Of course we all want to forget the Ashley era (rightly so), but those years of neglect will take time to overturn.
The idea that Top 4 is now an expectation rather than an ambition, is nuts. There’s still a big gap between us and the Big Six in terms of finances and squad strength.
With FFP rules in places, you can’t cheat that process. You have to gradually bridge that gap. Of course it doesn’t mean it’s impossible to compete right at the top (as we showed in 22/23), but it does mean that it can’t be an expectation for that to happen consistently (yet).
As for the managerial situation, Howe has so far done a phenomenal job. European form in his first season to keep us up with ease, a 4th place finish and a cup final in his second season, and then 7th place in his third season while being surrounded by loads of new challenges and issues.
It’s easy to say what he could’ve done differently in hindsight, but often those takes come with the assumption that those changes would’ve resulted in a different result. For example, Hall not playing instead of Burn earlier, or Howe prioritizing the recovery of Joelinton and Pope in the recent match vs Man Utd by not starting them.
There was more than good reason to make both the decisions he did in those examples, but it’s not reasonable to pin this season on those moments by assuming that doing differently would’ve guaranteed more points.
Add in the injury crisis, the lack of squad depth we have, the fixture congestion – and you can’t reasonably expect performances not to drop to some degree.
On the topic of squad depth, we’re miles off any of the Big Six sides. We haven’t had enough time to build the depth that they have, and it’s why we’re still relying on some of the guys from the Rafa era. Same goes with the academy, they all produce much better quality talents, because of what they’ve invested in the academy.
And on both counts – squad depth and academy products – it takes time, and it takes long-term investment over multiple years. You can’t shortcut it. So to expect us to now be on par with those teams, despite being inferior in a lot areas which aren’t rectifiable immediately – is illogical.
Howe’s produced an impressive trajectory no matter how you look at it. He’s proved that he’s ready for this level, he’s built a philosophy that works, and with further improvements to his skillset, and his squad, there’s no reason why we can’t keep improving.
I’ve mentioned before the patience that Arsenal showed with Arteta, and how it’s paid off with him. But if you look back at history, every elite manager was given time to become elite. It doesn’t just happen overnight. You have to be given the chance, and we need to give Howe the chance.
The sport often rewards patience and long-term thinking. And the idea that we already have to be better than 3 of the big 6 every season – or else it’s a failure – is just wildly unrealistic. Maybe one day it’ll be fair, but with our resources right now, you can’t possibly expect that as an absolute minimum.
I’m not one of those fans who think we should be winning Europe in the first season but to claim there is a huge gap that is insurmountable is just crazy.
If not for injuries we could have made Europe again and more often than not we are in with a more than fair shout at beating all the teams above us.
That taken into consideration our squad is about 3 players away from being half decent.
Daveys **** mate(Quote)
The gap is more financial, which is hard to compete against for now due to FFP. Will take time.
Olly Hawkins(Quote)
Davey – on the flip side, take Isak, Gordon and Pope out and are still 3 players away from being poor
Sharpy17(Quote)
I agree that the two main factors going forward are financial and squad depth. However, our first 11 is not far off being top four, maybe RW is a weakness. Back up we only have competitive quality in a few positions, It will take a few years to match the top three in terms of squad depth.
As to expected finishing positions, Given that as well as us and the top six, Villa with Emry must be considered. There will always be a surprise team performing well. The top three are the top three so that’s 6 teams chasing 4th. We are not the best of those 6, but not all of them are going to perform. Europe therefore is a real possibility over the next couple of years.
We have demonstrated the level we can perform at with finishes of 71 and 60 pts. We need to be hitting closer to 70 to challenge as the best of those six teams. That is an achievable objective.
PremAndUp(Quote)
Always place a lot of credit in what Sanjay writes and I definitely agree with this article.
Toon4joy(Quote)