31-12-2023, 04:31 AM
I think of it as dipping our toes in to see what would happen. What happened was our playing style combined with 2 games per week led to injuries to important players. That led to a further limitation to an already limited squad and instead of training they were all resting between games. As an ex sportsman myself I know that even simple things like running drills on, say, receiving the ball and moving it on makes that kind of thing more instinctive and less something to think about. Think about driving. If you regularly do any amount of driving you already know what other drivers are going to do before they even do. So you adjust your position or speed or whatever instinctively. It removes the thinking time in case something mad happens. Spend some time away from the wheel and some of those instincts diminish until you get back to it.
I don't think anyone associated with the club expected Champions League football this season. Some (most) of the players were certainly unprepared for an intense schedule. We had possibly one of the toughest groups we could have and still managed to come away with five points. Half the teams that finished third in their respective groups had the same, or fewer, points than we did. We felt robbed of two points in Paris, that penalty almost certainly wouldn't have been given in the Premier League (unless it was against Liverpool and The Kop demanded it).
So yeah, we had a deek into the most elite end of the footballing spectrum and hopefully, as a club, have learnt from it. We've recently hit a low ebb in terms of form. I think we've got enough in the tank to push on and stay at least mid-table. 8th is the disappointment line for me. In terms of ambition, looking up the table rather than below is, for me at least, massive progress given the past decade and a half. We have proven we can at least compete against the best Europe can throw at us. Work in progress but in a positive direction.
HTL
I don't think anyone associated with the club expected Champions League football this season. Some (most) of the players were certainly unprepared for an intense schedule. We had possibly one of the toughest groups we could have and still managed to come away with five points. Half the teams that finished third in their respective groups had the same, or fewer, points than we did. We felt robbed of two points in Paris, that penalty almost certainly wouldn't have been given in the Premier League (unless it was against Liverpool and The Kop demanded it).
So yeah, we had a deek into the most elite end of the footballing spectrum and hopefully, as a club, have learnt from it. We've recently hit a low ebb in terms of form. I think we've got enough in the tank to push on and stay at least mid-table. 8th is the disappointment line for me. In terms of ambition, looking up the table rather than below is, for me at least, massive progress given the past decade and a half. We have proven we can at least compete against the best Europe can throw at us. Work in progress but in a positive direction.
HTL