I've been one of Brendans biggest supporters on here and I'm made up that the owners have not only kept him on, but it looks like they're properly backing him in the transfer market too. Not only that, they've gone with him on his backroom changes and it appears to me anyway that they've completely got in behind him.
So here's the rub (and I'm assuming we get Benteke here) to my mind from here there can be no excuses. None of this "It takes time to bed lots of new players in" nonsense, none of this "we aren't getting time to train" bollocks, we and Brendan has to deliver. Deliver what exactly? Well I aren't like some on here, I don't demand that he does the quadruple, pens the Eurovision song contest winner and comes up with the solution to Greek debt crisis before next May. What I do demand though is that we become a credible challenging team BY THE END OF THE SEASON. I put that bit in capitals because as everyone knows, we have a very tough start. If we start badly or even averagely badly, that simply means we have to go on a sustained run of winning football matches before the end of the season. However we do it I don't really care, but to my mind we have to put in a credible challenge for one or more of the top four places in the league. That doesn't mean we're "aiming for fourth" as of course we're "aiming" for first, but it does mean that being seven or eight points outside of the top four with four or five games to go and needing snookers isn't good enough. Last seasons performance for example would be in my eyes nowhere near good enough.
In the cups of course lots depends upon the draw. If we lose at Chelsea away I can live with that if we get done in a tight match. Losing to Aston Villa on a neutral ground though in a cup semi final is bollocks, it was bollocks last season and it would be bollocks this. If such an eventuality or upset were to occur, in my eyes we really ought to be compensating for it in another competition. Whichever way you look at it though we need to improve and drastically, or there's nowhere to hide.
Anyway given our squad and the fact the manager has been backed re his targets on players (assuming we get Benteke) and his backroom, this for me is this seasons "par".
1. It is extremely unlikely but not completely impossible that we could win the league. While I accept it is unlikely, we ought to approach the season with a challengers mentality. While it is entirely possible if we are managed well that we could finish in any spot from 1-4, "par" for me would be definitely no lower than fifth, and if we do miss out on the top four it should only be by the tiniest of margins. Anything less is not good enough, no excuses.
2. We should not be losing to teams like Aston Villa on a neutral ground in cup semi finals, certainly not in the manner we did where we were completely outplayed and outfought. If they completely fluke the win a la the Mancs in the Champions League final against Bayern there's not too much you can do, but even if that happens their goal should be under siege for the last 20 minutes.
3. The Europa League I don't give a flying f*** about, and I should hope neither will Brendan unless we get to the last eight even though we are playing a scratch team every week. As such, I won't be criticising him if we get knocked out by AEK Dukla Transylvania or some such nonsense, but neither do I want to hear a "lack of training time" excuse.
It's time to deliver, now.
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