7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

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Wile E Coyote
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7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by Wile E Coyote » Sun May 13, 2018 8:15 pm

There must be loads of facts people can add to a lengthy list of things that could have derailed our season.
Tom Heaton's injury seemed initially disastrous in itself to me, but we had the inclusion of Nick Pope who has been fantastic .
Losing other key players through injuries with our squad was just adding to our woes.
Some atrocious refereeing has definately cost us a few points again, and no, it didn't even itself out over the course of a season.
Tiny budget compared to virtually all the other teams in the division, and yet we did far more than just stumble over the line.
Finishing 7th is genuinely phenomenal achievement.
whilst city's 100 pts is great, I think our story is the best one in the premier league this season by far.
Granted , bit of a damp squib ending with the strange match at the emirates and todays defeat, but the bigger picture is what matters.
We have earned the right to compete in a European tournament, and this has been done by THE manager of the season having to alter his team time and time again and yet they more than held their own.
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Ooogeorgeorgeoghani
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by Ooogeorgeorgeoghani » Sun May 13, 2018 8:21 pm

You're right ,the decisions have not evened out this season plus we really have been hit with disastrous injuries ,what an acheivement

andyh
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by andyh » Sun May 13, 2018 8:29 pm

The encouraging thing is that we have not been outrageously lucky this season. Therefore we should have a chance of being in a similar position next season. There is a huge gap between 5th and 10th. It would be amazing if that was our position for the next few seasons.

Garnerssoap
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by Garnerssoap » Sun May 13, 2018 8:33 pm

We got 3 points at Watford without stringing 3 passes together all game.not that I’m bothered mind

redwasp
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by redwasp » Sun May 13, 2018 8:40 pm

It's a similar situation to when Leicester won the league in that the usual suspects didn't turn up, for them it was City, Utd and Chelsea, for us it was the fact that Southampton, Stoke, WBA and Everton, all cocked up helped us. We have been brilliant, but twelve games without a win and still nobody caught us, any other season and we could have been down to 11th or 12th which we would still have been happy with.

warksclaret
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by warksclaret » Sun May 13, 2018 9:16 pm

Would disagree with people saying we have been unlucky with injuries. Quite the opposite-yes Heaton, Defour and Brady had serious injuries but every PL club has had similar or worse. Football now throws up serious injuries every week e very PL team has had their sharet

I would ask-how many top half PL teams had just 3 centre halves all year and never had to call on a fourth choice. How many PL teams had just just 4 recognized strikers-don't include Wells in this cause (the best the manager was prepared to let him play was about 10 mins ). Look at who Bournemouth brought on today-King and Wilson. This a team that attracts around 12,000 fans per game. We have been very lucky in both the injury front and the suspension side

It makes our points tally even more incredible-however today whilst disappointing for all clarets will be a blessing. If we want to progress (and even you might argue stay in the PLas nothing is a given) then we need more depth-particularly in the central defense, winger and striker front

There are some great players being relegated-Jay Rod, Dawson, Mawson, Allen (Stoke). We need quality in the team , not just a great team spirit

Wile E Coyote
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by Wile E Coyote » Sun May 13, 2018 10:00 pm

not sure i can agree warksclaret,
whilst injuries do occur at every club, there is a question of adequate replacements, in so much as players who can slot in immediately and continue the form.
I don't think teams who's squads cost half a billion pounds are quite so bothered by missing one or two key players, we and teams like Huddersfield don't have that luxury.
I think losing someone of Defours calibre is a huge loss, likewise Brady if he is a regular in a settled first eleven

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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by iluva64 » Sun May 13, 2018 11:28 pm

Today we did appear a bit thin on the ground, but the work had already been done earlier in the season.

God when does the transfer window open, Im so looking forward to the Summer. Who cares about the World Cup.

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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by claret10 » Sun May 13, 2018 11:51 pm

iluva64 wrote:Today we did appear a bit thin on the ground, but the work had already been done earlier in the season.

God when does the transfer window open, Im so looking forward to the Summer. Who cares about the World Cup.

In Dyche we trust, all others can pay cash
The transfer window opens next Friday believe it or not due to it closing so soon this year and Fifa rules state it has to be open for 12 weeks!

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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by Claretmatt4 » Sun May 13, 2018 11:57 pm

You can add Ward Barnes Gudmundsson Tarky Mee Lowton Defour and Wood to that injury list. We've seen out depth on show this season.

How you can think we've been lucky with injuries I have no idea.
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warksclaret
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by warksclaret » Mon May 14, 2018 7:38 am

Apart from Defour and Wood its been a few weeks only for each player which is quite normal

Rileybobs
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by Rileybobs » Mon May 14, 2018 7:51 am

warksclaret wrote:Apart from Defour and Wood its been a few weeks only for each player which is quite normal
Brady? Heaton?

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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by CrosspoolClarets » Mon May 14, 2018 7:54 am

As a team we were probably a Mahrez and Vardy away from being quite similar (albeit not quite as good) to Leicester when they won the league. Probably 10 points more, maybe 20. I recognise Leicester got around 90 points and did brilliantly, but there were some similarities. Those two players though had an incisiveness we lacked.

We did very well, but I refute the suggestion that our injuries were par for the course.

We had deputies in key positions throughout the season, notably in goal but also elsewhere. We had only Cork of the first choice XI who didn’t lose at least 500 minutes on the pitch (Cork did the full 3,420 minutes). Long played almost half the minutes in the league and worsened us quite a lot, and Westwood did well but still isn’t a patch on Defour, Westwood played about a third of the season’s minutes.

The biggest loss though may have been Wood. Only 1,634 minutes, less than half the season, and a goal every two games with none penalties or free kicks. His conversion rate is something we have missed since Ings.

Cirrus_Minor
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by Cirrus_Minor » Mon May 14, 2018 7:54 am

It is as always about having a manager and team that seem to be able to win games. I honestly think this is the outstanding achievement in European football.

warksclaret
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by warksclaret » Mon May 14, 2018 8:35 am

I admitted in the earlier post about Defour, Heaton and Brady
Apparently BFC has made over 30 less starting changes to their starting line up this year than the next lowest team in the PL

Evidence of SD's loyalty and a relatively free from injury situation

claretspice
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by claretspice » Mon May 14, 2018 8:43 am

On the credit side, we were a bit fortunate that we didn't get a serious injury at centre half, or have two players missing at the same time.

On the other hand, no other team in the league lost their first choice keeper and captain for virtually the entire campaign, and no other team lost their two most creative players. Defour and Brady are the only two players in the squad who are really incisive, forward passers capable of picking a runner in a tight space in behind or between the lines, and to lose both of them would be a hammer blow for any team.

When you add the loss of those two, and the fact that Wood missed a third of the season, you begin to realise we were more than a little unlucky with injuries and it certainly makes this campaign all the more remarkable.

RammyClaret61
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by RammyClaret61 » Mon May 14, 2018 9:40 am

Also a period of 12 games without a win, and still managed to stay top 10.

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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by Braindead » Mon May 14, 2018 9:46 am

Palarse got 10 penalties this season, imagine we won and scored just half of that amount....where would we have finished?

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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by Selby Claret » Mon May 14, 2018 1:12 pm

RammyClaret61 wrote:Also a period of 12 games without a win, and still managed to stay top 10.
We only won 5 of our final 23 PL games - and only picked up 23 points in that time.

Staggering how we stayed where we are really - the autumn really did stand us in good stead and the stats show just how much difference Defour and Brady potentially make.

jlup1980
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by jlup1980 » Mon May 14, 2018 1:37 pm

warksclaret wrote:Would disagree with people saying we have been unlucky with injuries. Quite the opposite-yes Heaton, Defour and Brady had serious injuries but every PL club has had similar or worse. Football now throws up serious injuries every week e very PL team has had their share
Not sure I'm buying this. Our first team stats back up that we've had a lot to deal with. Going off starts...

Heaton - 4
Lowton - 25
Ward - 28
Mee - 29
Tarky - 31
Cork - 38
Defour - 24
Brady - 15
JBG - 32
Barnes - 21
Wood - 20

To have gone through a season with so many players missing 10 games or more is astonishing. Heaton, Lowton, Ward, Mee, Defour, Brady and Wood have all missed a decent proportion of our games. This might happen at other clubs but most in this league have far greater resources than us to deal with injuries and suspensions. Kevin Long has started 16 games in the PL this season and we finished 7th - that says it all. Every team needs their best players and the facts show that we've been without Defour, Brady and Wood (might divide opinion saying he's one of our best but he's a 1 in 2 striker!) have missed at least 14 games each this year. Try taking De Bruyne, Silva and Aguero away from City for the best part of half a season; they'd certainly feel it and that's with zillions in the bank!!
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by ElectroClaret » Mon May 14, 2018 3:36 pm

Have we bollix been lucky with injuries.

nil_desperandum
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by nil_desperandum » Tue May 15, 2018 9:55 am

Braindead wrote:Palarse got 10 penalties this season, imagine we won and scored just half of that amount....where would we have finished?
We should have had a couple of penalties, at least, but it must also be take into account that in general we don't have players who run at pace into the box like Zaha at Palace. Players like Sterling, Vardy, Zaha etc. are always going to be asking questions of the officials due to the way in which they attack in the box. (I'm not saying that all their penalties are legitimate or fair, but their quick direct style of play means that they are challenged a lot in the box, and under today's interpretations of "contact" they will often be rewarded).

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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by UpTheBeehole » Tue May 15, 2018 10:07 am

We haven't played well since going 2 up against Leicester.

nil_desperandum
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Re: 7th place despite everything that's happened to us.

Post by nil_desperandum » Tue May 15, 2018 10:12 am

UpTheBeehole wrote:We haven't played well since going 2 up against Leicester.
We haven't played well since ..... Mee has been out of the team. No one else in defence has looked right since then, and this was apparent before Kevin Long's "Keystone Cops" cameo on Sunday.

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