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Great Expectations


Lord Duckhunter

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Reading through the threads on here I really do wonder what people's expectations are for this season with this group of players. So instead of wondering I thought I'd ask.

 

What position in the league & what sort of cup run constitutes "par" for us this season. Personally I think a top half finish with a decent cup run will be a bloody good effort and would match anything Koeman did with Morgan, Mane & Big Vic. The majority clearly disagree so I'd like to know their expectations , what is their realistic target for our finishing position this season?

 

 

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i'd be content with top half. We've enjoyed a decent run in the league cup or whatever they call it nowadays. One distinguishing feature of this year over last year is all the "big" teams are playing much better, i.e. Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea have all improved significantly. It's a whole new ball of wax this year. The "glass ceiling" as Les and the Evertonians like to describe it, seems to be have been reset firmly in place.

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Finish higher than 12th and get to the league cup final would be a great season.

For me results haven't been the problem - it's performances. We're playing such negative football, never mind compared to last season, but even compared to the start of this season. Remember when we were lamenting the lack of a goalscorer because we were creating 15-20+ chances a game? The last time I saw us play the quick, one touch passing football through the middle that led us to creating those chances was Leicester away. Even games we have won - including Arsenal in the league cup - we didn't play as well as we did earlier in the season.

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At the start of the season I would've said something like this

 

8th/9th in the league

Reaching the QF in both cups

Europa league 1st knockout round

 

Now with the Europa dissapoint we'd need to push on a bit in the other 2 cups.

 

The squads definitely the weakest it's been in years. The club needs to invest next season in quality over quantity (no European football so 1 game a week) so we can push for a Europe spot in the league in 2017/18.

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The Europa League exit was the killer blow for this season. Looked so promising and never really thought we would not get out if the group but gone now and will get over it.

Whenever we go on a bad run you start looking downwards it is easy to obsess about being as high as you can be i.e. above West Brom, Stoke etc.but Everton is the one really want to beat.

But position not so important as optimism for long term and being convinced Claude is the right man.

 

We have been spoilt and we have far too many entitled fans now who think it is so straightforward to be better than all the other teams. They have unrealistic expectations and truly don't ever think they will be happy whatever. They should be appreciative that we consistently manage to do it and that many clubs look on with envy. In their fantasy world though that is accepting of mediocrity - they don't know the meaning of the word.

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Mid table and a decent cup run. Had no expectation of continuing our year on year improvement in the league.

 

Having said that, I expect to see our team play in an entertaining manner regardless.

Edited by Colinjb
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10th but critically performances and scoring have to improve.

 

For the first in my life, I might pay attention to our GD as a proxy for any progress. Likewise it would be nice to see us come from behind and win games, our midfielders chip in with more goals and the academy players make a greater impact (though the latter is a relative bright spot of Puel's record to date).

 

Going far in the cup is a bonus but no more since luck plays such a large role.

Edited by shurlock
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Reed wants (or expects) a proper stab at top 6.

 

I think THIS season, top 10 but playing a far more exciting brand of football

Obviously, I think the two are not possible under this manager

 

poor in Europe

Done well in the League Cup (this is as far as we go)

God knows what the luck of the draw will be in the FA Cup

Edited by Batman
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I was hoping for top half.

For me this season was/is about introducing more of the young players into the team & squad. In fairness to Puel he has done that.

What I was also expecting was an offensive style of play.

I think we will achieve the first two, but the offensive style is not to be seen anywhere.

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10th but critically performances and scoring have to improve.

 

For the first in my life, I might pay attention to our GD as a proxy for any progress. Likewise it would be nice to see us come from behind and win games and our midfielders get more goals.

 

Going far in the cup is a bonus but no more since luck plays such a large role.

 

Same for me, realisation from the management they have made some bad decisions with rotation, tactics and especially Europa but we can improve.

Claude needs better players and better support staff to help him but we have enough quality to get top 10.

 

 

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im not against Puel but as per us selling the quality players all the time is now Les going for a crackpot idea of squad rotation every game every season? To my mind he believes he is some kind of guru and we are watching his mad cap ideas being played out.

Considering the way we are being run anything above 10th is fine, but not what I had wanted

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what is your opinion on the OP?

Where does Les Reed says he wants/expects a proper stab at top six this season?

 

It's ruined your little world I know, but you know he said something very specific and quite different to that only yesterday.

 

Read it, remember it and you can use that from now on, can't you?

 

My expectations are top ten and I concur with the early, sensible posts on this forum, Whelk in particular.

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Premier league winners

stars, aim and all that.

leicester won it, why can't we be like them?

I'd suggest only a tiny minority of Leicester fans expected to win the league this time last year, but you expect us to win the league this season?

 

You're a special little guy.

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I'm sure I saw that Puel had said his objectives for the season were set as

 

Get out of the group stages of the Europa (which was a fail but a close run one)

A cup semi-final (which he has achieved)

and a top 10 finish (which he can still achieve)

 

Seems a reasonable set of objectives for a club like us.

 

Cup final would be great but in our current slump I think I have more chance of scoring with Beyoncé than we do of beating Liverpool. We have played some good football at times under Puel but I think its going to be a struggle for him if we are going to rely on Long and Jrod upfront for the rest of the season (our shot to conversion record must be the worst in the whole of PL) and a bunch of central midfielders who are all to similar and not quite good enough.

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The Europa League exit was the killer blow for this season. Looked so promising and never really thought we would not get out if the group but gone now and will get over it.

Whenever we go on a bad run you start looking downwards it is easy to obsess about being as high as you can be i.e. above West Brom, Stoke etc.but Everton is the one really want to beat.

But position not so important as optimism for long term and being convinced Claude is the right man.

 

We have been spoilt and we have far too many entitled fans now who think it is so straightforward to be better than all the other teams. They have unrealistic expectations and truly don't ever think they will be happy whatever. They should be appreciative that we consistently manage to do it and that many clubs look on with envy. In their fantasy world though that is accepting of mediocrity - they don't know the meaning of the word.

 

Thanks Whelk

 

Good post , saved me the effort

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At the start of the season I would have said top half and a really decent go in Europe. Europe has gone, so I would have expected top 8. (Too 6 already finalised). Only change is because of the drop in quality we have seen this year, I can't see us doing that. With this squad I still expect top half, and with a bit of investment in Jan it's possible...

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At the start of the season I would've said something like this

 

8th/9th in the league

Reaching the QF in both cups

Europa league 1st knockout round

 

Now with the Europa dissapoint we'd need to push on a bit in the other 2 cups.

 

The squads definitely the weakest it's been in years. The club needs to invest next season in quality over quantity (no European football so 1 game a week) so we can push for a Europe spot in the league in 2017/18.

Yep this basically. I also want a bit of style in our play like we had under the likes of poch where you felt that on our day we were capable of beating anyone in the league. We no longer have that.

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For me as the way were playing atm I'd take anything above 17th, I'd hope we could change it for the better and if so I feel we could stay 10th , I don't think we'll make final so we really need to sort settling first 11 down, that stat of 56 changes in 10 games is outrageous and no wonder we can't string anything together , Bournemouth found that out yesterday. After the lc semis there's no reason not to pursue a settled team, no excuses perhaps the 1 or 2 changes.

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Some really good comments so far.

 

My expectations were:

top 8 in the league

decent cup run

hope to qualify from the EL group.

 

Have to be honest, when I saw the draw for the Europa League, I didn't think we'd get through, but having watched the games then should have won all 6 so this was the major disappointment or the season. Done as expected in the league and cup.

 

We have shown, in small patches, that we can play but far too often the team is happy to sit back and just try and retain possession. For me, in the second half of the season I'd like to see more tempo in are game and close down quickly for 90 minutes a game rather than just the opening 10 minutes of a game.

 

We should do this just before the start of next season & sticky it. Would save a lot of squabbling on this forum!

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I recognise that we came out of the summer transfer window with a weaker team and also probably think team spirit and confidence meant we were performing at the top of our game.

 

So for me I would have accepted 7th - 14th, on the fringe of Europa qualifications if cup winners went our way, but never really looking over our shoulder to worry about relegation.

 

Cup runs I'm not so hung up on as sadly the cups have been so abused they're almost like reserve games until the final!!!

 

BUT how we manage 7th-14th is also important to me (& drab football with few goals isn't winning me over), as is giving it our best shot (& squad rotations, poor management & poor transfers is causing me concern).

 

Dont expect the world, just that we do our best (& at the moment I don't think we are).

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I'd suggest only a tiny minority of Leicester fans expected to win the league this time last year, but you expect us to win the league this season?

 

You're a special little guy.[/quote was he being sarcastic?

 

thanks,cant believe someone had to spell it out to him.

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Acknowledging the squad was weaker than last year I expected upper mid table still but also I thought we would get out of the Europa League Group - hugely disappointing that we didn't. The FA and EFL cup are a bonus in any season, don't think you can expect anything as the draws can be favourable or vice versa.

 

What I was really expecting though was the continuation of entertaining football, and that has been the biggest let down of all. It shouldn't have done, with European football and a cup semi final, but the season has just felt a bit meh.

Edited by Katalinic
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I'd like us to finish in the top half this season but using it to bring through some youngsters who are capable of kicking on a level - the latter is what I understand Puel's brief to be.

 

I'd like a couple of cup runs, I was disappointed not to qualify out of the group stages and I don't think we really did ourselves justice in performances but, as other have said, it was the finest of margins and I've lived long enough not to expect to win every game.

 

It's easy to forget where we have come from..and I don't just mean the last few years. I loved the Dell years but, in reality we punched way above our weight for many of the Division 1 seasons and a successful season in many cases was not having to win the last match to stay up...I remember the vague feeling of anti-climax when we were actually safe with three matches to go. I'm not saying that we should lack ambition...every decade or so there's a Leicester, an Ipswich, QPR etc...but the lack of reality expressed by a number on here is so arrogant and ignorant of any perspective. We can qualify for Europe again but for a club our size. well run as it is, it has to be a bit of a 'perfect storm' in having our own squad playing together at it's best before we are raped by clubs that can offer more than we, sensibly, can and the others around us having the sort of 'in-between' season as happened last year.

 

I'd say to those screaming for change, wailing that we aren't as highly placed as we were last year (we pretty much are actually) aren't playing like Barcelona or a rose-tinted version of the Poch and Koeman seasons - remember where we have been, take a look at the history - we finished second to Liverpool in the highest placed season in my supporting life, a win and a draw away from being Champions - should we have expected to be one better the next year? Thanks to Markus. Kat, Cortese (yes he played his part), Les, Ralph and all the playing side we are eating at the top table....the pies at Rochdale were far cr*pper than I'd been led to expect. Be real, be grateful.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32510554

 

Reed has often spoke of the aspiration for champions league in 5 years and the need to be a regular top 6 side in that time (here's one example) ...so CB Fry (the ****) can make up his own past to suit his own agenda as much as he likes but it doesn't make him right.

 

For me as our squad is the ninth most expensively assembled in the premier league and the 20th most expensive in Europe what I think as acceptable goals are:

 

League 10th/11th..anything above is over achieving anything lower is underachieving.

Europa league..going out in a group with two minnows in it and two teams with a massively less budget then ours is a failure.

League cup.TBF ..the cups depend on the draw...given our draw so far and how seriously other teams took it Puel has achieved as much as can be expected. If we get to the final he will have overachieved.

FA Cup..again given the draw we should go through, how far we get depends again on the draw and how serious the opposition take it...draw arsenals second team and we need to go through, draw Man City's first team and going through is over achieving.

 

RK over achieved in the league but didn't achieve anywhere near in the cups(or Europe).

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Acknowledging the squad was weaker than last year I expected upper mid table still but also I thought we would get out of the Europa League Group - hugely disappointing that we didn't. The FA and EFL cup are a bonus in any season, don't think you can expect anything as the draws can be favourable or vice versa.

 

What I was really expecting though was the continuation of entertaining football, and that was been the biggest let down of all. It shouldn't have done, with European football and a cup semi final, but the season has just felt a bit meh.

 

This ^

 

Not seen anyone demanding top 6 this season - our summer activity saw to that.

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Entertainment please, and we shall never get that without a settled team. Just once in a while I'd like to see us go on an all out attack. That's not asking too much is it?

 

Could you cope with that at your age Whitey?

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I'd like us to finish in the top half this season but using it to bring through some youngsters who are capable of kicking on a level - the latter is what I understand Puel's brief to be.

 

I'd like a couple of cup runs, I was disappointed not to qualify out of the group stages and I don't think we really did ourselves justice in performances but, as other have said, it was the finest of margins and I've lived long enough not to expect to win every game.

 

It's easy to forget where we have come from..and I don't just mean the last few years. I loved the Dell years but, in reality we punched way above our weight for many of the Division 1 seasons and a successful season in many cases was not having to win the last match to stay up...I remember the vague feeling of anti-climax when we were actually safe with three matches to go. I'm not saying that we should lack ambition...every decade or so there's a Leicester, an Ipswich, QPR etc...but the lack of reality expressed by a number on here is so arrogant and ignorant of any perspective. We can qualify for Europe again but for a club our size. well run as it is, it has to be a bit of a 'perfect storm' in having our own squad playing together at it's best before we are raped by clubs that can offer more than we, sensibly, can and the others around us having the sort of 'in-between' season as happened last year.

 

I'd say to those screaming for change, wailing that we aren't as highly placed as we were last year (we pretty much are actually) aren't playing like Barcelona or a rose-tinted version of the Poch and Koeman seasons - remember where we have been, take a look at the history - we finished second to Liverpool in the highest placed season in my supporting life, a win and a draw away from being Champions - should we have expected to be one better the next year? Thanks to Markus. Kat, Cortese (yes he played his part), Les, Ralph and all the playing side we are eating at the top table....the pies at Rochdale were far cr*pper than I'd been led to expect. Be real, be grateful.

 

This is spot on for me

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Yep this basically. I also want a bit of style in our play like we had under the likes of poch where you felt that on our day we were capable of beating anyone in the league. We no longer have that.

 

Sums it up for me too. Those wins at Stamford Bridge, St Marys v Pool and Arsenal and the results v Man U last season now seem out of reach.

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One of the most disappointing affairs for me and where my expectations were higher, was in the Europa Cup.

 

I expected to perform better in the group games and then happy to take whatever happened next in the knock out stages. Therefore the rotation policy, team selections and negative tactics pifsed me right off.

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At the beginning of the season with players we had lost and pressure of the Europa League I would have settled for 10-14 in the league. I thought it would be difficult to qualify in Europa League for knockout stage. I had no real aspirations in the Domestic Cups.

 

As at now I still expect us to reach 10-14 but I am concerned over our negative set up and lack of goals. I do not expect a relegation battle but I do want to be entertained.

 

Was bitterly disappointed we did not progress in Europa after early performances despite my pre- season thoughts.

 

Happy we have reached the semis in the League Cup but I think Liverpool are strong favourites over the two legs. Shame as this would appear our best chance of Europa next season. Hope we do well in FA Cup now. Expect us to qualify for next round now we are at home. The team we put out were much better that Norwich.

 

Quite rightly our expectations of success have increased in the last few years. We have had very good Managers, we have bought fairly well when we have lost good players.

 

I have no problem with Saints being seen as a club who develop players for Champions League Clubs. We have the delight in seeing their skills and success and that can only be good for the team. It will encourage other players to look at us rather than see us as a small provincial club. Likewise, our exposure will help develop our overseas corporate revenue leading to higher turnover and ability to compete with the top six on more level terms. I am sure that is the long term plan.

 

I likewise have no problem with the way the club go about signings in the Transfer window. Of course, I would prefer early good signings but it has to be the right player and they tend not to come around in the January window.

 

I am prepared to give Puel a little more time. I can see what Reed is saying about him not having the time to implement his strategy/development on the training pitch. The change to 1 game per week coming up in the near future will be a pivotal. If he can start to pick a settled side and get them back to attractive attacking football with goals in them, I may have more confidence in him and our next season progress.

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Sums it up for me too. Those wins at Stamford Bridge, St Marys v Pool and Arsenal and the results v Man U last season now seem out of reach.

 

 

In fairness three out of those four teams are far, far better than they were last season. The Beating Chelsea of this season would be a far bigger achievement than beating last seasons Chelsea team, same with Liverpool who were very average last season, Man U have spent another fortune last summer and got rid of LVG (did you see the "weakened" team they put out yesterday a lot of those players would walk into most PL first teams). Not beating those teams are hardly a great barometer of how far we have fallen as last season they were all very poor and this season they are not.

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Knocking Liverpool out of the league cup and finishing above Everton would be a great season!

 

Funny that we have been so poor yet 7th is still easily within our reach. Equally we could be as low as 15th next week, looking nervously over our shoulder, with any hopes of a Cup Final looking somewhat distant.

 

Taking these one-off matches out of the equation, top half would be a decent enough outcome for the season, but as others have alluded to, I would like to see some comprehensive victories and encouraging defeats rather than comprehensive defeats and unconvincing wins like at the moment. I would be tempted to say that even a bit lower in the table would be ok if we started playing better and either acquired some good players or saw an improvement in current players, but I'm not sure how we could improve those aspects and yet end up finishing lower!

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My expectation is for a manager that tries to win every game and doesn't give already molly coddled and lazy players more excuses such as not being capable of playing 2 games a week or being able to press for long periods of a game.

 

Until that changes we will never achieve anything and the football will be as dire as it has been this season.

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For the money we have spent and the resources we have at our disposal we should be doing better this season - and that is taking into account player turnover and the new Manager.

 

Of course with change there is risk and it does take time to get things right - but I still think taking that into account this season has not been what would be reasonable to expect under the circumstances.

 

League position is ok (but performances are frustrating), cup performances are ok (semi-final is great but out of Europe in the manner we did is abysmal). Most worryingly I am seeing deterioration in our standard of performances as a team and in individuals so I want to see signs of the Manager and team being able to work it out.

 

There is still alot to play for this season and it could go either way.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/32510554

 

Reed has often spoke of the aspiration for champions league in 5 years and the need to be a regular top 6 side in that time (here's one example) ...so CB Fry (the ****) can make up his own past to suit his own agenda as much as he likes but it doesn't make him right.

 

 

This is a direct quote from Les Reed, yesterday.

 

"It’s really important that we think long term so that we are still competing at sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth in the league for the long term and we are not going up and down like some of the other clubs around us."

 

A direct quote published yesterday. Not a year ago. Not with a headline written by a BBC sub editor. Yesterday.

 

Not made up to suit my agenda. Actual words he said, published yesterday.

 

Read them. Read them again.

 

You dinlows can get upset about horrible old Les promising us the Champions League but look. He's not any more.

 

That's what you want to hear right? There you go. He's said it so you can stop getting all furious that we're not challenging for fourth.

 

Happy to accept your apologies when you're ready.

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Reed is resetting expectations - Seems he is in charge of EVERYTHING now so setting (failing) and then changing his own objectives and targets would be allowed I guess?

 

He was telling everyone about the champions league ambitions in 2005 - since then weve finished 7th and 6th but old Les has decided that 9th is now something we should celebrate and go for.

 

If this doesn't tell you all you need to know about Kat/Les and our clubs ambition nothing will.

 

We are the new WBA - celebrate good times, come on

 

3ed0308e_the_very_best_of_the_success_kid_meme_Success-s513x339-302066-580.jpg

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I

This is a direct quote from Les Reed, yesterday.

 

"It’s really important that we think long term so that we are still competing at sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth in the league for the long term and we are not going up and down like some of the other clubs around us."

 

A direct quote published yesterday. Not a year ago. Not with a headline written by a BBC sub editor. Yesterday.

 

Not made up to suit my agenda. Actual words he said, published yesterday.

 

Read them. Read them again.

 

You dinlows can get upset about horrible old Les promising us the Champions League but look. He's not any more.

 

That's what you want to hear right? There you go. He's said it so you can stop getting all furious that we're not challenging for fourth.

 

Happy to accept your apologies when you're ready.

 

Lol so you are admitting the poster before was right and you were wrong? First time ever!

 

Yes Les is contradicting himself now and backtracking but the fact is he said it and you were wrong saying he didn't.

 

You are such a bellend.

 

I don't believe we could ever compete for champions league on a regular basis and have never asked us to... I am just saying it is what Les said and now I have proved it..you are saying but yesterday he said something different! So if he says tomorrow he was aiming for league one..that makes what he said yesterday null and void does it?

 

I would never apologise to a c u n t like you.

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I'd expect 10th or above to be honest, I'm disappointed with the lack of entertainment and attacking threat, as we're always told it's an entertainment business and gone are the days where clubs were run for the fans, well you better start entertaining if that's the case.

 

Slightly annoyed that we didn't replace our attacking options, I think there was a balls up when Rodriguez scored that goal just before he was due out on loan in that the club thought he was back and didn't have to spend out..... oops

 

I'm hoping Puel can turn it round but I'm losing faith quickly, don't like this rotation and I'm sure the senior players don't either, surely he should be sitting down and airing any grievances out with a few trusted players. Not convinced if Puel knows how to break a team down, he seems to just want to keep the ball and rely on an individual bit of skill instead of having a way or pressuring the other team and asserting ourselves onto them, I'm hopeful he can change but I'm not sure it's in his makeup.

 

I know our strategy is to groom players for the big clubs, and it is good to see some of these players at our club, but this does get tiresome losing decent players all the time, at the same time I know they wouldn't come here if this wasn't the case. We just need to realise that £10m players we were buying like Mane and Wanyama are now £20m players.

 

I do feel that the club and fans are too willing to 'know our place' in the football hierarchy. You don't see Everton fans just accepting their fate, they are pretty much where we should be, or at least close to, but it almost seems everyone is just resigned to being what we are. If the fans accept this then the board doesn't feel under any pressure to grow the club, or become more ambitious.

 

In short if this is a transition season and the board have every intention of spending some money and improving the team for next season and if Puel becomes more adventurous in his attacking play then I'm happy, if this season is a taste of things to come then I'm pretty disappointed to say the least.

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