EPL Season In Review (Rate Your Side)

Remove this Banner Ad

Lebbo73

Brownlow Medallist
Oct 20, 2014
18,276
19,363
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
Liverpool
With the current EPL season over now is the time to rate your side. Top 4 is done and dusted. The relegation zone has been sealed. City have wrapped up their third straight EPL title with a narrow win over Leicester City via a wonder strike from Kompany.

Liverpool, what can I say? It was a great year by us with only the one loss. We started the season well and finished it even better. It’s just a shame we’ve had to compete with the greatest squad ever assembled. Our loss to City at the start of the year punctuated by a 13mm near goal early in the game will go down in folklore as the title defining moment. Nearly as unforgettable as that slip. Moments usually don’t decide titles and we’ve had two out of two in six seasons.
Also, the EPL ladder leader at Christmas has won 8 out of the last 11 EPL titles. Does anyone need me to tell them who this one side has been on all three occasions?
In summary, I will give our season a 9 out of 10. Manchester City gets a 9.5 from me. Too many losses for a 10 but it is hard to argue with anyone who wants to give both sides an extra half a point each.
 
Last edited:

Log in to remove this ad.

Zoom

Carefree
Dec 16, 2018
3,314
8,571
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Chelsea FC
Rating: 5/10

Negatives:

1. Sarri’s reluctance to play guys like RLC, CHO and Emerson has been frustrating. Fortunately they broke into the team towards the end of the season but it’s probably all too late now for CHO who wants out. I’m nervous about RLC’s next contract as well.

2. Sarri’s predictable substitutions - Kovacic for Barkley or Barkley for Kovacic. It made us boring and predictable and no doubt opposition teams loved it as we were easy to prepare for. Mix it up FFS.

3. Sarri’s reluctance to play Kante in his best position for a largely underperforming Jorginho. He tried to turn Kante into something that he’s not. It’s probably why we could never create anything and relied on individual brilliance from Hazard.

4. Sarri’s tactics in general. God we were poor throughout the season. We made no progress towards the end of the season either. There were no signs of improvement. In fact, we actually went backwards. We hit the ground running then limped to the finish line. If it wasn’t for Spurs, Gunners and United shitting the bed every week, we would’ve finished sixth.

5. Willian and Alonso. Two absolutely awful footballers who I passionately dislike for a variety of reasons. It’s going to be another long season with these two donkeys starting every week. Azpilicueta’s form was a worry as well.

6. The end of Eden Hazard @ Chelsea. What a player. Same for Gary Cahill and Cesc. Sad to see them go.

7. Kepa’s embarrassing outburst and refusal to be substituted was a dark day for our football club.

8. Losing six nil to City was also a dark day for our football club.

9. Rudiger and CHO’s injury.

10. Our racist fans. Sort it out.

11. Our transfer ban.


Positives:

1. Our Europa form has been good [enough] to get to where we are now. We’re in a position to win the whole thing even though I’m not confident against Arsenal (if that fixture should eventuate).

2. Eden Hazard’s form. He has been such a pleasure to watch. He has scored or assisted almost 50% of our goals this season. He is going to leave one giant f***ing hole in our team.

3. The emergence of CHO and RLC. The two English hyphens have proven to Sarri that he was silly for playing guys like Barkley/Kovacic and Willian/Pedro ahead of them for most of the season. These two had down games every now and then but they have so much more talent and upside than the aforementioned donkeys. We look so much better with them in the starting XI.

4. Rudiger. Underrated beast of a specimen. Had a brilliant year. He’s an amazing athlete and I was wrong about him.

5. Our response to City belting us six nil. I felt we matched them at Wembley but were unfortunate to lose the penalty shootout.

6. Bradburying our way into the top four. Hilarious. Still can’t believe we’re going to play Champions League after the s**t we dished up this season.

7. Our guys on loan performed well. Bakayoko, James, Abraham, Tomori, Mount, Zouma and Aina (even though he’s gone) all had good loan spells. Happy for them. Hopefully some can break into the first team next season.

That’s about it. Overall an underwhelming season with a transfer ban on the horizon to make matters worse. I just hope we use next season to give youth an opportunity to show us what they’ve got.
 
Dec 30, 2003
2,098
1,899
Melbourne western region
AFL Club
Western Bulldogs
Other Teams
Bulldogs / Willy / Palace
6/10 for my mob.

Positives:

1. Outrageous wins at the 2 UAE grounds - Etihad and Emirates;
2. Overall away record, more wins than losses, enjoyed watching us far more away than at home;
3. 7 consecutive PL years, a club record;
4. The emergence of Aaron wan-Bissaka (Stats proving best tackler in Europe) and the maturation of Zaha (at Southampton excepted), both palace academy boys;
5. Most PL points in a season since we came up;
6. Our Academy teams winning trophies.

Negatives:

1. Home record, teams coming to Selhurst and beating us at our own game;
2. 2 worst performances of the year against BHA, don't like seeing them happy;
3. Delay in building our new main stand to increase capacity - come on Steve Parish what is going on? Get it done;
4. Again off to a poor start, trouble at Christmas and then flying home, seems to be a pattern
 
6/10 for my mob.

Positives:

1. Outrageous wins at the 2 UAE grounds - Etihad and Emirates;
2. Overall away record, more wins than losses, enjoyed watching us far more away than at home;
3. 7 consecutive PL years, a club record;
4. The emergence of Aaron wan-Bissaka (Stats proving best tackler in Europe) and the maturation of Zaha (at Southampton excepted), both palace academy boys;
5. Most PL points in a season since we came up;
6. Our Academy teams winning trophies.

Negatives:

1. Home record, teams coming to Selhurst and beating us at our own game;
2. 2 worst performances of the year against BHA, don't like seeing them happy;
3. Delay in building our new main stand to increase capacity - come on Steve Parish what is going on? Get it done;
4. Again off to a poor start, trouble at Christmas and then flying home, seems to be a pattern
Would Milivojevic's million pens converted be a positive haha.
 

(Log in to remove this ad.)

May 24, 2008
29,359
6,276
Sydney
AFL Club
Sydney
Other Teams
Arsenal
If we win Europa then a 6/10. A pass mark was getting back into Europe and winning the cup is better than just finishing in the top 4 to achieve that goal. However the last month of league form has been atrocious, so it's hard to give anything higher than a 6.

Away form, some of the individual performances have been pathetic and Emery has had a few questionable match day performances.

If we don't win the Europa then it's a 3/10. Same old same old.
 

ioppolo

This only ends one way.
Oct 3, 2010
27,266
25,724
Perth
AFL Club
West Coast
Other Teams
Chelsea, OKC Thunder, Scorchers
If Chelsea win Europa, 6.5/10. Maybe that's too high tbh. Good to be in the Champions league but it's more a case of the best of an average bunch. Behind closed doors is a shambles, and we now have another full season of the same plebs who we cannot offload.
 

Thistle

Norm Smith Medallist
May 12, 2011
5,891
8,349
AFL Club
Fremantle
Other Teams
Chelsea, ICT, Glory
At the start of the seaosn I would have considered third place and two cup finals a raging success. Now though it actually feels quite hollow - more negatives have come from this year than positives. Weird one.
 

DBAH0

Brownlow Medallist
Oct 5, 2004
13,554
5,479
Austin, Tejas
AFL Club
Geelong
Other Teams
Hammers, Austin FC
I'll give us a 6.5 out of 10.

Finishing in the Top Ten after losing the first 4 games in a row, is a pretty decent accomplishment.

I'd call it a season of transition and progress for us.

Positives:
Fabianski. At least the 2nd best goalkeeper in the league this season for the amount of saves he made, for 7M he's the best keeper we've had since I've been a Hammers supporter I'd say.

Balbuena and Diop. These 2 look like a real decent CB partnership for us, and one that we can build around for a few seasons.

Declan Rice. Don't need to say too much here, went from being taken us after 45 in the first game of the season at Anfield, to being worth 75M and playing for England by the end of it. Perfect midfield anchor to build around.

Negatives:
The Arnie contract / transfer fiasco. Ruined our season, we were in 7th when it started and in great form, and we went into a mini tailspin after that. He's back in form, but if we got offered 35M for him from China, I'd take it and move on, especially considering his age.

Injuries. Always such an issue for us every season it seems. Yarmolenko, Wilshere etc. all missed a lot of time.

I'm looking for a top 8 finish next season.

By the sounds of it, Carroll is gone on a freebie, Chicarito probably to La Liga for about 8M or so, Obiang back to Serie A, Reece Oxford will sign for Augsburg permanently, Adrian will go on a freebie, and we'll probably sell Hugill and Lucas Perez depending on the offers. Nasri may not get another season and Cresswell could be sold also.

So it could be another pretty big summer of turnover for the squad.
 

jd2010

Well done boys. Good process, carry on
Feb 1, 2010
38,572
19,636
AFL Club
Carlton
Other Teams
Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford FC
6 out of 10 currently. Could easily be a 10/10 season if we win the CL.

Postives:
- Son stepping up to world class levels
- Sissoko going all Liam Jones with his resurgence as a CM
- Toby re-integrated this season and arguably the 2nd best CB in the league
- Decent cup run to the SF which we lost on away goals no longer being a thing
- Cup final in the CL going through on away goals in the past 2 rounds
- Lucas looking like he could be a real player for us. A lot like Son in his 2nd season, has his moments where he is the man and others where he frustrates
- Winks running the show for us in the middle when fit
- New stadium. Sure it was late but it looks and sounds amazing
- Arsenal & United being crap

Negatives:
- Injuries. Injuries. Injuries. Not crying about them since we should have seen them coming with no pre-season to a large portion of our squad post WC
- Not replacing Moussa Dembele when he was sold to China. Now we've identified N'Domble and Andre Gomes as our 2 main CM targets. Problem is they were our two main targets 12 months ago so we've caused ourselves play with Wanyama in some huge games for us
- Also not signing Tielemans on loan was stupid
- 71 points and 13 defeats is not good enough
 

WealstoneRaider

Cancelled
10k Posts I reneged on a bet or agreement :(
Apr 8, 2015
17,469
9,803
AFL Club
Hawthorn
6 out of 10 currently. Could easily be a 10/10 season if we win the CL.

Postives:
- Son stepping up to world class levels
- Sissoko going all Liam Jones with his resurgence as a CM
- Toby re-integrated this season and arguably the 2nd best CB in the league
- Decent cup run to the SF which we lost on away goals no longer being a thing
- Cup final in the CL going through on away goals in the past 2 rounds
- Lucas looking like he could be a real player for us. A lot like Son in his 2nd season, has his moments where he is the man and others where he frustrates
- Winks running the show for us in the middle when fit
- New stadium. Sure it was late but it looks and sounds amazing
- Arsenal & United being crap

Negatives:
- Injuries. Injuries. Injuries. Not crying about them since we should have seen them coming with no pre-season to a large portion of our squad post WC
- Not replacing Moussa Dembele when he was sold to China. Now we've identified N'Domble and Andre Gomes as our 2 main CM targets. Problem is they were our two main targets 12 months ago so we've caused ourselves play with Wanyama in some huge games for us
- Also not signing Tielemans on loan was stupid
- 71 points and 13 defeats is not good enough
I agree with all those points, but I’ve bumped us to an 8/10 now we’ve reached the CL because that’s just a massive thing for us. Grows our name massively globally.
 

WealstoneRaider

Cancelled
10k Posts I reneged on a bet or agreement :(
Apr 8, 2015
17,469
9,803
AFL Club
Hawthorn
I gave it a bonus 2 points for that. Without the final it's not a pass mark season for me
6/10 is too low all things considered. Despite our best efforts not to objective one was realised by qualifying for the CL. The domestic cups were sabotaged by injuries but no one could have expected us to reach the CL final. The away games at City and Ajax are already two of the most iconic games in our history. The club itself deserves a 4 for the mistakes they’ve made, but the players (despite a late league collapse) deserve a lot of credit
 

jd2010

Well done boys. Good process, carry on
Feb 1, 2010
38,572
19,636
AFL Club
Carlton
Other Teams
Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford FC
6/10 is too low all things considered. Despite our best efforts not to objective one was realised by qualifying for the CL. The domestic cups were sabotaged by injuries but no one could have expected us to reach the CL final. The away games at City and Ajax are already two of the most iconic games in our history. The club itself deserves a 4 for the mistakes they’ve made, but the players (despite a late league collapse) deserve a lot of credit
They get the credit of it being a passable season with the CL run. The 13 league defeats is more than we used to get under Jol. It's just very lucky that Arsenal despite their 20-something unbeaten run managed to be s**t still. And then there's United who somehow overlooked Poch. They're free kicks that have got us CL football not really our own good work
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Back