07 May 2014 23:46:09
A lot of us were on here 9 months ago saying we new it would be a rollercoaster season. Little did we know just how right we were. Di Canio gone after a shambolic start to the season. (Although I still maintain the lift he gave the club at the end of the previous season kept us up) Poyet - not everyones first choice, seemed at times not to know his strongest line up but we started picking up points and cup wins.
Low points - for me - the away loss to Crystal Palace (just the way we threw it away) and losing at home to West Ham. I thought we were down after that result.
High points - Fighting back from 2-0 away at Cardiff and and the 4-1 win at Fulham. How important those results look now. The cup run was fun but was hard to enjoy with us rooted to the bottom of the table. And of course the last 5 games. who would have thought it ?
We can enjoy the Swansea game now and start deciding. should we try to keep Larsson, Colback, Bardsley - let the debate begin.
Credit to Poyet - he certainly has the lads playing better football and the last 5 games really were a miracle.
It won't be long before its August and we'll be strapped back into that rollercoaster again.
Perfectly summed up. And let's give Ellis Short some credit, after the dross of last season and the pathetic football under O'Neill he was absolutely right to take a chance, it looked like it backfired badly but good on him for it ultimately coming off. We said last pre season with the intent by the club to push on with the times that this could be a defining season IF we stayed up and we have. Weve got an immense talent in Poyet, let's back him and look forward to another mental summer. One word of caution, let's not get sucked into thinking all these players are suddenly outstanding, changes to the squad need to be made because it was only a month ago I was thoroughly demoralised.
Given the number of players out of contract or on loan change is pretty much inevitable. Personally I think some continuity would be a benefit next season with a few quality additions, but realistically I fear we will lose a lot of players.
There has to be change as per the last post; what is it 9 players out of contract and 5 loans? If so, that's 14 players and I'd suggest we may get a couple of the out of contract players to re-sign and the same with the loanees but that would still see our squad down 10!
Who of the out of contract players would you look to keep? The last five games shouldn't make us forget of what went before. Bardsley and Colback maybe, Larsson possibly, then there's the likes of Vergini and Ustari who probably deserve another crack at things? I don't know; who'd be a manager?
Referring to the second post, the highlights of the season for me have to be:
- Borini's winner at home to Newcastle.
- The whole 90 minutes up the road.
- The way we played and everyone conducted themselves at Wembley
Lowlights:
- Hull away in the FA Cup; how to blow the feel-good factor
- Villa at home
- The second half at Swansea
Anyway, roll on next season. Here we go again!