Erikse

If you look at peoples expectations before last season, many people had Chelsea in the top 4 due to no Europe. Some people had you in top 4 due to no Europe. I'm sure that if you read through the Chelsea forum from last summer, they were going on about how no Europe will help them massively, and that they will now become a real threat to the top teams. Kind of like what we are doing now. When it comes to Villa, their squad didn't seem deep enough at all either, and they were having some issues with fatigue for brief periods of the season. However, they still got top 4 in the end, so it's doable. Ofcourse, chances are probably higher without Europe, but are they really that much higher without the Conference League?

When I say "didn't work", I mean not getting CL, or top 4. As I said in my post, it helped both teams, but neither of them had a really good season despite not being in Europe. My point is just because we don't have Europe doesn't mean that we will compete for top 4, it's far from a given that it leads to a great season. Tottenham and Chelsea happened to be recent examples of that. The Conference League would also be one to rotate in, so likewise Villa made top 4 while playing in the Conference League, finishing above both Chelsea and Tottenham (despite having a seemingly weaker squad). I also don't think that tournament would have a massive impact on our league position, unless we wouldn't have rotated enough.

I don't believe any of it until it actually happens.

They're already kicked out. They will play conference.

God! We should finish 8th every season until we're ready to win the league.

Not necessarily true, it helps with the league, but it still didn't work for Chelsea and Spurs.

When we got 7th it was "probably for the best" since we've got a much higher chance of winning the Conference. Now it's a shit tournament and we may be better off without. Moral of the story: Europe is kinda useless unless it's CL? Why are we trying to turn every scenario into a positive one?

Usually I would say that we've got ourselves to blame, but 60 points and +23 GD is usually more than enoigh for top 7. Even top 6 in a lot of seasons. Not getting Europe of any form with +23 is a record that will not get beaten in a very very long time.

We really got a +23 goal difference without even making conference league.. That's wild.

Put him in a different team, and he will look better. His pace gets nullified in these scenarios.

Waiting for the counter 3-0..

Goldbridge probably already trying to come up with new curse words for his rage speech for when they turn it around.

That's what I've been saying many times. He hasn't been himself after the injury at all. Older players suffer more from it. We just gave him too much space.

City been drinking all week?

Yeah, I think they're just judging him based on that one game..

They forgot about that after the game, and never saw Havertz as a cunt at all. No bias going on there.

Until Dovbyk scored 3 more and Sørloth went out after 17 min..

That's just because he was pretty agrressive against them. Remember the challenge on Jorginho, and a couple of others. Arsenal fans were whining about how he should've recieved 2 or even 3 yellows.

Arsenal fans putting Bruno in their anticipated lineups for next season, saying they will get him for £80m. Yeah, we are so desperate to sell, we won't even bank on anyone triggering the clause.

Absolutely, but I'm sure there are more than 7% of goalkeepers who gets different instructions than pass it out from the back also. That percentage is VERY low regardless. But, it depends on other things aswell, like not having a target man and stuff like that.

Do you think long clearances from the goalie is just part of their tactics?

Tim Krul comes to mind, one who would allways go for the long clearance, and who would rarely hit a teammate with it.

Not sure if posted yet, but he seems to be an excellent shot stopper, and a not so good passer. Bottom 7% of goalkeepers in pass completion percentage. He is 23, so he can still improve somewhat.

Doesn't really seem like Howe was all that into doing this after all. He had to speak positively about it, but the lineup for the last game indicates that he was probably not that big of a fan of it. I can't imagine him being happy about having to field youths just for them to get smashed to an Australian side. Personally I'm happy that we decided to protect our senior players, when the game was already arranged.

But the Tottenham game was pretty much right after arrival, 3 days after seasons end, and we played first-team players in that game? That's even more risky.