Pre Season Aspirations

At the start of this season I wanted four things:

Be more resilient and win at least one game from a losing position.
We gained 17 points (3rd best in the division) from losing positions including 5 wins and 2 draws. Only Brentford (23) and Middlesborough (19) gained more. For reference, during the 19/20 season we only managed 6 points - all draws - from losing positions which was the worst in the league.

Be better at set pieces.
We scored 17 goals from set pieces which was equal second in the division with Reading. Cardiff with 26 goals were top. The previous season we only managed 9 goals which was the worst return in the whole division.

Develop a less predictable style of play.
We had a tendency to over play in situations - especially in our own half - during the 19/20 season and it hurt us on numerous occasions. This approached changed with the Manager. I love what Val brought to the team though I think we’ve gone from one extreme to the other and we now under play in certain areas and a little more nous would be good on occasion. However, we have to remember Val didn’t have a pre season with the players and very little time during the season. He’s had to develop this team on the hoof - awful pun intended. Moving forward, a balance between the two styles would be good and I hope achievable with the players we have.

A mid table finish without any relegation dalliance.
I would have been happy with Luton’s season however the team under Val became a juggernaut achieving 5th place and earning a place in the play offs. Unbelievable and beyond our wildest dreams at the start of the season. We have massively overachieved this season however the disappointment of Saturday is going to take a few weeks for me digest - at least.

I think we sometimes get a little too myopic and only look at our own situation but if we stand back and look at the club in the context of the league - our financial position, our low reliance on loan players and the average age of the squad - then I believe we are in a very good position whatever happens in the summer.

 

Brilliant post and puts things into perspective perfectly

 

Friendlies. against teams I’ve never visited. If we can go that is.

 

Can't disagree with that assessment. We've massively over delivered in terms of results. But for some (not all) that's been at too heavy a price in terms of style.

 

Can I add "don't sell half of the squad". Which we didn't, with only Brown departing.

I'm a little more worried about achieving this again though.

 

I'm not against cashing in providing not all our best assets aren't sold. I've no reason to believe they will due to the contract situation. Maybe sell Helik or Styles to add some funds? Who knows?

 

To steal a quote from Andy Richie in 2006 "we over-over-achieved"

 

I think we need to factor that we'll be going into next season off of the back of a big disappointment. I hope the hangover doesn't last too long.

 

If think they will be exits this summer key players and possibly val. I don't mind losing players if we get decent fees and re invest. Putting things into perspective this season we had the 3/4th smallest budget in the league and finished 5th now the bar is raised and people are talking about top 10 and even top 6 already. Sorry but next season will be totally diffrent I imagine.

 

It's a bigger challenge for Val too. He's to lift the players first and foremost. He might not fancy being an agony aunt.

 

If he's even here still people giving him stick for his style but football is results based warnocks been playing ***** football 20 years and still getting jobs. He took a team with no wins in 1st 5 games we were 4th bottom when he took over? 3/4th smallest budget in league and got us to 5th. It won't have gone unnoticed I've seen him linked to West brom and Palace already and we only played our last game 2 days ago.

 

He might look at it as job done with the tools he had to work with and move on while his stocks high. A bit like Struber.

 

I genuinely don't think the contract situation makes any difference. We sold Moore with two years left on his contract at the end of the transfer window with no time to bring in a replacement. Many people tried to play down the enormity of doing that, claiming he wasn't all that and wasn't in the plans. He's just scored 20 championship goals and we stayed up that season almost by a miracle.

Time will tell, but as the whole model is based on buy cheap and sell at a profit, I do believe we'd do the same again. I have no problem with the model in principle, but I do when it is massively to our detriment. We'll always sell players, I know that, I just don't want to see us sell all our good players or players for whom we don't have a replacement.