also be better next season.
4. The small margins were not really in our favor in some important situation. Being sent out of the Champions League despite scoring 6 goals over 2 games, and loosing in the FA Cup semi-final after extra time are the prime examples. Things could so easily have gone differently in those games, and then the season would have looked significantly better.

I am exited about next season. With the right buys we will be much stronger.
 
6.5/10

I was expecting us to contest for the title and lift a domestic trophy. There's a disconcerting gulf in class between us and Chelsea at the moment. Hell, you could even extend that argument to Spurs, too.
 
Dr Jacoby said:
6.5/10

I was expecting us to contest for the title and lift a domestic trophy. There's a disconcerting gulf in class between us and Chelsea at the moment. Hell, you could even extend that argument to Spurs, too.
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Over the whole season, there's no arguing with that. Points accumulation doesn't lie.
Head to head, though, we were better than both at our place, in my opinion, and should definitely have taken the three points in both cases. I'm not too worried about them, with the right recruitment this summer. That's the key condition.
 
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