How Do You Feel About Your Team: Post-Season Check In

Club West Ham

satisfaction level 1.5?

Were in the relegation scrap all the way until week 36, stayed up and somehow ended in 13th despite only 42 points.

Manager- Moyes is likely not to be re-newed, what happens here is huge for the future of the club, who is brought in, and is he given full transfer control? Is a director of football brought in and given control? Is our bumbling fuckstick of an owner allowed to pick players he heard of in 2008 like normal?

Players- Highlights were Arnautovic who turned out to be a great buy, Lanzini again, Ogbonna was much better than the worst goal record in the league indicates. The rest was not great.
Going forward- Lanzini seems likely to be sold, Chicharito too unless the new manager talks him into staying. Given Sullivan's incredible cheapness Mario's option won't likely be picked up, Hart is thankfully gone. The squad needs.... a GK, 2 right backs, probably a LB, at least 1 probably 2 CB, at least 1 DM/CM, probably 2, at least 1 probably 2 AM and probably a ST. So.... yeah, not great. Just tons of aging and not good enough players everywhere.

Owners- pure garbage, but won't sell for at least 5 years (profit split in stadium deal expires then) so not much to be done.

Everton

4

See my epistle in the Everton thread.

Would be a 3 but there are good pieces in place if someone could figure out how to use them.

Kliq said:

We’ve done this in the past, and with regular season play ending today, it’s time to see how everyone feels about their favorite club after the latest season and heading into the summer. Rate your team on a scale of 1-10 on how satisfied you are with them at this current moment.

Club: Spurs

Satisfaction Level: 8

Spurs finished as the top team in London, which is pretty good and will play CL football for the third year in a row. Considering they sold their best fullback in the offseason and their best CB was injured for a bulk of the season; their defense wasn’t that bad, but it was frustrating against top tier teams that could exploit holes in the back line. The two big transfers on the defensive end were Aurier and Sanchez, who were unimpressive and seemed more likely to further the problem than solve it. Again, almost every team has defensive issues and by GA Spurs were pretty stout this season, but they could be better.

The offense is complicated. Kane was slowed by injuries late in the season, but still had a remarkable year and broke 30 goals. Too often it seemed like the offense depended on whether or not Kane scored a goal; and while most of the time he did score; when he didn’t it seemed like the team was lost. This was particularly true later in the season when Kane was injured. I’ve heard a lot of people say that they need to go out and get a second striker that can really generate goals, but I’m not so sure Spurs can attract a real, top-flight striker, unless Ponch changes his approach. Kane plays 90% of the time, alone as the sole striker so it’s hard to attract a player of real quality if they are not playing that often.

Spurs real issue on offense to me is creativity in the central midfield. Dele was not nearly as productive as he was last season, and the team lacked a playmaker who could work in the center of the attacking half. Teams would pack their defense into the middle of the field, taking away a lot of the potential service from the wing to Kane, and dare Spurs to string together passes down the middle of the field, or beat their defenders off the dribble.

The summer will hopefully feature some signings to shore up the defense while holding onto their key offensive talent. Spurs are pretty conservative with their wages despite heading to the CL for the third straight season. I believe Kane is actually paid less per week than Christian Benteke; so they might want to figure that out.

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Kliq, I saw Son do some pretty impressive things in midfield when I watched Spurs. But he seems not to start every game. Can you speak to that?

Check back with me in 13 days.

SoxFanInCali said:

Check back with me in 13 days.

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Someone tells you at the beginning of the season - 4th place (in a season where the champion broke 100 points and ran away early, so you were playing for 2nd at best) and CL final - after losing Coutinho in January. You would have taken that in a heartbeat, yes?

OilCanShotTupac said:

Someone tells you at the beginning of the season - 4th place (in a season where the champion broke 100 points and ran away early, so you were playing for 2nd at best) and CL final - after losing Coutinho in January. You would have taken that in a heartbeat, yes?

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Of course. If Liverpool lose the final, this will still have been a successful season. They showed they could stay in the top 4 even while playing midweek European games, Klopp has created a team that other players want to play in, and ownership has done a nice job expanding the stadium and making funds available when the manager wants a player. By any measure, I'm very satisfied.

But if they win the final, I'll be buying a couple jerseys with champions patches on them and watching the season DVD regularly for the next couple decades. Will definitely be worth an extra point or so on the ol' Satisfaction Meter.

Newcastle

7

This season went about as well as could be reasonably expected. Tenth place (if only barely) was a great finish and there were a few nice wins as well, culminating in the last game where they chased Chelsea up a tree and then set fire to it. Jonjo/Diame look like an actual PL midfield pairing, and the back four was solid when fully healthy. They also did well with the dishearteningly few transfers they pulled off.

The only reservations going forward are up front where I still don't believe in Gayle or Perez, and up top where Mike Ashley is somehow still around after having driven off multiple potential buyers. At some point Benitez is going to get sick of Ashley's chicanery and go rescue somebody else. If that happens we're back in the meat grinder again next year.

Fulham

8

Season’s not over yet but a thriller tonight just put us in the Finals for the last spot for promotion. If we drop it it will be a huge disappointment after just missing out on 2nd place (and automatic promotion) by losing the final match against Birmingham - our first league loss since Dec 23.

The story of the season has been the coming out party for Ryan Sessegnon who only turns 18 this week but has won virtually every accolade available to him. He’s been with the club since he joined the Under-9’s (!) in 2008 and if we get the promotion will likely stay for another two years or so. Not since Dempsey (semi) retired have things been as exciting at Craven Cottage...

Kliq said:

We’ve done this in the past, and with regular season play ending today, it’s time to see how everyone feels about their favorite club after the latest season and heading into the summer. Rate your team on a scale of 1-10 on how satisfied you are with them at this current moment.

Club: Spurs

Satisfaction Level: 8

Spurs finished as the top team in London, which is pretty good and will play CL football for the third year in a row. Considering they sold their best fullback in the offseason and their best CB was injured for a bulk of the season; their defense wasn’t that bad, but it was frustrating against top tier teams that could exploit holes in the back line. The two big transfers on the defensive end were Aurier and Sanchez, who were unimpressive and seemed more likely to further the problem than solve it. Again, almost every team has defensive issues and by GA Spurs were pretty stout this season, but they could be better.

The offense is complicated. Kane was slowed by injuries late in the season, but still had a remarkable year and broke 30 goals. Too often it seemed like the offense depended on whether or not Kane scored a goal; and while most of the time he did score; when he didn’t it seemed like the team was lost. This was particularly true later in the season when Kane was injured. I’ve heard a lot of people say that they need to go out and get a second striker that can really generate goals, but I’m not so sure Spurs can attract a real, top-flight striker, unless Ponch changes his approach. Kane plays 90% of the time, alone as the sole striker so it’s hard to attract a player of real quality if they are not playing that often.

Spurs real issue on offense to me is creativity in the central midfield. Dele was not nearly as productive as he was last season, and the team lacked a playmaker who could work in the center of the attacking half. Teams would pack their defense into the middle of the field, taking away a lot of the potential service from the wing to Kane, and dare Spurs to string together passes down the middle of the field, or beat their defenders off the dribble.

The summer will hopefully feature some signings to shore up the defense while holding onto their key offensive talent. Spurs are pretty conservative with their wages despite heading to the CL for the third straight season. I believe Kane is actually paid less per week than Christian Benteke; so they might want to figure that out.

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Aurier was disappointing, but I disagree about Sanchez. He stepped right into the starting XI and while he had some difficult moments, he was generally up to par. His pace made him a nice contrast to the slower, more technical Vertonghen. Very solid season for a 21-year-old who had only played one season at Ajax and was transitioning to a new country. He should continue getting improving and looks a solid addition.

The most impressive thing about Spurs' season is that they finished third without needing a lot of breaks to do it. They had some injury issues, they didn't run hot, they had no real home stadium, they had to play twice a week -- but they were good enough to deal with all that. By xG they were well behind Man City but right there with Liverpool as the 2nd/3rd best teams in the league. They beat Real Madrid, Liverpool, Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Dortmund. Going out of the cups was rough, but they also didn't get handily outplayed in other loss. Unless City take a big step back a league title challenge will be a long shot, but Liverpool's performance this season shows why being in the CL is so important -- if you're good, a couple of breaks with the draw and 2-3 strong performances performances can put you in the final.

I think Spurs' offense is fine. They should end the big money backup striker experiments and just let Son and Alli back up Kane. Son had 12 league goals and 6 assists in 27 starts, and played the striker role pretty well when Kane missed games with injury. In Kane Son, Alli, Lamela, Lucas, and Eriksen, they have a nice variety of options in attack and some cover for injuries.

The biggest area that needs to be addressed for Spurs is central midfield. They went into the season with Dembele, Dier, Wanyama, Winks, and Sissoko for the two CM spots, but all of them had issues. Wanyama and Winks missed most of the season with injury. Dembele is fragile as always and was not consistently up to his superhuman level when healthy. Sissoko is just mediocre -- you can use him to eat minutes against weaker sides and he's ok but I wince every time I see his name on the teamsheet. Dier is fine, but you can't play him alongside Wanyama, there isn't enough ball progression. Even if Dembele stays (and that''s supposedly up in the air), they need another passing CM. Too often Eriksen was forced to come too deep to get the ball, and they need his creativity further up the pitch. Last week against Newcastle they ended the game playing a Sissoko-Rose CM pairing, which is . . . not ideal.

The next big problem issue is the fullbacks. Ben Davies in particular is not good enough against top-tier opposition and got exposed against Juventus, Man City, Liverpool, etc. He's fine as a squad player but shouldn't be a first XI guy. The LB issue could be solved by Danny Rose getting healthy and getting his head on straight, but Rose will turn 28 this summer and they might be better off cashing him in if they can get a Walker-sized fee. If the wages could work, Luke Shaw could be a very interesting signing at LB -- he's still only 22, he's very talented, he had his best season under Poch at Southampton and he clearly needs a change of scenery to get away from Mourinho. Spurs have also been heavily linked with Ryan Sessegnon, but after his huge year there will be a lot of competition for him and if Fulham go up they probably won't sell. Trippier could also be upgraded: Aurier may improve with a full pre-season training under Poch and Walker-Peters showed flashes in limited minutes and just signed a new contract. With Aurier and KWP around, it's more imperative to spend the money on the left side if Rose doesn't stay.

The final big offseason question mark is Alderweireld. Poch seemed to freeze him out in the second half of the season, which made little sense unless there was significant behind-the-scenes strife. Alderweireld is 29 and has one year left on his contract; he's supposedly angling for his last big payday. They should try to keep him, but it may cost more than Spurs can afford, and if he leaves they'll need another CB. They could try promoting Foyth and/or CCV, but both are untested at PL/CL level. They could also buy more CMs and move Dier back to CB (Dier's versatility is a great squad-building asset), making Wanyama the first choice DM.

And of course they need to keep the stars. There haven't been any signs of Kane, Alli, or Eriksen leaving, and Levy wouldn't sell any of them for less than a ludicrous bid (Kane would probably take 200m, the others over 100m each), but you never know what will happen. They've mostly done a good job with contracts: Vorm is the only one up this summer; Dembele, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, and Llorente have one more year.

Arsenal.

2 on the pitch.
8 off the pitch.

It was a shitshow of a season on the pitch but somehow we ended the year having made two great additions at the scouting/sporting director level, having added our best striker since RVP, having resigned Ozil, and without Wenger. A lot obviously depends on the new managerial hire but compared to where we were a year ago from an off-pitch perspective, I’m ecstatic.

OilCanShotTupac said:

Everton

4

See my epistle in the Everton thread.

Would be a 3 but there are good pieces in place if someone could figure out how to use them.

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I am willing to give them a 5 - I mean, the conventional wisdom before the season was 7th place for them and they finished in 8th so it's not like they radically underperformed expectations. They just got there in the least entertaining, most aggravating and frustrating way possible. And while Allardyce is obviously not the answer going forward, it's hard to blame him for coming in and doing exactly what he was brought in to do.

As you say there are good pieces in place so I am (very) cautiously optimistic, although I must admit I haven't been thrilled with some of the names being thrown around for new manager so far.

Barcelona - 7.

I've said this before, but considering where this team was in late summer 2017, this season is a resounding success. They ran away with La Liga, stomped to a Copa del Rey, and were looking pretty solid for UCL until the debacle.

At the back, MaTS cemented himself as a world class (top 5) keeper in the game, Umtiti developed into a world class CB (late season lilt notwithstanding), Alba had another terrific season, and Semedo looks like the answer that Barca have finally been looking for at RB. He has looked choppy at times while fighting injuries all season, but the skillset is 100% there and I am very confident in him going forward. Roberto had a pretty solid season as the primary RB, but he has limitations and while I excuse some of his weakness on the ball to youth, he really needs to clean it up. Digne should be a starter somewhere and as a backup LB is incredible. Vermaelen really helped the team weather some injuries before picking up some of his own. If he's happy to continue on the bench, I'm all for it. Yerry Mina looks like he has some great skills, but he needs to play regularly if he's going to develop. A loan spell next season would do him a lot of good before Pique really starts to lose speed. Cillessen is the best backup keeper in the world I can think of, and he would merit a starting spot on a lot of good clubs. Lastly, it's important (to me anyway) to remember that Barca said goodbye to a legend in Mascherano in January. He was a rock these last 10 or so years and I will miss him dearly.

In the middle, Busi had a mostly good season although you can tell he tired these last few weeks as his passing accuracy has gone down. He has been pressing more than I remember and EV needs to rotate him more next season as the miles on the odometer of this legend crank up. Rakitic had an incredible bounce back season and really was the glue guy for this team. He is a Swiss...er, Croatian army knife that basically allows the team to play a 4-2-4 on offense. Paulinho was a top notch addition and crushed any reasonable expectations. Tremendous workrate, one of the best headers on the squad, decent passing in midfield, a great guy to have orbiting the stars. What else can you say about Iniesta? He's one of the best to ever play the position and I will miss him immensely. I will be more prepared to say goodbye to him properly after the summer. The club gets dinged for the lack of development of Gomes (expected) and Denis (sadly). I really had sky-high hopes for Denis and thought he could be the next Iniesta. He may still become a poor man's Iniesta, but my expectations of him going forward are much lower. Gomes is a skilled player, but he lacks confidence to play at the biggest club and his football IQ just isn't high enough either. He's too slow reading the game and it really hampers him. I guess I should include Coutinho here. If as expected Barca bring in another striker next summer (oh goodness please be the Griezmann), Coutinho will continue to be the forward most MF, but will be expected to chip in there. A double-pivot with Coutinho finishing the trio could work to great effect. Defending counters will be key.

Up front, Messi had another Game Genie season. I mean, there are no more superlatives. I would like to go into an analysis of his season at some point, but I'm more interested to see if Sampa can put something together for him this summer. Luisito had a very uneven season, starting cold, getting on an insane hot streak, and finishing very cold. When he's on his game, he is still one of the best pure strikers around, but for this club he may be too inconsistent at this point. I expect that Barca will keep him around while integrating a new offensive toy next season and then ship him off. Dembele fought thru injuries all year, but is starting to find his mojo. He is a real weapon and his skills and speed are unique. He needs to learn the game better and how to set himself up better and integrate into this squad, but I really liked everything I saw from him. Paco barely warrants a mention.

I will keep my thoughts on Spurs to the Spurs thread to avoid a hijack.

coremiller said:

Aurier was disappointing, but I disagree about Sanchez. He stepped right into the starting XI and while he had some difficult moments, he was generally up to par. His pace made him a nice contrast to the slower, more technical Vertonghen. Very solid season for a 21-year-old who had only played one season at Ajax and was transitioning to a new country. He should continue getting improving and looks a solid addition.

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This saved me a lengthy post. I was hoping for much more from Aurier, but Davinson Sanchez was anything but disappointing. He was the best Spurs signing of the offseason and will be a fixture for years. If Liverepool had got him, they would have finished easily above Spurs.

The other point mentioned upthread about Son, is he's a bit like a streaky hitter. When he's in form he needs to be on the pitch and will score in bunches, but when he falls off, he doesn't do enough other things well to make up for it, leaving Poch to look to Lamela or, now, Lucas.

OurF'ingCity said:

I am willing to give them a 5 - I mean, the conventional wisdom before the season was 7th place for them and they finished in 8th so it's not like they radically underperformed expectations. They just got there in the least entertaining, most aggravating and frustrating way possible. And while Allardyce is obviously not the answer going forward, it's hard to blame him for coming in and doing exactly what he was brought in to do.

As you say there are good pieces in place so I am (very) cautiously optimistic, although I must admit I haven't been thrilled with some of the names being thrown around for new manager so far.

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I'm not the football equivalent of a sabermetrician and can't talk about whatever the football equivalent of Pythagorean theory is, but I think Everton's point total exceeds what their performance would have dictated.

They were 9th in goals scored but 19th in shots per game - and I don't really think you can chalk up the difference to quality over quantity at the forward positions. 19th in the league at shots from the six-yard box. 19th in dribbles/game, 15th in pass %, and there were tons of sideways and back passes from the likes of Schneiderlin and Ashley Williams so event that number is padded - terrible at moving the ball. 15th at shots yielded, at 14.2/game; Stoke was worst at 15.2, City best at 6.2. Worst in the league at fouls at 12.1/game. Worst in the league at unsuccessful touches at 16.2 game. -14 GD, worse than the three teams below them.

There were several lucky bounces. Everton were second in the league at penalties awarded at 8, some of which were soft, and without some of which they would not have won points - the Calvert-Lewin penalty against Liverpool comes to mind, which earned a point that was undeserved IMO. Everton got three points against Watford when they should have had one or zero, due in part to a combination of Watford's keeper getting hurt and embedded Toffee Cleverly of Watford missing a penalty at 90'+11. The point at Swansea was a result of an own goal entirely against the run of play; the Swans controlled that game. Most of Niasse's goals were of the charge ahead like Earl Campbell --> ???? ---> PROFIT! variety where there was some kind of weird bounce. He got two of those in the last ten minutes against Bournemouth and got three points out of none. When called to make regular striker strikes, he loved to misdirect them.

Obviously, every team gets lucky bounces over the course of a season, but Everton got more than their share. Having watched almost every game, I'm hard pressed to remember a game where they undeservedly dropped points. 4-0 over West Ham is the only one that comes to mind where they dominated.

49 points and 8th was very generous of the gods. Watford had 42 and finished 13th. That would be more fitting for the performance on the pitch.