[Albion] Who would have taken this at the start of the season

[drew]

Murray scored 8 goals up to the game against Palace in December - he has scored 3 since - that is the problem.

Hughton needs two strikers who can score 25 goals between them. The problem is that it is very hard to find a striker who will score at that rate in the PL.

Think that is unrealistic. How many teams in the bottom half of the division have two 25 goal strikers?

 

[Hugo Rune]

A trip to Wembley, survival and 6 points ripped out of the broken heart of Palace!

Absolutely fantastic by CH and the club. Yes, we tried a new system with some new players and it didn’t really work but we survived to have another go next year.

There is a very worrying sense of entitlement from those who aren’t happy with this season’s outcomes to the extent they want the manager out.

 

[OzMike]

Yes of course, but not at the expense of forgetting how to play football as a sport.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Think that is unrealistic. How many teams in the bottom half of the division have two 25 goal strikers?

The poster said between them, not each.

 

[PoG]

2/10 would not try again.

 

[Return of the Rev]

Yes!

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Sure. But that takes out all of the context of our season and if you'd added it in then I'd have probably said "no". I certainly wouldn't accept this season again; yes I appreciate things can get worse, but it's been about as dreadful as a top flight season can be from a non-relegated side.

We're still up because there are three horrifically bad sides in the division this year. We got an FA Cup semi final but made absolutely no effort to try and win it, and we struggled against lower division sides throughout much of that run. And the football has been turgid for about 90% of the year. We should be aspiring to be better.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

A trip to Wembley, survival and 6 points ripped out of the broken heart of Palace!

Absolutely fantastic by CH and the club. Yes, we tried a new system with some new players and it didn’t really work but we survived to have another go next year.

There is a very worrying sense of entitlement from those who aren’t happy with this season’s outcomes to the extent they want the manager out.

If you think it's entitlement, then you're really not listening very carefully to the arguments. If you go to Tesco and you buy apples, are you happy if over half of them are rotten, or are you just delighted to get a couple of good apples from the pack that you've paid for?

 

[drew]

The poster said between them, not each.

my bad.

 

[darkwolf666]

At the beginning of the season definitely. Fulham, Huddersfield and Carfiff have shown how difficult it is for newly promoted clubs to survive for two seasons. So overall job done.

However, after we beat Everton and drew with Arsenal at Xmas clearly the second half of the season has been very disappointing. Perhaps the players, like us fans, looked at the run of home fixtures and thought job done. If so that good for next season as we will know we need to be so much better in the home games against teams around us.

Major overhaul needed in the summer but for me Hughton gets to start the season but TB shouldn’t hesitate if the form from this year continues into the first ten games.

So there you go, you've put ridiculous pressure on the manager for next season, before this one has even finished.

What if our first 10 fixtures next year include Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Man United, Chelsea and Tottenham away?

 

[WATFORD zero]

If you think it's entitlement, then you're really not listening very carefully to the arguments. If you go to Tesco and you buy apples, are you happy if over half of them are rotten, or are you just delighted to get a couple of good apples from the pack that you've paid for?

If I paid 5p in the clearance section, because I couldn't afford the £2.50 they would normally cost, then yes, I probably would be.

 

[ManOfSussex]

I never thought just 10 points would be accumulated since new year, but beating Man United, Palace twice and going to Wembley for an FA Cup semi final and staying up in the top division of English football? - I'd have bitten your hand off if offered that at the start of the season.

That said, I genuinely do feel so much better and relaxed this morning now we're safe compared to the last few weeks and am very happy the end of the season is nigh.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Probably, yes, definitely yes. It doesn’t quite paper over the obvious cracks though does it?
We are a very negative team playing poorly.
I know we have survived but we have been extremely fortunate that the teams below have been unusually poor. Even more so than usual for this division.

Plus we've looked far from convincing against any of the teams that finished below us, which is a major cause for concern.

 

[DJ NOBO]

If someone had said

Come end of season you'll be safe with two games to go
You'll have a day out at Wembley in FA Cup Semi Final

Oh and you'll take six points off Palace

I would have taken that.
But the problem is the direction we are going in on the pitch.
Without substantial changes we will go down next season.
We can’t afford anymore expensive duffer signings

 

[Whitechapel]

If you’d been told on NYE that we’d only win two more league games all season, pick up 10 points from a possible 48 (54 unless we pull off a shock in the next two games), would suffer our biggest home loss in 50(?) years, would throw away a 2 goal lead against the second worst side in the division and would fail to score for 6 consecutive games would you have taken it?

We played well against Bournemouth in the cup, but then scraped past 3 championship teams. The FA cup run papered over a lot of cracks, so I’m not surprised people are using it as leeway now to try and put a positive spin on what has been a diabolical 5 months. We got very lucky this year, because two teams were absolutely hopeless all season meaning there was only one relegation spot to fight for. We can’t rely on that kind of luck every season.

Hughton is an Albion legend for everything he’s done for us, but everything has a shelf life. Keeping hold of the manager for sentimental reasons turned Arsenal from a team fighting for league titles to also rans. Keeping hold of Hughton for sentimental reasons will turn us in to a team challenging Derby for least points in a season.

 

[Pavilionaire]

The lop sided nature in which we accumulated the bulk of our points in the first half of the season and few in the second is a real worry, as often teams carry baggage into the following season, and sometimes the sort of baggage that transcends the manager.

When the shit hit the fan Hughton resorted to the Championship team and the 2017/18 side, sidelining our new recruits. Those that are deemed not good enough must be cleared out now. At a push I'd have taken 17th this season but not next - I do not wan to become the next Sunderland.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

If I paid 5p in the clearance section, because I couldn't afford the £2.50 they would normally cost, then yes, I probably would be.

Crikey. Aren't we the 29th highest earning club in the world or something ridiculous? Plus, you're missing the point. We as customers aren't shopping in the clearance sale in terms of season tickets. Many of us are paying a large amount of money for this product. We should expect better than has been served up this season.

Although £2.50? Where are you buying your apples?!

 

[WATFORD zero]

Crikey. Aren't we the 29th highest earning club in the world or something ridiculous? Plus, you're missing the point. We as customers aren't shopping in the clearance sale in terms of season tickets. Many of us are paying a large amount of money for this product. We should expect better than has been served up this season.

Although £2.50? Where are you buying your apples?!

Unfortunately we are playing in the highest paying league in the world and a large proportion of those 28 others are above us in the same league. The price of a season ticket isn't relative as shirley Burnley represent far better value on that basis. I'm incredibly disappointed with the second half of this season, but equally, i think my expectations are realistic and surviving is success.

(And they are not just any apples, they are M&S apples )

 

[Harry Wilson's tackle]

If I was told at some point by someone that they could tell the future with absolute certainty, and that they could tell me my future, and if I didn't like the sound of it I had the option to gamble on an unknown future that might be better, but might be worse, I would tell them to **** off and stop talking utter utter bullshit.

If my old mum had had a cock she'd have been my dad.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Unfortunately we are playing in the highest paying league in the world and a large proportion of those 28 others are above us in the same league. The price of a season ticket isn't relative as shirley Burnley represent better value on that basis.

(And they are not just any apples, they are M&S apples )

You're basically Man City.

And I'd imagine just about every club in this league represents better value than us based on what we've had to watch this season for the most part.