So, if we don't win the Prem..

[Wilf Wild 1937]

Strategically Damocles is spot on. With the 10 million plus Facebook Likes, the Stadium Expansion plans and everything else he has outlined in
detail the club is definitely progressing at a very rapid rate. Indeed it's probably only now that the outside world is getting to grasp what really
is happening at the club and unlike Chelsea that we are the "real deal".

From a purely playing point of view however as an earlier poster has said if we only end up winning 1 LC in the 2 seasons since we won the PL
that has to be seen as a large under return. I'm sure that that is how the likes of Vincent Kompany and Yaya Toure would view it. A playing
career is short and this group of players would feel that they had underachieved. All is not lost on this front however and if we do win the PL
we could still have our best season ever. I think that the manager's job is rightly safe for another season barring a disastrous finish to this one
but he's lost a lot of Brownie points with the fans after the Wigan fiasco and there's no glossing over that fact.

 

[ZZmaestro]

Let's talk from a "business" point of view.
From the board's eyes, it would be a clear failure.
The Kpi to monitor our performance are simple : silverware and brand's popularity.
I think for the later, the way the medias are spreading our "trashing" by the spaniard doesn't do us any good, rather the contrary.

It's been five years now since our paradyme shift, and we are still denied to be members of the elite club,
while a certain PSG has in a 3 years span progressed twice faster than us :
they are in their way to a second domestic championship in a row, have signed a top 5 ballon d'or contender ( Ibrahimovic ), and are a serious challenger for the CL this year.

The only way for us to gain any credit and respect for what we achieved is to win the league come May,
We just don't have any choice, it is war on an economical scale.
Otherwise, expect the medias to spread the word that we regressed since summer 2012 or that we were only "lucky" to get there.
None of these would help us promote our brand.

 

[leighton]

The thing is we started so poorly this season. Dropping points at Sunderland , Villa and Cardiff was poor and we shouldnt be doing that if we are going to win the title. Our defence is shit how its gone from being half decent under Mancini to shit under Pelli I just dont get that. I do wonder if Mancini was still at the club would we be closer or not? I know we have games in hand but that means fuck all we need to win every game from now until the end of the season to win the title. Just cant see Chelsea dropping many points and they will win the title this season. We to go to Liverpool and the Rags so again its going to be 2 hard away games were we need to be picking up full points to be in with a chance of winning. Also add in the Arsenal game we might end up finishing 3rd this season. Which is a under preforming from a talented squad.

 

[peoffrey]

People shouldn't compare us to PSG or Bayern because there's less competition there. There's one dominant club over a handful in the Premier League.

 

[casualdeyna]

I just think people are getting worked up at the manner of some of our defeats and us shooting ourselves in the foot. Forget Champions League as in a group that had last year's winners in we were always facing a battle to get any further than we have done. If we'd topped the group (maybe got the maths right and gone for it last 10 at Bayern!) it may have been different, but for a club that had never got out of the group stage I don't think anyone ever expected us to win it and getting out of the group is progression for us.

As far as domestically goes I think people are now getting worked up because the FA cup loss and many of the dropped league points are down to our own doing rather than the opposition being better than us on the day. The ridiculous goal we gave away at Stamford Bridge right at the death is a perfect example, mistakes happen at all clubs but we seem to be really getting punished and losing points from our mistakes, usually in games where we've missed a few clear cut chances too.

I'm just trying to explain the over-reaction, because it is an over-reaction, if we had beaten Wigan none of this doom and gloom would be here as it's no shame getting knocked out of Europe by one of the best teams in it over the last decade, but my response to the OP is it depends on how we finish the season now. If we have a proper good go at the league from now and be in the mix going in to the last couple of games if we miss out I can accept it a lot more than if we meekly plod along for the rest of the season, with the same players making the same mistakes. I think we all want to see a bit of fire in the belly between now and May, if we get that we won't be far off having a very good season.

 

[peoffrey]

I think people are upset post-Wigan because of the complacent display. We gave them too much respect and they beat us.

 

[steviemc]

Disappointed? Yes, for a short while.

Failure? No chance. Even if we accept the season as an underachievement, this does not constitute failure. There are far too many positives to be taken from this season, I still see us in a phase of progression.

 

[blue_sonic176]

Let's talk from a "business" point of view.
From the board's eyes, it would be a clear failure.
The Kpi to monitor our performance are simple : silverware and brand's popularity.
I think for the later, the way the medias are spreading our "trashing" by the spaniard doesn't do us any good, rather the contrary.

It's been five years now since our paradyme shift, and we are still denied to be members of the elite club,
while a certain PSG has in a 3 years span progressed twice faster than us :
they are in their way to a second domestic championship in a row, have signed a top 5 ballon d'or contender ( Ibrahimovic ), and are a serious challenger for the CL this year.

The only way for us to gain any credit and respect for what we achieved is to win the league come May,
We just don't have any choice, it is war on an economical scale.
Otherwise, expect the medias to spread the word that we regressed since summer 2012 or that we were only "lucky" to get there.
None of these would help us promote our brand.

I doubt the board will be happy if we don't win the PL, but I don't think the season will be considered such a massive failure. Yes, the team has underperformed over the last couple of years but we can't compare our situation directly to PSG. They play in a shit league where they're guaranteed to win with relatively less effort, unlike us where we have to play out of our socks against a majority of the league to get results. Also, I don't think anyone considers PSG a serious contender in the CL...they won't do too much better than us against Barca, Bayern or Real

 

[aguero93:20]

Let's talk from a "business" point of view.
From the board's eyes, it would be a clear failure.
The Kpi to monitor our performance are simple : silverware and brand's popularity.
I think for the later, the way the medias are spreading our "trashing" by the spaniard doesn't do us any good, rather the contrary.

It's been five years now since our paradyme shift, and we are still denied to be members of the elite club,
while a certain PSG has in a 3 years span progressed twice faster than us :
they are in their way to a second domestic championship in a row, have signed a top 5 ballon d'or contender ( Ibrahimovic ), and are a serious challenger for the CL this year.

The only way for us to gain any credit and respect for what we achieved is to win the league come May,
We just don't have any choice, it is war on an economical scale.
Otherwise, expect the medias to spread the word that we regressed since summer 2012 or that we were only "lucky" to get there.
None of these would help us promote our brand.

I doubt the board will be happy if we don't win the PL, but I don't think the season will be considered such a massive failure. Yes, the team has underperformed over the last couple of years but we can't compare our situation directly to PSG. They play in a shit league where they're guaranteed to win with relatively less effort, unlike us where we have to play out of our socks against a majority of the league to get results. Also, I don't think anyone considers PSG a serious contender in the CL...they won't do too much better than us against Barca, Bayern or Real

Yep, just look what an injured Messi did to them in 30 mins last year.

 

[Jack Wills]

I don't really think many of us expected to knock out Barca; it's always disappointing to go out of a cup of course, but the CL is still pretty new to us & Barca still one of the best teams in the world.

As some have said, we can't really compare our situation to PSG's as they are in a much easier league than ours. If PSG played in the Prem I doubt they'd win it. Top 4 probably, but not much more.

The biggest disappointment and shock for me this season was the FA Cup result. Every one of our team is better than every one of theirs. We were at home where only Chelsea & Barcelona have beaten us this season. And it was fucking Wigan ffs. Awful, awful, unacceptable result, especially after the shit of last year's Final, we'd think we would have learned form that at least. Absolute bobbins.

Very tough ask to win the league now given our away fixtures. On current form and with our injuries I really don't think we'll do it. Hopefully the team will prove me wrong, at least we seem to play better against decent sides, so maybe we'll do ok in the Arsenal, Everton, Liverpool & Utd games. I really hope so.